Megawatt Charging System: What Those in Auto Careers Should Know
After several delays, the official prototype of the anticipated Megawatt Charging System has finally been given the green light. The system, which will go into full production in 2023, is expected to cause huge splashes on the political and transportation scenes.
Already, there’s talk of the Megawatt charging system becoming the future charging standard for heavy-duty vehicles. As the drive towards reduced carbon emissions heats up, the potential impact of the Megawatt charging system on the environment is immediately apparent.
Therefore, the question is, how is the introduction of this system likely to affect users of hybrid and electric vehicles? Are there significant takeaways for people in auto careers? In this article, we explore the possible repercussions of introducing the Megawatt charging system for drivers and repairers of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Greater Efficiency For Electric Heavy-Duty Vehicles
Although there has been a recent upsurge in the popularity of hybrid and electric vehicles, the uptake for heavy-duty electric vehicles remains low. Charging infrastructure is the biggest obstacle to the adoption of EVs. The lack of charging stations and the time it takes to recharge EVs are currently the main barriers to their wide adoption. In particular, long-distance business EVs suffer from this issue.
A 40-ton electric truck with a battery capacity of between 400 and 700 kilowatt-hours requires a charging power ranging from 550 kW to 1 Megawatt to charge completely in three-quarters of an hour. The fastest current Combined Charging System (CCS) can only transmit about 500 kilowatts of power.
Herein lies the problem. Most heavy-duty vehicles service the long-range logistics industry, which isn’t capable of having massive downtimes. For drivers of these trucks to keep up with their targets while driving a hybrid or electric vehicle, charging time should ideally not stretch beyond their break time.
The introduction of the Megawatt charging system should decisively take care of this problem. With heavy-duty vehicles now potentially able to deliver comparable levels of efficiency to their gas or diesel-powered counterparts without additional downtime, we may witness an improvement in the uptake of electric or hybrid heavy-duty vehicles.
Time to Adopt Hybrid and Electrical Mechanic Training?
The introduction of the Megawatt charging system brings up some interesting questions for auto technicians, engineers, and repairers.
The new charging system will likely drive up interest and demand for hybrids and electric vehicles, which may, in turn, increase the demand for skilled repairers of these types of vehicles.
With this trend set to continue, there may be no better time than now for people in auto careers to consider taking up hybrid and electrical mechanic training.
Are you interested in becoming a hybrid and electric vehicle mechanic?
Contact ATC Surrey too learn how you can get started!
