12 kW AC might be similar or a little better than Energica’s DC in miles-per-minute of charging since my SS9 usually charged somewhere in the 9-18 kW range due to overheating and Zero’s are quite a bit more efficient in Wh/mi on the highway in my experience. Energica really needs to implement better battery cooling if they want DC charging to be a decisive advantage, IMO.
I have not seen this to be an issue, even when I got the battery into the yellow heat wise. 12 KW ac is only about 30 amps DC, yes you can push 35 amps when the battery is low, when it's in it's 80s and up, you are only getting about 30 amps thru to the battery. Remember, the AC charging, there is additional heat being put into the bike in general because the rectification is happening ON the bike. DC charging you can put up to 75 A in the bike it lets you dial up to, even when heating up, i've seen it still take over 40 w/o significant curtailing due to heat.
I would love to see liquid cooling, but of course that will add weight, more stuff to go wrong, and of course cost, and it'd have to be on when the battery is charging. Surrounding the battery cells with liquid is a whole new ballgame, each cell MUST be waterproof now, a substantial cost increase. Yes each cell in theory IS sealed up, and one might consider waterproof, but when put into a system that will be under pressure, the pump forcing the liquid roundy roundy, that's an entirely different sealing system on the battery's now. No more just taping the ends shut type of thing.
Overall that's kind of a conundrum we are in here. They are not going to put more charging stations up until there are more cars demanding them, yet people are not going to buy the electric cars until there are stations to support them, however tesla is doing pretty well at propagating all over. I think that is going to be a major turning point there, when his stations eventually are open to most / all vehicles and they can say, yes support IS there, not just for one model either.
Aaron
