ABB will supply its high power electric vehicle (EV) chargers to Electrify America for installation across the United States, the company announced in a press release on 17 April. ABB will install hundreds of its Terra HP charging stations within and around 17 metropolitan areas and along multiple nationwide highway corridors. "We are proud to be chosen for this historic project to support a world-class EV charging network across the United States. Our Terra HP systems will ensure that sustainable e-mobility is supported with industry leading, high power charging technology, and will remain so into the future," said Greg Scheu, president of ABB’s Americas region.
Significance: Electrify America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen (VW), was set up in 2017 as part of its court settlement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following the diesel emissions controversy. As part of the settlement, Electrify America plans to invest USD2 billion in developing the EV infrastructure in the United States over the next 10 years. USD800 million of this investment will go into California alone. The charging stations deployed by Electrify America are required to support a variety of charging protocols such as Level-2, DC Fast, CHAdeMO and CCS; it will also support Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). According to ABB, the Terra chargers can charge “even the largest electric vehicle battery in under 15 minutes”. The Terra HP can operate at powers of up to 350 kilowatts, and is able to add almost 200 miles (320 kilometers) of range to an EV in a time frame not much longer than needed to refuel a gas engine vehicle.
