After our last post, we can just see someone thinking this – “So LEAFguy… if Level Three charging will decrease my battery life, why would I ever want to do it?” Great question, theoretical reader! Here’s our answer.
Japan is ahead of the US in EV deployment. The Mitsubishi I-MiEV has been prowling the streets as a fleet vehicle for the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TECPCO), one of the driving forces behind the CHAdeMO Level Three standard, since last year. They sent their EVs out to take care of customer service needs. What they found was that most EVs came back with over 50% charge remaining in the battery. TEPCO then installed some Level Three charge stations around the service area covered by these drivers. What the study showed was that the chargers were infrequently used, but most of the EVs were now coming back with less than (sometimes significantly less than) 50% charge remaining. The drivers felt more secure in knowing that they could go further without “running out of juice”, even if they had no need to actually recharge their EV.
From this Aker Wade press release:
“Field studies in Tokyo have shown that deploying fast chargers increased vehicle usage by more than 50 percent,” explained Aker Wade Power Technologies CEO Bret Aker. ”This was with first-generation battery electric vehicles that were yet to be optimized for fast charging. With coming improvements in Li-ion technology, charge times will be reduced to as little as 15 minutes. This is the point where consumers will abandon gasoline for electricity. This is the tipping point for electric vehicles.”
Interestingly, elsewhere on Aker Wade’s site (Aker Wade has partnered with TEPCO to offer Level Three CHAdeMO Fast Chargers in the US), they state that Level Three charging does not diminish the life of the battery.
We here at Living LEAF have always thought that Level Three fast chargers were the key to EV adoption on a wide scale. It goes back to confidence, and is a different take on this old theme – “Tis better to have a thing and not need it, than need it and not have it”.