Reconfigurable Battery Charger With a Wide Voltage Range for Universal Electric Vehicle Charging Applications

The extant battery chargers are incompatible with the current and next-generation electric vehicles (EVs) due to disparities in their battery pack voltages. This letter introduces a new reconfigurable battery charger to charge the existing and next-generation EV battery packs with the same power rating, only one relay and a filter capacitor branch, unlike existing solutions where many passive and active components are utilized for reconfiguration. Also, the proposed configuration avoids a large grid-side filter requirement due to boost-buck configuration. Furthermore, a mode switching-based control scheme is proposed to operate the charger in an extremely wide voltage range with the possibility of intermediate battery voltage charging options. The MATLAB simulations and experimental studies on a 1.3-kW silicon carbide mosfet-based laboratory prototype reveal the feasibility of the proposed reconfigurable charger for low-, medium-, and high-voltage EV battery pack charging.

Automated summary

This letter introduces a new reconfigurable battery charger that can charge existing and next-generation EV battery packs with the same power rating. It uses only one relay and a filter capacitor branch, avoiding the need for many passive and active components for reconfiguration. The charger's configuration also avoids the need for a large grid-side filter and can operate in an extremely wide voltage range with intermediate battery voltage charging options.