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.
When it comes to fuel-based power generation, centralized mass generation is always cleaner than distributed generation. The economies of scale are crazy. Even a modern coal burning plant would be cleaner and more efficient than a bunch of individual diesel generators at each DCFC location. Not to mention the noise and smell.
There is a consistent fascination in online energy discourse with going off-grid or building the smallest possible microgrids, to the point that I would not be surprised to see multiple independent grids proposed for a single home.
It’s really weird; almost some kind if fetish, and it ignores the immense economies of scale and ease of switching to the greenest sources that large grids offer.