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Look at the size of this!!

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The Tesla Semi chargers cables and connectors are not this big.




Cavotec And Brugg eConnect Present 3 MW MCS Connector​

This thing is huge.​



By: Mark Kane

Two Swiss companies - Cavotec and Brugg eConnect - unveiled at the Bauma trade fair in Munich, Germany their Megawatt Charging System (MCS) connector.

The MCS was officially launched by CharIN at the EVS35 in Oslo, Norway in June, and was recently introduced also in North America, although the industry still has to wait until 2023 for the first pilot stations and until 2024 for the first commercial fast charging stations.

The MCS has been designed to carry up to 3,000 A at up to 1,250 V, which translates into a theoretical power output of 3.75 MW (3,750 kW). That's a very high power level, which is needed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, like trucks, buses, agricultural, construction and mining vehicles, as well as potentially ships and aircraft.

According to the two partners, the presented MCS connector is the first system that achieved a sustainable current of 3,000 A for 3 MW power level (at 1,000 V).

Jörn Bullert, Cavotec Vice President Product Management, Charging Solutions said:
“MCS enables the safe and quick connection of heavy-duty vehicles and ships to electrical power in a reliable, ergonomic unit. As the most powerful system on the market, MCS significantly reduces typical charging times, thereby minimising downtime,”.
The first thing that caught our attention is the size of the plug, which makes the CHAdeMO plug look kind of small and surely impressed visitors. There is even a special handle because due to size and weight, plugging it in might require two hands.

We guess that lower-power units (for 350 kW or 1 MW) will be smaller than the 3 MW version) - at least the demonstration prototypes were.
Cavotec Megawatt Charging System (MCS) connector

The plug has a triangular connection to the charging inlet. We can see massive DC lines, with some additional communication pins and an active cooling system for the cable and the connector (plug side). Cavotec and Brugg eConnect is using a water-glycol solution as the cooling fluid.

The inlet side has a passive cooling system, and as we understand - the vehicle manufacturer must prepare its own passive or active cooling for the on-board cable between the charging inlet and the battery pack (which probably in almost all cases of heavy-duty vehicles has its own liquid cooling system).
Screenshot 2022-12-31 at 3.48.14 PM.png

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According to Brugg eConnect, functional prototypes will be available for order from January, so the charger manufacturers will be able to perform their internal tests ahead of launching MCS DC fast chargers.

Here are additional images posted by Brugg eConnect:
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We are very curious about the Tesla Semi Megawatt charging connector because potentially it will be compatible with the CharIN's MCS, but with a different design.

The Tesla Semi is just around the corner, while the first stations are already installed in a few locations.
 
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I'm guessing too much loud music has had bad effects on your brain.

Unfortunately it doesn't drown you out. But I keep trying!

That one picture with the comically large connector is pretty funny. But all the other pictures are of a reasonably sized handle with the same size plug.

Moving more power requires more copper. They can only jack up the volts so high before they start having other problems.

Take a look at some other big connectors. There's a lot of safety to consider. 100A marine connectors are quite large, for example. And they usually aren't getting plugged and unplugged several times per day.
 
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The Tesla Semi chargers cables and connectors are not this big.
Pretty close to it, and that is most likely what they will be using in the near future. Currently at least one of the Tesla Megachargers have a version of the MCS plug on their cables that is just before that version. At some point maybe they will update the plugs and ports to the newer MCS, which is that one shown in the picture.
 
Got a pic?
I'm sure you've posted links to them before...



It is just the prior revision of the triangular MCS connector:

tesla-semi-megachargers-frito-lay-pepsico-modesto-12-scaled.jpg
 
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