EV Corridor Links LA and San Fran, “Fast” Charging Still Relative
The biggest limitation on electric cars, as we know, are the batteries. They take hours to charge, and cannot travel nearly as far as gas-powered engines. So while California may be the center of the “green movement,” traveling the almost 400 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco is impossible on electric power. Until now.
SolarCity has announced an EV charging corridor spanning the 382 miles between LA and San Fran featuring four stations, with a fifth station opening in October.
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The only type of car that can plug in to the corridor currently is the Tesla Roadster, though there are plans to update the stations with a standard universal plug in the future. The Tesla has an optimum range of 220 miles, meaning the journey could be completed (depending on your driving habits) with only one charge in between. Alas, the 240 volt outlets still take between two and three hours to fully charge a car, though they have been smartly placed in shopping centers so there is at least something to do while you wait.
Only one of the stations currently runs on solar power, though there are plans to update the rest with sun juice in the future. But this brings up my biggest problem with electric vehicles so far. Even two years from now, the charging time is estimated to be brought down to, at best, 45 minutes. That is still a long time to wait for your car to get back on the road, especially if you have places to go and things to do.
Another problem is the overly-optimistic nature of this project. Right now, it is free to charge your Tesla at these stations for however long it takes. That is fine and dandy for the few hundred people who currently own one, but it won’t always be free so they might be setting a bad precedent (not unlike what happened to newspapers when they started putting all their news online for free. Even if charging times come down to 15-30 minutes to fully charge a car, that space cannot be occupied by a second car. Think about how many cars pass through a busy gas station in a 30 minute period. Now imagine if every one of those cars took 20 minutes to fill up. You’d need either; a) a very large charging station with dozens or even hundreds of outlets or; B) a very patient populace.
Battery swapping stations make more sense to me, if you’re going to make an argument for electric cars. I’m not a shopper. I am not a patient person. I am not going to sit around waiting for my car to be charged. I want to roll up, get my energy fix, and move on with my life. This is just my opinion of course, but one I feel is shared by plenty of Americans. Standardize a battery, make quick-swap stations, and don’t hold me hostage any longer than you need to.
Still, it is a start. Wired even made a Google Map of where the stations are located right now, so if you do have a Tesla, you won’t get lost.
Source: Wired | Picture: SolarCity
Have you not heard of Ecotality? They have a fast charger right now and are working with the DOE and the state of California to put these fast charging stations in San Diego. It would only take 10-20 minutes to charge your car. Slow charging (level2) will create the problems you mentioned. Fast charging (level3) will not.
I have not heard of that, to be honest. 10-20 minutes is much more acceptable, though I think for it to be totally viable, it needs to take no longer than filling a 15-20 gallon gas tank…so what, 2-3 minutes?
As I said…I’m not a patient person. If I had to wait 20 minutes for my car to be charged, I’d inevitably wind up in trouble…
With due respect, I think you’re missing the point. Mass-market acceptance of EVs is going to be difficult if there isn’t at least the *possibility* of driving them over long distances (like LA->SF). The point of these recharging stations is to pull the rug out from under people who say “Oh, well EVs are fine if all you ever need to do is drive around town, but we need to drive up to the in-laws a few times each year.” EV advocates can now point out that there are, in fact, charging stations all along the way.
You need to see what is happening in the rest of the world. Nissan is one of the companies that is building infrastructure in India and China. First you buy the electric car but you lease the battery. The battery exchange stations, (this is the infrastructure being built) are off grid and powered by solar and or wind. You drive in, (like a car wash), and in less than 10 minutes your battery is exchanged with a freshly charged battery by the machine in the battery exchange station. BTW you can also plug in just and charge slowly if you like. The cars are nice 5 passenger sedans with decent range. The world is changing and those committed to doing things the old ways will be left behind.
I think you also miss a point by comparing it to gas station. Gas station requires large storage tanks and pipes, as well as delivery trucks. While charging station rely on existing grid. So any restaurant or shopping mall can provide charging station in existing parking lot. several hours seems too long, less than 1 hour would be fine for those places.