Electrify America has restored its full network of electric vehicle charging stations after a partial outage. It took most of its high-powered (150 kW and 350 kW) chargers offline Friday after supplier Huber+Suhner identified a “safety issue” linked to liquid-cooled charging cables.
“The recommendation from Huber+Suhner came following an isolated event experienced at a private test facility in Europe with an early prototype liquid-cooled cable, similar to those installed on some of Electrify America’s charging dispensers,” Electrify America said. According to Huber+Suhner, a plug in a high-power charging system had short-circuited.
“The safety of our customers is our highest priority,” Electrify America president and CEO Giovanni Palazzo said in a release. “Extensive testing throughout the weekend and Monday showed that the cables have met all industry standards for use, and as a result, we are bringing our entire network back to full capacity.”
Electrify America kept all of its charging stations open in some form, as they also offer lower-powered charging. Still, the outage shouldn’t have caused too much of a problem for most drivers, as production cars compatible with the faster charging aren’t publicly available, and some EVs already on the road can’t connect to the affected chargers anyway. In any case, many will likely find it reassuring Electrify America acted to nullify a potential safety issue while Huber+Suhner made sure the system worked properly.
Source: Electrify America (PDF), Huber+Suhner
