Level 3 Direct Current (DC) Fast Charging

Level 3 DC fast chargers bypass the Onboard Charger (OBC) of the Electric Vehicle (EV) and directly charge the battery via the EV Battery Management System (BMS). Bypassing the OBC enables significantly higher charge rates, with charger output power ranging from 50 to 350 kW. Common output voltages are 400–800V, with newer EVs trending towards 800V batteries. Since Level 3 (L3) DC fast chargers must convert three-phase Alternating Current (AC) input voltage to DC, they include an AC-DC Power Factor Correction (PFC) front-end with an isolated DC-DC converter to interface the PFC output to the EV’s battery. Multiple power modules are often paralleled to achieve higher output power. The main benefit of L3 DC fast chargers is significantly reduced charge time with charge rates ranging from three to 20 miles per minute of charging.

Our digital power solutions and SiC MOSFETs and diodes enable designs that offer higher system efficiency and integration, high power density, advanced control loops and increased flexibility in various power topologies that are optimized for DC fast charger applications. In addition, we offer a wide selection of 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontroller (MCU), analog, power management, wireless and wired connectivity, energy metering, memory, security and Human-Machine Interface (HMI) solutions to complete any L3 DC fast charging design.