John Eichberger |
August 2024
This is a key question asked when evaluating the growth potential for battery electric vehicles (BEV). Range on a full charge may actually be less important if drivers know they can recharge with meaningful range in a short amount of time. Most knowledgeable market observers expect recharge times to improve and eventually get to a point where drivers can get a meaningful range in less than 10 minutes – in some cases, that is possible now. But there is so much more involved than simply deploying higher capacity chargers – the vehicles themselves must be properly equipped and in an appropriate condition when charging. In this article, we take a look at data relative to the state of fast charging in the United States. Some of this may surprise you.
Vehicle Capabilities
To understand charging time capabilities, we must understand the role of the vehicle for it is the vehicle that determines how much power it can absorb at any given time.
The first thing we need to understand is the maximum power for which a vehicle is engineered to receive electricity. According to an article in Autoblog.com, which ranked the top 30 fastest charging BEVs in the U.S. in 2024, there are only eight models engineered to accept a peak charge of 300 kW or higher. The article is careful to define its ranking methodology, because there are many variables that affect how much power a vehicle can absorb. I will replicate their explanation here:
…we’re ranking the cars by their peak charging capability, listed in kilowatts (kW). As the number of fast-charging EVs is increasing rapidly, we’re using 200 kW as the cutoff for this list.
Keep in mind, there are a number of variables that affect the practical realities of fast-charging, variables that can specifically slow things down. For instance, EVs don’t maintain that peak charging rate over the course of the charging session. The charge state of the battery affects speed, and the rate will dip significantly when a battery gets to 80% and then plummets to a trickle once approaching 100. EVs also have different size batteries, and a bigger battery will obviously take longer to top off.
Furthermore, a lighter, slower vehicle can go more miles on the same amount of electricity than a heavy, fast vehicle like the enormous GMC Hummer EV, so while two vehicles could charge at the same rate, the actual miles being given back to the battery will be different based on that car’s efficiency. Also, things like the age and temperature of the battery can affect charging speeds.
We could have calculated charging rates by miles per hour based on peak charging rate and battery capacity, but due to some of the variables above, those calculations wouldn’t be achievable in the real world. That’s why we landed on peak kW instead for the purposes of this list. We have, however, included manufacturer claims for charging speeds that might help give a better sense of the time it would take to charge the car in ideal conditions. So, without further ado, here are the fastest-charging EVs available now or in the near future.
With that explanation in mind, below is a graph that shows the peak charging capacity of the fastest 30 BEVs per this article along with the total number of each vehicle sold during the first six months of 2024 in the U.S. as reported by WardsIntelligence. You will see that, of the eight models with a peak charge capacity of at least 300 kW, only five recorded any U.S. sales during the first half of the year. They combined for 13,322 units sold, or 2.48% of the 536,382 BEVs sold during that time frame. There are another nine models with a peak charge capacity of at least 250 kW, of which six recorded sales in the amount of 30,977 or 5.78% of the BEV market.
But in addition to the variables indicated by the Autoblog.com article, a person affiliated with TEI reported that his BEV, which is capable of charging on more than 250 kW, typically charges at a maximum rate of 50 kW because he has not adjusted his vehicle settings to enable fast charging. How many BEV drivers know that there is an owner-controlled setting that can limit the pace of charge the vehicle may accept? And is there a good reason for wanting a slower charge?
Frequent use of ultra-fast chargers can generate more heat and put more stress on the battery, potentially affecting its long-term health and capacity. Newer EVs, however, have sophisticated battery management systems that help protect the battery during fast charging, so occasional use of 250+ kW chargers shouldn’t be a major concern.
Charger Capacity
Many businesses considering installing BEV chargers wonder how much power their chargers should be equipped to dispense. Some advocate for installing the fastest chargers possible to be prepared for the expansion of vehicles who can benefit from that capability. But the more power a charging station offers, the higher the cost of installation. According to ChatGPT, a 300 kW charger can cost between $150,000 – $300,000, whereas a 150 kW charger may cost $100,000-$200,000 and a 75 kW charger may cost $70,000 – $120,000. Of course, these costs are contingent upon a variety of factors but also apply to only one charger – businesses will want to install more than one unit so the costs will be multiples of those estimated.
Now, given that only a small percentage of currently sold BEVs are capable of charging on greater than 200 kW, businesses need to think about the demand they may expect in order to determine if the additional investment is necessary. Let’s look at actual utilization data.
TEI operates the Charging Analytics Program (CAP), which analyzes monthly data derived from more 2 million charging events each month. From that data, we can extract the following insights:
- Most Chargers are 100 – 299 kW: Of approximately 10,000 chargers in the data set, around 40% have a kW rating between 100 – 299. About 25% are rated higher than 300 kW and about 30% are between 50 – 99 kW.
- Most Charging Sessions are at 50 – 99 kW Chargers: Chargers ranked 50 – 99 kW generated approximately 43% of all sessions included in our data. Chargers 100 – 299 kW represented 34% of sessions and those 300 kW and higher represented 23% of sessions.
- Chargers 300 kW and higher have highest utilization %: Charger utilization in our data is expressed as a percentage and relates to the amount of time a charger is being used to charge a vehicle relative to the amount of time it is operational in a given day. Under this definition, 300 kW and higher chargers recorded the highest average utilization at 23%. Chargers 100 – 299 kW were used about 18% of the time and those 50 – 99 kW were used about 11% of the time.
- Faster chargers recorded the longest charger sessions: Charger session duration related to the amount of time a vehicle is connected and receiving power from the charger. The assumption is that higher powered chargers would require less time to recharge a vehicle, but remember the effective charge rate is mostly dependent upon the vehicle. It is not as surprising to note that 300 kW and higher chargers were used the most, but we were somewhat surprised that they also recorded the longest charging session duration. This could be attributed to a variety of factors. Our data shows that drivers using 300 kW and higher chargers spent more than 34 minutes connected to the charger, whereas those using lower powered chargers spent a couple of minutes fewer charging their vehicles.
There are a number of possible reasons for this, but one that immediately comes to mind is the vehicle cannot accept, or is not set up to accept, the maximum charge available from these high-powered chargers. An EV driver that is not aware of this factor might become frustrated with the slower than expected charge time. Another potential reason is that most of these chargers are located along highway corridors, which have a different use-case than those located within communities. Drivers are travelling longer distances and looking to recharge their vehicle from a lower state of charge. In addition, many of the vehicles traveling long distances may be equipped with larger batteries, which take longer to charge. Our data does not contain this level of granularity to enable us to determine the causal factors, but these are some that were suggested by the TEI Electric Vehicle Council as possible contributors.
There are a variety of other ways we can analyze the charging market and the Charging Analytics Program is providing us with incredible insights. Understanding which chargers are available and how drivers use them is essential to reaching sound business decisions relative to equipment installation and satisfying consumer demand. Do we build for today’s demand or do we invest further and build out of future demand? According to a survey conducted for TEI earlier this year, we learned that on average drivers are willing to wait up to 34 minutes to recharge their vehicle. Comparing consumer insights with charger utilization data helps us determine if we are meeting customer expectations with our existing infrastructure. Based upon the data presented in this article, it would appear that the speed of today’s infrastructure is meeting the average tolerance of drivers, but there is plenty of room for improvement. TEI will continue to monitor the performance of the EV charging market to help the industry better understand how to successfully service the driving public.
