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I imagine we'll need pretty substantial upgrades to our electrical grid if we want electrical charging to be ubiquitous. A typical home peaks at 15-30 kW, wher
by cbhl 8y ago
I imagine we'll need pretty substantial upgrades to our electrical grid if we want electrical charging to be ubiquitous.
A typical home peaks at 15-30 kW, whereas a single DC fast charger can use as much as 62 kW or 500 kW.
Even a L2 charger uses something like 6.6-19.2 kW; if you tried to retrofit a Wal-Mart parking lot to have L2 chargers at every parking spot you'd probably need to build a new electrical power plant next door.
- blacksmith_tb 8y agoI doubt we'll see every space getting a charger, in fact as EVs/PHEVs become more common I would expect to see the free charging parking spaces go away (they're supposed to be an incentive to get people to switch, but if everyone already has...).
- pkaye 8y agoI see the free charging spaces at my local Target packed full of cars. I was wondering who would have time to spend there all the time until I realized some of them are Uber drivers. They get electric cars so they can charge for free waiting for their next customers. I'm guessing Target was hoping they would be actual customers who you drop by to shop while charging. I'm sure some time in the future they will be changed to have a fee once EVs become more common place.
- Cshelton 8y agoExactly. I've owned a Tesla for 3 years. Never once have I used those retail parking lot chargers. They seem silly to me. I charge in my garage, which doesn't need to be very fast at all, about 10Kw. And use the Supercharger network only on road trips.