(Yicai Global) April 20 -- Shanghai Highly New Energy Technology unveiled an 800-volt electrically driven temperature control compressor at the ongoing Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition to meet the latest requirements for fast charging in the new energy vehicle sector.

The ETH45 compressor can reach a maximum voltage of 850V, which is more than double the current industry standard of 400V, the Shanghai-based company said. It has a displacement of 45 cubic centimeters and a rotation speed of 600 to 10,000 revolutions per minute. It can work at temperatures below minus 30 degrees Celcius.

The compressor will first be used on new energy heavy-duty trucks made by Geely Holding’s Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicles Group. Vehicles equipped with the compressor are expected to be mass produced from February next year.

Compressors are the heart of thermal management in electric vehicles, important for the temperature control of the e-drive and thus crucial for the service life, charging speed and cruising range of the battery.

Eight-hundred-volt compressors can conserve energy and enable efficient and fast charging, but high voltage has high requirements, said Highly New Energy Chair Zhu Haoli. The cars’ battery, motor and electric control systems need to be re-designed and adjusted to adapt to a high-voltage platform.

Highly New Energy’s compressors are already being used in passenger and commercial vehicles made by Hangzhou-based Geely, Great Wall Motor and Yutong Bus. There are currently over one million autos using the firm’s compressors and this could rise to two million by the end of this year, Zhu said.

And prospects are good. China’s NEV 800V technology occupied only 2 percent of the market last year but it is expected to jump to 15 percent in 2025 and 50 percent in 2029, according to the Gasgoo Auto Research Institute.

In order to keep up with the anticipated demand, the firm is building a new plant in Wuhu, eastern Anhui province with an annual output of 5 million compressors to hike capacity.

With Highly New Energy as one of its core automobile parts subsidiaries, the parent firm Shanghai Highly (Group) had its automobile parts business logging revenue of CNY2.3 billion (USD342.9 million) in the first six months last year, accounting for 27.4 percent of the firm’s total. The company’s goal is to raise this to half of total revenue by 2025, it said. And Highly New Energy’s aim is to rank among the top three new energy automobile electric compressors by then.

Editor: Kim Taylor