The Impact of High-Power Charging Cables on Temperature Generation

China [CN]

When electric vehicles are fast-charged at high power, charging cables carry high currents and generate significant heat. This heat accumulation causes the cables to heat up, shortening their service life and even causing physical damage, leading to accidents such as leakage. This paper establishes a numerical model of the thermal process in charging cables and simulates their temperature field. The results show that standard cables are reliable when maintaining the rated charging current. However, if the charging power and current are increased, the temperature of the cable insulation exceeds the upper limit of safety, making it unsafe to operate and requiring additional heat dissipation measures.

High-power fast charging of electric vehicles significantly affects the temperature of charging cables. Energy conversion and loss occur during the transmission of electrical energy in charging cables, generating heat. Therefore, the temperature of the charging cables increases with increasing charging power.

When electric vehicles are charged using high-power fast charging, the charging power typically reaches over 100 kilowatts, and can even reach over 350 kilowatts. These high-power charging modes require large-diameter, highly conductive cables to transmit power. These cables generate significant resistive losses during power transmission, which in turn generates heat, leading to increased cable temperature. If the cable temperature rises too quickly or exceeds a certain range, it can adversely affect the cable, causing insulation damage, deformation, and aging. These issues can compromise the cable's safety and even cause serious accidents such as fires.

Therefore, to ensure the safety and reliability of high-power fast charging for electric vehicles, it is necessary to rationally design and select charging cables to ensure they can withstand high-power charging scenarios. Cable temperature monitoring and control are also necessary to ensure they remain within a safe range. Furthermore, it is important to strengthen the maintenance and care of charging equipment, and promptly replace aging or damaged cables to ensure proper operation.

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