If you own an EV in an urban area, your public charging options are often limited to slow AC chargers found in tight parking spaces that are too small for typical DC fast chargers. Now Gravity, the company that started a fleet of electric vehicle taxis in New York City in 2021, designed a compact, super-fast DC charging system for large, densely populated cities that can reduce charging time from hours to just minutes.
Gravity’s system includes small dispensing boxes the company calls “Distributed Energy Access Points,” which can be mounted above or in front of a parking spot and deliver up to a ridiculously high 500 kW of power. This compares to DC fast charging stations from other companies, which have larger stall units and max out at 350 kW.
No vehicle in North America can accept power greater than 350 kW, so Gravity is essentially future-proofing its configuration. Gravity Founder and CEO Moshe Cohen Says The edge in an email that is looking at China in terms of where technology is headed. “The equipment we install today should be ready for these vehicles to come to market in the near future, and not just for today’s slower models,” Cohen writes.
Tesla has its own urban Supercharger stands that are smaller than those at regular locations, but only max out at 72 kW. Cohen tells us that Gravity can charge Teslas up to 250kW with Tesla CCS adapters.
However, DC chargers for small stalls don’t work by magic; These systems have separate power units installed on site in locations that are less likely to compromise parking capacity. Cohen says Gravity has power cabinets that can be installed up to 500 feet from the dispensers installed in cars. Thick liquid-cooled cables run between the dispensers and the electrical cabinet.
Sure, AC chargers often work fine if you’re staying for several hours, but it would be nice to have more fast charging options within cities for quicker trips. Gravity’s first 500 kW charging facility will open in Midtown Manhattan this fall at a new flagship facility on West 42nd Street.
