The Need

The Electric Vehicle revolution is coming and will require a charging infrastructure to support it. Currently, charging is inconvenient and costly for both EV owners as well as businesses who want to provide the service. In order to drive mass adoption of EVs, we need to have chargers to power the cars of tomorrow!

As the number of EVs on the road continues to grow, so will the demand for higher capacity and high-speed charging. Currently in the United States, Tesla dominates the DC, fast charging space with their Supercharger infrastructure, which is exclusive to Tesla owners. Following Tesla are companies like ChargePoint, Electrify America (VW based), and EVGo, which provide charging infrastructure to wider range of EVs. Compared to Tesla’s systems, which offer peak outputs ranging from 72kw to 350kw, the others offer outputs ranging from 3.3kW to 350kW.

The majority of the chargers implemented in the field are of the Level 2 type, which equates to outputs ranging from 3.3kW to 7kW. These types of chargers are great for topping off vehicles while remaining idle for long periods of time (More than 1 hour), however for those wanting to traverse long distances these charges are not adequate in terms of time. 

This is where Level 3 charges, like those offered by Tesla, come into play. They provide users the ability to recharge vehicle batteries to a high state of charge in a very short period of time (10min-30min depending on state of charge and vehicle). When traversing long distances, or just requiring convenience, Level 3 Charing has no comparison. 

Unfortunately, the current Level 3 charger infrastructure in the United States is relatively small, improperly spaced out, and fairly segregated. Each of the main companies have their own app or membership-based payment system, which means needing multiple memberships to just charge cars. The spacing and locations of these level 3 chargers is not often the most convenient or practical for much of the United States. Most are located near major cities and hubs, which means traversing within these areas doable, but not in any way easy due to scarcity. Traveling in-between these areas is something that in many cases unfeasible due to the unavailability of reliable, fast charging infrastructure along the way as well as at final destinations.  

Density is another metric where DC fast charging will need to improve upon in order to support mass EV transportation. The number of gas stations far outweighs the number of DC charging stations currently in the US. Additionally, the spacing and coverage of gas stations is much more vast and uniform in comparison. The two maps below depict the current state of gas stations in the US and the current state of all DC Fast chargers (included Tesla Supercharger network). 

A chart showing the current distribution of gas stations in the United States.

A chart showing the current distribution of DC Fast chargers in the United States.

From the info above, the problems with the current state of charging are as follows: 

1. It is very inconsistent in quality and distribution across the United States, which makes meeting future demand for electricity quite difficult 

2. The current state of DC fast charging is not in any way unified or convenient to users

3. The spacing and density of these chargers does not allow users to travel the distances they can with conventional ICE vehicles