ABB E-mobility & egrave; the reason why San Giovanni Valdarno officially becomes one of the protagonists of mobility; electricity in Italy. & Egrave; the most important plant was inaugurated here large manufacturer for the production of direct current charging stations, the & quot; super fast & quot; columns who find in Terra 360 the product of excellence.
Less than two years have passed, it was July 2020, from the start of the construction site to the complete construction of the plant that is today fully productive. Valdarno & egrave; the latest in one of the company's many stages: in 2010 it is the first 50 kW charger was developed, in 2012 & egrave; was one of the founders of the CCS Alliance and so on, up to the first liquid-cooled HPC (2018), directional charging in 2020 and the new Terra 360 station in 2021. Europe accounts for 50% of turnover for l & # 39; # 39; company, followed by the Americas (27%) and the Asian continent (23%).
THE SYSTEM NUMBERS 
the & quot; paradise & quot; for those who have an & # 39; electric car . Each station has its own type 2 socket for charging in alternating current, with photovoltaic panels installed on the structures that shade the cars, protecting them from the sun and exploiting it at the same time; power. I connect the cable and dwell on the numbers of this plant in the heart of Italy: 16,000 square meters of surface, they say there is an investment of 30 million dollars behind it.
ABB E-Mobility, the division dedicated to mobility company, has sold 680,000 charging stations so far and Valdarno & egrave; the weapon to double the capacity productive: here you can realize more & ugrave; 10,000 charging stations in DC every year, at the rate of one every 20 minutes thanks to the 7 production lines.
We don't talk about & ograve; production only: the plant also has an area where Research & amp; Development in addition to the realization of the prototypes of the & quot; columns of the future & quot ;; there are 15 test areas that can simulate 400 charging sessions per day.
SUSTAINABILITY? 
Producing for mobility electricity would not make sense if there was no sustainable project behind it. While waiting for all national electricity to be clean, today the Valdarno plant does its part by aiming for LEED gold level certification for eco-friendly buildings.
The sustainable aspects of the Valdarno facility include the collection of rainwater for irrigation, 100% recycling of production waste and a production of 720 MWh electricity, given that it translates into a saving in terms of CO2 emitted of 338 tons.
Going into detail the estimated production peak is; of 600 kWp and all & egrave; managed by software that controls 9,000 devices (a device can be a lamp, an equipment, a charging socket and so on). The software allows you to manage each device in order to optimize consumption and promote energy saving.
The company fleet is; of 15 vehicles shared for employees, while those who own the electric car can & ograve; exploit the 68 AC charging stations and 14 DC stations .
TERRA 360: 100 KM IN 3 MINUTES 
Call it a small column & egrave; actually a little reductive. Terra 360 presents itself as the flagship of the charging stations, and it is; also the weapon that promises to scratch the resistances of those who continue to complain about reload times. With this charging station, equipped with CCS Combo sockets with liquid-cooled cables, you can recharge 100 km in 3 minutes, reaching a maximum power of 360 kW.
The station allows you to charge up to 4 cars at the same time with a dynamic power management system that varies according to needs; and the state of charge (in addition to the maximum accepted power) of the cars simultaneously connected.
FUTURE PROJECTS 
ABB is not; hardware only : if & egrave; true that the company is born with AC/DC charging, over time it & egrave; evolved (also through acquisitions), both with digital services for consumers and businesses, and with proposals in terms of fleet management and energy management. The Valdarno plant itself uses the ABB suite of services which balances the use of energy by combining the needs of the factory with those of the cars being charged in the car parks, all starting from production using photovoltaics and the relative load balancing. at different times of the day.
The future sees ABB engaged in various projects. The & quot; megawatt charging & quot; & egrave; the one that aims to create charging stations for the electrification of heavy transport, with a new standard that supports very fast recharges up to 3MW , a leap of 10x compared to the commercial power delivered today by stations like Terra 360.
The second pillar is; that of stability of the network, for which they are already; V2G projects throughout Europe are underway, paving the way for the scenario in which this technology will become; fundamental due to the high number of electric cars on the road.
At the level of charging stations, then, an ongoing project plans to recharge 200 km in 5 minutes using a new two-phase liquid cooling system. Finally there & # 39; & egrave; all the part of the software where it will become; It is essential to offer applications and services that do not require technical knowledge to those who use the electric car, be it a consumer or a company. Broadening the time horizon, there are then the studies, now experimental, related to VTOLs, electric navigation and automation.
PRODUCTION AND RESEARCH 
production plant ; of those at the forefront, with component tracking and management software of all systems, so to improve the quality & agrave; of products. In the research laboratory , which occupies 3,200 square meters, synergies between development and production can be exploited for more feedback. fast projects, as well as embracing the philosophy of & quot; design for manufacturing & quot; because & eacute; who manages the production lines & egrave; already in contact with those who study and engineer new products.
Production test laboratories have up to 2.5 MW of power and climatic chambers ranging from -40 & deg; a + 70 & deg; (100 & deg; those of R & amp; D) where the thermal cycles alternate so that & eacute; stations can withstand the fluctuations of real life.
In terms of security finally, c & # 39; & egrave; also an EMC laboratory that tests the electromagnetic emissions of products which, inevitably, are used in situations where they are in contact with the public. Also through the climatic chambers, then, you can & ograve; simulate a life cycle corresponding to 10 real years in less than six months, thus; to test the robustness of the solution over time.
In the production line we mention the semi-automated warehouse, the production of internal and automated electronic boards and a strong focus on the testing phase after production: if the charger is; from 360 kW, the end-of-line tests are performed with the maximum power for each product.
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