What is onboard charger for an electric vehicle
So far we have gained knowledge about various aspects of electric vehicles through different online platforms. In today's article we are going to shed some light on technical things.You must have come across the term onboard charger while reading technical details about electric vehicles. on-board chargers, are an integral part of every electric car
What comes to our mind the moment we hear charger?
Many of us instantly think about a device similar to a phone charger which connects A.C. wall outlets to other devices which we need to charge. This can be confusing in electric vehicle field because the charging station is commonly called a charger, it needs to be clarified that there are two types of chargers
On-board charger (OBC) that is built in the car
Charging station (also called a charger that can be either AC or DC)
How does electric vehicle charging works
There are two basic types of charging, you can use either direct current or alternating current. If AC power is used, from the outlet or from the AC charging station, the current passes through the charging cable to the on-board charger, which converts the AC current to DC and sends it to the battery.
If the car is charged with direct current,it is directly sent to the battery with the help of a battery management system bypassing the onboard charger.
Role of onboard charger
The on-board charger controls the current and voltage which the battery needs to be charged (Voltage or Current Control Mode), thus taking care of the battery lifespan.
In the case of constant current charging, there is high efficiency and charging speed, but there is a risk that the battery will be overcharged at a later stage and its lifespan will be reduced.
In the case of constant voltage charging, there is a risk that too much current will flow into the battery from the beginning, which will heat the battery too much and shorten its lifespan again.
Onboard charger plays an important role to solve this problem.OBC follows a strategy in which it is initially charged with a constant current, thus maintaining speed and efficiency, and when the voltage at both ends of the battery reaches a certain amplitude, it changes to constant voltage charging.
The first phase( Power factor controller )-which converts alternating (AC) current to direct current.
The second phase( LLC converter)- The input is the above-mentioned 700V and the output is the voltage needed by the battery at a given moment of charging.
On board charger market,key players and segmentation
On board charger market is divided on the basis of power output,vehicle type,propulsion type.
Power output- less than 10kW,10 to 20kW, more than 20kW are studied under the power segment.
Propulsion type-Battery electric vehicle,hybrid electric vehicle,plug in hybrid electric vehicle comes under propulsion type.
Vehicle type-electric passenger cars, electric vans, electric buses,electric medium duty vehicles, electric heavy duty vehicles,electric agriculture tractors, electric construction equipment and mining machines come under vehicle type.
Key players are bell power solutions,current ways inc,toyota industries corp,AVID tech ltd,Infineon technologies ltd,Xepics
Italia SRL,
On-board chargers can be divided according to how many phases they can use (whether one, two or three) and according to their output. The power output of on-board chargers is usually in the range of between 3.7 kW and 22 kW. These two characteristics determine the charger’s price and therefore the price of the whole electric car.
Some companies like AVID Technology limited use highly efficient on board charger technology by using power switching and magnetics
Summing up
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is vital for mass adoption of electric vehicles.Several government initiatives ,policies are supporting the establishment of a strong charging station network across the world.As a result ,this will drive growth of on board charger market.
