Dump charging

Dump charging is a method of charging an electric vehicle's battery pack at a higher rate than is possible with standard grid connections and battery chargers. High capacity grid connections such as those found at businesses and industry buildings with high demands can also approach these power levels. The method uses a large stationary or mobile battery pack which can be used to transfer energy at a high rate to the vehicle's battery. A charger or a wire can be used to regulate the power flow from a higher voltage battery into the lower voltage of the vehicle's battery. Dump charging was a precursor used by BEV drag racers at the race track in the 1990s to rapidly refuel a car between quarter mile runs. It could be considered an early version of direct current fast charge (DCFC) such as CHAdeMO, CCS, or Tesla Supercharger used to refuel a BEV's battery as rapidly as possible, limited only by the battery chemistry and thermal management systems. This method is commonly used during road trips in production BEVs to refuel in under a half an hour for a few hundred miles of additional range. Modern DCFC installations often leverage a large capacity stationary battery to reduce high cost demand charges from grid connections.