200,000
Fast Charge (>22kW)
150,000
Normal Charge (<=22kW)
Technology review
100,000
50,000
0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Europe’s EV charging infrastructure is growing rapidly (Source: EAFO).
Why is this? A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that filling your tank with petrol is like connecting your car to a 5MW energy source. By contrast, Tesla announced in March 2019 that its V3 Superchargers will deliver energy at rates of up to 250kW, although it will take a liquid-cooled charging cable to make this possible. Despite EVs using their stored energy more efficiently than fossil-fuel cars, electric charging has a way to go before it can match petrol’s ability to enable useful work in a vehicle. It will take a combination of high voltages, high currents and sophisticated power conversion, filtering and charge- management systems to close the gap. This, in turn, will demand the deployment of some pretty sophisticated connectors, cables, relays, conversion electronics, and
passives, to ensure the same kind of fast, safe energy top-up offered by today’s petrol stations.
Charging network growth
So how close are we getting to a ubiquitous charging network that drivers can rely upon to be there whenever they need it, rather than having to plan their journeys between chargers? Starting with the highest profile player, Tesla said during its V3 announcement that it now has more than 12,000 Superchargers across North America, Europe, and Asia, covering more than 99% of the US population now, and expects to achieve similar coverage in Europe by the end of this year. Tesla also said that it has recently passed 90% coverage of China’s population.
2016 2017 2018 2019
'According to the latest figures from the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, Europe now has 161,426 public charging points, 136,958 of them for charging at rates of up to 22kW, and the rest at rates greater than 22kW, so-called ’fast charging’. The UK has just over 19,000 of the aggregate total, France nearly 25,000 and Germany around 27,400.'
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