Energy Efficiency Assessment for an Ultra-Fast Charging Station

The paper proposes an energy efficiency analysis for an Ultra-Fast Charging Station (UFCS). The UFCS, realized at the DIETI Lab of the University of Naples Federico II, is equipped with two charging slots of 160 kW rated power, a grid-tied power converter of 50 kW and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). It is operated in Grid to Vehicle (G2V) mode using a peak-shaving strategy. The infrastructure uses two DC/DC power converters based on H-bridge, a medium frequency transformer, and diode rectifier architecture. The infrastructure is able to operate the two converters as a single or twin EV charging configuration, respectively. This paper focuses on the operating behavior of the power converters during the phases of EV fast charging. Analyses of energy efficiency have been carried out taking into account the switching and thermal behavior of the power converters. The validation of the analyses is performed through comparison with the numerical results obtained in PLECS environment. The proposed methodology is a viable tool to give support in designing UFCSs in terms of components and subsystems sizing.