No. You would want a battery much larger than the battery in the car, for exactly the problems you suggest. I’m thinking something like 10 times the capacity of the cars expected to be charged. (I’ll leave the exact calculations to the electrical engineers.) You could even use a single battery to drive multiple chargers.
–Peter
As has been mentioned already, piles in this context are likely to refer to batteries.
They are semi-conductors used to control power supplies, such as inverters and transformers. They can tolerate higher voltages and temperatures, and can switch at higher speeds than traditional silicon (without the carbon) semiconductors.
–Peter
I guess I should have said “about the same size” as a bare minimum. Making the per charger battery 10x as big skews the cost of using this super fast charger even higher. It also excludes some locations because the real estate space used for a box the size of 10 car batteries is significant.
My read on consumer behavior is that most people will not pay much extra to get a super fast charge compared to what a 250 kw or 350 kw chargers do today.
Exhibit A is Costco gas. People wait in long lines, by choice, just to save 10 or 20 cents per gallon.
Mike
How large are their gas tanks? Not small. Big vehicle uses a lot of gas very quickly. So they NEED a big gas tank–and the Costco/etc discounted gas does save them a lot of money. So, worth the wait. EV driver wants a fast charge if battery is low. If not low, then why get a charge when not needed? They won’t. When low, fast charge allows more charges per time frame (whatever it is) AND can save time on a long trip. Why? Because stopping every 2 hrs or so is not unreasonable. A fast/large charge makes the stop far shorter in terms of time because no need to wait very long to get the car charged once connected to the charger.
Yep. When I regularly filled up our minivan, it was 20+ gallons each time. So 20 cents less per gallon was $4+ saved. Every week! That’s about $200 a year. And sometimes it more than 20 cents, even 30 cents periodically. But I never drove to Costco just for gas, only filled up at Costco if I was already going there to shop. And the gas lines there were VERY annoying. If my wife was with me, I would drop her at the door, then get in line for gas, then wait, then fill up, then park, and then meet her in the store. There were other discounted gas stations closer to home that I used.
Now “filling up” our cars is trivially easy. Pull the car into the driveway and plug it in. A few seconds max each time.
Just curious. Have you ever forgotten to unplug it when you leave? I would think that would be a hard routine to establish. Especially of you still owned a gas vehicle.
Nope.
I don’t know why gas cars never added a sensor that prevents getting into gear if the gas pump is still inserted. Our minivans had a sensor that didn’t allow the sliding door to go all the way back if the gas fill door was opened (so it wouldn’t break it).
I think it has been established that USians are idiots. They will sit in line to save 20 cents on gas, but how much do they spend on foo foo coffee?
Steve
I don’t buy stupidly expensive drinks. I buy instant coffee on sale, not so much at regular prices. If someone is making big bucks, if they want to waste a bit on something that makes them feel good, fine. Key point: It is affordable for them. However, that also means those customers could go elsewhere if/when they so chose/desired.
Yet, they stand in line at Costco, as if their time had no value? Question, while they are waiting in line at Costco, do they leave their engine running? Do they use the remote start to warm/cool the car for 15 minutes, before they get in it? Do they drive a 23mpg SUV, when a 40mpg compact would serve just as well?
Steve
I don’t. I get delivery. Sure, there is a price, but it is better than wandering around there and then standing in line. I once went to get a free vaccine, but it was required I stay in the store until they verified I was ok after 15-30 min. Didn’t mind, as Costco sometimes has freebies to try.
Mine won’t start if it’s plugged in. It is literally impossible to drive away with the plug attached.
I have two chargers in the garage. One is 110v, and drains the batteries that I charge with solar panels. On the rare occasions that I need a full charge (like today: I’m driving to Kentucky to visit a friend) I use the 220v and charge to 100%. However much I used to spend on gas, it’s now a trifle. Mostly it’s entirely free. On those days when I top off its probably $2-$3 worth of “extra” electricity.
I don’t own an electric vehicle, and I don’t even know anybody that owns one. We do own a 2024 Honda Passport. The features on the car are impressive.
As for the gas hose being left in the car after filling, I have to confess when I was a kid I worked parttime at a service station. We had full-service pumps and I once left the nozzle in the car. Fortunately, the filler was in the back and the hose popped out without causing any damage.
The charging cable is electrically connected unlike fuel hose which has only a physical contact. Big difference.
The Captain
Stopping every 2 hours is unreasonable to me. With a gas car I used to go 6 hours, pit stop for bathroom, coke, and sandwich, and drive for another 6.
With the EV I get around 4+, but then it’s a slog to recharge from nothing. Luckily almost all of my trips (these days) about about 3 hours or mostly less, so it’s not a big deal.
Sidebar: when AOL was a thing and cable modem was just coming on, one of the gurus of @Home proclaimed that people would appreciate the convenience of just opening a browser to get the weather report instead of all the buzzing and beeping and “You’ve Got Mail” that accompanied signing on to AOL. I scoffed, thinking that the extra 30 seconds was not that big a deal.
Turns out he was right, even though his example was trivial. Likewise, being able to charge in 5 minutes instead of a half hour (or often longer) is a very big deal at least to me, and would be a major selling feature of any future purchase.
Although in reality I kept my last car for 30 years, so I am unlikely to be buying another any time soon. (Do like the VW Buzz as a replacement for the Toyota Sienna I have, I must say.)
Me too, but at $60+k, stupidly too expensive. At $35k-$42k, they would sell as fast as they could be produced.
The big thinkers at VW, in 2022:
“The key target is not growth,” said Arno Antlitz, chief financial officer, in a reversal of the stance taken by former VW executives. “We are [more focused] on quality and on margins, rather than on volume and market share.”
So, what has VW accomplished, since it announced it didn’t care about volume, but was more interested in jacking up profit margins? Quality and reliability have crashed. The honchos are screaming “the roof is on fire”, as they lay off 35,000 and close factories, in the face of financial challenges.
Steve
It’s not as big a difference as you would think. For at least a decade, probably two, gas powered cars would display an error if you left the fuel access panel open. I think it has something to do with pressure and vapor release from the fuel tank. On early models, it was a very cryptic error that caused people to spend a lot of time at their mechanic … until the problem was found, often a bad sensor at the fuel filling pipe saying that it was left open. And of course, over the years, ALL manufacturers began connecting the screw top to a tether so it wouldn’t be forgotten. But the tether often breaks with time (ask me how I know!), so back to possibly forgetting to screw it on, and back to the error. Anyway, most (all?) gas cars have the sensor (it may even be required by NHTSA/EPA), so the car can surely “know” if the gas pump handle is still inserted before allowing the car to get into gear and drive away. Just for some unknown reason, the automakers decided not to add that feature. It’s not really unknown, the reason is “because we’ve always done it that way”. Ironically, it’s the same reason they’re likely to fail as profitable businesses.
Gas cars could disallow starting if the fuel cap and/or fuel door was open if they wanted to.
I think everyone has seen someone driving down the road with the fuel door open and maybe the cap dangling.
Mike