EVs, Batteries, and Charging Stations
By: William House
Tags: Climate Change, Science, Energy, Electric Vehicles, Environment

EVs, Batteries, and Charging Stations

EV Car Charging (Modified by ArcheanWeb) — Original Credit: By Oregon Department of Transportation — EV charger at Mt. Hood Skibowl, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Electric cars have been on the rise for over a decade now, and it was inevitable the trend would engulf other modes of transportation. Imagine a double-decker catamaran carting tourist on daily excursions up a river gorge — batteries recharged with one hundred percent clean hydroelectric generated power. Now stop imagining and get yourself to Niagara Gorge, where you can book a ticket on the Maid of the Mist.

About 3,500 miles away, on the other side of America, Washington State is working on a project electrifying its ferry fleet. The age of energy-efficient boating is on the way. But let’s be clear, this only makes sense when the electricity you need for recharging is clean. Clean energy is a subset of renewable energy and relies on power generation from emission-free sources like wind, solar, and hydroelectric.

Washington State and the Niagara area are both suited to the task. In the case of Niagara, clean electricity is readily delivered through the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant in Lewiston, New York. Hydroelectric generation at this site started in 1874 when the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company completed its main powerhouse.

Washington State is well positioned to provide relatively clean electricity since it obtains over 70 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric generation, so recharging of vehicles is not wholly emissions free, but close to it.

New battery technologies coming of age

Electric vehicles have appeared at the edge of our commercial markets for years but they are rapidly approaching some thresholds where they can move from the periphery to center stage. Improvements in battery technology and planned changes in infrastructure will drive this rise of electric vehicles. But cars, boats, and more will need batteries of the future to make the next leap forward.

Lithium-ion batteries have been the standard-bearer for many years, but another step forward is required. Needed advances in car batteries include the ability to charge quickly — think of the time to fill a gas tank — and provide sufficient power for longer range journeys.

One technology on the drawing boards is an Ultra Fast Carbon Electrode. These batteries use a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) design to boost battery power, increase total energy storage, and improve the battery lifespan. This technology’s end-result goal is single-charge travel of up to 550 miles and a five minute charging time to achieve an 80 percent recharge level.

Another technology in the works is graphene batteries. The company Graphenano is developing a product aimed at 500 miles per charge and several minutes charging time. These batteries have other advantages over lithium-ion, including an energy density of 1000 Wh/kg, five times greater than the lithium-ion. The graphene batteries can also discharge over 30 times faster, delivering power more quickly to the vehicle.

Another interesting development is the aluminum-air battery, which has already managed to power a car for 1,100 miles on a single charge. The battery uses oxygen from the air, making it far lighter than its liquid-filled lithium-ion cousin. Its downside is, it must be swapped out every few months.

These are just a few of the new technologies under development. Read about the full range of battery innovation at Future batteries, coming soon: Charge in seconds, last months and power over the air (By Chris Hall; Pocket-lint).

Infrastructure and power generation

Long-range, fast-charging batteries will change the future of electric vehicles. Hopefully this occurs in tandum with the development of a network of charging stations. The Biden administration has already highlighted this infrastructure as a priority.

But the move to electric vehicles will only be a move to clean energy if power generation is clean. The USA still has a wide range of power supply plants ranging from coal-powered West Virginia to the hydro-powered Pacific Northwest. Along the east and west coasts of the country, offshore wind power is a promising new technology, and in a north-south strip through the middle of the country, onshore wind power is already replacing fossil fuels. The future is looking electric, but what will it cost?

Our future approaches to cars and our lingo in speaking of them must change with the times. Many of us have lived for decades relying on MPG (miles per gallon) ratings to decide what level of fuel efficiency we need in a car. The rise of the EV (Electric Vehicle) is forcing a change. The new MPG is Kilowatt-Hours Per 100 Miles or ‘kWh/100.’

What does it cost?

The cost of filling your EV is not only dependent on where you live, but possibly it’s controlled by what time of day or month you charge up. The average cost of USA electricity is 13.3 cents per kWh, but it can go as high as 28.9 cents and as low as 9.3 cents. Also, electric power companies usually offer various pricing plans, with standard service and time-of-use pricing being two popular options.

Time-of-use pricing means what it says, and electricity cost more in some time slots and less in others. If you plug your car in when you get home from work, when power is in high demand, you pay more for a refill than charging it at midnight when prices drop.

Even under the standard model, prices near the end of the month may be different than at the beginning if the pricing is tiered on total monthly usage.

Your EV’s total fuel efficiency is also dependent on the car weight, battery type, and the type of driving done. Depending on the car, the efficiency range varies from 15 to 45 kWh/100 miles, with a Tesla Model 3 coming at 26 kWh/100. Using the national average cost for electricity, this translates into about $3.50 for 100 miles of travel in the Tesla. For a 75 kWh Tesla Model 3 battery, it cost about $10 for a full recharge. Of course, we are talking about charging from home at your residential rates. If you plug into a public rapid charge station, then your costs rise to over $20.

Still, the general consensus is, EVs are cheaper to operate than traditional gasoline-powered cars. The EPA estimates the annual cost of fueling a Honda Accord sedan ($1,000) at about twice the price of operating a Tesla Model 3 ($500).

I’m in a hurry

We are accustomed to popping into the local service station on our way home from the market to refill our cars. If there are no lines, we are in and out in under five minutes. However, charging your EV is not as straight forward. Continuing with the Tesla Model 3 example, charging can take from 20 minutes to 20 hours, depending on the charger type. But even 20 minutes is still four times longer than your usual refill time, and rapid charging means you pay extra fuel costs for the privilege.

Another problem is availability. Compared to traditional gasoline pumping service stations, rapid EV chargers are few and far between. Owners of EVs also suffer another indignity when the available charging station is incompatible with their vehicle.

All of us are in a hurry, and the next tier of acceptance for EVs will require the combination of a new generation of higher capacity, faster-charging batteries, and the ample availability of charging stations. When I need to refuel, I don’t care if the station is Chevron, Exxon, Shell, EVgo, or Costco — I just want the energy to get where I’m going.

More plugs

This dilemma poses a chicken-and-egg riddle. Without easy access to chargers, buyers are unlikely to go electric, but automakers won’t ramp up production without buyers. About 28,000 charging stations are currently scattered around the USA, but they mainly concentrate in urban areas. Collectively these stations have 90,000 charging plugs. The Biden administration has announced an initiative to increase the number of plugs available by 500,000 over the next decade.

This increase could support the addition of 25 million EVs to the national car fleet. But there will be political hurdles to overcome with congress and significant issues around standardization. Of the existing charging stations available to the public today, a fifth of them are exclusive to Tesla. Also, only one in ten is rapid enough to be useful on a road trip.

Big infrastructure advances require bold visions and lots of hard work, but any path to the future first requires a vision. The Republican-led Congress and the exiting Trump Administration seemed to lack any real vision for the future and appeared to be content getting rid of what we have instead of building something new. Hopefully, the Biden administration can implement a bolder vision for America’s future.

Read more about the Urban Environmentalists on Archean Web

Read more on Medium publications: Environmental Articles on EarthSphere Stories, Life Observations, and more on Dropstone

See my recent Rand Soler book