US Charging Infrastructure Is Outpacing Forecasts, Study Finds (arstechnica.com) 75
During the first three months of 2021, the United States installed its 100,000th EV charger. Ars Technica reports on the important electric vehicle milestone: Of course, the actual composition of those chargers is important. It's no good having half a million places to plug in if they're all level 1 (120 V AC) chargers that take days to top up a battery EV. But a new report (PDF) from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has dug into the data, looking at trends to see whether the nation is on track to meet its goals. At first glance, the news is positive. We added 4,566 new chargers during Q1 2021 for a total of 100,709. That means the US is already 20 percent of the way to Biden's 2030 goal. Most of those were level 2 (240 V AC) chargers, which saw 5.4-percent growth. The number of level 1 chargers actually decreased by 2.4 percent, mostly as ChargePoint decommissioned them in favor of level 2 devices.
Because a level 2 charger usually takes 8-10 hours to fully recharge a 250-300 mile BEV, drivers (particularly those who have yet to convert to an electric car) are probably more interested in the number of the faster level 3 (usually known as DC fast) chargers. Depending upon the car and the power output of the DC fast charger, these can charge a battery to 80 percent in 20-50 minutes. There was essentially no growth in DC fast chargers between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. After multiple quarters of rapid expansion, the number of public DC fast charging ports grew by just 0.4 percent. The NREL attributes this to the integration between ChargePoint's and Greenlots' APIs [...].
Level 2 chargers can recharge any electric car, but not all BEVs can plug in to all DC fast chargers. All US Teslas use a proprietary charging plug, and 56.7 percent of all public DC fast chargers in the US are part of the Tesla Supercharger network. The various charging network APIs don't all report exactly the same information in exactly the same way, so the NREL was only able to determine the charging power for a limited number (6,821) of DC fast chargers. That led to a rather scary-looking pie chart on the Department of Energy's website showing that 40 percent of DC fast chargers were only able to supply 50 kW or less. However, the chart is based on only 6,821 chargers and excludes almost the entire Tesla Supercharger network from its data set.
Because a level 2 charger usually takes 8-10 hours to fully recharge a 250-300 mile BEV, drivers (particularly those who have yet to convert to an electric car) are probably more interested in the number of the faster level 3 (usually known as DC fast) chargers. Depending upon the car and the power output of the DC fast charger, these can charge a battery to 80 percent in 20-50 minutes. There was essentially no growth in DC fast chargers between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. After multiple quarters of rapid expansion, the number of public DC fast charging ports grew by just 0.4 percent. The NREL attributes this to the integration between ChargePoint's and Greenlots' APIs [...].
Level 2 chargers can recharge any electric car, but not all BEVs can plug in to all DC fast chargers. All US Teslas use a proprietary charging plug, and 56.7 percent of all public DC fast chargers in the US are part of the Tesla Supercharger network. The various charging network APIs don't all report exactly the same information in exactly the same way, so the NREL was only able to determine the charging power for a limited number (6,821) of DC fast chargers. That led to a rather scary-looking pie chart on the Department of Energy's website showing that 40 percent of DC fast chargers were only able to supply 50 kW or less. However, the chart is based on only 6,821 chargers and excludes almost the entire Tesla Supercharger network from its data set.
So basically no growth (Score:3, Interesting)
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What is the expectations for older buildings? Is Level 3 charging typically off the table? Is Level 2 even possible in an older condo if everyone wanted to outfit their indoor/underground parking stall?
Is the answer Level 3 chargers outside the home that act like "gas stations" for the masses?
Re: So basically no growth (Score:2)
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What is the expectations for older buildings?
It is a wire and a plug. You just need a one-inch conduit to run it.
Is Level 3 charging typically off the table?
Few people need level-3. A typical use case is coming home at 6 pm after a 30-mile roundtrip commute and leaving again the next morning at 8 am. That is 14 hours for 30 miles.
If you can't fully charge one night, you can make it up the next night. Many people can also charge in the employee parking lot at work.
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In the longer term, charging in the employee parking lot is going to be a better option, because those are the hours that solar energy is abundant.
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You could be a nurse on night shift, then you could come home from work and charge your car while you sleep.
I know that sounds like sarc, but there are lots of nurses (fortunately), and a few other people who work night shift. Of course most of us don't, but it is something of a holdover that most people work during the day--this made sense when most people worked outdoors, but it should no longer be a requirement. Let's say I work eight hours, waking up an hour or two before I go to work. That leaves me
Missing the Point (Score:1)
Few people need level-3.
