What is by far the most important concern among EV buyers, both new and old, is range anxiety. Constantly doing the math in your head about how far you have left to go, how much battery the car says is remaining, how far to the nearest charge station and how long it’s going to take to charge is exhausting and, sometimes, scary. So we need to not only adapt our infrastructure to support EVs better but we ourselves also need to adapt and learn how to drive EVs, as well as what to prioritize when buying them.

When it comes to buying EVs, there are two variables that must be taken into consideration, potentially above all else; range and charge speed.

Range

Range is simple; how far the car can drive on a full battery charge. At the moment, the golden number seems to be 300 miles. While there are cars that can do more (Both Tesla and Lucid have 400 mile cars) and cars that do far less (Audi e-tron, BMW i3), 300 seems to be the number with which customers start to let go of their range anxiety. Even at 200 miles, customers are still doing that math in their head as they drive and that’s not an enjoyable experience.

Charge Speed

Charge speed is different but equally as obvious; it’s how fast the car can charge its batteries. However, there are different variables when it comes to rating the speed at which a car can actually charge.

First of which is its max charging speed, rated by the manufacturer. Charge speed is typically rated in kilowatts and most of the better EVs on the market are capable of 150 kW charging, which is quite good. Anything under 100 kW is now considered slow and anything over 150 kW is exceptionally fast. However, when it comes to anything over 150 kW, the availability of compatible charging stations becomes scarce. So the faster the charge speed the better but don’t expect to always be able to charge at the speed.

Next up is the sort of charger you can use. Sometimes you can find 150 kW fast chargers in the real world (most Tesla Supercharger stations have chargers rated at that speed or higher) and some home charging stations are rated at that speed. If you have access such chargers, great, but not all chargers are rated at 150 kW. So even if your car is, the charger you’re using might not be, thus requiring you to charge your car at a lower speed than it’s capable of, which will obviously take longer.

The last charge speed variable is the duration of max charge speed. This is possibly the most important aspect of charging a battery. Many new cars are rated at 150 kW charging but not many of them can charge at that speed for very long. For instance, certain Tesla models are rated at 250 kW charging, which is currently the fastest among production cars. However, it can only charge at 250 kW for a very short time, so charging at that speed doesn’t actually improve charge times all that much over a 150kW charger. This article from Car and Driver is a good example of that.

Charging Network

This really only pertains to one automaker but it’s still worth noting. While all EVs can use most chargers, and the Electrify America network is getting quite large, Telsas are the only EVs that can use Tesla’s Supercharging network. Due to the Supercharger network’s far greater availability, ease of use and high-speed chargers, it seems that Tesla has a massive advantage over the competition, which should factor heavily in your EV buying decision.

How to Choose Your EV

When choosing your EV, you have to figure out what you prioritize more; outright range or charge speed. For example, let’s say you commute relatively far for work but your job has a charging station you can use while you’re there. Outright range is likely more important because you have to drive far but you also have all day to charge. Or maybe you don’t have a far commute but are in your car often, throughout the day. The ability to charge quickly each and every time you stop might be more important than the actual distance you can drive in one shot.

The Audi e-tron is a good example of the latter. It doesn’t have a ton of range, with only 200-ish miles of range in the real world. However, it can charge at 150 kW from about 10-percent SOC (state of charge) to about 70-percent. So that’s a huge bandwidth of 150 kW charging, thus decreasing the time it takes to actually charge the vehicle.

While the Hyundai Kona EV is a good example of the former. It has more range than the e-tron, at 258 miles, but only charges at 75 kW. So it can go about 50 miles further, give or take real world factors, but charges slower.

Obviously those two cars aren’t going to be cross-shopped, as they’re priced in two completely different categories. But they prove that there’s a decision to be made about overall range, charge speed, the duration of that charge speed, the availability of chargers in your area and what sort of chargers they are.

So, to summarize it all, if you’re looking for an electric car, don’t just look at its overall range as an indicator of how good of an EV it’s going to be or what your experience is going to be like. There are other factors involved that can actually be even more important. In the end, figuring our which is more important really comes down to your specific situation and they all need to be considered before making a purchase.

[Source: QuattroDaily]

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Why Would I Need One?

We managed quite well with one charger for two electric vehicles. Recently, however, when we added a 3rd plug-in vehicle, a BMW X3 xDrive30e, and we needed to look for a better charging solution. We reached out to ClipperCreek and they sent us the HSC-D40P for review. We were also able to order one that utilizes our existing NEMA 14-50 plug, so no calls to the electrician. Alternatively, the ClipperCreek HSC-D40P can be ordered in a hardwired or NEMA 6-50 plug configurations.

