Fill 'Er Up With Sunshine

With its well-tuned solution consisting of powerful and reliable charging technology and intelligent software, Vispiron Charge-V GmbH is paving the way for green mobility.

The project

How can electric vehicles best be coupled with solar farms? Vispiron Charge-V GmbH has a simple but innovative answer. Thanks to an innovative charging technology, the power generated by solar cells can now be used directly to charge electric vehicles. Three things were especially important to the Munich company for their "green" superchargers: simple operation, easy payment and stable charging.

For electromobility to make sense, it must be supplied by green energy.

Lukas Failer, CTO, Vispiron CHARGE-V GmbH

The solution

The market for electromobility is on the move. The number of vehicle registrations and charging solution providers are increasing. That is why CTO Lukas Failer's team needed to develop a charging solution that is not only intuitive, convenient and reliable but that could also be marketed quickly. To accomplish this, Vispiron relied on certified components as well as its own expertise.

A well-tuned solution consisting of power electronics, a charge controller and software enabled Vispiron Charge-V to develop a stable charging solution that can also be easily expanded.

The challenge: a stable and sustainable charging solution

The charging stations not only allow solar farm owners to sell their renewable power directly but also enable service stations and retailers with suitable parking areas to provide new services. Vispiron Charge-V aims to offer its happy charging experience everywhere: a charging operation that features easy payment and authorization and is stable. To that end, the company sought a reliable solution for the charging system. The system should also be modular to allow a variety of charging services to be provided or additional charging points to be added and should support fast DC charging in addition to normal AC charging.

The solution: the optimal combination of hardware and software

The technical solution is based on proven and certified hardware components for the power electronics and charging system. The centerpiece is the SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller, which uses corresponding TM ECC charge controllers to control charging operations. Other components include SIMATIC energy meters, SIRIUS contactor and insulation monitoring relays and SENTRON residual current operated circuit breakers. The entire charging system was engineered in the TIA Portal Vispiron Charge-V developed its own software for connecting to the IOT, collecting payments and metering in compliance with calibration requirements. Coupling of the software with the charging hardware was easy thanks to suitable interfaces.

The advantages: 50 % lower certification costs and convenient engineering

The optimal combination of in-house development and use of finished components allowed Vispiron Charge-V to significantly reduce both its development time and development costs. For example, use of the certified charge controller cut the company's certification costs by about 50 %. The robust and stable overall concept benefited Vispiron Charge-V during engineering as well.

The well-tuned solution consisting of power electronics and a charge controller allows for easy modular expansion That not only saves space in the control cabinet but also yields very cost-effective DC charging systems for owners and users of charging infrastructure.

With the Siemens charge controller, we have a certified stable system. We expect this to save us 50 % of our certification costs.

Lukas Failer, CTO, Vispiron CHARGE-V GmbH

Charging system and components

Coordinated components from the SIMATIC, SENTRON and SIRIUS portfolio enable easy and efficient implementation of modern AC and DC charging stations - from a single charging column to a charging hub with distributed charging points.