I’ve never owned an EV and am seriously considering an EV when I upgrade from my current SUV. Obviously charging and range are top considerations. While there is a lot of news and debate around these two, I have seen fewer discussions around charging speed.
Specifically, my question is this. If an EV maker says it takes 20 mts to charge from 10%-80%, how long would it take to go from 50% to 80 or 90%. I’ve read numerous reports that as the battery is less drained, it takes significantly longer to charge.
The reason I ask this because for me, that is a key criteria for me. It’s very hard to plan my trip around looking for charging stations where I would be in the 10-30% charge or always ensuring I charge to 100% before the beginning of the trip.
I want to replicate my current behavior (with ICE) of not bothering to look at the fuel gauge but just filling up whenever I need to take a break. More often than not, I end up topping up, filling half tank of gas.
It seems that with EVs, I have to flip my behavior. I.e, plan my breaks around when the charge would be closer to 10-20%…else I would need to wait 35-45mts for car to get charged
Am I totally wrong here?
It doesn’t take longer to fill from 50-80 than from 20-80 (that wouldn’t make sense!) But, cars change much faster near the “bottom” of the battery than the top. My VW ID4 can charge from 10-80% in just over 30 minutes, but it takes nearly 20 minutes to charge from 50-80.
I think you’re inventing a problem you won’t actually have- you might stop every half tank in a gas car for a pee or a snack, because a gas car goes 400 miles on a tank. That half tank is 200 miles, or a stop every 3 hours. Most EVs have ~250 mile range. That 20-80% charge stop is about 180 miles or a stop every 2-1/2 hours. In both cases, you’re probably stopping when you need to.
If you’re expecting to charge from 50-90% in most modern (250-300 mile range) EVs, you’ll be stopping about every 90 minutes/100 miles or so. Even if those stops only take 20 minutes, that’s a weird slow cadence for traveling!
I’ve done many 1000+ mile road trips in my EVs (including two 3000+ trips this summer). I typically stop to charge when I’m somewhere between 10%-30% (depending on where the next station is or if I need to pee!) to 80-90% (depending on if I’m done doing whatever I’m doing at that stop- grabbing a snack, shopping, walking the dog, etc.) That allows stopping every 2 to 2-1/2 hours for 30 minutes or so. Since I’m 57 years old, with the bladder of a 57 year-old man, I’m stopping every 2 to 2-1/2 hours whether I’m driving an EV, a gas car, or a Conestoga Wagon! 😁