Will EV Rapid Chargers Kill the Gas Station?
Published January 28, 2010
Two competing visions for the design of public rapid chargers. Aker Wade's unit (left) uses the look of a gas pump, while the AeroVironment (right) take a more futuristic approach.
Think, the electric car producer, announced this week at the Washington Auto Show that it is partnering with AeroVironment to commercialize rapid chargers. This could mean charging an electric car to about 80 percent capacity in 15 minutes. Richard Canny, Think’s CEO, called the move to so-called Level III rapid charging “a major leap forward for electric vehicles.”
Earlier this month, Aker Wade Power Technologies and Coulomb Technologies an agreement to develop public charging stations capable of charging an electric vehicle in 30 minutes or less. Allowing electric car drivers to fully recharge in minutes rather than hours could alleviate “range anxiety”—the concern that a pure electric car could run out of energy and its driver could be stranded for hours until the vehicle is adequately recharged.
There's debate at the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference, held in conjunction with the Washington Auto Show, about the economics and necessity of so-called Level III 480-volt charging for the first electric cars coming to market later this year. HybridCars.com caught up with John Aker, president and CTO of Aker Wade, to learn about the vision of EV rapid charging. Although slower charging will be very inexpensive, Aker believes that EV drivers will gladly pay more for a rapid charge when gas prices climb well above the $4 spike experienced in 2008.
HybridCars.com: Is Level III rapid charging a pipe dream?
“By 2040 or 2050, we’ll look at the internal combustion engine as you and I look at the Model T. It’s cute. It makes noises. It’s fun to drive around the parking lot. But hey, I got this really cool fast electric vehicle.”
John Aker: No. Level III is here and it’s here right now. It’s being done on the Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV in Japan. There are about 30 or 40 chargers distributed around Tokyo that have taken the range anxiety from the users of EVs, because they know they can fill up quickly if they need to.
How fast can they charge up?
Today it will take 20 to 30 minutes to fill the battery with a Level III system. In five to 10 years, we’ll see that drop to 10 to 15 minutes. This will be helpful in situations where people need to fill up quickly and be on their way such as a highway rest stop or a gas station.
The other part of the fast charge station that’s coming is local energy storage. You’re going to have local energy storage banks, storing off peak energy from the utility. It’s bringing in renewables—like wind power being generated at night…
Or that’s generated locally, like through photovoltaics?
Yes. The thing that’s great about photovoltaic is they produce during the day when it’s mostly needed. With window power, there’s sort of a glass ceiling because a lot of it is generated at night, when people don’t need it. Imagine having the option of storing that energy in a fast charge station, and to resell it throughout the day to vehicles being fast-charged. You’re now an asset to the grid.
This is exclusive to public charging.
Oh yeah. You couldn’t afford to put a $50,000 to $75,000 charger in your home. And how many people have three-phase 480V in your home?
When Aker Wade recently unveiled its rapid charging station, it looks like a gas pump. Is that the wrong metaphor?
I think it’s a great metaphor. It’s something that people are familiar and comfortable with. You go up, you plug it in, and you fill up just like you do today. It’s not that big a transition. You don’t have to make it look like a moon unit.
You’re talking about decades into the future, but what are the steps along the way?
Today, with gas at about $3 a gallon, it’s cheap. You’re going to get early adopters [of electric cars] now. But you have a billion Chinese and a billion Indians that want to drive cars. And the Chinese standard of living is going up. They are now a bigger market for cars than we are. Within the next five to 10 years, they’re going to have a bigger fleet than we do. The price of petroleum is going to shoot through the roof. As the prices go up, it’s going to make electric cars more and more attractive.
In the meantime, electric [transportation] is going to gain a foothold and incrementally move up. Early adopter and fleets are going to step in and volumes will grow. You’re going to see a crossover point about 2025. You’re going to see more EVs than internal combustion engine cars. By 2040 or 2050, we’ll look at the internal combustion engine as you and I look at the Model T. It’s cute. It makes noises. It’s fun to drive around the parking lot. But hey, I got this really cool fast EV.
When do you think we’ll see any kind of Level III penetration in the United States?
We’ll see the first ones with the introduction of the Leaf and the i-MiEV later this year.
