Joint project »HV-MELA-BAT«
January 12, 2023 | Project start »High-Voltage Megawatt Charging System for Heavy-Duty and Passenger Vehicles«
Under the leadership of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, power electronic converters and a contact system for high currents and voltages are to be developed in the joint project »HV-MELA-BAT« by July 2025. Project partners are Motion Control & Power Electronics GmbH, STS Spezial-Transformatoren Stockach GmbH, Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH and Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI.
Fraunhofer IVI is thus contributing its expertise in the field of contact systems to the research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).
Since 2017, the institute has been working on solutions for fully automated charging systems for fast charging of battery electric energy storage systems under the working title »Underbody Charging System«. In 2022, the institute patented an associated system development under the name »Electrical Contact Unit« (high-performance connector). This is a semi-automatic contacting device in which the feed from plug to socket can be manual or automated, but the actual contacting process is carried out by an actuator inside the plug in the form of a face contact. In the course of the project, the technology approach is to be qualified for the implementation of the project objectives by further development into a demonstrator of the charging system »mega-charging system«.