Innovations are continuously being made so that electric vehicles can continue to develop to beat the dominance of conventional cars, from a more flexible interior layout design to regenerative brakes that slow down the release of electrical energy.
This time, GM is trying to find something new that makes the EV charger more efficient and saves time. GM patented a system intended to allow fast chargers to be used to charge two EV batteries simultaneously.
General Motors is experimenting with their battery technology that allows Ultium batteries to recapture the exhaust heat from car operation and use it to increase mileage.
GM’s Ultium batteries use a modular design and can contain between six and 24 modules, depending on vehicle size and individual car performance. What sets it apart from other Ultium battery packs is that this version can change the battery layers to be connected in series or parallel. For example, the GMC Hummer EV uses 24 modules arranged in two sets of 12 modules.
A patent filing submitted by GM will allow for the appearance of two ports on the new car that are meant to do a number of interesting things, such as the ability to charge multiple EVs in a single circuit. This type of battery has been confirmed for the Hummer EV as well as the new Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV models, and is expected to be used in many of GM’s EVs in the future.
The main idea of the GM patent is to expand the flexibility of a charger with switchable connections. Production vehicles generally operate at 400 volts, with the battery layers connected in parallel.
But the connection can be switched to series so they can charge with an 800 volt DC Fast Charger. The patent initiates an additional possibility, whereby an 800-volt charging station can also charge two EVs connected simultaneously via a second charging port, wherein the two ports remain in a 400-volt parallel configuration.
This clever solution will double the number of cars that can be charged by one DC fast charger at a time, which will save time considering that more and more EVs will roam around and start flooding the charging facility.
In addition, GM has also announced that the Hummer EV will offer a two-way charging system that can be obtained by selecting the Power Station package option, so that equipment and other electrical devices can be used by connecting to the Hummer EV car.