Won’t Level II curbside charging answer most of the needs of EV drivers?
The curbside charger will be useful for situations where people are not in a hurry to recharge and will be parked for some time, such as a workplace or shopping mall. In these scenarios, Level II makes a lot of sense. They are less expensive to install, which should make them available at many locations for easy access.
Are fast chargers going to replace the gas station?
These are really going to become energy stations. You pull in and you can get gasoline. You can get electrical energy. Maybe even T. Boone Pickens natural gas. As petroleum goes up and gets more and more expensive, people will flock to these alternatives.
Most Popular Pages
Free Email Newsletter Sign-up
All the latest news in a free and engaging bundle. Totally free!
31 weeks ago
this is the future of cars if we wont do this for our selves then lets do this for our children
31 weeks ago
Great!
GM EV's are the best too.
With the Volt / Ev1 design coming back we can not be oil/ foreign independent.
Manufacturing American Cars that are EV!
Not spending foreign oil!
Research and money staying here in the USA
31 weeks ago
The economics of charging stations is problematic.
If 90% plus of driving occurs within the charge range of my vehicle and I can charge most of the time from home, even if it is overnight, then there is little need to visit the charging station except for on long trips. How much will people have to pay who are occasionally taking those longer trips in order to pay for the facilities and electricity? The good news is the overhead should be lower, because trucks will not have to deliver gasoline, but the capital expenses and the expense of a station attendant will still be a factor.
31 weeks ago
TD I see your point. However, if the charging stations are part of existing fuel-gas stations then the economics become less of an issue. People are going to forget to charge at home on occasions so they will need to use in city charge stations. As battery technology improves and an EVs range becomes 350 - 450 miles per charge more folks will be buying EVs as their primary vehicle. When my home becomes a 2 EV household I may not be able to charge both cars in one night. As fuel prices rise as I suspect they will, the economics continue to improve. I look forward to the day when I own an EV.
31 weeks ago
Maybe the gas stations need to rethink there product. They need to protect there business. Maybe they should invest in building rapid charging stations, make a maintenance plan, service plans... ect.
Imagine a Shell/Exon Rapid Charger in your home.
31 weeks ago
Agreed. But I think given the option to plug in at home, there will be far fewer "charging" stations. There certainly won't be 2 or 3 on a corner. Of course that's not such a bad thing since most gas stations are kind of an eyesore.
31 weeks ago
TD,
I'm not sure there would be less charging stations. I'm guessing since EV charging is typically slower than filling gas, this results lower turn-over rate and will require more "pumps" for the same number of cars.
31 weeks ago
In addition TD, not everyone who purchases an EV will live in a place where residential charging is an option. You could easily see someone with an EV that lives in an apartment coming home from work at night and then before they go to work in the morning, go to a charging station for 10 minutes to top off their battery.
Maybe while they do this they can grab a bite to eat or reply to emails on their iPhone or Blackberry.
31 weeks ago
Who stops every 120 - 200 miles on a roadtrip? More like every 300 - 350 miles.
15 minute charging is better than 30 minute charging. Not quite what I'd call rapid when I can gas up in half the time. I might be talked into $10 to $20 per charge. Much more than that and people will try to avoid them.
My question: doesn't rapid charging shorten the lifespan of the battery. If I'm rapid charging the car all the time, what will the battery's lifespan be and how does that affect the warrenty?
31 weeks ago
TD has it mostly correct.
Level 1 charging (120V 20A) in the home will suffice for people who drive plug-in hybrids since they need only about 8-12 kWh per day. A full battery EV will have a pack capable of holding 24-50 kWh, so for that much energy, you'll need Level 2 charging (240V 30A and up to 80 amps). Level 1 will give you about 5-6 miles of range for every hour of charging. Minimum Level 2 will give you 18-20 miles of range per hour and maximum Level 2 will give you up to 80 miles per hour of charging.
Level 3 will give you 200+ miles in half an hour. Get a cup of coffee and relax.
Most folks won't need Level three unless you are traveling intercity. However, another community who will need Level 3 are apartment dwellers and those who do not park their cars proximate to electricity at night. For them, having access to a Level three charger near their favorite coffee shop on the way to work, or at the grocery store on the way home, will enable them to drive a 100 mile EV as their primary car.
