Charging your electric vehicle (EV) in 15 minutes? No problem.

As part of the Government's EV test bed program run by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA), ABB - a leading power and automation technology company headquartered in Switzerland - has installed some of the first EV fast chargers in Singapore, which serve as additions to the existing charging network installed across the island.  

ABB is a pioneer in intelligent charging solutions and has been involved in installations in over 30 countries, most notably in Estonia, where over 700 chargers - the world's largest ever EV infrastructure - have completed installation in 2012.

The ultimate aim of the test bed program is to test and gauge different electric prototypes and charging technologies in road conditions on our sunny island.

Fast charging minimises the time an EV is spent off the road charging. Furthermore, when fast chargers are part of a network, they alleviate owner anxieties regarding the distances that vehicles can cover.

Normal chargers take approximately eight hours to fully charge an EV such as the Nissan Leaf and they are only able to charge one or two vehicles per day. In contrast, fast chargers can deliver approximately 80 percent capacity charge in about 15 minutes. As a result, service capability is greatly increased to 10 or 15 vehicles a day.

Furthermore, ABB fast chargers are slimmer and take up less space, which is an important consideration for land scarcity.

These fast chargers can also be integrated with car grooming and car wash services where consumers can charge and groom their vehicles at the same time. During this interval, they may also shop or dine at the malls nearby, hence providing greater convenience for consumers. 

"We believe that Singapore has the ideal eco system for electric vehicles due to its compact size and modern infrastructure, as well as its aspirations to be one of the world's leading future cities. Adding more fast chargers to the electric vehicle infrastructure in Singapore will also accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles," said Haider Rashid, Country Manager, ABB Singapore. 

ABB fast chargers are located at the Motor Image showroom in Toa Payoh, the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Block S2 in Nanyang Technological University Campus, and at ABB Singapore Headquarters in Ayer Rajah Crescent.

Plans are also underway for the chargers to be open for public charging.