On a daily basis that is true. However, many people do, on occasion, use their car for longer trips and then you really do need a level 3 charger and even that is much, much slower than refuelling with petrol.
Until we can use our BEVs for long-distance trips without having to meticulously plan routes based on where there are fast chargers this is going to be a significant impediment to people buying them even if typically on most days they do not need such a network.
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What isn't clear to me is the overall breakdown between the fast charge and trickle charge use cases. Personally, I drive very little in town, and so most of my gasoline purchases tend to be on a few long trips. But, someone with a longish commute would be the opposite. Anyone seen any data on this?
My guess is that the trickle char
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Level 1 charging is 20A @ 120v or 2.4kW
Level 2 charging is 30A @ 240v or 7.2kW
Using Tesla as an example: .26kWh/mi or roughly 4 miles driven per kWh
Google says the average daily commute is ~32 miles but let's triple that for a worst-case to 100 miles (which would be 26k miles/yr or more than 2x average)
100 miles / 4 miles / kWh = 25kWh "spent" per day / 7.2kWh charge = 3.5-4 hours charging. Even Level 1 is ~10 hours
Level 3 is mainly needed for long-distance driving or if you don't have parking-spot (home O
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Besides, only rich people should be allowed to travel. If you're poor you likely can't afford healthcare, so walking will keep you healthier. That's sarcasm.
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Level 3 Fast-DC chargers will likely be limited to commercial operations along busy corridors, much like gas stations today, due to their extremely high price.
Level 2 AC chargers will be the norm for homes, schools, and workplaces since there is less need for immediate charging.
For single family homes, a 160A or 200A service can usually handle a pair of 40A chargers without issue. Anything less capable should be probably upgraded (you can typically leave the wiring in the walls alone).
For older commercial
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Got a quote for adding charging to 140 stalls in a 60-year old condo (~$200k). What ends up happening is that each unit gets a level-2 interface, but power is controlled based on demand so you might only get 1.5kW (level-1) if many people are charging. They had about 100kW of maximum capactiy for the system.
In practical terms this is plenty. Few people need more than 10kWh per day average, and law of averages does control. Average daily need for the building at 100% electrification was estimated at less
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Gotta say, that's a pretty low price.
OK, limiting it to the infrastructure that's already there will bring down the costs.
Re: So basically no growth (Score:3)
Re: So basically no growth (Score:1)
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There's no revenue in chargers with current battery technology. There's no way to get the volume required with current charge times without charging way more for the electricity which would destroy any economic benefit to EV drivers over the cost of gas (it would likely need to be way more). A full charge at home is around $12. It would be hard for any public charger to charge more than $40. With that markup and volume, it's hard to see how property expenses can even be covered after cost of electricity
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There's no revenue in chargers with current battery technology. There's no way to get the volume required with current charge times without charging way more for the electricity which would destroy any economic benefit to EV drivers over the cost of gas (it would likely need to be way more).
That's probably why they are rolling it out in Europe first. Over there, gasoline is taxed to death and costs a ton of money, which changes the economy of this situation quite drastically.
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Gas sales have a ~9% markup yet they easily exist (and have to comply with lots of regulations). Most also make the bulk of their profit off an attached convenience store.
While the capital investment is probably more, you're suggesting a ~250% markup with 'idle time' of 30-60 minutes which is perfect for much greater retail or food & beverage sales vs normal gas stations.
There's oodles of ways to make up profit even if your recharging net income is small.
Re: So basically no growth (Score:1)
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Gasoline is very high energy density - true. It's also not 'rechargeable'
That aside, your post is incorrect fact after incorrect fact.
2021 honda accord hybrid gets 48 MPG with a 12.8 gallon tank. In a perfect world where you get that MPG for an entire tank full, you'd still come out just over 600 miles - not 750.
Standard gas pumps deliver 10 gallons per minute (US limit) so it's rather unlikely you spend 6 minutes filling a tank. In fact, that would fill more than 4 tanks.
Most states have all kinds of re
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It could be a lamp post on the street, or a lamp post on the apartment complex or reserved parking spot on a condo. Level 2 is enough, a generic plug. But the outlet is Wi-Fi enabled and is controlled by the internet. Apartment dwellers would happily pay a 10$ a month rent + 10 cents/kWh premium over the cost of electricity.
I expect utilities will get into overnight charging market as soon as they realize they
You expect wrong (Score:1, Interesting)
I expect utilities will get into overnight charging market as soon as they realize they can a piece of the transportation energy market. ....It could be a lamp post on the street, or a lamp post on the apartment complex
(rearranged your words a bit but I hope I captured the essence of what you are saying).
