Kevin Bai, associate professor of electrical engineering, and his research team are working with Ford Motor Company and Wolfspeed to design a 1-megawatt ultra-fast charger for electric vehicles. Wolfspeed is the power and radio frequency segment of North Carolina-based Cree, a manufacturer of LED lighting and components.
According to an article on the website Talk, Business & Politics, “The new device is expected to charge electric vehicle batteries in about four minutes, similar to the amount of time one might spend at a gas station and much faster than some of the fastest electric car chargers on the market, such as the Tesla Supercharger, which requires about 30 minutes for a charge.” The project is led by Wolfspeed and sponsored by ARPA-E. Bai’s research team will provide the control strategy and simulation design for the project.