Auto Trends Magazine: Occhiuzzo Debunks 4 Misconceptions Surrounding EV Fast Charging Stations
Our co-founder and CEO, Gustavo Occhiuzzo, is quickly emerging as a thought leader in the world of electric mobility, becoming someone stakeholders can count on to demystify obscurities and address falsehoods surrounding the installation and application of charging infrastructure. Like any new technology, resistance to adoption is often based on fallacious notions, some of which may be perpetrated by those with a financial interest in competing technologies. Therefore, countering such notions with facts is crucial if both drivers and site hosts are to make an informed decision about EV adoption. Occhiuzzo most recently addressed four of the biggest misconceptions surrounding chargers in the article below for Auto Trends Magazine.
EVCS charging stations await the morning work rush
Los Angeles, CA – June 25, 2021
Every industry is guaranteed to experience a technological revolution at some point, and currently, we are witnessing a major shift in the automotive industry away from traditional combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles, or EVs. As with any widespread adoption of new tools and technologies, misconceptions abound, particularly around fast-charging stations and how long an EV actually takes to charge. In an effort to address these misconceptions, below is a roundup of the most circulated ideas surrounding charging stations, along with facts and expert information to set the record straight.
Misconception No. 1:
Fast charging stations are not adequately future-proofed for newer generations of EVs.
Fact:
Future-proofing does not mean installing the most powerful chargers now, as the majority of EVs currently available cannot utilize the high 350KW charging rate. In fact, only one EV currently available for purchase can utilize this level of charge. Instead, future-proofing in the context of charging stations means guaranteeing that a site has capabilities to host more powerful chargers when EV charging requirements and economics align. That way, vendors can quickly upgrade charging sites without having to massively upgrade infrastructure.
Misconception No. 2:
Before EVs can be adopted on a widespread scale, more powerful – not just fast – charging stations are required.
50KW fast chargers become obsolete the moment they are installed.
Fact:
The majority of EVs currently being manufactured cannot accept a faster rate of charge than 50 kWh, and fast chargers are roughly ten times faster than Level II chargers, with the ability to fully charge an EV within an hour and a half. Additionally, most people are careful to not let their EV charge drop too low, so they only charge their car partially, which is much faster.
It also needs to be considered that once an EV battery begins to fill up, charging occurs at a lower rate regardless of charger output. In fact, after an EV reaches a 75 percent charge, the rate of charge is identical regardless of whether it is a 50KW charger or a 350KW charger.
Misconception No. 4:
Operational expenses are the same for fast chargers as for more powerful chargers.
Fact:
Unfortunately for vendors, the biggest operating expense is the demand charge or the fees applied to the electric bills of business customers. The average cost of a demand charge is roughly $10 a KW per month, so 50KW charging stations will cost the vendor $500 per month in demand charges. A 350KW powerful charger will cost $3,500. To cover these costs, huge utilization is required but, as it stands, with only one EV model suitable to utilize these stations, recuperating these costs is not possible.
Additionally, the industry average is also less than a 5-percent utilization rate right now, so the economics currently does not work for higher output chargers. Let’s say you install four 350KWs at a site and you are unlucky enough to have 4 vehicles charging at the same time; you will be paying $14,000 for that month just in demand charges, not including the actual cost of electricity.
Last week, governor Gavin Newsom made major headlines when he announced through executive order that California will prohibit the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks starting in 2035 – just 15 years away. Additional regulations will call for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to be carbon-neutral by 2045. For those of us who have been decrying the slow transition from pollutant-emitting internal combustion engines to more efficient ones powered by zero-emission lithium-ion batteries, it was welcomed news.
When we bought the Oregon and Washington State legs of the West Coast Electric Highway (WCEH) earlier this summer, our goal was to promote the idea of responsible mobility by providing a carbon-neutral infrastructure that allowed EV drivers greater freedom of range in their travels. We hoped this would be welcomed news during a time when so many other distractions were dominating the news cycle. But as the pandemic persisted and the effects of the lockdown continued to ravage local economies, we realized that our contiguous network of DC fast chargers might serve another equally noble if somewhat unintended purpose: to facilitate much-needed tourism activity at some of the Pacific Northwest’s most picturesque points of interest.
It can sometimes be difficult to wade through the flurry of sustainable energy bills being proposed in Congress. Several of them are in various stages of the legislative process at any one time, and many never make it out of committee. However, the recently announced Build GREEN Act seems destined for the President’s desk at some point soon, as it comes during a time when crumbling infrastructure and the need to create jobs has become a priority for the current administration. It also has the backing of five powerful progressives in Congress – Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) along with House Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Andrew Levin (D-MI).
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