I think it might be more realistic to say “they believe they can profit from it”, and haven’t thought much beyond that. Just because that’s how organizations usually think.
I know little about the electricity grid, but I remember similar concerns about internet capacity. What if every home had high-speed internet? Is the streaming business doomed because the internet backbone will quickly become saturated? What about congestion in the middle mile networks and the “last mile” – the final drops to all the individual homes, and the capacity of the local neighbourhood infrastructure?
None of those problems came to pass (well, aside from some growing pains) because the necessary upgrades were quickly implemented. The electricity grid may not need any significant upgrades at all.
My commute is about 50 miles R/T and our Equinox has a range of about 220 miles at 80%. Each round trip uses 20-25% of the charge and I commute only 3 days a week so I could easily make it through the week on a level 1 charger, relying on my non-commute days to keep the car topped up. Granted, we also have chargers at work so I could supplement home charging.
But we had a level 2 charger installed when we got the car and our most common long trip is to my SIL’s house where she has a level 2 charger so we don’t need to stop along the way. We’ve charged a few times on long trips and we’re expecting to more in the warmer months, but in the winter we take our hybrid to go skiing because it’s so much simpler right now. Ski areas are remote and cold, and charging infrastructure is limited. Our ski friends drive their Equinox to the mountains and we stay at a hotel with a fast charger for this very reason.
The point I was thinking of was - let’s say an apartment building retrofits with 100 chargers. Their power feed may be able to handle, let’s say, 33 cars charging full blast at once. So the system managing the entire charger system would need to either charge each car to 33%. Perhaps half the cars only need 3 hours’ charge, overnight. Perhap a few need the full 8 hours. If the system could know need, it could allocate charge capacity accordingly. Even better, if it could monitor total building draw, and adjust the amount of charge capacity efficiently - say less power to charging when the residents are using more power in their apartments. Part of the charging connection process is that the car and charger actually talk to each other, so I’m not sure what sort of details the car can provide to help in the charge process, or whether the owner needs to do anything once the car is first registered with the system. Also, whether it could adjust if the utility company has demand-based pricing. Logically, don’t start charging always as soon as the vehicle is plugged in if it can wait. Even more of a benefit would be knowing owners’ habits, which cars need to be ready at 6AM and which could wait for 8:30AM or 9.
You are right, once the charger units can be appropriately controlled, it’s all a matter of smarts and programming in the controller.
Small scale: there are dual head home EVSEs (charging units) that dynamically split the one circuit: the car with the lower SOC charges faster and the other with a more full battery charges more slowly.
Fun fact. We have a dual head EVSE, the Clipper Creek one. And today I learned that our unit does NOT do that! It actually just splits the circuit into two separate 20A circuits for simplicity sake. So our cars are charging significantly more slowly than they could on dedicated level 2 charging … huh. Never noticed. When we plug at night they are always both fully charged by morning so no matter.
And one more thing: the willingness of (most of) the EV owners to act in a cooperative manner.
e.g. Somebody who tells their car to tell the charging system “I need to be topped to full ASAP every time I plug in” because ‘What if I need to unexpectedly emergency drive to visit my Mom 200 miles away?? Gotta always be full!’ will distort the nice scenario of “to each according to their (true) needs”. A cooperative system cannot survive contact with very many such selfish thoughtless people.
Long-winded anecdote time …
I’m not an EV driver. Yet. I hope to be with my next car or maybe next-next. They aren’t making the kind of performance sports car EVs I want. Yet. At least not for less than $1M which is waaay out of my league.
I live in a large swanky new apartment building. We have ~450 apartments, ~600 indoor parking spaces. Every apt has a single reserved space, then there are shared free-for-all spaces, guest spaces, etc. Lotta apts have two cars. We’re close to the ideal case for a smart shared charging system: Recent construction, management is willing to invest, and the customers are able & willing to pay whatever it costs.
About 20 of the free-for-all shared spaces have L2 chargers (some Tesla brand, some not) and many EVs live here (WAG 40). Signs at all the chargers say “Don’t leave your car here; charge then move the car to your own space.” I see particular EVs sitting at a particular charger plugged in for days at a time.
So far the supply of charger spots exceeds the demand, so that rampant selfishness is probably harmless. But the attitude is on full display; “I will not be inconvenienced to go down and move my car after it’s 3-hour top-up; you all can wait 4 days until I’m next using my car.”
As the number of EVs living here increases, and I’m assuming it will, something will have to give. Selfishness being what it is, I doubt it’ll be the worst driver behavior that gives. Until management starts towing the obstructive cars.
My overall point is not that a power-rationing system is a failed idea. Just that the hardest part, the one that adds the most inefficiency and cost, will be accommodating the least attractive features of human nature. IOW: tech is easy; humans are nasty cussed creatures in bulk.
