Customer requirements such as range anxiety and charging time are the driver for increasing the charging power of battery-electric vehicles (BEV). High-performance charging (HPC) theoretically enables time targets of faster than 30 kilometers (19 miles) recharging per minute. Due to physical limitations (i.e., current limits of the components) a charging power of more than 200 kilowatt arises the question of the voltage level required to fulfill the power demand. One possible approach to achieve a high charging power is increasing the battery voltage, i.e., increase the voltage level from 400 V to 800 V. This publication discusses the main aspects of charging by incorporating all high-voltage components in the vehicle. An increase of the voltage level and charging power affect all high-voltage components. The thermal management of the battery has to be considered. High-voltage vehicle architecture design considerations are discussed including thermal-management and battery-design aspects. Different charging characteristics from electric vehicles (EVs) available, are compared with an estimated fast charging profile which is based on theoretical background of available cells including consideration of physical and chemical limits (e.g., thermal-limits, cell-degradation). Additionally, higher-performance charging (HPC) also require consideration of the public charging infrastructure. Extending the technical point of view with customer values, the charging efficiency is considered including the infrastructure. Furthermore, customer acceptance and market forecasts are considered. Higher voltage levels enable higher power also for other components in the vehicle, such as the electric drives, high-voltage heaters, compressors and voltage converters. To determine the optimum voltage level, for a reference vehicle used in this paper, all those considerations are compared in the discussion. Focusing on the early development phase of a complete vehicle, criteria for conceptual design considerations are discussed incorporating the high-voltage vehicle architecture and the battery from the thermal point of view.
