BMW will launch 800-volt new energy vehicles later this year, promising users increased efficiency and 30% faster charging. The premise is that users can find suitable charging piles. For BMW, as well as competitors such as Lucid, Hyundai Motor and Audi, which launch such new energy vehicles, the difficulty is that only some ultra-fast charging piles (power above 100kW) can provide 800 volts. Many drivers will use the more widely available 400-volt chargers, which can accommodate the vast majority of cars with lower-voltage battery architectures.
It is estimated that nearly 49% of ultra-fast charging stations in Europe can provide 800 volts, and 33% in the United States. Some countries do better than others. Germany leads the way with 13,000 compatible charging stations, followed by France with more than 11,000.
Automakers account for a large share of existing 800-volt charging pile deployments because they want to support the latest fast-charging technology to drive sales of new energy vehicles.
Tesla and Ionity (a joint venture backed by car companies) account for 20% of Europe's 800-volt charging piles. The situation is similar in the United States, with Tesla and ElectrifyAmerica (Volkswagen's charging network) leading the way. According to the analysis, ElectrifyAmerica will increase the number of 800-volt chargers in its network by 60% in 2024.
For car companies, it is still crucial for vehicles to be backward compatible with slower charging 400-volt charging piles. This requires adding a high-voltage booster to convert the 400-volt power supply of the charging pile to 800 volts, or using a high-voltage switch to divide the 800-volt battery pack into multiple low-voltage units to effectively charge at 400 volts. Either approach will offset some of the efficiency and weight savings gained by moving to a high-pressure system.
All this highlights that the new energy vehicle and charging industry is still in its infancy, and that there is still competition in vehicle design and technology application. For BMW's next generation of cars based on its NeueKlasse platform, a sufficient number of 800-volt chargers will be essential for drivers to take full advantage of the new technology in their cars.