ABB launches world’s fastest EV charger

ZURICH — ABB has launched the world’s fastest electric-car charger, the Swiss engineering company said, as it presses ahead with plans to float the business which could be valued at around $3 billion.

The company’s new Terra 360 modular charger can charge up to four vehicles at once and can fully charge any EV within 15 minutes, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The device, which can deliver 62 miles of range in less than 3 minutes, will be available in Europe by the end of the year, the company said.

The U.S., Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions are due to follow in 2022.

CEO Bjorn Rosengren said in July that investor materials for the IPO of its EV charging business will be ready in the fourth quarter of this year, with a potential flotation targeted for early 2022.

ABB has seen rising demand for chargers and has sold more than 460,000 units across more than 88 markets since it entered the e-mobility business in 2010.

The company wants to keep a controlling stake in the electro-charging business but is seeking a spinoff to help with acquisitions of both software and hardware companies and attract capital for quick growth.

Reuters has reported ABB’s vehicle charging business, which had sales of $220 million in 2020, could achieve a valuation of about $3 billion in a flotation.

ABB is perhaps known most in the auto industry for its assembly line robots.