- New York City will get a huge, unique electric vehicle charging center that will be powered by lithium-ion batteries.
- Charging company XCharge and electrical contractor Energy Plus say the 44-kiosk station will open in Brooklyn next quarter.
- The station can reduce the charging cost for electric vehicle drivers during peak hours.
The American auto industry is in the middle of a sweeping transformation, one that goes beyond just selling more electric cars.
The infrastructure needed to support battery-powered vehicles is also expanding rapidly, and the technology behind it is evolving just as quickly. One of the most notable developments is the emergence of large battery-powered electric vehicle charging stations that can boost power and supplement the grid.
German electric vehicle charging company XCharge and New York-based contractor Energy Plus announced plans Wednesday to open what they say will be the largest charging center for battery-powered electric vehicles on the East Coast. The station is scheduled to come online in the second quarter of this year in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, featuring 44 chargers serving 88 parking spaces.
A rendering of an XCharge EV charging station in New York City.
Photo by: XCharge
Each charger will be able to distribute up to 300 kilowatts of power. This is higher than most Tesla superchargers Today, that peaks at 250 kilowatts and is approaching 250 kilowatts Electrifying America 350 kW units.
But what sets this site apart from others is not the charging speeds. It’s how electricity is stored and distributed. Typical fast chargers draw power directly from the local power grid in real time. In contrast, a battery-assisted charging center adds on-site temporary storage in the form of large containers filled with lithium-ion cells. Electricity is drawn from the grid during off-peak hours (when power is cheaper), stored in those batteries, and then distributed to EVs when drivers plug them in.
Many charging stations in the United States already rely on on-site energy storage systems, e.g Tesla’s giant off-grid supercharging station in Lost Hills, California, which combines a solar farm with an ESS microgrid.
XCharge’s location in New York City works on a similar principle, but the charging kiosks operate as small microgrids, with the battery and charger bundled together in a single unit. In other words, each charger has its own dedicated battery storage unit. XCharge calls these units GridLink. Each charging dock includes two fast charging cables, an information display, and a fixed battery for power storage.
Photo by: XCharge
“There are many benefits to a battery-assisted EV charging hub versus a regular hub,” said Aatish Patel, co-founder and president of XCharge North America. InsideEVs In an email message. “GridLink puts less pressure on the grid during peak demand hours because it stores energy outside of peak times,” he added.
The 44 GridLink chargers will provide up to 9.46 megawatt-hours of electricity, with each container containing 215 kilowatt-hours of battery storage capacity. That’s enough stored energy to charge up to 126 electric vehicles from empty to full, assuming an average battery pack size of 75 kWh.
Photo by: XCharge
This approach could have real-world implications regarding shipping costs. Public fast charging rates during rush hour are often exorbitant in major cities, sometimes exceeding the cost of fueling a gasoline-powered car. At least in theory, a battery-powered setup like this could mitigate surcharges at peak demand by pulling electricity when it’s cheapest and storing it early. This stored energy can then be delivered to drivers at lower rates.
XCharge didn’t say exactly how much it costs to charge EVs at this location. But express shipping in the New York City metro area is expensive. Over the past year, I’ve driven more than a dozen electric cars in the Tri-State area and paid up to $0.65/kWh at Electrify America stations, and about $0.55/kWh at Tesla Superchargers in Brooklyn and Revel stations in Manhattan.
In smaller EVs, the total cost for a single charging session seems reasonable, but in larger EVs with 100+ kWh batteries, these rates are painful, with the total bill for a 10-80% charge often exceeding $60-70. If the XCharge can beat those prices, Brooklyn Center could become popular among price-sensitive drivers, especially Thousands of rideshare drivers who have switched to electric Due to new rules of the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC).
GridLink modules also support bi-directional charging, meaning they can send stored energy back to the grid during emergencies to help relieve stress. They can essentially function as stationary energy storage systems They are increasingly being deployed throughout the United States To help utilities manage rising electricity demand from things like power-hungry AI data centers.
So, even if U.S. EV sales remain mixed due to ever-changing policies, gains across the broader electrification ecosystem should ensure that charging infrastructure is ready when EV demand rebounds in the future.
Do you have any advice? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
