WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.060 --> 00:00:04.470 I recently took a road trip in my new car with Robert of Aging Wheels. 00:00:04.470 --> 00:00:07.485 In February I took delivery of a Hyundai Ioniq 5, 00:00:07.485 --> 00:00:11.409 and I wanted to see how a road trip in my very-fast charging 00:00:11.409 --> 00:00:15.521 but also not-a-Tesla electric car would go. 00:00:15.521 --> 00:00:17.518 So did he, so I brought him along. 00:00:17.518 --> 00:00:20.355 It was perfect because we’ve both always wanted to go to Gatorland! 00:00:20.861 --> 00:00:26.169 Anyway, he made a video on how the road trip went which I highly suggest checking out, 00:00:26.169 --> 00:00:29.248 and I’m here to make a video on how it was possible. 00:00:29.248 --> 00:00:30.714 Wait I’ve already made it. 00:00:30.714 --> 00:00:31.747 It’s this one. 00:00:31.747 --> 00:00:33.415 This video will c… eugh! 00:00:33.415 --> 00:00:38.936 This video will cover the charging tech which powers long-distance, electric driving. 00:00:38.936 --> 00:00:42.738 I’ll be discussing the chargers, how they deliver energy to the car, 00:00:42.738 --> 00:00:45.850 and the theoretical speed with which they can do that. 00:00:45.850 --> 00:00:51.900 In a later video, I’ll be talking about the realities of electric car charging in 2022. 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:56.247 I’d like that video to serve as a sort of glossary to EV charging, 00:00:56.247 --> 00:00:58.833 and in it I’ll cover current battery tech, 00:00:58.833 --> 00:01:01.575 some of the logistical and technical quirks of today, 00:01:01.575 --> 00:01:05.658 and some of the infrastructure challenges we have ahead of us for tomorrow. 00:01:05.658 --> 00:01:07.856 So stay tuned for that one. 00:01:07.856 --> 00:01:12.733 But I hope that by the end of this video you’ll see that the charging tech side of things— 00:01:12.733 --> 00:01:17.241 that is, the standardized charging connector and its maximum power delivery 00:01:17.241 --> 00:01:21.008 — is actually already solved and pretty future-proof. 00:01:21.542 --> 00:01:25.354 We need wayyyyy more chargers than exist right now, 00:01:25.354 --> 00:01:29.023 but with the charging tech that is on the ground today, 00:01:29.023 --> 00:01:34.771 the 1,185 mile (or 1,907 kilometer) trip we just took 00:01:34.771 --> 00:01:37.532 - which takes about 18 hours of driving! - 00:01:37.532 --> 00:01:41.994 could theoretically be accomplished with just one hour of total charging time. 00:01:41.994 --> 00:01:45.226 Potentially less with a more efficient vehicle. 00:01:45.226 --> 00:01:50.704 We’re not quite there yet with today’s battery tech, but we’re surprisingly close. 00:01:50.704 --> 00:01:54.666 Before I move on I want to stress a very important point. 00:01:54.666 --> 00:01:59.602 Electric cars offer an entirely new paradigm of refueling, 00:01:59.602 --> 00:02:03.049 which I’ve found is really quite hard to communicate. 00:02:03.049 --> 00:02:08.944 In an ideal world, the fast chargers we’re looking at in this video are seldom used. 00:02:08.944 --> 00:02:15.343 Yes, we will need them — and many more of them — for enabling long-distance travel in electric vehicles, 00:02:15.343 --> 00:02:21.972 but a much, much, MUCH easier and better way to manage charging personal vehicles 00:02:21.972 --> 00:02:24.705 is by doing it slowly at home. 00:02:24.705 --> 00:02:33.154 As a matter of fact, at-home charging has meant that this road trip was the first time I’ve EVER put thought into how I will charge my car, 00:02:33.154 --> 00:02:37.468 and I’ve been driving fully-electric cars since late 2017. 00:02:37.468 --> 00:02:43.689 Simply plugging in at home and charging while I sleep means the day starts with a fully-charged car, 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:48.570 and I’ve spent zero time waiting for my car to charge until this trip. 00:02:48.570 --> 00:02:54.945 So while, yes, we spent more time on the road trip than we would have in my old Volt burning gasoline, 00:02:54.945 --> 00:02:59.692 I also never spend time at gas stations for my day-to-day driving needs. 00:02:59.692 --> 00:03:01.428 And that’s pretty nice. 00:03:01.428 --> 00:03:05.711 Solving at-home charging access for areas where this is currently difficult, 00:03:05.711 --> 00:03:10.418 for example apartment complexes or neighborhoods with on-street parking only, 00:03:10.418 --> 00:03:14.364 is something that I think we should be focusing our attention on first. 00:03:15.151 --> 00:03:22.428 We should probably also work to reduce dependence on cars for mobility but that’s not in the scope of this video. 