Volkswagen Previews Mobile EV Chargers

Greg Hyde

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2nd January 2019

Volkswagen is previewing mobile rapid electric vehicle chargers it is developing which it claims function like power banks.

The automaker says they can be set up temporarily, have a capacity of 360 kWh, and will not need to be connected to a mains power supply. It claims the chargers can charge up to 15 EVs, taking 17 minutes on average to achieve full charge. They are based on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB). However, the automaker has not said whether they have any tech that can mitigate or forestall the corrosive effect too many successive rapid charges can have on EV batteries.

Volkswagen also claims the chargers allow battery sets that are running out of charge to be exchanged for charged ones, can be “perpetually” recharged if connected to a mains power supply providing 30kW or less of alternating current, and can provide “temporary storage” for solar and wind power. The automaker plans to roll them out across the automaker’s home city of Wolfsburg, Germany before the end of June, and to launch them in other regions in 2020.

Volkswagen Group Components (VGC) head of technical development Mark Möller claimed: “It is only when an electric car is charged with sustainably generated power that it can claim CO2-neutral mobility. Our charging station is the first to offer the possibility of temporarily storing sustainably generated power”. VGC chairman Thomas Schmall also claimed the chargers could allow city governments to determine “the most suitable places for a permanent charging point before making major investments in developing the network”.