More from All the news about EV charging in the US
GM is recalling 9,423 chargers that came with the Chevy Bolt EUV to repair a glitch in the software (Recall number: N232407300). The charger might not stop the flow of electrons when the ground connection is lost, possibly causing a brief shock when unplugging.
The two companies arranged a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday in Richardson, Texas, for a four-charger station (one of 50 locations agreed upon nationwide) that can handle up to 350kW charging speeds — fast enough to charge up an EV while you stand in a long ATM line.
A representative for EVgo, Terry Preston, tells The Verge there are now 15 operational locations at Chase branches across California, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, and Pennsylvania. The more chargers, the better.
Electric vehicle research organization Recurrent collected battery health data on over 12,500 US Tesla vehicles measured over five years.
Its assessment of the data shows no “statistically significant difference in range degradation” between EVs charged only (more than 90 percent of the time) at high-speed DC chargers versus primarily using AC ones (less than 10 percent use of fast chargers). It might not hold up all other EVs and charging situations, but it’s something.
Comcast Smart Solutions, the company’s commercial connected infrastructure division, will offer connected EV chargers made by NovaCharge, at commercial and residential complexes where it has its large-scale Comcast Business and Xfinity Communities set up.
So if a landlord / building owner with Comcast service wants EV chargers on the property, they could have one less vendor to deal with. And if Comcast does well with support, perhaps it won’t need to offer charger decommissioning options.
R1T and R1S owners can now enroll in EVgo’s Autocharge Plus service, joining GM vehicles, Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, Kia’s EV6, Polestar 2, and more.
Charging EVs with any network has meant fumbling through apps and cards, but EVgo’s working on improving its customers’ experience. Rivians can easily charge on the Adventure Network — and will have Tesla Supercharger access next year.
In a social video, Jim Farley levels with EV customers saying he had a “reality check” during a road trip when he stopped at a “low speed” charging station, gaining only 40 percent charge in 40 minutes in his F-150 Lightning. He later charges at a “nice” 350kW charger (though the truck can’t do more than 155kW).
Farley eludes that adopting Tesla’s NACS connector is the solution, but the adapter needed to enable current Ford EVs to use Tesla’s Superchargers won’t come until next year.
German Android blog SmartDroid reports Google Maps isn’t showing gas stations as a category while navigating in an EV using an Android Auto phone connection. Instead, the top item is now EV charging stations.
Google’s been updating Maps to include more electric vehicle navigation features, following the route planning tools it has built for Waze.
[Android Police]
An installation proposal in the UK (shared on r/teslamotors) seems to confirm Tesla’s moving up from its 250kW V3 stations to 350kW on the V4. It could technically be even faster.
Current Tesla vehicles only support 250kW max, but 800-volt EVs like the Kia EV6 could take advantage. And those longer cables are certainly helpful. Charging a non-Tesla in Europe is easy and dongle-free.
Last month, the Society of Automotive Engineers, a worldwide standards organization, announced its support for Tesla’s North American Charging Standard — a connector that’s garnered support and adoption from almost every charging network and major automaker including Ford, GM, and most recently Mercedes-Benz. According to Electrek, NACS will get an official engineering name too: J3400.
My heart was set on a Hyundai Ioniq 5 this year. But it looks like the industry may turn against its industry-standard CCS charging plug — in favor of Tesla’s fake-it-till-you-make-it “North American Charging Standard,” aka NACS. Ford is switching, Hyundai is considering it, and just today Polestar and Electrify America joined the Tesla bandwagon.
The Ioniq would be a $50K investment — I didn’t have range anxiety about that before, but I do now! Yes, CCS will be around for a while yet, but I’m still annoyed that today’s non-Tesla EVs no longer look futureproof.