00:03:22.428 --> 00:03:29.187 Yes, in theory fast charging could meet the needs of those who can’t charge at home and who rely on a car. 00:03:29.187 --> 00:03:35.440 But fast chargers are orders of magnitude more complicated and expensive to install, 00:03:35.440 --> 00:03:39.852 whereas a basic Level 2 AC charger can be had for a few hundred bucks 00:03:39.852 --> 00:03:44.043 and may only require the installation of something like a dryer outlet. 00:03:44.043 --> 00:03:49.720 There’s also the issue of battery wear - fast charging is more stressful to a battery pack, 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:53.910 so relying on exclusively it may reduce the pack's useful life. 00:03:53.910 --> 00:03:59.515 And, setting all that aside, it’s simply far more convenient to charge at home. 00:03:59.515 --> 00:04:05.318 Once you get a taste of it, going to a place to buy fuel starts to feel kinda silly. 00:04:05.318 --> 00:04:11.370 With all that in mind, first let’s talk about what separates these fast chargers from the rest. 00:04:11.370 --> 00:04:17.386 A while back I made a video on electric vehicle supply equipment, or EVSE. 00:04:17.386 --> 00:04:21.503 That is in fact the proper term for this thing as its primary job 00:04:21.503 --> 00:04:25.340 is to provide AC line voltage to the car. 00:04:25.340 --> 00:04:31.004 It does have the very important task of telling the car the capacity of its electrical supply, 00:04:31.004 --> 00:04:33.628 and it also does a few other safety-related things 00:04:33.628 --> 00:04:36.976 but the actual thing with charging circuitry in it — 00:04:36.976 --> 00:04:42.582 circuitry which takes AC power and turns it to DC for charging up the battery cells 00:04:42.582 --> 00:04:45.299 — is a module onboard the car. 00:04:45.299 --> 00:04:50.142 Different cars have different battery pack voltages, chemistries, and sizes, 00:04:50.142 --> 00:04:54.441 so having the car handle charging itself is generally easier. 00:04:54.441 --> 00:05:01.292 And also makes the infrastructure much much cheaper to build out since this is really just a beefy extension cord 00:05:01.292 --> 00:05:03.267 with a bit of smarts inside. 00:05:03.267 --> 00:05:06.883 And that's why this thing isn’t technically a charger. 00:05:06.883 --> 00:05:13.726 However, calling it “an equipment” is pretty clunky so most of us still call it a charger. 00:05:13.726 --> 00:05:18.037 Here in North America, the *standard* AC charging connector 00:05:18.037 --> 00:05:24.743 is generally known by the very easy to remember SAE J1772 Type 1 connector. 00:05:24.743 --> 00:05:30.747 Later on I’ll talk about the elephant in the room that is... Tesla, but aside from their cars 00:05:30.747 --> 00:05:35.328 literally every - and I cannot stress that enough, EVERY - 00:05:35.328 --> 00:05:38.196 plug-in vehicle sold in North America since 2010, 00:05:38.196 --> 00:05:42.583 regardless of who built it, has this exact plug. 00:05:42.583 --> 00:05:45.231 From the original Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, 00:05:45.231 --> 00:05:48.138 to the Rivian R1T and the Porsche Taycan, 00:05:48.138 --> 00:05:51.833 all of 'em have this connector for AC charging! 00:05:51.833 --> 00:05:53.892 If I sound weirdly riled up here, 00:05:53.892 --> 00:06:00.088 it’s because there’s persistent confusion surrounding this, probably because That Company does things differently, 00:06:00.088 --> 00:06:01.585 but we’ll get to that later. 00:06:01.585 --> 00:06:05.267 This connector can supply up to 80 amps of single-phase current, 00:06:05.267 --> 00:06:08.800 and at 240 volts that’s 19.2 kW. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:15.366 That’s a pretty uncommon power level, though, with the 6 to 10 kW range being far more widespread. 00:06:15.366 --> 00:06:20.869 This Amazon special, a portable EVSE with a NEMA 14-50 plug on the other end, 00:06:20.869 --> 00:06:26.188 will supply up to 30 amps, which is 7.2 kW at 240 volts. 00:06:26.188 --> 00:06:31.199 For what it’s worth, I think this is the most power just about anyone might need - 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:35.072 so long as they have regular access to a charger at home. 00:06:35.072 --> 00:06:41.609 Some other markets use a fancier version of this connector which goes by all these names and has more pins. 00:06:41.609 --> 00:06:46.628 This enables the use of three-phase supplies which are fairly common in those markets. 00:06:46.628 --> 00:06:52.514 But here in North America three-phase power is essentially non-existent in the residential space 00:06:52.514 --> 00:06:55.489 so the Type 1 connector doesn’t support it. 00:06:55.489 --> 00:07:01.099 There’s just no real-world use case for three-phase support in personal vehicles over here. 00:07:01.099 --> 00:07:04.655 In any case, we’re still talking in the realm of AC. 00:07:04.655 --> 00:07:08.045 So far we’ve been using this to connect the vehicle to the grid 00:07:08.045 --> 00:07:12.707 and letting it handle turning the flippy floppy zippy zappy into the plus and minus kind. 00:07:12.960 --> 00:07:16.279 You may have noticed, though, that right below the charge port on this car 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:18.708 is a little thing that says “pull.” 00:07:19.073 --> 00:07:22.253 I always listen to instructions, so let’s pull that out. 00:07:22.253 --> 00:07:25.020 Aha… what have we here? 00:07:25.020 --> 00:07:29.000 Suddenly, two more pins have appeared below the connector. 