In summer 2022, the D-SEe project was successfully completed after more than four years of research work. The companies involved in the project, which in addition to innolectric also include Keysight Technologies, Elring Klinger, Voltavision, Hofer Mechatronik, Sensor-Technik Wiedemann and Bochum University of Applied Sciences, achieved the goal of implementing ultra-fast charging for electric vehicles. The result is a quick charging station with 450 kW charging power and prototype vehicle, which together are able to charge the necessary energy for a range of 400 km into the vehicle battery in just 15 minutes. The fast-charging station created in the project corresponds to 11 times the charging power of today’s systems on the market.

The research project D-SEe means “Continuous fast charging concept for electric vehicles” and has been funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy since 2018. The objective included the development and optimization of the entire energy flow chain from the charging station to the vehicle battery. All established safety standards had to be taken into account. The research was interesting in light of the fact that manufacturers are announcing high-range vehicle batteries on the market for the near future. However, charging stations with a charging capacity according to today’s standards need more than one and a half hours to charge a range of 400 km driving performance with this battery size. With the help of the DSEe project, it has been possible to prove that significantly faster charging is possible, although this means losses in other areas of the charging train. Among other things, permanent ultrafast charging has a negative impact on the service life of the vehicle battery.

Beyond the analysis and optimization of the individual components, innolectric’s project goal was to realize intelligent charging communication during the fast charging process. The developed communication module takes over the entire communication between charging station and vehicle and ensures a fast and smooth charging process. The project results were presented to the public for the first time in October 2022.

Learn more on our project page and at https://www.dsee-project.com/.