Megawatt charging is must-have technology for long-haul battery-electric Class 8 heavy-duty tractors, but it has yet to be fully rolled out despite several rounds of tests by some of the industry's key players, such as Tesla.
And perhaps what's one of the upcoming Tesla Semi's most serious competitors, the Windrose BEV, has successfully completed a round of Megawatt charging testing with Chinese company Sinexcel, a specialist in EV charging and energy storage solutions.
The companies have jointly announced that megawatt-level charging was successfully completed with a Windrose R700 eTruck which used Sinexcel's megawatt-charger in Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. It took only 38.6 minutes for the vehicle to charge from 51% battery life to 97%, and 19.4 minutes to an 80% state of charge with a 125-mile range.
[Related: Check out the Windrose inside and out; the Tesla Semi's best competitor?]
"This achievement brings sustainable long-distance transport for trucks and buses closer to reality," said Windrose founder and CEO Wen Han. "Our collaboration with Sinexcel has involved testing their chargers across Europe, and Australia working alongside their local partners Mondo and go EV. We have also signed a memorandum of understanding with Mondo for further cooperation. We are excited to soon expand our testing to the US and other cities in Europe and look forward to manufacturers like Sinexcel accelerating the expansion of heavy-duty EV charging infrastructure in the future."
Megawatt charging, also known as the Megawatt Charging System (MCS), is a charging connector that provides significant amounts of power to electric vehicles in a short time period. Designed specifically to enable faster charging times for large battery packs, requirements for long-haul trucks and other commercial vehicles types, it's possible for medium- and heavy-duty trucks to get up to 300 miles of range in less than 30 minutes of charging.
In the U.S., companies like California-based Voltera, a Charging Infrastructure as a Service provider, can't wait to get their hands on the technology. Voltera CEO, Matt Horton, previously told Clean Trucking that Megawatt charging can't come soon enough.
[Related: Voltera CEO: 'Megawatt charging can't come soon enough']
Another domestic player heavily involved in the Megawatt charging development and manufacturing is ChargePoint. Last spring, it launched its own system which features up to 1.2 megawatts and, eventually, up to 3 megawatts. The system also boasts bi-directional charging
