61 E-Mobility Engineering | September/October 2025 Fast charging | Deep insight The fast-charging power of EVs sold in China has increased up to fourfold from 30–120 to 60–480 kW over the past five years Modelling fast-charging stations in China China expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million chargers, including 3.3 million public chargers, by September 2024, achieving a ratio of one charger for every ∼2.5 EVs, with the charging power rising significantly in recent years. The increases in both EV charging power and numbers of charging facilities could pose challenges for regional power systems. A research team from China and the US analysed real-world charging data from over 15,000 EVs at fastcharging stations across 10 districts in Beijing using data from the Chinese Big Data Alliance of New Energy Vehicles (NDANEV) Open Lab. The team established scenarios for current and future EV specifications and charging parameters, considering factors such as charging power, battery energy and charging times. The modelling by the team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan and the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard challenged the assumptions of large fast-charging systems. They found that rather than doubling charging power leading to double the station load, the study showed that larger stations with more chargers experienced a relatively modest peak power increase of less than 30% when fast-charging power was doubled. This is because shorter charging sessions are less likely to overlap. For example, in a simulation of an airport charging station, as the maximum EV charging power increased tenfold from scenarios S1 to S7, the peak load increased by only a factor of 4.90. The researchers also investigated the situation when there is insufficient power capacity at charging stations. A dynamic waiting strategy can effectively decrease peak loads by delaying some charging sessions. For instance, at the airport EV charging station, with a total power capacity of 120 kW times the charger number, it can satisfy ultrafastcharging demands across the scenarios up to 2030 using only this strategy, with a reasonable increase in waiting times. “Just a few minutes of dynamic waiting or the use of energy storage with a high power-to-energy ratio can effectively manage surges in station loads,” said Yang Zhao, a researcher at Wuhan University. This technique is based on monitoring the whole process and dynamic control, with new arrivals added to a waiting list in order of their arrival. The readiness of the station to charge each vehicle in turn on the list is decided based on the existing load states and The scenarios for modelling ultrafast-charging stations (Image courtesy of the University of Wuhan)
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