Public Charging - How Fast Is "Fast Enough"?

[MellowJohnny]

Not sure if I've seen anyone post this yet - from the Electric Autonomy Canada website

Apologies in advance - it's a bit dry, and clocks in at ~ 1hr long...

Bonus Question for my US Friends: Are you aware of any local / state utilities jumping into the charging game? For example Hydro Quebec is standing up their own network called Electric Circuit across the province

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[SnBGC]

Not sure if I've seen anyone post this yet - from the Electric Autonomy Canada website

Apologies in advance - it's a bit dry, and clocks in at ~ 1hr long...

Would love to see the Honest Government Ads version of this.....

 

[devmach-e]

For some people, it needs to be the same amount of time that you would take to fill up a gas car. In other words, less than 10 minutes. No car can do that right now.

In terms of kW rating, 150 kW probably needs to be the minimum now. 50 kW rated stations might've been okay 5 or 6 years ago when battery pack sizes were smaller, and range was less.

 

[Maquis]

The Taycan will charge from 5 to 80% faster than I can fill up my F150.
It’s not apples to apples, but it’s still pretty good.

 

[uncle_0gre]

For some people, it needs to be the same amount of time that you would take to fill up a gas car. In other words, less than 10 minutes. No car can do that right now.

In terms of kW rating, 150 kW probably needs to be the minimum now. 50 kW rated stations might've been okay 5 or 6 years ago when battery pack sizes were smaller, and range was less.

Tbh everyone should want it to be that fast.

It's not, I understand that, and I'm "ok" with it for now.

But ultimately, before everyone is driving an EV charging needs to be easier than gas is now.

I'm really looking forward to Fords liquid cooled charging cables as a way to hurry the revolution along.

 

[AZBill]

Bonus Question for my US Friends: Are you aware of any local / state utilities jumping into the charging game?

Arizona Public Service is having Electrify America install and manage 5 charging sites in the rural areas of Arizona. APS will own them. I think this is a win-win for everyone, since APS produces the electricity, and EA knows how to manage the network, although they could use some improvement.

 

[phil]

The Taycan will charge from 5 to 80% faster than I can fill up my F150.

Why does it take you half an hour to fill up your F150?

 

[ahg]

Why does it take you half an hour to fill up your F150?

Hand pump from the storage tank on the farm.

 

[phil]

Hand pump from the storage tank on the farm.

I'm gonna have to start taking those "not apples to apples" warnings more seriously...

 

[BMT1071]

Arizona Public Service is having Electrify America install and manage 5 charging sites in the rural areas of Arizona. APS will own them. I think this is a win-win for everyone, since APS produces the electricity, and EA knows how to manage the network, although they could use some improvement.

I hope the rates are better than their residential charges. ??

 

[Maquis]

Why does it take you half an hour to fill up your F150?

Taycan is about 20 minutes.

 

[SnBGC]

Taycan is about 20 minutes.

That is about 5 min longer than it takes to fill up the tank on my diesel pickup.

 

[Maquis]

That is about 5 min longer than it takes to fill up the tank on my diesel pickup.

About the same for me (36 gallon tank). Depends a lot on how long the credit card transaction takes to authorize and how many stupid prompts the pump serves up. The last time I was at Costco, it took 4 cycles to get approval. And I had to reinsert the membership card every time. Makes me appreciate the P&C concept!

 

[bp99]

It's not just about your time charging your car. It's also about how long others need to wait for you to finish. It's also about getting enough volume through a reasonably sized charging station to make it profitable without needing huge markups on the electricity.

 

[devmach-e]

Tbh everyone should want it to be that fast.

It's not, I understand that, and I'm "ok" with it for now.

But ultimately, before everyone is driving an EV charging needs to be easier than gas is now.

I'm really looking forward to Fords liquid cooled charging cables as a way to hurry the revolution along.

With current technology, I don't see EV charging surpassing the "refuel" time of gasoline/diesel anytime soon. The single biggest limiting factor is the battery itself and how quickly it can absorb a charge. The second biggest factor is the charging station hardware. While liquid cooled cables can help up the kW transferred rate (really the amperage), if the battery can't handle that increased rate in the first place, it won't matter that the station has that nifty piece of hardware.

I think we may just have to get used to a new normal where the time to refuel isn't as quick as traditional gas/diesel. At least for the next 10 or 15 years. I think we're spoiled by how fast a car can refuel using liquid fuel right now. I totally agree that for a lot of people, that refueling factor is one of the biggest barriers to getting an EV, despite that fact that people do the majority of their charging at home or work, and DCFC is a rare thing that is done.

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