Shift Magazine - July 2021 - 8

DRIVEWAY
HIGHWAY?
or the
BY PETE BIGELOW
I
n March, the U.S passed an important
milepost on the road to its electrified
future: Workers installed the
100,000th public charger, according to
the Department of Energy's Alternative
Fuels Data Center.
As the government promotes electric
powertrains and automakers commit to
them, the Biden administration envisions
a national network of 500,000 chargers
across the country.
Reshaping
the
transportation
landscape
with a sprawling network of chargers,
however, does not alone ensure
the success of electric vehicles. Where
these chargers are located could be more
important than the sheer number of chargers
available.
Replicating an approach to infrastructure
that follows the interstate blueprint
of the past - gas stations at every exit,
along with the usual fast-food joints and
roadside hotels - may be, at best, a simplistic
solution.
" Ideally, we would not go to what I
call a brute-force approach, " said John
Smart, group lead of the Idaho National
Laboratory's mobility systems and analytics
group. " Instead, we would take the
more elegant of approach of matching
the speed of charging equipment with
the value of people's time. If your vehicle
is parked at home overnight, you can
charge very slowly. It's no skin off your
back. Likewise work. It's less expensive
for everyone. "
Current EV owners recognize those
benefits.
Eighty-eight percent of EV owners
" often " or " always " charge their vehicles
at home, according to J.D. Power's
8
shift * july 2021
"
" Ideally, we would
not go to what I
call a brute-force
approach. "
John Smart, Idaho National
Laboratory
inaugural U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience
Home Charging Study, issued in February.
'BREAD AND BUTTER'
" Home charging definitely is the
bread and butter, " said Stewart Stropp,
senior director of automotive retail at
J.D. Power. " That is definitely central
Volta is developing
" commerce-centric "
charging networks with
retailers such as Macy's,
with which it partnered
to install 100 chargers.
to overall ownership. "
That jibes with research from the
Idaho National Laboratory. Analyzing 6
million charging events over three years,
researchers found approximately half the
participants charged exclusively at home.
Of
those willing to charge away from
home, the " vast majority favored three
or fewer away-from-home charging locations, "
according to the 2015 report titled
" Plugged In: How Americans Charge
Their Electric Vehicles. "
Home charging represents an obvious
shift from fueling at gas stations located
at points along any number of potential
routes. But as transportation leaders consider
where public chargers are needed,
Smart says it's helpful to think in terms
broader than " home, " " work " or " public. "
It might be time to
reconsider where
to place public
chargers so they
meet the needs
of EV drivers
"
Shift Magazine - July 2021

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