Yossarian
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I didn't want to hijack a thread about the R2 in which a post suggested that a true fast charging system, something that provided a decent amount of range in about the same time as fueling an ICE vehicle, roughly five minutes, was needed to convince EV skeptics to go electric, and so started a separate thread. That post further suggested that five minute charging s unlikely to happen until we get next-generation batteries. I agree with the argument that true, five-minute fast charging will spur much greater EV adoption. I disagree that next-generation batteries are needed for that however. In fact, I would argue that five minute charging is already here, albeit on a somewhat limited basis and more importantly, not in the US. I'd also argue that it works using existing technology, and there's no structural reason that we can't at least begin the process of adoption here in the US.
In China, BYD has actually achieved charging of up to 60% battery capacity in five minutes in their Han L and Tang L models, both presently available to [Chinese] buyers at not exorbitant prices. iI's not simply a matter of the car's battery though. As this article in Inside EVs states, "It's important to understand that BYD's breakthrough isn't just a car, or a battery, or the charger itself. It's all three, and how they work in concert with each other."
The battery that the BYD uses appears to be nothing special, using evolutionary rather than revolutionary technology.. The Inside EV article describes it as simply a "derivative of BYD's "Blade" battery . . . lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) units . . ." It does require "extensively reworked electrolytes, separators and electrodes to reduce internal resistance by a claimed 50%, not to mention the latest version of BYD's direct refrigerant cooling system." This may be a breakthrough, but it seems to me to be one that is not based on revolutionary technology,
The second element, the charger is a major step up over what we have in the US. The BYD Megawatt charger is a 1,000 kW unit, which at present seems to exist only in China and at fairly small numbers, roughly 500 concentrated in major cites, The Megawatt's days are number however; BYD has already announced that will instead install Flash Chargers operating at 1.5 kW. While there's no reason that we couldn't build chargers of Megawatt capacity here in the US, we do not have a grid that can support that level of charging. We in the US were early adopters of electricity, which was a blessing at the time, but is a problem now. Our grid is old and though were are now modernizing it, the pace is fairly slow. By comparison, grid capacity in China is nearly three times greater than in the US (roughly 3,891 GW vs 1,373 GW), and that is what makes their Megawatt/Flash Charger systems feasible.
The sorry state of the US grid, and the enormity of the task to modernize it, mean that increasing capacity will take quite some time. Combine that with our fast-growing need for more electric energy, and the recent Federal limitations that deliberately make it difficult to add the least expensive and fastest to implement forms of electrical power generation (and storage), and it may well be a decade or more before we can introduce 1,500 kW chargers. Assuming that those obstacles persist, that may well mean that our best hope for fast charging is next-generation batteries that should come to market in the next few years and will be able to work with our relatively low-capacity EV charging system to allow five-minute charging.
Edit: typo, grammar fix
In China, BYD has actually achieved charging of up to 60% battery capacity in five minutes in their Han L and Tang L models, both presently available to [Chinese] buyers at not exorbitant prices. iI's not simply a matter of the car's battery though. As this article in Inside EVs states, "It's important to understand that BYD's breakthrough isn't just a car, or a battery, or the charger itself. It's all three, and how they work in concert with each other."
The battery that the BYD uses appears to be nothing special, using evolutionary rather than revolutionary technology.. The Inside EV article describes it as simply a "derivative of BYD's "Blade" battery . . . lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) units . . ." It does require "extensively reworked electrolytes, separators and electrodes to reduce internal resistance by a claimed 50%, not to mention the latest version of BYD's direct refrigerant cooling system." This may be a breakthrough, but it seems to me to be one that is not based on revolutionary technology,
The second element, the charger is a major step up over what we have in the US. The BYD Megawatt charger is a 1,000 kW unit, which at present seems to exist only in China and at fairly small numbers, roughly 500 concentrated in major cites, The Megawatt's days are number however; BYD has already announced that will instead install Flash Chargers operating at 1.5 kW. While there's no reason that we couldn't build chargers of Megawatt capacity here in the US, we do not have a grid that can support that level of charging. We in the US were early adopters of electricity, which was a blessing at the time, but is a problem now. Our grid is old and though were are now modernizing it, the pace is fairly slow. By comparison, grid capacity in China is nearly three times greater than in the US (roughly 3,891 GW vs 1,373 GW), and that is what makes their Megawatt/Flash Charger systems feasible.
The sorry state of the US grid, and the enormity of the task to modernize it, mean that increasing capacity will take quite some time. Combine that with our fast-growing need for more electric energy, and the recent Federal limitations that deliberately make it difficult to add the least expensive and fastest to implement forms of electrical power generation (and storage), and it may well be a decade or more before we can introduce 1,500 kW chargers. Assuming that those obstacles persist, that may well mean that our best hope for fast charging is next-generation batteries that should come to market in the next few years and will be able to work with our relatively low-capacity EV charging system to allow five-minute charging.
Edit: typo, grammar fix
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