Date: 7/10/2023
By: Zachary Potter
zachary.potter@meanwellusa.com

Industry: EV Charging
Application: Outdoor Displays
Power Solution: HEP series and HLG Series
 
CUSTOMER PAIN POINTS:
Multiple EV charging stations are critical for EV survival and progression. Charging locations helps promote green energy and a smoother transition from ICE to EV. More Locations make it easier and more efficient it is to accept these changes. Utilizing Outdoor parking lots makes a big impact on this network.
With the booming demand for EV and the chargers for them. Quick design and production were a massive key in customers’ requirements. Needing to design and test quickly to get something in production was very important for this competitive field. Unfortunately lead times were stacking up due to the global component shortage. This made it very difficult to get designs underway.
Outdoors and power supplies don’t always agree and putting power supplies into encloses dramatically increases the cost of the design. Having something already IP rated would save manufacturers time and money. But during the shortage, there weren’t a lot of power supplies to pick from and even less IP rated ones. Starting a new design and ensuring that manufacturers could get samples and production was increasingly difficult. Due to the long lead times and the large range of power supplies requirements, a leading outdoor display manufacture reached out to MEAN WELL to help select and design in power supplies for their EV charger customer base.
 
 
 
POWER SOLUTION:
The MEAN WELL HEP and HLG Series are similar families. They have the same encloses to battle the elements with IP65, IP67, or even IP68 options. The HLG/HEP has an input of 90~305VAC and a large array of output voltages (12~54). HEP has a 6-year warranty, while the HLG has a 7-year warranty. The HLG/HEP are some of the most reliable units on the market. The manufacturer needed samples to get started on the project. However, there wasn’t enough HLG to support their demand. Starting with using the HEP and then transferring the HLG would enable the manufacturer to get their product in critical places first.
 



Additionally, the higher wattage models (>1000W) of the HEP product family also support communication protocols (CANBus or PMBus), which enabled the remote monitoring and controlling of the power supplies. The IP rating and communication capabilities enabled seamless design into systems that are both robust and intelligent.
 
CONCLUSION:
MEAN WELL’s HEP/HLG Series was able to meet the EV chargers needs and rapid build time to take advantage of a needed infrastructure. MEAN WELL’s high reliability and fast lead time made it and must have for the manufacturer when designing the EV charger. This case study demonstrates the capability of MEAN WELL and its products to excel in harsh environments. Even if those include shortages, rain or quick production. MEAN WELL will continue to advance with the times of innovation and optimization, and it is our mission to provide the best cost/performance value of standard power supplies and services.