The grid upgrade can cost millions for a DC fast charging station.
The inverter to make the DC power can cost 100,000.
Why not skip all this and have a diesel engine coupled to a 400V DC generator, thereby skipping the inverter and grid upgrade?
I think this would be cheaper, and lower capex and operational costs. Not to mention, most streets have natural gas lines which could power the diesel engines with a cheap and clean burning fuel. Natural Gas is very cheap around 4c/kwh. A 20% efficient generator, would yield 16c/kwh.
Natural gas is relatively clean burning, as compared to coal and oil, but it still outputs greater co2 than other sources like solar, wind, nuclear, etc. If we’re going to spend the money to clean up our grid and meet future power demands, it’s better to start now at the source than try to bandaid it with generators.
That being said, there are companies that are doing generator based Level 3 chargers. There’s even self-contained units you can drop right in remote areas. Right now they go for around $250,000 for a 2-port 62 kw output setup, so it’s still not cheap.