Sometimes, technology doesn’t fulfill its promise. But, other times, it isn’t the tech that let’s you down, it’s the people using it. So one electric vehicle charging company company is experimenting with cutting off people who linger, attempting to “fill ‘er up.”
Fast charging can be stressful for a car’s batteries, though. So, to protect batteries from damage, charging speeds slow way down once batteries get beyond 80% full. In fact, it can take as long, or even longer, to go from 80% charged to completely full than to reach 80%. Meanwhile, lines of electric vehicles wait behind almost-full cars.
It’s similar to something Tesla vehicles do automatically. When a Tesla car, truck or SUV plugs into a particularly heavily-used Supercharger station, the vehicle itself may automatically limit charging to just 80% “to reduce congestion,” according to “I think what you’re seeing is demand for public fast charging is really skyrocketing,” said Sara Rafalson, executive vice president for policy at EV charging company EVgo“and I would say we’ve been really at an inflection point in the last year, year and a half, with demand.”A line of EVs wait to charge at Electrify America chargers in East Brunswick, New Jersey, on July 6.