Fastned Temporarily Shuts Down 175 kW Chargers With Liquid Cooled Cables

HUBER+SUHNER investigates potential safety issue with liquid cooled cables

HUBER+SUHNERS, the supplier of liquid cooled cables/plugs for CCS Combo ultra fast chargers (150-350 kW) issued a recommendation for its customers worldwide to stop using those cables, as the company investigates potential safety issue.

First, we saw the announcement from Electrify America, which decided to shut down most of its chargers (only 50 kW CCS, CHAdeMO and AC Level 2 remain operational). In Europe, Fastned also announced that temporarily shut down of 175 kW chargers. In the case of Fastned, operational are all 50 kW chargers and a small number of 175 kW, which had cables from another supplier.

We can assume that other charging networks also decided on a temporarily shut down.

According to the supplier, a “safety issue was identified with a cable from an old sample series that has a different design and which were tested against less stringent standards”. It’s not known whether the majority of chargers will need a fix or just double check to confirm everything is safe.

For the charging operators such problems could significantly impact their business – in the case of Electrify America especially, ultra fast chargers were shut down at about 90 stations, making them useless for CCS-compatible cars (besides a small number of 50 kW CCS).

Press release:

Fastned temporarily shuts down 175 kW chargers as supplier investigates potential safety issue with cables

At the recommendation of HUBER+SUHNER, the supplier of our liquid cooled charger cables, we have decided to temporarily shut down a number of chargers. The recommendation was issued to all of HUBER+SUHNERS’ customers using the technology worldwide.

The shutdown only concerns the 175 kW chargers with liquid cooled cables. Our 50 kW CCS/CHAdeMO/AC chargers are not impacted and available for use. This means that customers can still charge at all Fastned stations. Some 175 kW chargers with different cables also remain available.

Although we understood from the supplier that the safety issue was identified with a cable from an old sample series that has a different design and which were tested against less stringent standards, we still decided last night to shut down the use of all liquid cooled cables as a precaution to allow the supplier to investigate and confirm the safety of the cables we use.

We regret having to take this decision, but the safety of our customers is our primary concern. We will keep you up-to-date via social media, our website and email.

Fastned charging station