The ‘30-second mindset’ for electric driving
Electric driving is a hot topic. Although it is not a new technology, it has progressed at a very rapid pace in recent years, since the emergence of Tesla. Every day brings new developments in terms of charge points, batteries and charge cards. The arrival of new, affordable models means that ‘ordinary people’ are also becoming more and more interested and, when buying a new car, may now at least consider the electrical alternative or even make a purchase.
People also think, “No, I'd rather not.” Because people rightly ask themselves every time:“How long will it take to fully charge my car?”
Anyone who is somewhat familiar with batteries and electric charging will immediately start doing the maths. “A battery pack is 30kW and I can charge at 3.7kW. That means just over 8 hours?! It'll take too long. I'll wait for the next generation.”
I’d like to stop that train of thought and pull hard on the alarm cord. There’s no point waiting for the next generation. Electric cars will not charge any faster in the future because our network connections simply will not allow it. However, the correct answer to the above question is very simple. I recently heard it at a conference on electric driving.
An electric car can be charged in less than a minute!
Thirty seconds, that's how long it takes. How is that possible? New technology, brand-new charge points? Nothing of the sort. What it takes is a new mindset! You arrive at your final destination, take the charging cable, plug it into the car and the charge point, start the charge point and you’re all set. That's how long it takes to charge your car. Thirty seconds.
It's the mindset that will need to change with this new way of driving. With fossil fuel engines, you refuel when your tank is empty. In this mindset, refuelling means taking a break. In the case of electric driving, this reasoning is reversed. We don’t stop to refuel, we refuel when we stop. Whenever you park at home, at work, outside a shop or any other final destination, you will always be able to recharge. You will hardly ever end up with a flat battery. The driver of an EV will always keep the battery capacity between 40% and 90%. So how long will it take to fully charge? Thirty-second mindset!
Mobility Plus and its charging network
At Mobility Plus, we encourage this change in mindset and are doing everything in our power to support this way of thinking, among other things by creating an extensive network of charge points. This network will allow the users of electric cars to charge any time they stop the car.
This requires real-time communication between charge points and the network. The charge points offered by Mobility Plus make intelligent use of the electricity supply with the Dynamic Load Balancing principle. A smart meter is used to monitor the total electricity consumption in the home or on company premises and thus dynamically adjust the charging speed of your car. When the total consumption is low, there is scope for an increase in the charging speed. Dynamic Load Balancing is therefore ideal if multiple charge points are used and for future expansion. Guests or clients can charge their car at any time without overloading the network connection. As a result, charge point operators will not need to upgrade their electricity connections and expensive peaks are avoided. How clever is that?!