An EV that charges 30% faster? Volvo and Breathe think their tech can do it

arstechnica.com

5 points·smeso··5 comments

I think charging speed is the #1 stat to look for in an EV.

There isn't going to be an EV with a range long enough for an entire road trip, but OTOH with recharging EVs have an infinite range. People don't care about range of their ICE cars, because they can fill up quickly. The same applies to BEVs — with fast charging, it's just a quick stop for a coffee, and it doesn't add to the trip.

Charging speed also matters for people who can't charge at home. Having to charge for 20 minutes once a week is not a big deal, especially if that can be combined with a shopping trip.

> I think charging speed is the #1 stat to look for in an EV.

I think it's the #1 stat to look at if you can't charge where you park, you drive a lot during the week, or you actually need that long range for road trips.

To flip it around — if you don't need to care about charging speed, then you have an easy case where any EV will work just fine.

As long as the charging stop is less than what you’d stop for anyway then it doesn’t really matter, but there is the issue of charger availability so shorter times would benefit this.

Electric car sales are still growing large amounts year on year so this puts pressure on existing charging networks. When I stopped at a regular stop the other week there were multiple new cars in the charging bays. Still lots of spaces but they need to start making more chargers to keep up with increasing demand.

The faster you charge a battery, the more you reduce its longevity. You can do it, but you may pay for it eventually. Caveat emptor.

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