Idiots on the BBC. This just caught my eye…

[Oliver90owner]

There is a current ‘lifestyle news’ item on the ‘net regarding ‘quantum charging for EVs’.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60905195

It states:

Charging an electric car can take a up to ten hours at home to 20-40 minutes at the fast superchargers at stations….

… That would cut the time taken to charge at home from around 10 hours to 3 minutes.

How many homes have a charger capable of delivering, say, even 30kWh in three minutes? That would need either a domestic supply in excess of 90kW (nearly 1.2MW) for a vehicle with a 30kWh battery! Or a huge battery (or discharge rate).

It works out worse than that, if replacing 10 hours for 3 minutes - would need a supply of about 600A (~140kW) might be needed.

Where, oh where, do they find these journalists? Looks like it may be particularly aimed at children, too (comments only from under 15s), so not a good platform to be spreading stupid things like that…

[Stinsy]

What is the point of charging any quicker than we do currently?

Modern BEVs can cover 250 real-world miles on a single charge. For most drivers that is a week's worth of driving. Even people who do a lot more driving than average can charge overnight several times a week.

For people who drive more than 250 miles in a single day or who do not have access to home charging, rapid charging at 100kW+ can add 200 miles in the 20(or so) mins it takes to use the toilet and buy a coffee. You're supposed to take a break eery few hours anyway.

The current 350kW chargers are as fast as anyone will ever need. The power infrastructure supplying the rapid chargers is the weak link, I wish that'd get more attention from journalists. But I suppose there aren't companies writing press releases wanting investment in their vapourware for grid reinforcement.

[Mart]

3 minutes to charge at home, wow that's slow. It takes me about 30 seconds, 15 to plug in when I get home, and 15 to unplug in the morning.

[nowty]

I agree Stinsy,

On my 300+ mile journey yesterday I did two supercharger stops, both exactly 10 mins and I still arrived home with 26% SOC. First stop I was getting about 55kW and second one I was up to 148kW.

First stop SWMBO went to the bathroom and the car was done exactly by the time she came back.

Second stop SWMBO went to get a take away coffee and the car was more than done by the time she came back.

[Pat]

I tracked the story back to an earlier source which was on the 2nd April. I gave up at this point because the original date was becoming clear.