AC vs DC charging at public charging sites
The good thing with the “consumer power” is the fact that serious suppliers to the different markets listening and improving their services when the special request / feedback is strong enough For the #HPC market we have experienced this a lot the last years
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(Some of) the key factors with the HPC (read: DC chargers above 150kW) market for #EV drivers:
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-??????????? user experience for both the HPC itself and the #CPO services have done giant leaps since I joined the HPC business > 5 years ago. Learning a lot from Tesla is not a bad thing in this case (or let’s call it shameless copying)
-??????????? flexible payment solutions are getting better each day at the serious and professional operators. Not 100% ready yet for all the CPO’s world-wide, but soon… :)
-??????????? the energy (kWh) price for fast charging is under massive pressure since many influencers and interest organizations spend a lot of resources focusing on it 24/7. That way we have narrowed down the price flexibility for the operators and prices are now becoming very visible and streamlined (some of you probably saw I just mentioned the kWh and not the kW price. I'll explain you why: charging the EV drivers for available power at the HPC is really…greedy and very much out of date, and not worth to mention here)
-??????????? SLA (Service Level Agreement = uptime) are all on acceptable levels. Can’t remember last time I experienced a HPC didn’t work good enough ((as a very experienced EV driver, I know where to go to find the best technical transfer of transport energy). Conclusion is, they work really good!
All in all, as previously mentioned, this is a progress with a positive outlook and a bright future
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But, how did the AC charger market get away with their rather poor performance here?
-??????????? SLA is and customer experience is LOW. ?I think it is, because I do never know if it’s either me or the AC charger with the error. MIGHT BE I can find out why the AC charger isn’t working if I use the app, but most times it just doesn’t work without any further explanations. A sticker with a QR code isn’t delivering a good user experience (this conclusion of mine is also based on many hours in the rain, connecting and disconnecting the charging cable endlessly times. I can of course also add missing payment solutions to the negative experiences here
A good advice from me, if the AC charger works properly at the first attempt, spend your money on buying many lottery tickets ASAP since this is your LUCKY day ;)
-??????????? if you finally find an app to use, it is very often local made and with a proprietary technology not open to roaming services. If you charge at f.ex. an airport, could be your roaming tag will work if a HPC CPO are the ones delivering the AC charging services. If you charge at a hotel or a private parking, it’s just their special app will help you get started (as said, if you’re lucky)
-??????????? BUT the worst point is, and this is the conclusion of my post, ?some AC chargers cost the same for the energy / kWh delivered as a the HPC’s do. How can they charge the same via a cheap and poor performance AC charger vs a rather expensive and a high performance HPC for their services? What is the CAPEX of a completely AC charger vs a HPC installation? I already mentioned the OPEX must be on a much lower level for each AC charger connection. Why do they operate with the same prices?
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Why is it like this?
How can the AC charger contracts and their operators get away with so many missing parameters? What does it do to the customer experience if you stop at a restaurant or a shopping center and you find the AC chargers but they do not charge?
Yes, I know where I come from, but this was more a post as a frustrated EV driver more than a previous HPC salesperson
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What do you think about this? Any experiences from your respective areas / countries? Do I have someone in my network able to explain me the magic behind the price mystery?
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Ev-charging enthusiast
2 个月Agree with you Erling Sandstad that the experience at DC fast charging has increased many steps at least the last decade of "charging in the wild", but i still can't see the use of ac charging at retail business as something I will be using. Yes defently at hotel, airport workplace (and other "more than 4-5 hours" stop), but other than this- it probably will have less usage. Shopping centers will probably be needing "slow charging at 75-125kw in quite near future to have a good offer to customer. And that price for ac- charging "in the wild" only reflect that the charger is occupied for a longer time and deliver less kW that is paying for the installation. - it more like a parking fee since the place where the charger it installed is probably more valuable as parking then for charging ??. Nice article thanks for good reflections!