Electrify America just announced “Reducing Congestion Pilot” program with the hope of being able to get cars up and down charger in a more timely manner to ultimately reduce waiting times. Idea: Limit the state of charge to 85%.
As Electrify America explains, certain stations—starting with just 10 in California—won’t let you charge your EV past 85%. Once that number is reached, the charger will automatically stop charging and a 10-minute grace period will begin. If you haven’t removed your car from the charger after those 10 minutes, an idling fee will apply.
The goal here is to get the cars off EA’s fast chargers after they’ve completed their “bulk charge.” With current technology, basically every EV slows down significantly beyond about 80% charge. For example, 10-80% charge on Kia EV6 It will take about 16 minutes on a fast charger capable of charging at full capacity. However, the final 80-100% charge will take at least 15-20 minutes because of the slow charging speed. This unnecessarily clogs charging stations, leading to long wait times and frustration for those waiting.
On the other hand, some road trip may require you to use up every last percent of your charge to reach your next destination. EA recognizes this, which is why all of the pilot stations chosen are high-use locations that aren’t typically used for long-distance travel. The distance between stations and station usage statistics are two key considerations, so those who need to charge to 100% should be able to find alternative charging options within a reasonable radius.
And don’t even try to get around the rules. Electrify America says that if you try to start a charging session with an EV that’s above 85% state of charge, it won’t start charging. Likewise if you try to plug it back in after it’s started at the 85% limit. There won’t be any exceptions for manufacturer-supported charging plans or any other loopholes.
Electrify America says the pilot program will start this month. You can see a list of stations here. Thisand EA said it will continue to update the list if it decides to expand the pilot program as it monitors the performance of the stations and customer sentiment.
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