LIFE MAY BEgetting easier for electric-
vehicle owners looking to recharge.
An ongoing build-out of the nationalEV-charging network should help
reduce consumer fear of running out
of charge, known as range anxiety,
a potential barrier for consumers
converting to plug-in electric vehicles.
Tesla is by far the largest U.S. sellerof EVs, and it has built a network of
“Superchargers” to match. Tesla has
more than 1,533 stations, with more
than 13,000 individual chargers
worldwide currently or coming soon.
It’s continuously filling in gaps in
its network. In June, the company
said it turned on the first of its next-
generation “V3” chargers, delivering
up to 250 kilowatts of power and up
to 75 miles of range per 5 minutes of
charging time.
But the chargers work only for theautomaker’s models. Other companies
are building their own networks.
Some companies, such asChargePoint, EVgo, and Electrify
America, are filling out the national
network, making longer drives
possible for other EV models.
The numbers sound impressive:
ChargePoint has more than 66,000
charging spots accessible to the public.
EVgo claims more than 1,200 “DC fast”
chargers nationwide. (DC fast chargers
can add up to 90 miles of range in
30 minutes, depending on the EV and
the charger.)
Volkswagen is one of the bigautomakers planning to expand its
EV lineup in the coming years. Using
stations have DC fast chargers.
Electrify America says it will bring
chargers online soon that give cars
20 miles of range per minute of charge
time, up from 9 miles a minute for a DC
fast charger. The energy throughput
on those will be so intense that the
company has had to design a new cable
with built-in cooling; otherwise, the
copper wire would need to be as thick
as a fist, company engineers say.
To put the charger-building spree
in context: The Department of
Energy estimates that there are now
21,876 electric charging stations in
the nation, with 65,003 individual
charging outlets. Of course, that figure
is still dwarfed by the number of gas
stations in the U.S.—well over 100,000,
according to the National Petroleum10,0002011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 201820,00030,00050,00040,00060,000NUMBER OF ELECTRIC CHARGING STATIONS IN U.S.CAN I
GET THERE
FROM HERE?
a spinoff company called Electrify
America, VW is spending $2 billion to
build the infrastructure as part of its
settlement with the U.S. government over
its diesel-emissions cheating scandal.
Electrify America is in the second of
four phases and said it would complete
work on 484 charging stations by June
2019, with locations in 17 metropolitan
areas in 42 states and the District of
Columbia. With those, the average gap
between stations in the network will be
70 miles, the company says.
“We have a chance to actually,
finally increase EV adoption in the
U.S.,” Giovanni Palazzo, president
and CEO of Electrify America, told
reporters recently. “This is the
fastest construction pace, including
everyone.” Most of the newerSource: U.S. Dept. of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center.SEPTEMBER 2019 CR.ORG 61