Perhaps even more important than how much electricity EVs would consume is the question of when it would be consumed. We based the above estimates on optimal, off-peak charging patterns. If instead most EVs were to be charged in the afternoon, the electricity grid would need more generation capacity to avoid outages. While EVs might increase the amount of electricity the US consumes, the investment required to accommodate them may be smaller than it appears. Many regions already have sufficient generation capacity if vehicles are charged during off-peak hours. The energy storage on board EVs could provide the flexibility needed to shift charging times and help grid operators better manage the supply and demand of electricity.

2021-02-09: The US doesn’t have a charging standard. This is insane. Of course it means that Tesla becomes the standard.

2022-02-08: EV uptake simulation as a function of charging infrastructure. Pretty dumb simulation as it predicts a decline in EV sales.

50% of adults who are aware of electric vehicles say they are unlikely to seriously consider purchasing one. Consumers hesitant to make the switch cite concerns such as the high purchase price, limited driving range and lack of sufficient charging infrastructure.

Using a model that is a stylized portrayal of the US auto market, we’re able to simulate the impact of policies intended to overcome these concerns about EVs. Each scenario assumes a limited number of vehicle technologies are available to consumers; the number of cars on the road remains constant; new powertrains are supported by targeted advertising campaigns to raise awareness.

2022-10-14: Shell is trying to convert their gas stations to electric, but are not price competitive. A Tesla Model 3 has a max battery of 82 kwh, which would cost £23 at the average rate, not £35. And much much cheaper at home. In a world where every parking spot can become a charging spot (why not?), this business plan isn’t going to work.

With 46k stations in 80 countries, Shell is the world’s biggest gasoline retailer. The Fulham station is one of several prototypes it’s planning as more cars shift to battery power, aiming to get feedback on what works while laying the groundwork to hit a target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Charging can be done more or less anywhere there’s a plug, so the issue is one that the oil giants, regional chains, and independents that run the world’s 770k filling stations will confront in the coming decades. What’s the value of their real estate in cities and on highways worldwide? Will people still show up if recharging takes 30 minutes or more? Is there a business model that will work for filling stations when people can also charge up at home, the office, or the mall? One advantage they can bring is faster fill-ups: as little as 10 to 20 minutes vs. many hours when using a standard charger at home. And they typically occupy prime locations with lots of traffic, where tired and hungry drivers are likely to grab a coffee or a snack while charging their cars.
At the Fulham facility, fully charging a Tesla Model 3 takes 30 min and can cost more than £35

2022-10-20: Drastically faster charging allows for much smaller batteries, which is great for battery supply, car efficiency and cost. The fastest Tesla supercharger takes 20 min and is not recommended for daily use.

A breakthrough in electric vehicle battery design has enabled a 10-minute charge time for a typical EV battery. “Our fast-charging technology works for most energy-dense batteries and will open a new possibility to downsize electric vehicle batteries from 150 to 50 kWh without causing drivers to feel range anxiety. The smaller, faster-charging batteries will dramatically cut down battery cost and usage of critical raw materials such as cobalt, graphite and lithium, enabling mass adoption of affordable electric cars.

The technology relies on internal thermal modulation, an active method of temperature control to demand the best performance possible from the battery. Batteries operate most efficiently when they are hot, but not too hot. Keeping batteries consistently at just the right temperature has been major challenge for battery engineers. Historically, they have relied on external, bulky heating and cooling systems to regulate battery temperature, which respond slowly and waste a lot of energy.

The researchers developed a new battery structure that adds an ultrathin nickel foil as the fourth component besides anode, electrolyte and cathode. Acting as a stimulus, the nickel foil self-regulates the battery’s temperature and reactivity which allows for 10-minute fast charging on just about any EV battery.

2022-11-11: Tesla opensources their charger (as previously predicted)

With more than 10 years of use and 30b EV charging km to its name, the Tesla charging connector is the most proven in North America, offering AC charging and up to 1 MW DC charging in one slim package. It has no moving parts, is 50% the size, and 2x as powerful as Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors.

In pursuit of our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, today we are opening our EV connector design to the world. We invite charging network operators and vehicle manufacturers to put the Tesla charging connector and charge port, now called the North American Charging Standard (NACS), on their equipment and vehicles. NACS is the most common charging standard in North America: NACS vehicles outnumber CCS 2:1, and Tesla’s Supercharging network has 60% more NACS posts than all the CCS-equipped networks combined.

2022-11-28: Dumb scaling beats working with local mafias.

Charging EVs in parking lots with solar power is a marriage made in heaven. But the general rule for any solar or charging installation is that it be grid tied, so it can charge vehicles from the grid when the sun is not shining, and feed excess power back to the grid when the cars are not charging. Beam builds their stations in their factory, at scale — which is a big cost win — and then ships them on a flatbed trailer to the site, where they are simply dropped in any sunny parking spot. Without permits or contractors this can be done immediately, not months later. The Beam system is not cheap, however. Just cheaper for some locations than the high cost of traditional install.