Cost, shortage of available chargers and “range anxiety” are among the biggest concerns people have when it comes to switching to an electric vehicle (EV). But there’s also the matter of time—as in how long it takes to charge an EV.
Currently, it can take hours to refill an EV’s battery at a public charger that can deliver power at 7 to 19 kilowatts. It’s why the U.S. government is pushing to build “fast” chargers that can charge electric vehicles in 15 to 40 minutes, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Meanwhile, trucking companies and EV charger manufacturers are developing systems with megawatt power level—some prototypes can reach three megawatts and beyond. The National Renewable Energy lab and other national organizations are also developing megawatt-level designs to charge trucks in less than 30 minutes.
While faster EV charging would benefit anyone who drives this type of vehicle, debates still surround the idea. There have been discussions about exactly how fast chargers need to be, as well as where they are located. For commercial vehicles making deliveries, it would be ideal if fast chargers were all along highways between cities so they could reliably travel longer distances.
Others in the industry believe installing a greater number of slower chargers in locations where people park (offices, retail centers, restaurants) would be more beneficial as car charging would be more accessible and convenient, however.
That line of thinking might work well for passenger electric cars, but there’s more to consider for commercial EVs. Fleet vehicles have large batteries, which will require a lot more power to charge. Megawatt chargers are currently being tested for the trucking industry, The Wall Street Journal reports. While these high-powered, fast chargers would help, the infrastructure and equipment is expensive. The ultra-rapid charging needed to get vehicles back on the road even faster would be extremely costly.
“Higher power costs more,” Dan Bowermaster, head of electric-vehicle research at the Electric Power Research Institute, said. “You get to a point where for these higher power levels you’d need bigger and bigger wire. At some point the wire gets so big that not only it’s heavy, but it can’t readily bend to curve around the charging port.”
“Fast” EV chargers appear to be the future
Concerns about fast EV chargers’ cost and location may exist, but they look to be where the industry is headed. The DC fast EV charging station market valuation is projected to surpass $110 billion by 2023, according to a May Global Market Insights study.
“The rising adoption of electric vehicles with growing consumer inclination towards minimizing EV battery charging time had increased the demand for DC fast electric vehicle charging stations,” the study said. “As per the IEA’s annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook, mover 10 million electric car sales were reported in 2022, which are expected to grow by around 35 percent in 2023 to hit 14 million units. Increasing investments by the government for EV charging hubs are further creating a broad scope for industry growth.”
Meanwhile, oil and gas company BP announced in October that BP Pulse, its EV charging business would acquire ultra-fast charging hardware units from Tesla for $100 million. The investment would enable support for EV fleet customers by deploying chargers at the private depots. The deal marks the first time Tesla’s hardware was purchased for an independent EV charging network. The deployment is planned to begin in 2024 and initial sites include Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC.
The chargers will also be deployed at select BP Pulse fleet customer depots. By combining Omega, BP Pulse’s intelligent charge management software with Tesla’s chargers, the company believes it will be able to oversee the entire charging process for EV fleets, providing them with a comprehensive solution.
“Strengthening the BP Pulse network with Tesla’s industry-leading hardware is a major step forward in our ambitions for high speed, open access charging infrastructure in the US and advances our ambition to delivering an exceptional customer experience,” Richard Bartlett, global CEO of BP Pulse said in a statement. “Combined with our vast network of convenience and mobility sites on and off the highway, this collaboration with Tesla will bring fast and reliable charging to EV drivers when and where they need it.”
Comments