Arriving at the gas station, refueling, and being back on the road in less than five minutes. It's a common scene that repeats thousands of times daily. It's convenient, fast, and easy, although it also tends to be polluting and unsustainable. Because there isn't an alternative as simple as filling the tank with a polluting and expensive fuel. Or is there? Charging an electric vehicle in less than five minutes is going from being a utopia to a reality. The long road traveled so far to make charging faster and more convenient is getting shorter with contributions from various companies. The goal? To position the electric vehicle as an alternative to traditional combustion without battery charging being a hindrance. Among these companies making progress, Floox stands out, a brand from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat that has developed the most compact fast electric vehicle charger on the market with 60 kilowatts of power.
The spin-off of Premium PSU has invested two years in designing and developing this new product in its Zona Franca facilities, with a multicultural team of 15 engineers, mostly from Barcelona. The Lyra 60 will allow 80% of a battery to be charged in an estimated time of between 30 and 42 minutes, providing a range of about 250 kilometers.
The new charger, which will go on sale in 2024, has a weight and dimensions that allow it to be installed not only in the usual pedestal version but also offers the possibility of being anchored to the wall. Specifically, it weighs 80 kilos and measures 1.12 meters by 58.8 centimeters, and has two connectors to simultaneously charge two vehicles. It has been designed in Floox's metropolitan facilities and is manufactured with assemblers from Catalonia.
Thus, the production of Lyra 60 will be carried out entirely locally in the Barcelona area, and comes after two years of work by Floox. This process has included a commercial agreement with a Taiwanese partner expert in chargers, to test the market, open sales channels, and understand the needs of the end-user. Through this agreement, Floox has sold chargers from this company with modifications and under its brand. The result? They expect to close the year with sales of 1.5 million euros, "well above expectations," according to the founder and CEO of Floox, Jordi Gazo.
The forecast is that this year's sales figure will double next year, and do so again the following year. Thus, Gazo predicts that 2024 turnover will be three million euros, and that 2025 turnover will be six million. This amount takes into account sales of the new charger and also those of the Taiwanese partner's products. Specifically, they aim for Lyra 60 sales to reach 500,000 euros next year.
Floox aims to launch a new charger with different features every yearFor now, the L'Hospitalet company Floox offers its products at a Spanish level. Floox works with the forecast of starting to sell its own charger first in the national market in 2024, and to launch into internationalization in 2025, prioritizing Europe and South America, according to Gazo.
One charger a year as a goal
The Lyra 60 is not the final destination of the spin-off of Premium PSU, but rather Floox aims to launch a new charger each year, with different characteristics. While the one announced now has prioritized the relationship between size and power, next year it plans to present a more powerful charger, offering 80 to 240 kilowatts.
"Every year we will release a different product, until we complete the range we expect," according to Gazo. He aims to create a product with which a vehicle can be charged as fast as it is filled with gasoline, and hopes to achieve this by 2025. Thus, he aspires to compete with international companies that have achieved charges in five minutes. "I want to get here and, if we can, improve it."
Fast charging infrastructure
To advance in electric mobility, it is key to have a wide infrastructure of fast chargers. Users view electric vehicles with suspicion due to the concern of having to refuel on the road and not finding where to do it. "This user fear of the lack of fast infrastructure is a brake on making the transition to the electric modality," warns Gazo.
The expansion of fast charging infrastructure has bureaucracy and the lack of connection to the electrical grid as main obstacles"We are starting to install electric chargers at gas stations. Little by little, we are replacing pumps with chargers," despite the reluctance of some sectors, Gazo points out. Charging points are also being installed in spaces such as parking lots, hotels, and restaurants. This fast-charging infrastructure is not without obstacles, which prevent already installed points from being operational yet. Gazo assures that it is due to two factors: bureaucracy and documentation required by public administrations, and delays in connection to the electrical grid. If energy companies and administrations were to accelerate these processes, hundreds of charging points would become operational.