[JoeReal]

Elon Musk warns again:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/tesla-owners-complain-of-overcrowded-supercharger-stations/


I can foresee the same problem as the Chevy Bolt goes mainstream! Not only that, with everyone clamoring for fast charging even at home, there would be lots of times that the local microgrids would be overloaded with just a few people supercharging at the same time.

The major point in the move to EV was that if everyone trickle charged at night to satisfy the average daily commute of 40 mi, there is enough capacity in the current grid to satisfy the move to electrification.

It would be different when you have fast supercharging and not all the time you will have evenly distributed recharging throughout the evening hours. If the smart meters controls your recharging, then chances are, there would be times when you need the 238 mile range trip for the day and you don't have a complete recharge the night before, and so your EV becomes unreliable.

 

[DonC]

If you have to pay then the congestion will disappear, and I believe that all or almost all of the CCS chargers will be fee based. I don't think the issue is stress on the grid, it's the physical occupation of a limited number of charging stations.

 

[telveer]

I dont think there is any clamor for fast charging at home. L2, and even L1 is more than enough for most. And the grid is generally very underutilized at night times, which is when most people charge their EVs .. so I do not forsee any grid meltdowns

 

[Loboc]

..with everyone clamoring for fast charging even at home..

Who is saying 'everyone' is clamoring for fast charging? I'm not. With 238mi of range I'd only need to charge on Saturday. (or Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday) I only drive to work three days a week and it's generally less than 50mi rt.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

 

[Michaelh310]

I have 6 kW at home and 3 kW at work. So in a normal day I can add 24 kWh and while I sleep maybe 48 kWh. Even without the workplace charging, I can replenish 150+ miles a day in just 8 hours. That will work fine.

 

[viking79]

Exactly, people think high power charging stations are needed for public support. They aren't. All you need is a simple 240 V and 120 V outlets at workplace parking spots and let people use their own EVSE

 

[Steverino]

At $10k per CCS station (plus it's own electric service), I foresee a tsunami of homeowners clamoring for a CCS station in their garage. Not.

Even my Gen1 2011 L2 EVSE can handle replenishing the Bolt EV. I don't drive 238 miles/day. Not even close.

 

[GSP]

DC Fast charging is only needed for road trips, and maybe for people that cannot get home or work charging.

L2 30 Amp is plenty for home charging, and there are tools to aggregate control of charging to allow utilities to cut demand during peak times.

Apartment dwellers without charging will need a fast charge every week or so. This will be more costly and less convenient than overnight L2 charging, so apartment owners will be able to get more tenants and rent if they install charging.

GSP

 

[BAZINGA]

I've looked at my driving/charging habits since I bought our first Volt in March 2012 and a pretty affordable Level II charging set up will/would completely satisfy ALL of my charging needs even if I owned a Tesla S85. My LCS-25 charges at 11 MPH so a 12 hour overnight charging session would add about 130 miles of range. I doubt many EV owners roll into their garages on EMPTY.

I don't see why a home owner would need anything more than a 240V/50 amp circuit at 27 MPH?

 

[Breezy]

Don't worry about the grid. It will be upgraded as needed. Connecting new loads is not a new thing. Chargers will only be permitted where the grid can handle them.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Charging would only be a potential problem for the grid for charging at home, but natural pricing would correct it.

DCFC charging is not a problem.

Tesla can't make free-at-the-point-of-use Supercharging work (at least right now since it would at the very least require parking enforcement) and are switching to a fee-based model.

When there are fees for being plugged in people will not over-occupy chargers. If there's a problem for the Bolt it's that currently CCS chargers tend to be in 1s and 2s. That's fine if you _want_ low utilization, but if you want people to use their BEVs to travel, you really, really want the chargers in larger groups to improve overall charging time. (There's good reason why single-queue-many-servers is used so much).

 

[Raymondjram]

"I can foresee the same problem as the Chevy Bolt goes mainstream!"

No, you are very wrong! That is such a stupid statement!

Most Bolt EV owners will have the space and facility to charge at home overnight. Many will buy and install a Level 2 EVSE as I have (mine is already set at 7.2 kW since 2014 - see my signature here and in all my past posts), so only a few who dare travel over its range will be using the SAE CCS charge stations. And those few will be much smarter than the TM Supercharger users who don't plan their trips and cannot charger at home.

Wait until December 2020 and then return here to admit that you were wrong today.

 

[ChevyEMF]

I don't need DC-Fast charging at home, but I sure wish my Volt had 6.6 kW charging on those days that I have an evening out planned after I get home from work. 20 miles in an hour would save me from using a lot of gas.

 

[Ladogaboy]

I've seen first-hand how requiring fees reduces the demand. Even people who can afford an $80,000 car seem drawn to free stuff.

It might be rough with the Bolt on occasion, but I anticipate that most Bolt owners will charge at home. I still maintain that far fewer public fueling stations are required for X number of EVs than are required for X number of ICEVs.