There will be abundant opportunities for Level 2 charging everywhere you go. Here in LA, we've had access to Level 2 charging for over ten years. When I get coffee, do my grocery shopping, see a movie, or go to a restaurant, my car is charging - for free. My grocery store gives me maybe 20 cents worth of energy (2 kWh) and I spend $80 in their store. I'm happy, they're happy, and the only loser os the oil company I didn't give money to.
31 weeks ago
Mr. Bear,
You are right that a 15 minute stop every 120 - 200 miles is slower than today's 10 minute stop for 300 - 350 miles. I guess the question is whether people will be ok with their trip taking an additional 20 minutes per 300 miles if they don't have to stop by gas stations regularly during their normal weeks when they don't travel over 100 - 200 miles.
Being happily free from gas stations now, for me its an easy choice.
As far as the affects of fast charging goes. Friends of mine who are engineers with experience in fast charging tell me that the only issue with battery life is that the temperature of the battery must be kept below some point and you can't overcharge. Special heavy-duty cooling may be required to keep the temperature down and modern battery charging control is necessary to avoid overcharging. They also always talk about fast charging only to about 80% in order to avoid the risk of overcharging.
31 weeks ago
I don't see any reason level 2 charging can't be implemented at home. My electric range, clothes dryer, and water heater are all 120/240 devices. Throw another breaker/pair in the main panel. In my case the main panel is IN my garage. Put in a 2 foot long circuit to an outlet then run your vehicle plug-in cable.
If you're charging at night, you may not even need to upgrade your utility service. Ought to be an easy way to implement some smarts into it too with a temperature sensor on your main circuit breaker or ammeter on your incoming house line to keep you within your house's service limits.
31 weeks ago
Compulsive proofreader here.
"Earlier this month, Aker Wade Power Technologies and Coulomb Technologies an agreement to develop public charging stations capable of charging an electric vehicle in 30 minutes or less" needs a verb between "Coulomb Technologies" and "agreement".
"With window power, there’s sort of a glass ceiling..." Window power?
There are a few other, less egregious ones.
Back on topic, I think getting ANY kind of rapid charging out there will be key to public acceptance of electric cars. Women, in particular, feel extremely vulnerable about being stranded on the side of the road.
31 weeks ago
make gas the real price of $8-10 a gallon and people will be glad to plan and charge at night. Too many drive long distances when they could take a train or bus.
Fast charging could kill the GRID if many did it at Peak Time of day in the Summer when demand is highest. We have to be smarter, drive less call ahead, telecommute.
Slow charging off peak at night is the best with no new power plants or any pollution since the GRID has excess that gets dumped off peak. That's why utilities off Tome Of day pricing and many still don't change when they use power.
31 weeks ago
Jim,
One lesson that the '90's production EVs in CA as well as Tesla's current fleet taught us is that night time charging is most common, simply by its convenience alone. The financial time-of-use incentives only solidify this further.
Charging during the day, since it will likely only be an occasional event, won't likely be too much of a problem. Even better, the small amounts of it that there are can actually be used to stabilize the grid as fast charging could be delayed or shut down for a few minutes at the request of the grid to actually help handle surges.
31 weeks ago
Bit by bit, step by step, we make advances. 15 minutes today, 2 minutes tomorrow. God, I love this revolution!
31 weeks ago
Most people, 100~200million car owners around the world can live with 5 to 8 hrs of charging at home. There is that market.
For those whose time important, then they buy the high capacity battery, most of that should be optional devices when these EVs come out.
Most important, price. When battery prices drop, capacity increases because technology never sleeps THEN gas prices skyrocket because a million chinese, indian want to own cars and fossil fuel supply is dwindling then cars when mass-produced drop down in prices reversed exponentially.
31 weeks ago
Yes, most people will charge in their home for the 30 - 40 miles of every day commute.
For long distance, they may use these chargers which will be installed in Post Offices, Libraries, Parks, Stores, Malls and all other Govt buildings.
28 weeks ago
I hope that these 480v hi power charge stations are not going to be self service. You can easily weld with the power lead to the car!
Also, are these cars going to have an active battery cooling system? These batteries are going to produce a lot of heat if charged in 30 minutes. Say 15 kwh/0.5 hours = 30kW... Yikes.