The two electric vehicles we charge are a 2018 BMW i3s and a 2018 Tesla Model 3 Performance. To date, we have over 87,000 of pure EV mile driving. The fascinating part of the Tesla is that it shows you exactly how much energy you are charging where as the BMW i3 will just show when it’s fully charged. When I charge the Tesla by itself, it will pull 32amps/7.7kW on our 40 amp circuit. When you plug a second vehicle in simultaneously the ClipperCreek unit will split the current equally among the vehicles and do 16 amps to each.

Typically we will plug in both EV’s in when we get home in the evening. We have the BMW i3 set to charge immediately when it gets plugged in and then we have the Tesla set to charge early in the am. Though both are plugged in, only the 2018 BMW i3s is requesting a charge so it gets charged at 32amps. The i3 charges fastest as it has the smallest battery at 33 kWh vs about 75kWh battery for the Tesla Model 3.

Then early in the morning when the Tesla calls for its charge, it also gets 32 amps, as the BMW i3 is fully charged and no longer charging. The benefit for us is that at night we don’t have to run down to the garage and switch the charging head from one car to the other.

Dual-Charging Stations Will Become The Norm

We have lived with an HSC-D40P  for going on our second month. Most importantly, as we are going into the snow and winter season, I am extremely grateful for the ability to have two EVs plugged in at the same time. The real benefit of this is the ability to precondition off before we head to work. Preconditioning uses the electricity from “shore,” aka your charger to heat the car and the battery pack instead of using electricity from your battery pack of the vehicle.

ClipperCreek also sells a 50 amp circuit version, the HSC-D50. Both are sold with either a NEMA 14-50 plug, 6-50 plug or can be hard-wired. Both are great for a commercial application where two electrified cars need to be charging at once. It also works well for families like mine where we have multiple plug-in vehicles. Furthermore, it can be used in either a residential or commercial application.

Should I Buy One?

The ClipperCreek HSC-D40 is the ultimate convenience for multiple EV families. I didn’t realize how nice it was to plug in both our cars at night after work. No more, “Oh I forgot to move the charger” from one EV to the other mornings. The other benefit for those of us in the snow belt is that we can both precondition/preheat our cars at the same time in the mornings without arguing over who needs the charger more.

Lastly, the ClipperCreek unit was more expensive at $1349 than a single car charger but is far less than having to upgrade my entire electric panel and run a second plug to accommodate two chargers.

For a detailed video review watch here:

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This new technology has been developed by Audi and the Hagar Group and it’s called Bi-Directional Charging. Essentially, the Audi e-tron is capable of both taking energy from a power source and also sending it back.

“Bi-directional charging at home – also known as Vehicle to Home (V2H) – has great potential to reduce the home-owner’s electricity costs and increase network stability. As a further expansion stage in combination with a home storage unit, it’s possible to achieve near-complete energy independence and increased security of supply in the event of a blackout.”

There are two main reasons why one would want to send energy back to the source. One is that, if you charge up at home and have solar panels, you can actually send some power back into your home, thus reducing your energy consumption at home and also storing energy in case of a blackout. The other is that, if you charge up in public but charge more than you need, you can actually “sell” the energy back to the grid.

Nissan tried a similar system back in 2017 in Denmark and then it later expanded to the UK.

It’s an interesting idea that can have some real benefits. Although, it could have some real drawbacks as well. For instance, if you were regularly draw power and then send power back, you could drastically accelerate the degeneration of the battery pack. So, you could end up reducing your overall range more quickly than normal.

Though, it will be interesting to see if this technology becomes more mainstream and if customers end up using it more. Certainly something to keep an eye on.

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The first automakers confirmed to be working with the California-based company were BMW and Ford. According to Apple, the Maps app will have a similar functionality to the on-board infotainment found in Tesla cars, which offers the most optimal route for your EV.

The feature is supposed to show you where the chargers are and how long you should charge, to get to your destination in the optimum amount of time.

BMW’s iDrive navigation system already has such a feature but it’s not as streamlined and easy to use as it would be if integrated into Apple Maps. The Cupertino-based tech giant also confirmed that more models and makes will be added to the app later on, BMW and Ford being just the front runners right now. The new feature will know what kind of car you’re driving, the charger it supports and, when setting up your itinerary, mind the weather and elevation on your route.

This way, you could avoid unfortunate situations along the way. The new Apple Maps should also recognize the new eDrive Zones created by BMW or the areas where EVs have free access, without having to pay a toll to get in. That said, there are plenty of things to get excited about if or when these new functions will become operational.

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