Power Supplies for electric vehicle charging

Electric vehicles and e-mobility, in general, are the future of transportation in a world that needs to reduce its carbon footprint. To make batterypowered vehicles cost-effective, electric vehicle chargers must be as efficient and economical as possible. While power conversion stages at the multi kW level are improving with the latest topologies and semiconductor technologies, AC/DC auxiliary supplies must also match the EV charger requirements in terms of efficiency and value. Charging wall boxes and charging stations are often installed in overvoltage category three (OVC III) environments with the potential for significant voltage dips, surges and transients from lightning strikes, which the on-board power supplies must also withstand. Additionally, temperature variations can be extreme, and the AC supply voltage available may be single-phase 100 to 277VAC or three-phase of 400 or 480VAC, so auxiliary AC/DC modules must operate reliably in this environment. Besides the auxiliary AC/DC, there is a need for switching regulators and DC/DC converters that provide internal voltage conversion and isolation.

RECOM provides a range of low-power AC/DC modules, DC/DC converters and switching regulators that match the battery charging application requirements for auxiliary supplies or are sources for direct low-power battery charging in portable products. RECOM’s sister company, Power Control Systems (PCS), can supply high-reliability custom battery chargers, conditioners and bidirectional inverters based on proven platform designs from three-phase AC supplies with power ratings of up to 30kW or even higher with paralleled units.