Reliable Fast Charge Networks Nov. 2015
My name is Brandon Smoker. I live in Pennsylvania USA and am an electric car enthusiast (I own a 2011 Nissan Leaf too) with a particular interest in seeing robust fast charge networks become a reality.
I see a weakness in some of today's fast charge networks that I'm hoping operators will address in future planning and rolling out of fast charge stations.
A network of fast chargers needs to be completely reliable if it is to be trusted by EV drivers now and in the future.
This is particularly important for those charge stations that enable longer distance EV travel between cities.
In the same way that a gas car driver visits a gas station with his gauge on E and is quite certain that he will be able to fill up, so an EV driver needs to be certain that a fast charge location will provide the charge he most certainly needs.
Future EV drivers who travel on a main route that has a well spaced network of fast chargers may not have range anxiety, but if there exists a good possibility of encountering a fast charger being out of service, then we have charger anxiety.
Some early adopters of electric vehicles may be willing to put up with this, but most mainstream drivers will not.
So what are some things that could be done to help a network be reliable?
Here are some thoughts I have:
For the long distance main route fast charger locations between cities, I would recommend two chargers, one obviously being the 50 kW fast charger and the other a Level 2 j1772 charger at the very least, which should be seen as a short term solution.
More than one charger at these between city locations is necessary for EV driver confidence. An EV driver is not going to be too keen to take a trip that requires him to rely on just one fast charger per location that has the potential to be out of order in some way.
Having a Level 2 as a backup charger is a cheap way to accomplish this to a degree.
As soon as possible another fast charger should be installed. This could be a 24 kW charger to save on costs. A location would then have 2 fast chargers and one Level 2. The 24 kW charger could even be installed in the first place.
This would help to eliminate the possibility of an individual or family being stranded on a trip if a fast charger has an issue or is temporarily out of service.
Adding to what I've written above:
I'm looking into the future here and seeing a vitally important issue that needs to be addressed.
There needs to be something done to ensure driver confidence on the main routes between cities.
My main thrust here is that this driver confidence/convenience issue is huge and needs to be addressed by multiple units in future installations.
In the future, not necessarily right away at the beginning. Early adopters are more daring than the regular driver.
