Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - 24

Quicker pathways to reduce transportation's
CLIMATE IMPACT
Lifecycle GHG
emissions of different
kinds of passenger
vehicles registered in
the U.S. in 2021.
" The costs associated with increasing the
hydrogen infrastructure are large. But so are
the capital costs associated with upgrading
the grid to support EVs. "
of the vehicle they are considering - and the charging time it really
would require. Such a change also would create incentives for the
auto industry to produce EVs that deliver the environmental impacts
and charging times that consumers want.
To accomplish this, the EPA should mandate a new-vehicle window
label that ranks the vehicle's kilowatt-hour/mile and CO2 emissions
against others in its size classification, as well as against the average
BEV - just as it does for the fuel economy of gasoline and diesel
vehicles. And future federal tax credits should be revised by Congress
to reward and encourage more efficient BEV vehicles.
Window labels also could address currently misleading statements
about the time it takes to charge a vehicle. Charging times in press
releases and advertising materials are based on the highest power
rating the vehicle can accept and assume availability of a DC fast
charger with the same or higher power rating. This can lead to unrealistic
customer expectations.
For example, in 2020, Cadillac announced that its new battery-electric
SUV, the Lyriq, would feature GM's new 800-volt technology, allowing
a 90% charge in just 10 minutes (OEMs don't share 100%
charge time information because the last 10% charge rate is much
slower). Cadillac's actual marketing materials for the 2023 Lyriq, however,
provide less-impressive numbers. They claim 76 miles (122 km) of
range can be obtained within 10 minutes with " DC fast-charging rates. "
However, this calculation assumes the charger has a rated power of
190 kW, the highest level the Lyriq can accept. Chargers with this power
rating are rare: roughly two-thirds of U.S. public DC fast chargers
available today are rated at 50 kW, which decreases the actual range
provided within 10 minutes from 76 miles to 20 miles (32 km).
24 February 2023
On such a typical DC fast-charger, it would take
more than two-and-a-half hours to obtain the Lyriq's
312-mile (515-km) range. Even less impressive is the
six-and-a-half hours of charging time for the Lyriq on
a 240-volt Level 2 charger shown in the EPA's 2023
Fuel Economy Guide.
To provide consumers with accurate charging-time
information, the EPA's window sticker should include
the vehicle's battery capacity in kilowatt-hours and a
comparison of its maximum charging rate (miles/minute)
and the average charging rate with a 50-kW charger,
at least until such time that higher-power chargers
become predominant.
The recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and
Jobs Act includes $7.5 billion to build out a nationwide
network of 500,000 public EV chargers. Although far
short of the 2.4 million chargers recommended by the
ICCT to support the U.S. vehicle fleet forecast for
2030, it certainly is a step in the right direction. In administering
the legislation, the Departments of Energy
and Transportation should restrict funding to chargers
with a power rating of at least 200 kW, thereby decreasing
charging times on today's public chargers by
a factor of four.
Furthermore, the EPA also should mandate that the
actual power level be clearly specified on all public
chargers, as well as on all websites providing charger
locations.
A multi-fuel transition
The timelines that lawmakers are presenting for transitioning
to BEVs are aggressive, both in the U.S. and in
Europe. In August 2022, the California Air Resources
Board signed off on a sweeping plan requiring all new
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
ICCT
Automotive Engineering - February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - February 2023
