CNN
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Sometimes technology doesn’t live up to its promises. But it’s not the technology that lets us down, it’s the people who use it. So one electric vehicle charging company is experimenting with cutting off people who linger to “fill up.”
Recently, I drove a new Chevy Blazer EV from New York City to Bristol, Pennsylvania. I estimated that the drive to Bristol with my family would take about 90 minutes, and because we didn’t leave with a fully charged battery, we expected the drive back would take an additional 15 to 20 minutes as we stopped to charge the EV along the way.
I was very wrong.
It took me four hours to get home that night, standing in line for an electric car charger due to ill-mannered charger patrons who had no respect for electric car etiquette. It’s like waiting for your seat in a restaurant while people casually chat over empty plates and half-empty wine glasses.
So what’s the problem? EV fast chargers (those big, tall units that look like large appliances) are generally not designed to fully charge an EV’s battery. They are designed to pump power into the battery quickly so that a driver can stop for a short time and be on the road again in, say, 20 minutes. This is different from the smaller, more common “slow” chargers, or “destination chargers” in Tesla parlance, which are designed for drivers to park, plug in, and leave for hours.
But fast charging can be hard on your car’s battery, so to protect it from damage, the charging rate slows down significantly once the battery is over 80%. In fact, it can take just as long, or even longer, to go from 80% to a full charge as it did to get to 80%. Meanwhile, a line of electric cars is lined up behind your nearly-fully charged car.
I was waiting behind people whose batteries were at 92%, 94%, even 97% according to the charger screens, and yet they stayed there. I made my situation worse by giving up one spot to go to another where there were more chargers, only for there to be even more EVs waiting.
This is a big problem, given that multiple studies have shown that a lack of public charging infrastructure has put many consumers off EVs.
Electrify America, one of the largest charging companies in the U.S., is experimenting with a solution to the problem of charger wastage that makes EV trips slow and unpleasant. At 10 of California’s busiest EV fast-charging stations, Electrify America has instituted strict limits: When a car’s battery is 85% charged, charging will automatically stop and drivers will either have to unplug and walk away or be assessed an “idle time” fee of 40 cents per minute for occupying the space.
This is similar to what Tesla cars do automatically: When a Tesla car, truck or SUV is plugged into a particularly busy Supercharger station, the vehicle itself may automatically limit charging to 80% “to reduce congestion,” according to Tesla’s online Supercharger support web page.
But even then, users can override the limits using the vehicle’s touchscreen. Electrify America’s limits can’t be circumvented, and drivers who want to charge to 100% at one of these stations will have to go elsewhere.
Access to chargers has been a pain point for EV owners for years (just look at the complaints on Reddit and LinkedIn), but with the growth rate of EV sales slowing and the number of EVs on the road needing charging still increasing, access to chargers is becoming a more significant issue.
“I think we’ve seen a real surge in demand for public fast charging,” said Sarah Lafalson, executive vice president of policy at EV-charging company EVgo. “I would say we’ve really hit a tipping point in the last year or 18 months.”
Given the steep decline curve of EV chargers, it makes the most sense to unplug at 80% and then stop at another charger later to charge back up to 80% again, so you always take advantage of the fastest possible speeds for fast chargers.
Electric vehicles are still a novelty for most owners, and their “refueling” habits are based on what they’re used to driving gasoline-powered cars, says Robert Barrosa, president of EV charging company Electrify America. People go to gas stations to “fill up,” and many treat chargers the same way. Many new EV owners may not realize that charging speeds always slow down significantly once the car gets past 80 percent.
But what if the nearest fast charger is, say, at least 15 or 20 minutes away? With relatively few chargers and long distances between them, once people find a charger they may be tempted to stick around for a while.
“You get to the charger and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m charging everything,'” Barosa said.
Electrify America and EVgo both said they are rapidly expanding their networks to ensure they have enough chargers to meet future demand, in the words of EVgo’s Lafalson, “stay ahead of the pack.” A sufficient supply of chargers could help mitigate the kind of electricity hoarding that’s now common at chargers.
The charger hogging problem may be exacerbated by the free-charging deals Electrify America has with various automakers, including Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. If it doesn’t cost anything to charge, there’s no financial incentive to unplug. Like a Red Lobster customer ordering endless shrimp, some EV drivers take full advantage, frustrating others waiting behind them.
And there may be other legitimate reasons drivers want to charge 100% at a fast charger, Barrosa said. For example, they might be taking a long trip to a location where they know there are few chargers. Or they might be driving a relatively short-range EV, like a Fiat 500e or Mazda MX-30, and want to cram as much charge in as they can. Because of these cases, Electrify America won’t impose a blanket cap on charging at stations near major highways, Barrosa said.
Charging companies like Electrify America have a wealth of real-time data on charger usage, which could allow for a more granular approach than simply placing limits on specific chargers. Some EV-charging companies are experimenting with plans to charge different rates at different times of the day to incentivize drivers to charge at less busy times. At least for now, Electrify America executives want to keep things simple so drivers know what to expect when they arrive at a charging station, Barrosa said.
In the meantime, let’s hope that EV drivers who don’t need to fill up will learn to be more considerate.
