DC Fast EV Charging: The key to Future Electric Car Growth?

Anyone with a Nissan Leaf likely knows where every single CHAdeMo DC Fast Charger is to fill up his or her car. At present, there are three Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Standards in the USA and they are Telsa’s proprietary charging system, the Japanese CHAdeMo standard, and the USA’s SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) standard.

At this point we have a little over 2600 of these various charging stations scattered across the USA. Finding one isn’t that difficult on Plug Share but is it convenient for you to get to them. That is the really important question. Most of them are not. Most require a membership be purchased and that makes it difficult for some people that don’t want to be a part of every single network if they travel once in a while to different destinations.

These are all issues as the private sector companies are all vying for market share for the likely next major transportation fuel of the next generation. A couple of things the government could do to make this adoption easier would be to mandate one of the standards. This is unlikely in my view and it is extremely doubtful it would ever happen. For example, I will not be welcomed at a Tesla charging station with my Nissan Leaf. Therefore, the different charging standards are unlikely to be changed by Government. The next thing the government could do, would be to mandate that each charging station network have at a minimum an 1-800 Number manned 24/7 to allow the unit to be turned on remotely in case someone in an EV is stranded and needs a Fast Charge.

Additionally, I believe every single EV in the USA regardless of the manufacturer should not sell any Plug In Cars that don’t have Fast Charge capability in any pure BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle). This is important for making sure people can use the DC fast charging networks and travel further afield than with a standard 110v plug.

As the next generation of Electric Vehicles hits the markets within the next two years, it would be good to start to planning for the Charging Station network needed to accommodate these vehicles. For goodness sake, the Russians mandated that every single gas station in the country has to have an EV charging station. We are even lagging behind Russia now in our EV roll out. Its time for some government policy decisions to be made on how this EVSE infrastructure is going to be implemented going forward.