The thing not factored in here is the massive expense to providing charging even from every lamp post, which is not even enough by itself anyway... think of the charging gear, the much larger electric need
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That wanton level of destruction doesn't happen with gas pumps.
There is no reason to think that volt pumps would be that much different.
If they are not already, I would think volt pumps will be, or are, manufactured by
the same companies that make fuel pumps. They have decades
of experience in durability engineering and in designing UIs for familiarity
by untrained users.
You can't monitor everywhere (Score:3, Interesting)
That wanton level of destruction doesn't happen with gas pumps.
Exactly because they are in much more contained, monitored locations, with frequent visits by other motorists that can also see all of the pumps around them easily, furthermore since they are there and gone so quickly there is less time to even damage anything.
You cannot monitor every lamp post.
I would think volt pumps will be, or are, manufactured by the same companies that make fuel pumps.
You may think that but the harsh reality is right now
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the massive expense to providing charging even from every lamp post,
Well I guess one can't expect the US to be on the level of developed countries such as Finland, but they could at least try.
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Re:You expect wrong (Score:4, Informative)
In Norway they have sorted this out and it wasn't that expensive or even difficult. Charging is everywhere now. Most hotels and workplaces have charging, and for homes they install chargers all along the road.
Maybe people are less inclined to damage them in Norway, but vandalism doesn't seem to be a big problem. I have to say, I rarely see vandalized street furniture around here, beyond graffiti which doesn't affect its operation. We have street lights, various utility cabinets for phone and cable services, traffic bollards, bus stops, litter bins, utility covers...
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Even beyond the installation cost which is pretty huge, you have massive upkeep costs as anything put out for the public to use will be abused or wear out rapidly. Charging cords will by cut, payment terminals will have leftover beer poured down inside them after the housing is hammered open with a rock. It would be an epic money pit with little return if utilities try to convert vast amounts of city roadsides to support charging.
And yet equipping lamp posts seems to be cheap enough for a number of places to do exactly that: Brighton [electricbrighton.com], London [fleeteurope.com], Valencia [chargedevs.com], Essen [energylivenews.com], ... And there's already a bunch of companies competing for that market: Ubitricity [ubitricity.com], Siemens [siemens.com], Char.gy [char.gy], E.On [eon.com].
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All of them used to support high power sodium vapor lamps, mercury vapor lamps and halogen incandescents. Now they are all being replaced by LEDs, leaving lamp posts with surplus power capacity.
High pressure sodium vapour lamps are around the same efficiency as LEDS, low pressure ones are moreso.
Anyway plugs on lamp posts works fine as long as they don't end up a massive ripoff.
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> Unless every parking space is going to come with a Level 2 charger we need lots more Level 3 if EV are going to displace ICE.
Here's the thing though: No - for the same reason that we don't need a gas pump at every venue.
The typical passenger car sits unoccupied 20+ hours a day, usually 6+ hours consecutively in there somewhere. There is absolutely plenty of time to recharge the vehicle even at level 1 for the vast, vast majority of drivers. If you can drive your ICE vehicle more than a full day without
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That really is the key disconnect in conversation. The idea that every single morning, when you get into your car, it always - without question - has a full "tank" of fuel may be a foreign one, but it greatly obviates the need for any additional charging on a regular basis. Sure, 45 minutes at a charger on a road trip isn't as convenient as 5-10 minutes, but when it only happens twice a year and it also replaces all of the other unscheduled 5 minute stops, that's not a bad deal.
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... and really, if you're driving that far in a single trip, a 45 minute break every 4-6 hours is a good fking idea.
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If every parking space had a charger it could probably just be level 1. If you were charging every time you parked it you'd never have to do much of it at once.
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Yup - on average a car is driven for less than an hour a day anyhow.
Even if you commute 100 miles a day (36k miles/yr), 7 days a week, and are barely home long enough for dinner, a shower, and 8 hours of sleep, a level 1 charger will keep your battery full.
All this range fear is
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No they really aren't. You don't need Level 3 charging everywhere. Level 2 is more than sufficient. Most EV owners never use a Level 3 charger.
Don't feed the FUD, fight it. EVs will easily displace ICE without Level 3 chargers as soon as people wake the **** up and realise that just because they may one day in some future want to ${RANGE_ANXIETY_EXCUSE} doesn't mean they need to drive an ICE vehicle that entire time.
