In a promising step towards everyday electric cars, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a unique integrated motor drive and battery charger that is much faster and cheaper at the same time. Compared to today’s chargers, they claim to have managed to shorten the charging time from eight to two hours, and to reduce the cost by around $2,000.
Saeid Haghbin, doctor of electric power engineering, said he undertook his doctoral studies in order to attempt developing the optimal electric vehicle charger. “The ideal scenario would be to have a charger powerful enough to charge a car in five to ten minutes, but this would cost over $100,000, which is more expensive than the car itself,” says Saeid Haghbin. “The question we posed was: how can we reduce the size, weight and price of the on-board charger.”
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