Chargtek/Technology
Where charging is going
Sites built to 2019 specs are
already obsolete.
Charging power has moved roughly an order of magnitude in six years, and the ground work has to anticipate it. Six shifts we are designing around right now — and what each one changes about construction, which is the part most charging websites skip.
Architecture
1,000 volts is the new floor
Production platforms now run 1,000 V DC bus architectures and accept up to 1 MW at peak — roughly 10% to 70% state of charge in about five minutes. What it changes on site: conductor sizing, clearances, and cabinet pads all change at this voltage class. A pad poured for a 150 kW cabinet does not accept a megawatt-class one; a pad designed for both costs almost the same on day one.
Heavy duty
The megawatt tier is arriving
The Megawatt Charging System specifies up to 1,250 V and 3,000 A — roughly 3.75 MW — under IEC 63379, with standardization landing in 2026, on ISO 15118-20 communications. Class 8 trucking, transit, marine and mining all need it. What it changes on site: duct-bank cross-sections, transformer pads and switchgear rooms sized for current an order of magnitude above today's dispensers. We reserve the pathway now; the dispenser comes when it comes.
Connectors
The NACS transition, handled properly
SAE J3400 (NACS) was standardized in 2023 and OEMs adopted it from model year 2025 — but CCS1 vehicles stay on the road for roughly a decade. What it changes on site: dual-standard dispensing is the correct build. Bay geometry and cable management have to serve both connectors without stranding a stall, and that is a layout decision made at design, not a retrofit.
Grid
Battery-buffered sites beat the queue
Behind-the-meter storage lets a site deliver high peak power on a smaller utility service — cutting demand charges and, more importantly, cutting years off an interconnection wait. Increasingly this is the difference between a site that gets built and one that sits in a queue. What it changes on site: a battery yard needs its own pad, clearances, and fire-code setbacks, and the switchgear has to be designed around it from the first one-line.
Driver experience
Plug & Charge, not another app
ISO 15118-20 authenticates the vehicle at the cable. No app, no card, no failed session. Combined with OCPP 2.0.1 on the back end, it is the single biggest lever on measured site uptime. What it changes on site: network architecture and back-end selection stop being an afterthought — they get specified with the switchgear.
Flexibility
Managed and bidirectional charging
V1G smart charging shifts load off peak; V2G lets a depot fleet answer back to the grid. What it changes on site: both need metering, communications and switchgear provisioned from day one. Retrofitting bidirectional capability into a yard that wasn't designed for it is expensive enough that it usually doesn't happen.
Design for what's coming