BMW and Porsche demonstrate 450kW station that charges cars in 15 minutes

BMW and Porsche have unveiled a prototype fast charging station in Bavaria with a capacity of up to 450kW. Electric cars can be charged with this in fifteen minutes, the manufacturers claim.

Those who want to get back on the road even faster can charge enough to cover another 100 kilometers within three minutes, claim BMW and Porsche. BMW demonstrated a BMW i3 with a battery capacity of 57 kWh. A high voltage dc/dc converter converted the voltage from 800V to 400V for the BMW i3, which could be charged to 80 percent of its capacity in 15 minutes. The rest will probably go slower: it’s by default to avoid damage. Porsche had a test vehicle with a battery capacity of 90 kWh that managed to reach a charging capacity of 400 kW and could thus be charged enough to cover 100 kilometers in less than three minutes.

The charging station in the Bavarian municipality of Jettingen-Scheppach is free to use and contains Type 2 connectors of the Combined Charging System standard so that most electric cars can use it.

The charging station is part of the FastCharge research project in which BMW and Porsche are collaborating with Siemens, among others. The station can be used for vehicles with 400V and 800V battery systems, but the system is already suitable for higher voltages up to 920 volts. According to the manufacturers, it is expected that future electric vehicles will be charged at a higher voltage than now.