The Wild West of EV infrastructure
The speed and location of charge points aren’t the only issues with today’s electric vehicle infrastructure; we need standardisation – fast, says Aidan McClean, founder and CEO of UFODRIVE.
AC or DC?, Level 1, 2, or 3?, Charging Speed? Slow, Fast, Superfast, 22Khw, 120kHw, 150kHw, or even faster? 800volt charging systems, J1772, CHAdeMO, CCS or DC Combo, 16amps maybe?
Confused? That isn’t surprising. There are hundreds of different Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and new ones pop up almost weekly. There are different connector types, various payment methods, and multiple charging apps. Some don’t show all networks, some show real-time charger status, and some car manufacturers have their own networks. There are different charging cards, some of which require pre-registering. Is there a single charging card for all? Yes, but not really.
Welcome to the world of charging today – where companies compete with very few rules and next to no standardisation. The result is a Wild West of free-market inefficiency, and the consumers and the EV market – and, therefore, the planet – will suffer.
All the battery range and electric infrastructure in the world won’t matter if you can’t plan, pay, or access them. To encourage people to make the electric leap, charging should be as simple as, or even simpler than, filling your car with gas. Today, this just isn’t the case.
Fail to plan, plan to fail
When you are sold a non-Tesla electric car, the guy selling it to you has probably only sold a handful of EVs versus hundreds of ICE cars. The ‘product handover’ is light, to say the least. You will normally be handed your car key and, if you’re lucky, a charging card. Then you’ll be sent on your merry way – off into the wild west on your new horse, all alone.
If you buy a Tesla, you are lucky enough to have access to a simple-to-use and easy-to-navigate Supercharging and destination network, which will cater for most of your long-distance needs.
This is not a Tesla promotion – it’s just a fact of current charging life. Tesla has, so far, the easiest to use, simplest, most hassle-free charging solution in place. No buttons, options or payment cards: just plug and play. The battery range and luxury features on new model EVs from the legacy car manufacturers won’t matter if the charging user experience hasn’t been properly thought out.
This is why, despite the hype, EV range is largely irrelevant. What’s known as ‘range anxiety’ should be renamed ‘user experience anxiety’. Arriving at a charger that’s behind a locked gate or out of order, or one that’s marked ‘fast’ but it’s been downgraded to slow for some unknown reason, or one you have had to pre-register for days in advance, or that it’s being taken up by a thirsty, inefficient diesel hybrid, are all legitimate reasons to have concerns about the EV revolution. Concerns solely about range, when range is often above 300km, are rarely valid.
Luckily, ‘user experience anxiety’ is easily fixed. With sound planning and effective policy-making led by the Government and followed by private investment, we can have a network that easily caters to all but the longest of intercontinental journeys and easily works with all models, apps, and cards.
We all want simple, hassle-free, time-saving user experiences. We don’t want to waste time because of someone else’s poor user interface design. Sadly, this is the case with EVs today.
We need to stop talking about how big the range of new EVs are, or even if there are enough chargers, and focus instead on what really matters: every EV driver’s user experience.
About the author: Aidan McClean is an entrepreneur and clean technology investor who co-founded the world’s first all-digital all-electric car rental company, UFODRIVE. He is passionate about exposing the truths beyond the hype around the rise of electric vehicles. His extensive research led to him writing his explosive book ELECTRIC REVOLUTION, published in March 2022. A keen cyclist and outdoorsman, Aidan was not an early adopter or advocate for electric vehicles, or particularly aware of environmental matters. However, the more he researched air pollution, climate change and the impact of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, the more passionate he became about the role electric vehicles will play in averting the impending climate disaster. For more information about Aidan McClean and his explosive new book, ELECTRIC REVOLUTION, visit: www.aidanmcclean.com