This innovative solution is the first to be “custom-tailored” to the end-user, guaranteeing maximum ease of use and accessibility even for people with disabilities or reduced mobility, as well as meeting the requirements of modularity, compactness and reliability.
Nidec Industrial Solutions (NIS), part of the Energy & Infrastructure Division of the Nidec Group, one of the groups committed to promoting more sustainable mobility, is expanding its range of solutions for charging electric vehicles, a central aspect to the spread of eMobility worldwide, by presenting an innovative charging point that distinguishes itself from all the others available on the market.
The solution – unveiled in a world preview in Berlin, through a live charging simulation at the NIS stand of the eMove360° Europe 2022 international trade fair – can reach an Ultra Fast power output of 360 kW. It was developed to maximize service providers’ ROI while optimizing the user’s experience.
The new charging point, developed and manufactured in Salzbergen, Germany, is equipped with two DC cables and can charge two cars at the same time or just one, in which case all the energy is concentrated in one cable. Additionally, an AC socket can be added to serve all vehicles on the road.
It offers various benefits to service providers, such as connectivity, real time response, ease of installation and maintenance, remote diagnostics, compactness, but above all modularity, thanks to which the investment can be calibrated according to market demand, and is therefore scalable over time.
It is, in fact, possible to purchase the basic version of the product, which includes two 60kW power modules, and then add further modules, each weighing about 15kg, in order to reach a power output of 120kW or 360kW, should, for example, the average engine power of the electric cars on the road increase.
The charging point, which stands out for its Italian design, can be customized with the service provider’s colors and brand. At the top, there is a giant screen where multimedia advertising material can be loaded, such as the promotions of the day, which also provide a form of entertainment for the end-users; these spaces will also be sellable to third parties, thereby giving the service provider another potential source of income.
Direct Power DC is the first charging point custom-tailored to end users. It guarantees a simple, highly intuitive user experience. It has been ergonomically designed to ensure maximum accessibility for users of all heights or with disabilities, an aspect which is key to ensuring its wide market penetration.
It is equipped with a cable recovery system that bears most of the weight, prevents the cable from lying on the ground and helps the end-user to use the cable when inserting the plug into the vehicle. It also incorporates a multi-colored strip-led lighting system to inform the user at a distance of the status of the cables and of charging.
“Our new DirectPower DC charging point, together with our other DirectPower PS integrated battery charging system, provides a charging system that will help speed up the implementation and use of an efficient and advanced charging infrastructure for today’s and tomorrow’s cars, which is central to the spread of more sustainable mobility,” says CEO Dominique Llonch. “This is all thanks to the fact that, for the first time, a charging point has been designed not only to allow maximum customization for service providers but also to guarantee maximum inclusiveness for users. With this new product, we are now able to offer a range of solutions to suit all charging needs.”
The charging point is already available on the market and ready for purchase with all the features required for service stations, large supermarket chains, resorts and company fleet managers.
A first set has already been sold to an electric car testing organization and is to be installed in October in Salzbergen, Germany, while other orders have also come in from outside Europe and are on track for delivery in November and December. Further work orders are nearing completion in various European countries and NIS intends to install these products also in its Milan and Montebello plants, with a view to migrating the company’s entire fleet to electric power.
There are two Direct Power models: a slim one, DirectPower DC 120, which reaches 120 kW, and another, DirectPower DC 360, which with its 360kW reaches the maximum currently on the market in compact solutions.
It is also available in a slim version without power modules that connects to another product in the Nidec range, the Direct Power PS, an advanced system launched by NIS in 2018 that links the national grid with the charging points, acting, thanks to its integrated batteries, as a ‘buffer’, allowing vehicles to be charged in Ultra-fast mode at 300kW even when grid power is limited to 100kW.
The Group is fully-active in the world of mobility, and has also been creating ropeway systems for over forty years with the goal of making them an increasingly-utilized system of public transport, while also supplying systems for charging electric buses and passenger transport via tram/trolley.
Nidec ASI also promotes a greener and more sustainable maritime transport with shore-to-ship systems built in Italy, France and Malta that provide an electrical power supply for docked ships, as well as important initiatives such as the supply of storage battery systems for on-board energy for full-electric and hybrid cargo ships, ferries and yachts.
Nidec Industrial Solutions (NIS), the commercial platform of the Nidec group, offers complete electrical systems and brings together the products and services of Nidec ASI, Avtron Industrial Automation, Nidec Industrial Automation and Motortecnica. It offers customized solutions throughout the world for a wide range of industrial applications. Its reference markets are the petrochemical, traditional and renewable energy, steel, naval and industrial automation markets.
The multinational is specialized in heavy duty applications in which high power and high performance are key: electric motors and generators up to 65 MW of power (87,000 HP); power electronic converters and inverters; automation and software for industrial processes; retrofitting of power plants and hydroelectric generators; integrated systems for the production of electrical energy from renewable sources and their integration in power grids.
Following the acquisition of the Motors, Drives and Electric Power Generation divisions of Emerson Electric Co., Nidec ASI has also made further improvements to its industrial and commercial activities, integrating the medium and low power drives into the overall range offered by Nidec.
Thanks to the acquisitions of Control Techniques and Leroy-Somer, part of Nidec Corporation Group since February 1, 2017, it is able to offer technologies optimized for the control of motors and to develop automation solutions for specific applications, tailored to the needs of the client to provide a flexible response to each requirement.
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