- Some Electrify America locations in California will limit charging to 85%
- “High usage station” locations were selected for pilot testing
- Apply regular charging fee and idle fee
Electrify America is testing a strategy that could help reduce wait times at some of the busiest gas stations by preventing customers from charging their batteries to 100%.
Through what it calls the Congestion Reduction Pilot Project, EA has targeted a series of “high-use station” locations in Southern California that they are limiting to a Maximum charge state 85% for DC fast charging.
Unlike gasoline-powered cars, which fill up at a constant rate until the fuel injector’s automatic shutoff valve clicks, electric cars don’t charge at a constant rate. In general, it can take an electric car the same amount of time—or even longer—to charge from 80% to 100% as it does to 80%. While the reasons for this depend on both the electric car’s battery and the charger, it’s simply to keep the battery cells safe and prevent them from overheating.
So for charging station operators and electric vehicle drivers waiting in line on busy weekends, cutting crowds by 85% could save a lot of time.
The pilot project, which began in early July, is solely an Electrify America initiative, the company told Green Car Reports, with The simple goal is to reduce congestion.. The statement said these locations were chosen because of “high usage, long wait times, and proximity to other stations if customers want to charge to 100%.”
The network explained that it has helped optimize charger availability through idle charges, hardware updates, and larger format stations. “However, some stations are experiencing long wait times.”
Electrify America Charger
Electrify America was created as part of Volkswagen’s diesel engine settlement with federal and California regulators, and in the most recent and final cycle of that deal, it faced stricter testing in California for reliability. While the company doesn’t link this pilot to its reliability efforts, it does now Collect feedback on how the limit works at those stations and assess how it affects congestion and queuing. And depending on that information, it could roll out the pilot program to more stations.
As EA notes on the pilot program information page, the charger will only end the session when the car reaches 85%. The network, which has moved to Station-by-station pricing structure In 2023, idle fees will apply after a 10-minute grace period and these fees will continue to apply normally, the network noted.
Even though Tesla has laid off nearly its entire Supercharger team, CEO Elon Musk still claims that the company is planning to $500 million supercharger station expansion this calendar year. Electrify America has also emphasized that it expected to grow 25% by 2024.
