SUPERCHARGING
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ELECTRIC REVOLUTION
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NEW BOOK OUT NOW - ELECTRIC REVOLUTION -
Level three charging, or fast charging/supercharging, is at the top of the EV charging food chain. Fast charging speed varies a lot and can be limited by the electrical architecture of your EV. Typically charging speeds of at least 50kw, 120kw and above are possible with supercharging, which can charge an average EV in an hour or less. Achieving 80% charge from zero is possible in 30 mins. Supercharging is perhaps the most important part in the transition to a world of EVs. It also brings the traditional gas station’s future into play.
Tesla began rolling out its supercharging network as soon as its first production cars hit the road. Elon Musk and team knew that in order to convince people to buy EVs, they had to have the infrastructure to support longer distance travel. This was a bold and necessary move, costing billions in capital. In the early years Tesla sold its cars, mainly the Model S and Model X, with free lifetime supercharging. With its early lead, Tesla now has the largest fast charging network in the world. In over 2,500 stations worldwide Tesla drivers can access almost 25,000 individual superchargers, two thirds of them in North America with the remaining spread evenly between Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
Tesla’s supercharger works off a 480v direct current technology. This can deliver from 70 kW up to 250 kW of direct power. The power supply is not constant. This is because in order to protect the battery, and to prioritize those who need the most power first, a Tesla will charge from 0 to 80% in between 30 and 45 minutes. After an 80% charge level is reached, it begins to slow down. The design is intended to give the driver enough range to make it to the next supercharger station rather than fully charge the car. Superchargers are also connected in an array which means that it’s often first come, first serve in terms of maximum juice.
Superchargers are not intended to be used regularly. They are designed for, and usually located on, major highway routes. If you use superchargers continuously then, in the case of Tesla, the car will alert you that this is not healthy for the long-term life of the battery. The same goes for constant 100% charging. There are enough Tesla supercharger stations now installed in Europe and the USA to embark on almost any major highway long-distance journey.
It’s not just Tesla; other car manufacturers, service stations, public and private operators are now rolling out competitor supercharger networks. In Europe, IONITY for example, is a joint venture between BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes and VW. The IONITY network is open to anyone to use, including Tesla. The 350kW power network uses the now standard European CCS connector. IONITY’s goal is to have a fast charging stop at least every hundred miles along all major highways in Europe. Already over 300 are operational and the network is rapidly growing. Other operators like ULTRA-E are also spreading fast chargers across major corridors in Europe.
In the US companies like EVgo and Electrify America are rolling out fast chargers. The current gap between fast chargers along major highways in the US is greater than the equivalent in Europe. America is likely to catch up the pace with Europe as the transition to electric accelerates.
As of mid-2021, Tesla still has a massive lead in the number of fast chargers in the US, more than other providers such as Chargepoint, Blink and Electrify America combined. In terms of locations though, others like EVgo are just behind Tesla’s 900 stations. The biggest issue with supercharging is that some, like Tesla, are exclusive for Tesla owners while other networks
are open to all. It seems ludicrous that even now, new OEMs will start building new fast charger networks instead of sharing. For example, Rivian announced in early 2021 that it now plans to roll out a network of 10,000 charging stations across the US and Canada by the end of 2023. Echoing Tesla’s strategy of private Supercharging and public destination chargers, Rivian also plans to install 3,500 DC fast charger’s “waypoint” Level 2 chargers. These will use the J1772 plug, now the North American standard versus Europe’s CCS standard.
What was probably a necessary strategy in the beginning for Tesla to attract customers by building its own supercharging network, is not really a defensible strategy anymore. With so many new providers coming on the market for fast charging, it’s only a matter of time before Tesla and others are outnumbered. Therefore, the number of supercharging stations won’t be a competitive advantage in the long run, and OEMs should pool together now to share all of this infrastructure rather to keep it exclusive for any one brand.
There’s been a lot of hype around the concept of ultrafast charging. These systems can operate up to 920v and 350 kW or above. Not all car architectures can take these speeds yet, which aim to 80% charge an EV in 15 minutes or less. The Porsche Taycan, for example, has been fitted out with a 900v system and Hyundai is proposing 800v. The obsession with getting supercharging to be as fast as filling gas is the wrong focus. If you fully charge at home before you head out on a long journey, your first stop won’t be for at least two hours, by which time you have done around 300 km (almost 200 miles) and will likely need to take at least a 10-15 minute break anyway.
If you make that break twenty minutes to thirty-five minutes, for say a coffee, you will have another two hundred plus kilometers of range added to your car with today’s fast chargers.
Faster charging comes at the expense of the battery. There are many start-ups working on technology to potentially charge a car from 0 to 80% in five minutes or less! For now, I don’t think ultrafast charging should really be the focus. For the vast majority of long journeys, you’re only going to charge once, during a rest break of say 25 minutes, so it’s perfectly workable. More stations are more important than more speed.
Supercharging is an essential part of the electric revolution. Without it, long-distance journeys wouldn’t be workable and thankfully it is well advanced in providing a fully workable infrastructure. The focus needs to be on the solutions for those who cannot charge at home. There is a misconception that thousands of super charging stations are required before electric cars are workable, this is not the case. There is also a misconception that unless you can charge your electric car as quickly as filling up with gas, electric cars won’t be practical. The focus, and much of the media attention today, is on developing extreme rates of charging. This is not necessary for 90% of use cases.
