Design and Validation of Ultra-Fast Charging Infrastructures Based on Supercapacitors for Urban Public Transportation Applications

Fernando Ortenzi, Manlio Pasquali, Pier Paolo Prosini, Alessandro Lidozzi and Marco Di Benedetto
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Fernando Ortenzi: ENEA - Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, 00123 Rome, Italy
Manlio Pasquali: ENEA - Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, 00123 Rome, Italy
Pier Paolo Prosini: ENEA - Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, 00123 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Lidozzi: ROMA TRE University, Department of Engineering, 00146 Rome, Italy
Marco Di Benedetto: ROMA TRE University, Department of Engineering, 00146 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: The last few decades have seen a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles (EVs) for private and public transportation around the world. This has resulted in high power demands on the electrical grid, especially when fast and ultra-fast or flash (at the bus-stop) charging are required. Consequently, a ground storage should be used in order to mitigate the peak power request period. This paper deals with an innovative and simple fast charging infrastructure based on supercapacitors, used to charge the energy storage system on board electric buses. According to the charging level of the electric bus, the proposed fast charging system is able to provide the maximum power of 180 kW without exceeding 30 s and without using DC–DC converters. In order to limit the maximum charging current, the electric bus is charged in three steps through three different connectors placed between the supercapacitors on board the bus and the fast charging system. The fast charging system has been carefully designed, taking into account several system parameters, such as charging time, maximum current, and voltage. Experimental tests have been performed on a fast charging station prototype to validate the theoretical analysis and functionality of the proposed architecture.

Keywords: supercapacitors; fast and flash charging; urban public transportation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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