Polar Power (POLA) Launches New Line of Mobile Electric Vehicle Chargers
Polar Power Inc. (POLA) today announced it is now taking advance orders for its new line of mobile Combined Charging System Electric Vehicle chargers, which are expected to be available before the end of the first quarter of 2024. Mobile EV chargers are used for emergency roadside service providing a fast-charging solution for EVs that have run out of charge before reaching a stationary charging facility. The goal is not to fully charge the vehicle but place a sufficient charge allowing the vehicle to proceed to the nearest charging station; this being analogous to the can of gasoline provided to stranded motorists.
Polar is currently upgrading its mobile CHAdeMO EV chargers to the universal CCS standard to meet the larger market opportunity. Because of the supply chain shortages and long delivery of engines and electronics, Polar is taking orders for shipments starting in the first quarter of 2024.
Since 2011 Polar has sold its CHAdeMO chargers to most of the major U.S. automakers for fast charging their EVs during field testing. The performance advantage Polar provided to mobile EV charging was a significant reduction in the charging system’s size, weight, fuel consumption (for both the charger and vehicle transporting the charger), and system cost. Using the Polar system, a complete charging system can be deployed on the back of a small pickup truck relative to alternative solutions requiring a large trailer towed by a truck or tractor/trailer. The Polar mobile EV charger technology is DC based and is less than half the weight and size of an AC generator coupled to an AC to DC charger.
The other alternate solution to an EV running out of power on the road is a flatbed truck to transport the vehicle to the nearest charging station. This is a cumbersome solution requiring a considerable time to load the EV, transport it, and unload it at the charging station. In aggregate, this can take hours and to exacerbate the situation, in many cities, there is a long wait for flatbed truck availability. Using a mobile EV charger allows a small van or pickup truck to perform a 15-to-30-minute charge (about the same time required to only load the vehicle on to the flatbed truck) allowing the motorist to drive to a charging station, which is a substantially more elegant and cost-effective solution. In fact, the Polar EV chargers are small enough to be installed on tow trucks / wreckers or on a small pickup or van. Polar expects this will substantially accelerate the establishments of fleets to serve the fast-growing EV market.
The first sizes to ship will be 15 kW and 30 kW using either propane, natural gas, or diesel. Polar’s next generation of DC alternators, its 9000 series, is in test with 50 kW charging output. These chargers are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2024.
Mr. Arthur D. Sams, CEO of the Company, comments, “There is a large number of gas stations in our cities and highways with short lines where it takes only minutes to refuel yet there are still a substantial number of drivers that run out of fuel,” said Polar Power CEO Arthur Sams. “I am intimately familiar with the challenges as an EV owner myself for the past 8 years and I know that keeping a charge in your vehicle requires an extra effort. There have been many times that I arrived at the charging station with less than 5 miles of charge remaining in the vehicle and I expect this is a familiar comment from many EV owners”.
“One factor causing EVs to run out of charge is commonly referred to as phantom discharge or vampire drain; EV owners can experience continued battery discharge while the vehicle is parked. My EV loses up to 10 miles a day while my car is parked at the airport, so I must make sure there is sufficient charge to manage the time away from the vehicle and the charge needed to get home. The factors causing phantom discharge vary from EV to EV, including preconditioning and temperature regulation of the battery and cabin interior, security cameras, charging the onboard 12 Vdc battery, and miscellaneous apps. As soon as I figure out the setting to reduce my phantom discharges, a software update comes along and seems to switch them on again. In addition to the EV owners’ needs for mobile charging there are the needs of EV manufacturers, transportation logistics, and dealer sales lots. When the automotive manufacturing plant ships an EV there can be problems with dead batteries due to long storage and transportation time, mobile chargers are needed at the docks, storage yards, and the dealerships. Fleet vehicle operators need mobile chargers to maintain and service their fleet.
Mr. Sams concluded, “Many EV owners are burdened with range anxiety, and we can provide a cost-effective and easily accessible solution to give owners greater comfort through emergency on-road charging solutions using our power technology platform. The incumbent solution frequently leads to bad experiences for EV owners who have faced very long waits for a flatbed truck to haul their EV to a charging station, keeping in mind that most EVs are not even towable with standard tow trucks. Overall, we see this as a substantial market opportunity for us by providing the enabling technology to solve this real-world problem that will only become more prevalent with the proliferation of EVs.
We believe supplying each city in the USA with just one mobile EV charger represents a huge market potential.”
This story originally appeared on Investing
