Automotive Engineering - June 2024 - 10

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
existed on the site - to charge up the
internal battery, " Sosinov said.
Approximately 20 kW comes into the
charging unit from the grid, but the
charging station's output is 200 kW.
That 180-kW difference is pushed out
by the charging unit's internal battery.
According to Sosinov, a fully depleted
Volvo electric truck's recharge time
takes between four and six hours.
" That's fast for a Class 8 truck, " he said.
An aerial view of Performance Food Group's Gilroy, California, center shows Volvo electric VNR
trucks and FreeWire Technologies' ultrafast charging stations during an open house event on Earth
Day, April 22.
Electric refrigeration
The Volvo electric trucks are matched
with a reefer trailer equipped with a
zero-emission SolarTechTRU from Mesa,
Arizona-based Advanced Energy
Machines (AEM.GREEN). A traditional
TRU is diesel-powered versus AEM's
patented, all-electric, 46-volt DC unit.
Located in the same front-of-trailer location
as a diesel-fueled TRU counterpart,
the electric TRU has a conventional
condenser, evaporator, compressor
and electric motor.
" The battery resides underneath at
mid-trailer, " said Robert Koelsch, cofounder
and CEO of AEM.GREEN. AEM's
standard Li-ion battery pack is 109
kWh. Charging for the battery is via
AEM's patented charging pads that the
trailer's landing gear rest atop.
" We use AI to automate the entire
FreeWire Technologies ultrafast charging stations' energy requirements are nearly 10 times lower
than traditional charging stations, reducing peak energy demand and grid strain while providing
more efficient power. Image shows Performance Food Group's Gilroy, California, site.
storage. The electric truck has six battery
packs for approximately 575 kWh
of storage and a driving range up to
275 miles (443 km).
'Different' ultrafast chargers
Volvo's electric trucks are charged via
15 ultrafast charging stations from
FreeWire Technologies. Each charging
unit has two charging ports. The Li-ion
NMC battery-integrated charging stations
- with multiple patents addressing
system design, power electronics, battery
management and software - were
installed and fully deployed within four
10 June 2024
months after groundbreaking.
" PFG was given a timeline of three
years from the utility company, PG&E,
to get enough power to the site to deploy
ultrafast charging. For a lot of
fleets, that's simply a deal-killer because
they can't wait three years, " said
Arcady Sosinov, founder and CEO of
FreeWire Technologies with global
headquarters in Newark, California.
FreeWire's ultrafast chargers operate
differently than other mass-produced
ultrafast chargers. " When the charger
connects to the power grid, it uses only
a low amount of power - which already
charging process, so no human is plugging
and unplugging cords, " Koelsch
said. For a completely depleted battery
pack, the charging process takes about
eight hours. To date, the Gilroy site has
30 of AEM's electric TRUs. Each of
those electric refrigeration units is estimated
to eliminate approximately 20
tons of CO2
emissions per year versus a
diesel-powered TRU.
Transitioning PFG's Gilroy site to a
sustainable distribution center requires
assists from multiple companies,
stressed Volvo's Pope. " As a traditional
truck manufacturer, we're really good at
the truck part - that's not a problem.
But once you go from traditional drivelines
into alternative energy or batteryelectric,
you have to involve a lot more
players, " he said. " It takes partnerships
to create a sustainable ecosystem. "
Kami Buchholz
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
FROM TOP: VOLVO; FREEWIRE

Automotive Engineering - June 2024

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