Overnight is rarely a depot’s charging problem: vans parked for ten hours charge fully on AC. The problem is the van that comes back at midday and has to go out again — it needs energy in an hour or two, not ten. A compact DC unit works as the depot’s turnaround lane: on the EV-RHDC30K-L, at 22 kW DC, an hour on its connector stores about 20 kWh before taper, without the supply or budget of a corridor fast charger.
Key Takeaways
- Depot AC owns the overnight charge; the compact DC connector owns the midday exception.
- At a sustained 22 kW, an hour stores about 20 kWh before taper — plan to a working level, not a full battery.
- One connector, one van: size the lane by counting your real midday exceptions, not by the fleet size.
- Each van’s DC acceptance sets its real rate; confirm the fitted connector matches your vans in writing.
The Turnaround Arithmetic
Plan the lane from the gap, not from the battery. Work out how much energy a van actually needs to finish its day, then divide by the charger’s ceiling. Allowing roughly 10% losses between the connector and the battery:
| Energy the van needs stored | Drawn at the connector | Time at a sustained 22 kW |
|---|---|---|
| 10 kWh | About 11 kWh | About 30 minutes |
| 20 kWh | About 22 kWh | About 1 hour |
| 30 kWh | About 33 kWh | About 1 hour 30 minutes |
This is labelled ceiling arithmetic. It assumes the van asks for the full rate the whole time, which real vans do not: DC charging tapers as the battery fills, so the last part of any session runs slower. Plan turnarounds to a working level — enough for the afternoon’s route — rather than to a full battery.
One DC Lane, Rows of AC
The layout that works is a division of labour. The AC row does the fleet’s real charging overnight, where hours are free and speed buys nothing — depot AC sizing for vans is a solved question. The single DC connector covers the exceptions the row cannot:
- The van that missed its overnight plug-in and starts the day short.
- A late return facing an early second shift, with no ten-hour window to recover in.
- A vehicle swapped in from another site or a pool van covering a breakdown.
One connector serves one van at a time, so the lane runs on a rota — your document, set by whoever dispatches the fleet. Size it by counting a month of midday exceptions, not by fleet size.
The Van Sets the Real Rate
The station’s 22 kW is a ceiling, not a promise. Each van’s DC acceptance is set by the van: a model that accepts less DC takes proportionally longer on the same connector, and every van tapers as it fills. Before you plan shift patterns around the lane, check each model’s DC charging capability in its own handbook and note it on the rota. A van that DC-charges slowly is not a fault and not a surprise — it is a planning input. How DC fast chargers work explains why the vehicle, not the post, shapes the session curve.
The EV-RHDC30K-L as the Turnaround Lane
The EV-RHDC30K-L is a floor-standing DC charger rated at 22 kW on its product page, with a single connector, an LCD and an IP54 enclosure for depot yards. It speaks OCPP 1.6J, so turnaround sessions land in the same platform records as the rest of the fleet’s charging — your platform arrangement, on your terms. It carries the 3-year standard warranty. One check matters more than any other for a fleet: the listing does not name the DC connector standard, so confirm in writing that the fitted connector matches your vans before ordering.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a substitute for DC fast charging on a route?
No. At 22 kW it sits below the U.S. DOT’s 50–350 kW DC fast band. It is a depot tool for shift gaps — energy between duties at base — not en-route charging, where the comparison of charging levels shows corridor DC is the fit.
Can one unit turn the whole fleet around at midday?
No. One connector charges one van at a time, so an hour of midday buys roughly one van’s turnaround. The lane is sized for exceptions; if every van needs a midday charge every day, the problem is the overnight plan, not the lane.
Will every van charge at the full 22 kW?
Only a van whose DC acceptance reaches 22 kW, and only while its battery is low enough to ask for it. Acceptance and taper set the real session; the station’s figure is the ceiling it cannot exceed.
Related Reading
- Fleet Depot Charging: How to Size AC Chargers for Vans and Light Commercial Vehicles
- How Do DC Fast Chargers Work?
- Level 1 vs Level 2 vs DC Fast Charging: A Practical Comparison
