The Biden administration on Wednesday outlined long-awaited rules for electric charging stations as part of the federal government’s $7.5 billion program, an effort to kickstart the Apply electricity charging of the whole country. tram (tram).
Here are the terms and acronyms you need to know to understand the booming EV charger market.
Level up
EV chargers are classified into three categories: Level 1, Level 2 and DC Fast Chargers.
Level 1 chargers use a regular 110-volt outlet, like a standard home plug, but take a long time to charge the vehicle battery. They are seen as a solution for older apartment buildings, allowing residents to drive 30 to 40 miles (50 to 65 km) on an overnight charge.
Level 2 chargers provide higher output power and use a 240-volt outlet, just like a tumble dryer or air conditioner. They are used in residential and commercial environments, such as shopping malls and garages, and can fully recharge an EV in about five hours.
DC Fast Chargers (DCFCs) allow the fastest charging by feeding DC current to the battery without converting the battery from the alternating current used by Level 1 and 2 chargers.
The DCFC uses a 480-volt outlet and can fully recharge the vehicle in less than an hour. They are expensive to install and are less common than Level 2 chargers, and not all electric vehicles can charge quickly, with throughput limited by hardware and software.
Tier 2 chargers cost between $2,000 and $5,000 for parts and installation labor, with huge subsidies available to residents and businesses to cover the cost.
DCFCs are significantly more expensive, requiring more than $100,000 in upfront capital per station.
CCS and CHAdeMO
There are three types of DC fast charging systems — Tesla, SAE Combined Charging System (CCS) and CHAdeMO, all using different plugs. The new rules require that any company looking to tap $7.5 billion in federal funding must also adopt the CCS standard.
Most electric vehicle models hitting the market today can be charged using a CCS connector, also known as the SAE J1772 combiner, named after the Society of Automotive Engineers, a standard-setting body standard.
“CHAdeMO,” which stands for “CHArge de MOve,” is the equivalent of “travel fee,” designed by carManufacturers mainly in Japan.
Image: Charging flashing
turbochargers
Since 2012, Tesla Inc has been developing and deploying its own high-speed vehicle charger, called “Supercharger”, which can add up to 322 miles (518 km) of range in just 15 minutes. .
Tesla has more than 40,000 units worldwide, the company said. It has 17,740 fast-charging ports in the United States, accounting for 62% of all DC fast-charging ports in the country, US Department of Energy (DOE) data shows.
Tesla since the end of 2021 has opened a number of Superchargers for vehicles using CCS in Europe and Australia.
Tesla also said in November that it was allowing other automakers and network operators to use its proprietary charging system.
The Biden administration on Wednesday said Tesla will open its charging network in the United States to electric vehicles made by rivals. Tesla did not respond to requests for confirmation.
US network
The US currently has a total of 50,821 public EV charging stations and 130,563 charging ports, DOE data shows. Among them, the majority are Level 2 chargers.
Charger distributed very unevenly across the country, with California accounting for nearly 30% of all charging stations in the country.