Misleading (Score:5, Interesting)
The average American [policyadvice.net] drives only 37ish miles a day and will almost never need to recharge from a completely flat battery. The whole "...because a level 2 charger usually takes 8-10 hours to fully recharge a 250-300 mile BEV..." situation is very rare.
It should be pointed out that, assuming you own your own home and can charge at home, it is like having your own personal gas station -- at about 1/3rd the price of gasoline. You can top off the car every night without worrying about spills and the smell. I'd include not worrying about fire hazards, but...thanks Chevy. [chevrolet.com]
Agree, 37 miles is very misleading (Score:1, Interesting)
The average American drives only 37ish miles a day and will almost never need to recharge from a completely flat battery.
The average American doesn't have a good place to recharge and will in fact need to go get a full charge from time to time when they are near flat.
Not everyone lives in a house with a garage. In fact only 15% of U.S. homes have a garage [mvorganizing.org].
The people without a garage or steady place to park will be hard pressed to charge at home regularly and will thus be seeking to fill up to full from nea
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40 miles on a Level 1 charger takes 8-12 hours.
This is a level 1 charger - your bog standard 15 amp 110V outlet (1.5kW). An EV typically charges at 3-5mph on this charger.
Instead of building 150kW fast charge stations everywhere in a city, we can build 100 1.5kW parking spaces. The benefit would be enormous - a bunch of people charging opportunistically.
That 150kW DC fast charger can charge a flat battery in about 2 hours. Or for the average trip, in 30 minutes (because the fuller the battery, the slower th
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Even in the USA you would not install a level 1 charger. Anything less than level 2 is bananas as while notionally a 110V system applies you actually pull that from a 220V supply so every property has access to 220V on the panel. Level 1 charging is an act of desperation. Of course most of the civilised world has a 230VAC system and level 2 is the lowest level of charging that would be contemplated.
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Level one charging can be made to work just fine by people who drive somewhere close to the national average. I'd cite data but literally everything you need to come to that conclusion has already been stated in the posts above.
Not sure why you're calling it "bananas" or "an act of desperation" as lots of people just dont have access to 220v outlets where they live regardless of what the system pulls from. Meanwhile level one charging can genuinely work for a lot of these people, maybe just with a weekly or
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Level 1 charging is more than sufficient for the vast, vast majority of people the vast majority of the time.
A Tesla goes about 4 miles on 1kw - 10 hours at 2.4kw (120v @ 20A) is about 100 miles. Next up: why people can't do basic math.
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I posted above: average doesn't mean always. I drive 37 miles/day most days, but some days an order of magnitude more--infrequently, to be sure, but infrequently =/= never. Solution would seem to be to put high speed charging stations where they're most needed: on (or next to) interstates.
Re: Misleading (Score:2)
House fires are rare...but in many places smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are mandatory in residential buildings. If your risk of a fire is 1 in 10k, having .0001 smoke detector or a .01 pct charged fire extinguisher won't cut it.
Averages are useful, but only when they are used correctly.
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Well, those are not LA numbers; 37 miles, hah!
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The average American [policyadvice.net] drives only 37ish miles a day and will almost never need to recharge from a completely flat battery. The whole "...because a level 2 charger usually takes 8-10 hours to fully recharge a 250-300 mile BEV..." situation is very rare.
It should be pointed out that, assuming you own your own home and can charge at home, it is like having your own personal gas station -- at about 1/3rd the price of gasoline. You can top off the car every night without worrying about spills and the smell. I'd include not worrying about fire hazards, but...thanks Chevy. [chevrolet.com]
That might be very rare, but that's the most important use-case for cars. Those short daily trips are non-essential as they can often be also taken using public transport. The long ones, not so much.
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I'm sorry but do you live in the US? Public transport pretty much doesn't exist in most suburbs, much less exurbs or rural areas in this country. That's really only a viable option in major cities. Small town America still drives short distances to shop, commute, run errands, and chauffer the kids around.
And "very rare" means edge case, which is by definition not the most important use case, nor what you'd logically base a decision around. If it is very rare then you rent a vehicle. Unlimited milage rentals
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I understand that some scientists drowned in a lake whose average depth was three feet.
All seriousness aside, yes, on days I commute (fewer since covid!), I usually drive 20 miles or less. But there are days when I drive much further--on a vacation or business trip where I don't feel like flying. Or when my daughter was attending college in another state, I would drive over there every couple months, or she would drive here. None of this happens often, but when I do it would be nice to not have to wait a
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...we probably don't need fast charging stations in every neighborhood; instead, we need them on the interstates, just like we currently have gas stations just off many interstate exits.