28 weeks ago
I see a new service will be needed for people that run out of electric in there EV. A generator on the back of a pickup to help charge EV that are stranded.
28 weeks ago
I'm thinking about Smart Grid and those Level III chargers:
One of the neat concepts about electric cars is they can be charged at night (or whenever the demand for electricity is low, and thus the real-time price is low). And with "vehicle-to-grid", they could sell back to utilities during peak-usage times (for a large profit).
Now, along comes this idea of Level III chargers. They'll be used during the day--- when electricity demand is high. And they'll use a significant amount of power...quickly. That's exactly what the power grid doesn't want, and thus the SmartGid will need to schedule vs. other loads at that instant. But YES, it's exactly what the consumer does want.
27 weeks ago
Why don't the experts design a battery for all EV units that is mounted where the normal gasoline tank is mounted (the underside of the vehicle). This battery pack then could be replaced at a Battery replacement station.
It goes like this.
The car drives over the changing station. The automated battery compartement opens allowing the battery (pack) to be removed and a new pack installed. This could not take more than the amount of time it takes to fill a tank of gasoline.
The battery pack could then be properly discharged and recharged taking the proper time to maintain the batteries.
Of course this would have to be standardized.
Just an Idea.
Mark McVey
22 weeks ago
This is such a big step that I don't see anything keeping it back. I'm not saying that some of the negatives that people keep bringing up aren't valid, it's just that you have to stop thinking on the same track as gasoline engine technology. The fact that early automobiles were nothing but modified horse carriages should be proof to anyone that once this concept hits the streets there are going to be so many high tech and low tech innovations that it will blow everyone's mind. Of course these vehicles are limited by range and infrastructure right now, but even as they are right now they could support 60 per cent of the urban driving population's needs. As fleet vehicles for local government use the savings in fuel and maintenance would be well worth it. If you need a vehicle for a long trip you can stick with your gas guzzler (and burn gas and make CO) all year, or you could just go to any car rental agency and rent a Prius for your "road trip". The choir that I'm talking to knows that we aren't going to convince the "Jesse James" of the world out there that need their muscle cars (and their mistresses) to pump themselves up, to go green. That's up to rest of us that know we have to focus our use of fossil fuels into making electricity in the cleanest and most efficient way that we can so that when the last barrel of oil is burned we have at least stretched the supply out as long as possible. I'm envisioning Denver Airport with a "0 emission" shuttle fleet servicing the needs of the city's commuters maybe with a wind turbine farm helping to power the fleet chargers or send power back to the grid. Phoenix could go solar and wind power. Get out the gasoline engine paradigm. The "Pony Express" riders would have all laughed at the idea of using an automobile to do their job at the time, but how long did they last?
14 weeks ago
Yes,you are quite right,I agree with your point.You know, we the manufacturer of electric vehicle battery charger and very foucs on this matters,so anyone who interested in our ElCon battery charger,pls feel free to email me,thanks.
BTW,I would like to introduce the advantages of our ElCon battery chargers:
1．Wide input voltage range AC85V-AC265V at 50Hz or 60Hz available for worldwide requirements.
2．Fully sealed and water-proof,protection class IP46,vibration-proof level up to SAEJ1378.
3．Intelligent tempreture compensation function in the charging process.
4．Available for various kinds of batteries like lead-acid battery , LiFePO4 battery,etc.
5．10 unique algorithms AH setting for lead-acid battery charger and voltage setting for LiFePO4 battery charger without CAN module.
6．Full load efficiency high with above 93%.
7．Internal integrated PFC,no pollution to electric-network,avoid shocking on electric network from heavy current.
Email:export3@hztiecheng.com
Mobile phone:86-13656810912
4 weeks ago
This discussion is indeed very though provoking and convincing to an extent that EV's have a great future ahead.However we have missed a point in terms of Inductive charging Options.Using inductive charging we can charge a Nissan Leaf in about 2.3 hours
(level 2) without touching any high voltage equipment!!! I am conducting a survey on willingness to pay for wireless charging.
Please fill the form below to help me with the same.Thanks in Advance
https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/dolcera.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDJ...
Post a new comment