Electronics and Semiconductors

Roundup: EV charging infrastructure already outpaced by EV demand

17 July 2024
ORNL demonstrated what it claims is the first 270-kW wireless power transfer to a light-duty electric vehicle. Source: ORNL

Many reports are emerging that not only will the U.S. need more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to meet future automotive demand, but demand today is potentially already outpacing existing charging infrastructure.

This comes as a recent report from AAA found that America’s interest in EVs is falling, however, sales continue to grow on a yearly basis. As a result, there are enough EVs already on the road that are causing issues.

A report from automotive research company Kelly Blue Book found that long lines are forming at EV charging stations during peak times. This is due to a variety of reasons like:

  • Variable charging speeds
  • Different charging ports
  • Different vehicle charging speeds

Electrify America, one of the largest independent third-party charging vendors, has a strategy to combat the long lines by limiting how much energy consumers can use at a charging station during busy times. This would allow consumers to charge batteries in their EVs to 85% during the peak hours.

The interesting point here is that most EV owners charge their vehicle at home. The U.S. Department of Transportation found that EV owners on average drive about 40 miles per day. With that low range, EVs can make the round trip without effort.

However, there are still issues at public charging stations meaning the infrastructure in the U.S. is already struggling to meet current demand.

More demand coming

While automotive OEMs may be cooling their EV push a bit amid lower interest, plans have not changed to convert most fleets to electrified models in the next 10 to 15 years.

That means more demand is coming and public infrastructure will need to grow substantially to meet this demand.

The California Energy Commission reported that the largest state in the union, California, will need 1.01 million public and shared private chargers to support 7.1 million passenger plug-in EVs by 2030. Meanwhile, 2.11 million public and share private chargers will be needed to support 15.2 million passenger plug-in EVs by 2035.

Additionally, 114,500 chargers will be needed to support the 157,000 medium- and heavy-duty EVs projected to be on the roads by 2030.

This is 10 times more than the current 105,012 public and shared private EV chargers in California’s infrastructure today, according to data from California Energy Commission.

This comes as California is putting a cap on the number of new vehicles sold that will be gasoline- or diesel-powered to meet the state’s mandate for climate change. It is unlikely at this pace, the state will be able to meet the goals by the time frame it has established given the need for more infrastructure, experts said.

New charging record

One way to improve long lines at EV charging stations is the advancement of how fast these ports can charge a vehicle. To get the time down to a similar period it takes to refill a gasoline-powered vehicle, faster charging times will be needed.

One way that researchers are looking into this is through wireless power transfer. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) successfully demonstrated what it claims is the first 270 kW wireless power transfer to a light duty EV.

The test was done on a Porsche Taycan and done in collaboration with Volkswagen Group of America and surpasses previous demonstrations of 100 kW wireless charging.

“In the past three months, the ORNL vehicle power electronics and electric drives research teams have set impressive world records for wireless charging," said Lee Slezak, DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office technology manager for grid and charging infrastructures. “These achievements will further speed up the adoption of electric vehicles in the U.S.”

Current industry standards cover up to 20 kW power levels but more frequently are up to 11 kW with 92% efficiency.

Unlike standard plug-in EV charging, wireless EV charging involves the transfer of power when an EV with a wireless charging conduit park over a charging pad and power transfer begins. It is theorized that these pads could be embedded into city streets, public parking lots, home garages and workspaces.

To contact the author of this article, email PBrown@globalspec.com


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