Design considerations for fast AC battery chargers

Proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) is tightly associated to the fast charging of their batteries. Both high-power DC and AC supply options are envisaged for the fast charging of the EV batteries, each of them having different features. This paper considers the AC supply option and deals with the main issues that it poses like an onboard high-power battery charger and its impact on the grid. To face with these issues, a possible arrangement for the battery chargers consists in the integral use of the inverter bound to supply the traction motor and in the proper conditioning of the current absorbed from the grid. In the paper, design considerations for this arrangement are given and applied to the case study of a purely electric, mid-size car.