I’ve talked frequently in these newsletters about the transition to electric powered transportation because I think it is one of the climate “no brainers” — the technology is well developed, operating costs are lower for the consumer, and it will make a substantial reduction in global CO2 pollution. Demand for EVs is already high, and production is ramping up. That’s not to say that there won’t be bumps in the road to an EV transition. Lack of charging infrastructure and clean power to supply them are two of them.
NOT YOUR FATHER’S CAR
As I talk with owners of fossil fuel cars about the transition to EVs it’s clear that most of them labor under one stubborn misconception — they believe that EV charging should be as fast as filling up their gas tank, and that until that capability is there, EVs will never take off. Perhaps as more people get EVs, the news will spread and the skeptical will begin to understand that this is not only unnecessary, but dangerous to grid stability. For the foreseeable future, the relatively slow charging of EV batteries is a necessity.
CONSIDER:
The average range of a new EV arriving now at a dealer near you is about 250 miles.
According to the AAA Foundation, the average American auto owner drives an average of about 30 miles per day.
The lowest price for the electricity you will need to charge your new EV will almost invariably be found at your home.
Ponder these numbers a bit — if you put them together, you’ll see that most people will rarely want to charge away from home.
Think about it this way — if your fairy godmother visited your home every nite while you slept and filled your gas tank, how often would you stop at a gas station?
FAST CHARGING — LEVEL 3
Of course, no one is “average” and we all want to be able to take the occasional road trip. For these trips you may need to charge at a Level 3 DC Fast charger, the kind that can top you up while you have a meal or take a little hike to restore you circulation. These kinds of trips are mostly done on major highways. You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to conclude that the major investment in fast charging services should be on the Interstate Highway System at stops where there is something to do while you charge.
Installing Level 3 chargers is not cheap — on average about $150,000 each! While the cost of charging hardware is already falling, installed costs will likely stay high because of regulatory soft costs and the expense of getting these chargers hooked up to the grid. A bank of ten Level 3 chargers operating simultaneously takes a prodigious amount of juice! New utility poles, big wires, substations, transformers. The high investment cost of fast chargers also means that the electricity you get from them will not be cheap — probably 3 - 4 times what you would pay at home. You won’t want to use them unless you have to.
LEVEL 2
This is the type of charger that you will use at home, and will likely do the vast majority of EV charging, at least for the foreseeable future. They are dramatically less expensive (around 600 each on average) and use the kind of 230 - 240 volt circuit that is available in almost every home. Best of all, there are almost no hoops to jump through — you buy a charger and hire an electrician. Level 2 chargers vary somewhat in charging rate, from about 15 to 50 miles range added to your battery for each hour of charging.
LEVEL 1 — really slow
Most new EVs come with a Level 1 charger that you can plug into any household 120V outlet. Looking at the specifications, you might conclude that you could be consumed by moss before one of these little puppies would fill your battery. But in fact, we used one to charge our Kia Soul for the first six months and never had a problem. I switched to the smallest level 2 charger before the cold weather set in last fall, but I still wonder if it was worth the expense.
COMING SOON
The Federal Government is about to release a pile of money (5 billion over 5 years) to help jumpstart the installation of EV charging stations and the grid infrastructure to support them. The goal is to try to reduce “range anxiety” among prospective EV buyers. The danger is that much of the money may be used to make a visual splash by putting expensive chargers in inappropriate locations. While range anxiety is a very real phenomenon, its largely based on misconceptions about charging by people who have never done it. I’m hoping that this problem will melt away as the next wave of EV buyers discover the realities of charging and explain them to their friends and families.
WHY SLOWER CHARGING IS BETTER
Imagine that someone came up with a way to charge all your electrical devices — phones, tablets, laptops — in 5 seconds. That would be great, wouldn’t it?! The only trouble is that the amount of electricity needed to charge that fast can’t be handled by a typical household circuit. You’ll need a home grid upgrade — bigger wires, special circuit breakers, an electrician, and approval by your local code enforcement officer and electric utility! Maybe that old slow charger wasn’t so bad.
The value of slow charging has to do with grid management. If we are to save ourselves from the worst effects of climate change, almost everything that was once powered by fossil fuels (I can’t think of much that wasn’t) will have to switch to electricity. Renewable electricity generation is off to a good start — still miles to go, but the pace is encouraging.
But our electrical grid is woefully inadequate to be filling the gap left by the exit of petroleum. Huge upgrades will be necessary of course, but another way to ease the transition is to use our grid more intelligently. Smart metering can allow heavy loads, like charging the country’s vehicle fleet, to be shifted to periods when demand is low. In most areas of the country this will be late night, when air conditioning loads are reduced and most people are sleeping. In the not-too-distant future, two-way smart metering will allow grid operators to deliver more energy more reliably with less infrastructure.
THE 800 POUND AWJs
The Rocky Mountain Institute has been working with federal agencies and local governments to help them smooth the path to a robust EV charging grid. They’ve found that the biggest part of the price tag for this very important program is what they call “soft costs”. It’s not the hardware costs, it’s — you better sit down for this — an inordinately high number of Agencies with Jurisdiction that must be kowtowed to before any Type 3 fast charger installation can even begin. Rapid rollout of charging infrastructure will depend on streamlining the regulatory process, much as the solar industry did a decade ago.
MY TAKEAWAY
You won’t see fast chargers popping up in most shopping centers unless they happen to be on a popular road trip route: too expensive to install and most drivers will avoid them because of the high charging cost.
One recently stated goal is to install fast charging stations at 50 mile intervals on all major highways. This makes sense to me.
Much of the Federal talk on the coming infrastructure investment is about making sure there are no “rural charging deserts”. Given the structure of the US Constitution, the politics of this are obvious. But I believe there should be greater emphasis on providing level 2 charging for apartment dwellers.
The petroleum industry has long enjoyed huge subsidies from federal and state governments. Why do we continue to subsidize an industry that is doing us such harm? Adoption of electric transportation would be faster with a level playing field.
THINGS YOU CAN DO:
Talk with your friends who have battery cars. Ask them about how they do their charging.
Contact your representatives in Washington. Ask them to ignore those fat campaign contributions from the petroleum industry and stop playing favorites.
Thanks for reading,
Doug Hylan, Brooklin, Maine
“The move to electrification [in the transportation sector] is unstoppable.” Billionaire venture capitalist John Doerr
Great overview of a key impact of the EV movement. It’s also important to factor in the relationship to residential solar power generation. With that the slower charge @ home scenario becomes even more fiscally advantageous.
Nice one, Doug. All the issues are covered beautifully! Thanks for sharing!