Drive a LEAF for 24 hours
This is really a story about a promotional YouTube video created by a Netherlands based EV fast charge equipment provider. That said, there is some interesting information to be obtained.
Epyon Power, founded in 2005, is located in the Netherlands and provides DC Fast Charge stations for electric cars. They debuted their initial DC Fast Charge product at the Nissan LEAF tour in Amsterdam on May 10, 2010. What makes this particular launch interesting is that it wasn’t just for show. Their first commercial installation was announced just 10 days later. In the video at the 1:58 mark, the single vehicle charge dock can be seen installed in front of a Nissan dealership.
Further into the video at the 2:35 mark, a dual vehicle fast charger can be seen.
What we find interesting about the dual fast charge equipment is that it can be set up with two DC fast charge ports (as can be seen here), or it can be set up with one DC fast charge port and one AC fast charge port to accommodate differing connection standards. Not that we think having two connection standards is a good idea. But in Europe, there are already two standards – CHAdeMO DC Fast Charge (for Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi I-MiEV) and the ISO 15118 AC standard (“Mennekes” connector). If it happens in the United States as well (which is a possibility based on the competing interests we have seen to date), it’s good to know that someone out there has already developed a possible solution. (Just so you know, the power for the smaller dual EVSE is actually coming from the large utility box in the background. This power supply can support up to two posts to allow fast charging of up to four vehicles at once.)
Oh… about that drive. The video is below if you care to watch it. They drove 1254 kilometers (779 miles) at speeds up to 70 miles per hour, along with some very heavy, stop and go commuter traffic. According to the YouTube comments after the video, they charged “almost 20 times”. We don’t know how many that means, but assume it to mean 18 or 19 stops. In any case – 779 miles divided by 24 hours gives a whopping 32 miles per hour. Real world, we don’t see anyone doing this. But once battery capacity is doubled it could easily make a 300 mile trip doable with just one charge. No mention in the video of any change in charge time, so we would expect that charge time remained consistent throughout. Here’s the video: