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| Fig. 1: A DC public charging port. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are a rapidly growing subsect of the automobile market. Due to their low reliance on oil and natural gas, they are a key element of climate pledges by policymakers and automobile manufacturers. Additionally, their low cost to consumers in the form of gasoline savings make the transition to EVs desirable as new buyers look to purchase vehicles.
However, there are multiple factors impacting the adoption of electric vehicles by consumers. These factors include cost and affordability of the vehicle, battery mileage and range, and the existing network of charging stations available to recharge vehicles outside of the home. As both automobile manufacturers and policymakers hope to convert consumers to EVs, the expansion of charging infrastructure will play a key role in increasing the willingness of individuals to buy plug-in vehicles.
Current options for electric vehicle charging can be divided into two categories: home charging and charging stations. Home charging, which uses a standard wall outlet, inverts typical AC (alternating current) power and converts it to DC (direct current) power for the vehicle. This method, although taking longer to fully charge the battery, is a convenient option for home usage without requiring additional charging equipment. Charging stations, pictured in Fig. 1, provide a much faster charge using a higher wattage inverter. These stations, sometimes called DC- fast Chargers, offboards and accelerates the AC/DC conversion process. They require far less time to fully charge the vehicle battery, at times only one hour depending on the car model. [1]
DC-fast Chargers increase the opportunity for electric vehicle owners to travel longer distances with minimal stops to recharge. Although they cannot fully recharge as quickly as a standard gas station visit, the growing presence of these charging stations are increasing the willingness of consumers to buy EVs without sacrificing ability to drive long distances.
According to a September Reuters report on EV charging, the United States currently has nearly 43,000 public charging stations. Within these stations exist approximately 125,000 individual ports. Charging stations are largely concentrated around metropolitan areas but distribution has spread in recent years. Unlike the European Union, which has approximately 62 charging ports per 100,000 inhabitants, the US only has about 37 ports per 100,000. [2]
Despite this growth, researchers estimate that almost every metropolitan area will need to grow charging infrastructure deployment at a rate of ~20% per year to reach the quantity of public chargers needed by 2025. Furthermore, the largest charging gaps are in cities such as San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, and Denver among others where EV uptake will occur most rapidly. This is due in part to financial incentives and subsidies from state governments to reward EV drivers. [3]
By the end of 2025, an estimated 3.6 million electric vehicles will be on the road in the United States. Of these, ~90% are expected to be in the 100 most populous metropolitan areas. This is largely due to consumer priorities for adoption such as driving range, time required to charge, and existing vehicle charging infrastructure, all of which are superior in urban areas. [3]
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| Fig. 2: A Tesla Supercharger, known for its top of the line charging speeds. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Multiple players will play a key role in the increase of EV charging infrastructure. The push has been largely led by electric utility providers which in the state of California have announced five statewide construction projects to build charging infrastructure. One provider, Electrify America, is a subsidiary of Volkswagen and will invest approximately $800 million into charging ports as part of Volkswagen's diesel car scandal settlement. However, even after the efforts from Electrify America and other utility providers PG&E, and SCE, and SDG&E, California will still be an estimated 41,500 nonresidential chargers short in 2025. This would imply a 49% gap from the approximately 84,100 chargers necessary for California EVs. [3]
Additionally, Tesla announced in June that they will launch a pilot program to allow non-Tesla charging at superchargers (pictured in Fig. 2). The Tesla Supercharger Network, known for its premier charging speeds, will run this trial run on 10 supercharger locations in the Netherlands with plans to launch in US planned for 2022. [4] This adoption would instantly increase charging capacity in the US by roughly 1200 units, the size of Tesla's network.
© Collin Douglas. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] M. Brenna et al., "Electric Vehicles Charging Technology Review and Optimal Size Estimation," J. Electr. Eng. Technol. 15, 2539 (2020).
[2] T. Bellon and P. Lienert, "Five Facts On the State of the US Electric Vehicle Charging Network," Reuters, 1 Sep 21.
[3] M. Nicholas, D. Hall, and N. Lutsey, "Quantifying the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Gap Across U.S. Markets," The International Council on Clean Transportation, January 2019.
[4] N. Balu, "Tesla Opens Charging Network To Other EVs For the First Time," Reuters, 1 Nov 21.
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