Collaboration between AST International and PIONIX brings maximum speed, precision and reliability to fast charging stations
At the latest Power2Drive Europe 2024, the leading international trade fair for charging infrastructure and electric mobility, PIONIX and AST International announced that they are further intensifying their collaboration. Earlier this year, the companies already announced a joint proof of concept. Thanks to a specially developed software driver, AST's calibration-compliant DC meter works out of the box in charging stations powered by PIONIX's BaseCamp operating system.
The advantage of fast charging stations is obvious: Short charging times thanks to high charging power. A central component of these powerful columns are direct current meters (DC meters), which ensure continuous and precise measurement of the high currents and voltages in charging stations. The DC meter from AST shows its strengths not only at high currents and voltages, but across the entire measuring range. AST International is one of the technology leaders and a proven development partner for leading companies in the energy infrastructure, industrial and mobility sectors worldwide.
The AST DC Meter is utilized in rapid and ultra-rapid charging stations and is certified in accordance with German calibration law, MID 2014/32/EU. The AST DC Meter is certified in accordance with the following standards: EN 50470-4, IEC 62052-31, and UL 61010. We are pleased to announce that the DC Meter will also be certified in accordance with French calibration law (Décision n° 22.00.570.001.1 du 1er mars 2022) in time for Power2Drive. In addition to precise and certified hardware components such as the AST DC Meter, standardized software solutions are crucial for a robust and permanently efficient charging infrastructure.
PIONIX develops software and firmware solutions that form the backbone of the charging infrastructure. What makes PIONIX's solutions so special is that they are based on the open source technology EVerest. The EVerest project, launched by PIONIX in 2021, is now part of the Linux Foundation Energy and is being used by the US government agency Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to develop a standardized reference implementation for the national charging infrastructure.
The EVerest project is a global collaboration between companies, public institutions, and universities in the e-mobility sector. The goal is to develop a freely accessible operating system for charging stations. This model has already proven itself in other areas of technology, including IT infrastructure, web browsers, and operating systems for mobile phones.
The software driver developed by PIONIX allows for seamless integration of the AST DC Meter into DC charging stations that run on the PIONIX operating system, thereby optimizing the performance of the devices. The advantages for manufacturers include:
- Maximum speed, as there is no integration effort and development times are reduced.
- High reliability, as the integration is maintained, including any necessary adjustments, e.g. in the event of changes to the DC Meter or the underlying software basis.
- High flexibility, as all AST DC Meter product variants can be easily integrated.
- High performance, as the AST DC Meters are fully supported.
Jan Heuser, Head of Sales & Project Management at AST International GmbH, says, "We wanted our DC meters to work seamlessly with PIONIX solutions. Our goal is to make it easy for customers to integrate our high-precision, high-performance DC meters for the charging infrastructure, so they can get the most out of their charging stations."
"We have ambitious goals: to develop the Android for charging stations and help advance the charging infrastructure and electromobility. A strong network of top suppliers is key to making this happen, and we've found just the right partner in AST," adds Marco Möller, CEO and co-founder of PIONIX.
