Electric Vehicle Charging Systems
Automated conductive charging solutions from Schunk
Flexible Power Transmission for E-Mobility
With innovative developments for e-mobility, we act as a development partner paving the way to a new, mobile future for our customers. Electric vehicles are a key part of this next stage of mobility, and will become more and more common in private, industrial, and municipal transportation. In addition to batteries and vehicles, charging systems and infrastructures need to be developed as mobility becomes electrified. Schunk Transit Systems helps you take the next step towards e-mobility. With Schunk Smart Charging, our portfolio of charging systems, we offer well-developed, tested, leading solutions for buses and passenger cars that bring the advantages of hybrid and all-electric vehicles to the road.
Our Pantographs for Electric Vehicles
More sustainability, less environmental and noise pollution
Mobile with roof mounted pantographs and inverted pantographs
- Schunk Smart Charging delivers a broad portfolio of pioneering charging solutions for electric vehicles
- Roof charging pantographs; integration on battery-operated vehicles, contacting with charging infrastructure based on the bus-up principle
- Inverted pantograph: contacting with battery-operated vehicles based on the top-down principle
- Multi-pole concept (at least 4 poles) and contact sequence for secure and reliable charging processes
- Precise compensation for parking deviations and kneeling effects during the charging process
- High current transmission in just a few seconds
- Opportunity charging and depot charging also available
Flash, opportunity charging and depot charging
Situation-optimized charging of the batteries
From flash charging to opportunity and depot charging – our system gives you flexibility to charge your batteries in the most convenient way for your specific situation. We can help you implement both flash charging, which transmits a very high level of power in just a few seconds, and opportunity charging in your bus operation network. The advantage of depot charging is that the equipment can be designed to be simpler, lighter and more compact – making it especially efficient – due to the lower current strength. Charging on the go also remains available.
Automated Conductive Charging for Electric Vehicles
Conductive charging usually involves contact-based recharging. Automated conductive charging solutions, on the other hand, offer a more efficient, convenient and safe way of transferring energy without manually plugging in the charging cable. The concrete realizations of automated conductive charging technology currently differ in the design of the connection mechanics and the design of the contact interface. A prototype development of a charging robot is known, which used a robotic arm to automatically plug and unplug the charging cable into an electric vehicle. Another prototype is the e-charging station of the future, which consists of a charging system that can be retracted into the roadway and the docking module built into the vehicle floor. Another aspect of the automation of the conductive charging process is represented by current collectors (pantographs), which have already proven their worth in use on electric buses and industrial electric utility vehicles.
Fully Automatic Conductive Charging Systems from Schunk
For the automated charging of electric batteries, the intelligent current transfer solutions from Schunk Transit Systems are market leaders. Our compact roof-mounted pantographs with contacting based on the "bus-up" principle and the inverted pantographs with the "top-down" principle can automatically connect to the charging infrastructure in just five seconds. Depending on the general conditions, different contact units and power grids are used. Charging takes place almost exclusively with direct current, so that the charging power can be transferred with high current transmission and almost without energy loss. As a result, our automated charging systems are currently among the leading and most sophisticated recharging technology in public transport with battery-powered electric buses.
Underbody solutions make charging as easy as filling up
The biggest factor slowing the roll-out of e-mobility in the automotive industry is a lack of charging infrastructure. Either the infrastructure simply isn’t available yet, or the available charging stations take too much time and too much complex, manual operation. Schunk Transit Systems is addressing this challenge by developing the hands-free underbody solution. In the future, this charging system will allow vehicles to charge efficiently, safely and conveniently in just a few seconds – either at a public charging point or in your home garage. This is made possible by a charging station that can be installed into the driveway, the interface installed in the underbody of the vehicle and an extremely high power transmission. In addition to the greatly shortened charging time, the fully automated charging process is an outstanding feature. No more charging cables or plugs – the car is positioned automatically over the charging system and be charged autonomously.