I agree, and it looks like that sort of solution is part of the new infrastructure bill that was just passed. Add those to some destination chargers -- Universities would be a good choice -- and it would be good. My ultimate point is we don't need to replicate the current gas station infrastructure for electic vehicles, it is a substantially different model.
120V? (Score:2)
It's no good having half a million places to plug in if they're all level 1 (120 V AC) chargers
I thought US homes were actually wired as 240V with a centre tap, so 2x 120V circuits, out of phase that can be combined for 240V.
Why would an EV charger port ever be wired to only one half of that?
The US electrical system is not 120V [youtube.com]
Re: 120V? (Score:1)
The washer/dryers are usually 220V, iinm.
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Re:120V? (Score:5, Informative)
Standard wall outlets in a room are 110V at 15A. But then there's 240V outlets for stuff like a clothes dryer and oven (My oven is on a 240V 50A circuit).
It was no big deal for an electrician to install a 240V circuit for my Tesla.
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It should be pointed out that, assuming you own your own home and can charge at home,
An increasing percentage of homeowners are *condo* owners, with many barriers to installation. As with apartment livers, maybe the building has one
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Voltage is only one part. Only newer homes have 150-200A service. Many older homes have as little as 50A service. Houses with detached garages might only have 15-30A sub panels. The home's service needs to have enough capacity for a persistent charging load plus other household needs. Even with an attached garage, the main panel might be far away requiring an expensive run of wire to the garage. Many houses have no garages. Some with no driveways and no assurance there's a street spot right in front
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But even the 220V 30A line will only charge 40 miles every hour of charge. For someone who drives over 200 miles in a day, they have to charge overnight. Frankly, if I'm driving 200 miles in a day, I'm certainly charging overnight.
But to charge on a 110V 15A line, you're lucky to get more than 6 miles for every hour of charge.
Older homes will need updated electrical lines and perhaps even adding a second electrical panel.
This should be considered part of the expense of owning an electric car. It's a one-
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> Many older homes have as little as 50A service. Houses with detached garages might only have 15-30A sub panels.
That's adequate. Maybe not optimal (most EVs will charge at 7.5kw if you let them, which is ~32A at 240V) but let's say you only for 20A at 240V, or 4.8KW. That's at least 20 miles of driving range per hour of charging - so just 2 or 3 hours of that is enough to get nearly everyone through their day. Could be better, sure, but it's still adequate.
For people who park in the street, that's admi
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Only newer homes have 150-200A service. Many older homes have as little as 50A service.
IME it's rare to see a home that hasn't been upgraded to at least 100A service.
Unregulated US (Score:1)
An unregulated US charging market is a problem.
For charging market to work it needs roaming at fair prices. 1 standard connector at all chargers and cars.
Works great in Europe. Here the bottleneck is electricity companies not able to deliver cable to all those who want. At my work place it has been decided to put up 100 11/22kW chargers.
On busy weekends the fast chargers between cities is a bottleneck.
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While I agree, there are only 2 chargers here in the US: the standard one, and Tesla. Unlike in Europe, Tesla in the US has a proprietary connector. My understanding is that Tesla got started before the standard one was finalized. (But now that it has been, Tesla should switch.)
Compared with (mainland) China? (Score:1)
I read that Shenzhen alone has over 100,000, but I can't confirm.
Standards are Required (Score:2)
WTH, why is this being allowed? This is literally
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have but a stop to long ago
-__- "put a stop to..."
An edit button would be so useful sometimes.
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Tesla developed a proprietary plug because there was no adequate standard at the time. First to market and all that jazz. The first supercharger stations opened in 2012, and CCS was barely past the proposal stage at that time.
If it's any consolation, Tesla seem keen to resolve the problem [tesla.com] at least to some degree.
For everyone else, the industry seems to be making good progress developing compatibility between the various networks, so you won't need multiple accounts at least.
=Smidge=
Both are important (Score:2)
150kW+ when travelling and 7-22kW when parked, like at the office. I am doing fine with 5kW at home.
Take a second to think about how many hours of the day your are parked. If you had access to just a few kW, it would not be a problem if there were a plug where you park.
It is not every month I charge anywhere else than at home. I did go on vacation this summer at Lake Como in Italy. Drove from Scandinavia through Germany and Austria. With 600km WLTP, the reality was that after 2-3 hours, I needed to stretch
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EVs aren't ICEs (Score:2)
Re: EVs aren't ICEs (Score:3)
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This reminds me of the very first iron bridge. They designed & built it in the exact same way as a traditional wooden bridge, using iron as if it were wood.
Same with the first Rearden metal bridge.