A lot of the public fast chargers have something like that. You have a 15 minute or so grace period once your car is done charging to move it; after that, you’re assessed a significant charge by the minute to remain in the space. The charger will text your phone with updates, so you can’t claim ignorance. I definitely appreciate this, as it keeps the spaces open for people who need to charge.
The acceleration from even fairly generic EVs is pretty astounding. Depending on your desires, the car you want may be already out there. If not, it’s coming in the next few years. Unfortunately, some of those models won’t be sold in the US due to reasons.
Yes, the solution best remedy to bad behavior is to fine it. Automatically and hard.
As to acceleration: Yep, even fairly tame econo-EVs are awesome dragsters. Then you need the rest of the package; steering, braking, suspension, etc.
The Audi RS e-tron GT or Porsche e-Taycan or BMW i4 or I5 are all darn nice sporty 4-door sedan pure EVs. And have eye-watering acceleration with the rest of the performance package to match.
Now make it a 2-door convertible with two or 2+2 seating.
That looks like the offspring after a Cybertruck raped a Chrysler 300. Brutalist, aggressive, and ugly. Truly we are in an era of ugly minds setting a mobster zeitgeist.
For awhile there was talk of a BMW I8 for 2027 to replace / supplement the IC 850i / M850i / M8 series. But also only as a slope-backed 4-door hardtop, so akin to the Taycan, RS GT, and now the I-type. I’ve not heard more since then.
The images of the I-Type that Google turns up have a great many variations, suggesting to me that they’re all speculative. Assuming such a car even exists, it seems that the public hasn’t seen it yet.
I don’t know that I would trust Jaguar in respect to quality, but some of their designs over the years have been pretty nice. I definitely enjoyed tooling around in an XJ12 convertible one fine summer weekend, but I wouldn’t buy one. British cars give me the heebie-jeebies!
Rolls Royces are actually BMW 700-series chassis, engine, software, etc. Only the body & upholstery are British.
Bentleys are Audis under the skin.
The Lamborghini Urus SUV, the Porsche Cayenne SUV, and the Audi (i forget which) SUV are all Audi products. Just the interiors and paint and some software tweaks are different.
The old days where you could buy the same car for different prices as a Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Olds, or Cadillac have returned. Just in Europe and in a not-obvious manner.
That’s still the case with some EVs in the US too, like the Toyota bz4x (Lexus RZ/Subaru Solterra), Toyota C-HR+ (Subaru Uncharted), Chevy Blazer EV (Honda Prologue), or non-EVs like Hyundai Tucson/Kia Sportage.
Yeah. By “in Europe” I meant “among European manufacturers”, not “For the European market only”. All the vehicles I mentioned are sold in the USA. And pretty much worldwide.
Being too lazy to leave your apartment to move your car is very different from being so anxious about charging your car that you need it to charge ASAP every time you plug it in. Lots of people schedule their cars to charge late at night, to get a minor benefit in rate. I’d do it just to be a good citizen of i could get my charger’s app to talk to my home network. (My charger is currently set to, “start charging when you plug in”, which is wasteful, as it only takes a few hours to charge, and the car is likely to be sitting there for more than 12 hours. But fixing that doesn’t feel urgent.)
I think most people would be happy to say, “full by 8am”, or whatever, so long as they had an option to say, “asap this time”, and option that they’d probably exercise rarely.
Back in the day you went to Bentley or Rolls Royce and ordered a chassis and drive train. You then commissioned a coach builder such as Mulliner or Park Ward to build the body to your desires.
Now it is the opposite. Bentley put bodies on chassis and drive trains from the VW group. No chassis or drivetrain capability in house. Although that tends to make the Porsche Panamera and the W8 and W12 engines sound a little more pedestrian than warranted. RR OTOH still build most bits in house. EV drivetrain for the Spectre from parent BMW. If you look at how Bentley and RR ended up in the hands of VW and BMW this looks backwards
The RR Spectre looks to be a ridiculously good EV. But at silly money.
Jaguar will be interesting. I have always had a soft spot for them, but never actually made the plunge. Build and reliability always in the back of one’s mind. Whether they can step past that with the company realignment is going to be a life or death question for them. I did think about an iPace when it came out, but the timing was wrong. Glad I didn’t. OTOH JLR do extraordinary well in the 4x4 and SUV market. I know a few people who love their Land Rovers and Range Rovers. My father had a few Range Rovers, starting with the first ever model. Lucas (prince of darkness) electrics were the worse problem. There is a saying here. “Want to go explore the Australian outback? Sure buy a Land Rover. Want to come back? Buy a Toyota.”
