Volkswagen makes 360kWh power bank to charge electric cars

Volkswagen makes a mobile charging station for electric cars. The Mobile Charging Station has a battery capacity of 360kWh and can be placed in places where there is no power supply. Volkswagen will start a trial in 2019.

The large power bank is intended to be placed in places where a charging station is temporarily needed, or where there is no infrastructure available to install a permanent charging station. Volkswagen states that the mobile charging station could be used at events, among other things.

The Mobile Charging Station has a charging capacity of 360kWh and Volkswagen claims that this is enough to charge up to fifteen electric cars. Four cars can be charged simultaneously, two with direct current and two with alternating current, and the station is also suitable for charging electric bicycles.

According to the car manufacturer, the mobile charging station can quickly charge with a maximum of 100 kW and charging a car takes ‘on average about 17 minutes’. The manufacturer then assumes that a battery of the Volkswagen e-Golf will be fully charged to 80 percent, which corresponds to 28 kWh.

The charging station is based on Volkswagen’s own Modular Electric Toolkit, the platform for the brand’s electric cars. The manufacturer states that this can give batteries from electric cars a second life. Batteries that are no longer suitable for use in cars due to wear and tear can still be used in mobile charging stations.

The power bank can be used separately from the mains, but can also be connected and can then be charged via alternating current with a capacity of 30 kW. The power banks can also be used to store green energy. Volkswagen will deploy the first mobile charging stations in Wolfsburg as a trial in the first half of 2019. From 2020, the car manufacturer wants to start using the power banks in other cities and producing them on a larger scale.