So direct DC to Zero battery charging won't happen anytime soon, so don't get your hopes up anytime in the near future. The best charging solution for Zero's right now is to use the powerful AC plugs available to us, and to use multiple plugs when available as this is the standard installation pattern I've been seeing the past 4 years is 4, 8, or 20 stations going in all in a row.
I know there are many people who would like to tour on their Zero, which I just mentioned in the 2018 wish list thread that I thought was odd as most touring riders probably didn't buy a Zero. Which is even more reason Zero needs to at least have a 2-3 year plan to release a touring bike that is focused on highway riding speeds.
Right now the best thing going is the Diginow chargers and using Tesla adapters. As battery sizes go up (perhaps next year?) you could run 5 Diginow superchargers off 1 Tesla plug that is 240v and on 100 amp breaker. It will run continuous at 80% of that load which is 20,000 watts, and Tesla tells you that you actually receive 16 kW into your battery after charging losses.
Since 5 Diginows only pull about 16 kW it's well under the max. Hopefully in the future the 1C charge limit will be raised (all logical thinking would have expected this to happen already) as Farasis cells are 3-4 times more power dense than other EV manufacturers Panasonic 18650's or LG Chem cells, yet those car manufacturers will allow 3-4 C charging for the first 40-50%. If we could even just get 2C charging, we could tap 2 of these Tesla plugs. As in many locations there are 4 or more side by side for 64 kW of AC power easy to tap. And these Tesla destination chargers are going in like wildfire right now. The number of stations in the US has doubled in the past 3 months from looking at the map, and I'll bet it continues to double again and again many times over the next 2 years in preparation for the flood of model 3's set to hit the road.
Say you're traveling from Lake Tahoe to Los Angeles. (Shadow? lol) You pick a place to charge in Sacramento. Lets say the Hyatt Hotel to have lunch.
https://api.plugshare.com/view/location/16987There are 20 Clipper Creeks that are 40 amp units and will do 8000 watts each - so you could tap 4 of these to get 32,000 watts
But even better there are 6 Tesla destination chargers that are 100 amps and can do 16,000-20,000 watts continuous. so if you tapped all 6 of these you could charge at 120 kW, which is current Tesla supercharging speed.
We really need Farasis and Zero to agree on a nice tapered charge curve beginning at 4C as long as the batteries are warm and tapering to 1C around 85% and finishing at a CV charge. The cells are capable of doing it, the Diginow chargers are small powerful and lightweight so it's easy to carry many, and the power is available everywhere and expanding daily.
So why can't we do this yet? Not sure, there really isn't a reason. Hopefully we will be able to soon. Just need Zero to program a tapered charge rate into the BMS firmware. But until Zero themselves offers a charge tank that can do say 25 kW (maybe in 3 years with ultra high switching and efficient SiC mosfets or GaAsFets) there really is no reason to rush into allowing over a 1C charge rate.
Lets hope this happens soon.
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Topic: DC Charging Options (Read 7205 times)