A pair of professors at the University of Maryland Energy Research Center have been awarded a three-year, $460,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an onboard fast charger for EVs.

Professors Alireza Khaligh and Patrick McCluskey are collaborating with Steven Rogers of Genovation, an EV builder in nearby Rockville, Maryland on the project, which is called Integrated On-Board Universal SiC-based Fast Charging for Plug-In Electric Vehicles.

The idea is to design an integrated, universal onboard fast charger that’s compatible with all three charging levels: Level 1, Level 2 and DC Fast Charging.

The researchers expect the work to lead to theoretical advancements in the design of onboard high-power chargers, including control strategies to prevent torque generation during three-phase charging; innovative packaging and thermal management methods; and physics of failure mode analyses for wide band gap-based converters.

Source: University of Maryland, Green Car Congress