I get that we’ve made a lot of progress and fast charging is usually 20-30 minutes but compared to an ICE car it’s still too slow and probably a reason why people who do long distance drives don’t want an EV. I get the idea that people need a break anyway but if you’re in a rush you don’t want to have to stop and wait 20 minutes for a charge.
Why isn’t it possible to have even faster chargers that could charge from 20-80 in 5-10 minutes so that the “static time” can compare more to a gas car?
I have a friend who has an EV and he’s been short on time and he’s often stressed that if he goes too fast he’ll need to stop and charge and waste 15-20 minutes and be late to his destination.
joefinly said:
If only they thought of making it faster! Genius!
For right now we are pushing the limits of current battery technology.
Actually, we aren’t, at least not in the States. The Chinese are way ahead of us at the moment and the gap is only likely to grow under this administration.
The Zeekr 7X will go from 10-80% in under 10 minutes and 0-100% in 20 at a suitably powerful fast charger.
That wouldn’t be possible here.
@Mateo
Can you charge any battery at 200C? Sure. Once.
I’m not convinced that the chinese battery tech is that much better, but just that they’re throwing caution to the wind. I’m also not saying it isn’t better than US tech, but if they don’t have to worry about warrantying them for 8 years and 100,000 miles, they can push things more.
@Kai
They’re quite some way ahead in battery chemistry and I’m not sure why they wouldn’t have to worry about warranties given that these cars sell in world markets including Europe and the UK.
Willow said:
It’s coming. One of the Chinese manufacturers just releasd a car that did 10-80% in 10 minutes.
Edit: it’s Zeekr
And battery swapping in under 3 minutes.
> Nio also has China’s largest privately owned charging network, with nearly 4,400 charging stations, offering 25,000 charging points. Despite this, 80% of the power charged into Nio EVs on highways was from battery swap stations, Nio said on the first peak traffic day on January 23.
Way to tell me you don’t own an EV without telling me you don’t own an EV.
You almost never need to fast charge an EV. They are best charged overnight at home, or at work during the day. Those slower charging points are orders of magnitude less expensive (sub $1000) and more efficient.
For road trips, even with the ~15 minutes I need to wait, it’s barely enough time to find and use a restroom, and maybe fill my water bottle.
What is needed is more L2 charge points, not faster charging.
@Reign
Not everyone has the luxury of charging from home though.
I’m on my third EV in 6 years and I am mostly dependent on fast charging though I did have one year of free Level 2 charging at my local Safeway which has sadly changed.
@Jesse
This. Arguably in Europe we drive a little less, as we have a competent public transportation system (still), but whenever I drive to the South with my 1992 MB fossil car, if I need to stop for petrol, we usually combine it with a sandwich and a drink anyway.
@Jesse
Look there is definitely merit to what you’re saying, but I find it frustrating and disingenuous when time and again the response to: “I find the need to wait 20-30 minutes for a charge when out of range problematic and want much faster charging,” is, “well I don’t find that problematic, you shouldn’t want that.”
Like why not just level with them and say, “presently EVs are at their best when their daily usage doesn’t exceed their range at an 80%-100% charge, however if you don’t mind taking a 20-30 minute break every 2-2.5 half hours on longer distance trips, EVs do also work in that scenario, increasingly so as time passes and more chargers are built.”
When I take road trips that involve ~10 hours of drive time, I usually make 3 stops, 1 long stop about halfway through to eat, stretch, etc. and then two as short as possible stops usually about the 1/4 and 3/4 marks. These shorter stops are typically 5 minutes total from exit to on ramp. On road trips which are only around 6-7 hours of drive time I usually only make two shorter stops, of about 10-15 minutes, for gas and a stretch.
An EV would add about an hour of charge time to the longer trips and about 30 minutes to the shorter ones (assuming similar range as my current ICE vehicle, and also assuming availability of functioning fast chargers without a queue where expected, longer ranged EVs may shorten total charge time, charger availability may increase time not traveling). Maybe that’s not a big deal for you, or most people, and it’s probably not something that would really deter me from an EV, but it’s just worth acknowledging that it is a meaningful issue for other people.
