EV Charging Requires Mindset Change

Philip Oakley

---

7th October 2019

EV owners have to change the way they expect to ‘refuel’ before the industry can expect to accelerate take up of the technology.

That’s the view of Dutch charging specialist EVBox whose marketing manager, said Job Karstens, said consumers brought up on ICE products need to have a change in mindset. Speaking to TU-Automotive, he said: “Owning an EV requires a mindset shift: from fueling at a gas station, to charging wherever you are,” he said. He pointed out that this is the major sticking point for owners facing challenges to find charging infrastructure at work or while shopping, where many have just a handful of chargers available.

Karstens added: “Even though rapid, 10-15 minute charging can improve the EV experience in certain settings, increasing access to charging stations, regardless of where a driver might be – at home, work, retail, public etc – would be the best solution.”

He said much of the industry’s work right now is going into fast or rapid chargers at 120kW or 150kW, reducing charging time down to 30 minutes or less for some cars. However, that’s less important for consumers working in the office for eight hours where slower, cheaper chargers are more beneficial. “For most settings, like charging at home or at the workplace where cars are parked for a long period, slower AC charging, as opposed to faster DC charging, is offering a cost efficient and easy to set up service to provide enough energy for most everyday use,” Karstens said.

Even if high powered superchargers do become the norm, smaller cars may not even be able to benefit because it costs automakers more to install batteries that will take higher voltage power delivery. This could limit the spread of EVs to the high value luxury premium end of the market.

Karstens told us: “On the car side, 350 kW is an expensive technology that makes sense only for high end vehicles designed for long range or high level of service, with a large battery pack that needs to be recharged fast. However, most electric vehicles will be able to charge up to 80/100kW and the high-end cars with long driving range will be compliant with 175kW or even 350kW.”