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:31.600 And these ones are… thicc. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:36.734 Our J1772 connector is in fact a CCS1 combo coupler. 00:07:36.734 --> 00:07:41.823 CCS stands for Combined Charging System, and the 1 means… 00:07:41.823 --> 00:07:46.838 well, simply that this is the combined charging system for the type 1 connector. 00:07:46.838 --> 00:07:53.490 CCS2, used in markets with the Type 2 AC plug, also sports these new beefy pins. 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:57.146 These pins are simply an augmentation of the original AC connectors, 00:07:57.146 --> 00:08:00.536 which maintains compatibility with existing AC equipment. 00:08:00.536 --> 00:08:05.300 And their purpose is to provide a direct connection to the vehicle's battery pack. 00:08:05.946 --> 00:08:08.130 If you’re wondering why we might want that, 00:08:08.130 --> 00:08:13.377 well remember that the car’s onboard charger has to fit somewhere in the car. 00:08:13.377 --> 00:08:17.534 Size and weight limitations mean that it can only be so powerful. 00:08:17.534 --> 00:08:19.476 But even if that weren’t a problem, 00:08:19.476 --> 00:08:23.900 a typical home’s electrical supply can only provide so much power. 00:08:23.900 --> 00:08:30.813 The 80 amp limit of the North American AC connector is almost half of a large home’s electrical supply, 00:08:30.813 --> 00:08:35.118 so there’s another reason few cars support charging at that speed. 00:08:35.118 --> 00:08:41.663 But suppose you could take the battery pack out of the car and bring it to a specialized machine 00:08:41.663 --> 00:08:44.486 which could handle many kilowatts of power. 00:08:44.486 --> 00:08:50.000 If you could do that, well it wouldn’t matter how big and bulky that theoretical machine is 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.505 because it doesn’t need to fit in the car. 00:08:52.505 --> 00:09:00.000 And, you could power that machine with a much larger electrical supply than that which you find in a home. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.871 Now, removing the battery pack is a really involved affair 00:09:03.871 --> 00:09:07.666 (much to the chagrin of folks who admire the idea of battery swaps) 00:09:07.666 --> 00:09:12.831 so rather than do that, we bring the car to one of these special machines 00:09:12.831 --> 00:09:15.666 and hook its battery up to it through here. 00:09:15.666 --> 00:09:23.706 We call this idea DC fast charging, and this connector can handle up to 350 kW of power. 00:09:23.706 --> 00:09:25.530 Which is bonkers. 00:09:25.530 --> 00:09:32.681 And actually it can handle a bit more than that but 350 kW is the maximum speed you’ll find in the wild today. 00:09:32.681 --> 00:09:39.540 The CCS combo coupler’s DC pins are rated to carry up to 500 amps of current continuously. 00:09:39.540 --> 00:09:46.099 And the chargers they are hooked up to can provide DC power anywhere from 200 to 1000 volts. 00:09:46.099 --> 00:09:54.170 Today’s stations that are marked “up to 350 kW” are generally able to provide 350 amps at 1000 volts, 00:09:54.170 --> 00:09:58.152 though they might also be able to do 500 amps at 700 volts. 00:09:59.472 --> 00:10:05.672 Yeah, there’s some nuance when it comes to amp limitations and how that relates to your car’s battery pack voltage 00:10:05.672 --> 00:10:07.717 which we’ll get to in the next video, 00:10:07.717 --> 00:10:13.662 but the basic concept here is that a tremendous amount of energy can be shoved through this connector 00:10:13.662 --> 00:10:17.683 and directly into your car’s battery pack very quickly. 00:10:17.683 --> 00:10:24.137 On that note, at most stations the thing which you interact with and which holds the cable for plugging into your car 00:10:24.137 --> 00:10:27.494 isn’t actually doing any of the power conversion. 00:10:27.494 --> 00:10:31.935 These things are called dispensers, and they are really just a place to put the cable, 00:10:31.935 --> 00:10:35.351 maybe a screen and card reader, and of course some graphics. 00:10:35.660 --> 00:10:41.178 Concealed cables run underground from these dispensers to the actual charging equipment. 00:10:41.178 --> 00:10:47.760 Generally the equipment consists of a large pad-mount transformer to tap into the grid, and a series of cabinets. 00:10:47.760 --> 00:10:54.365 The stuff in those cabinets is what actually converts the AC power from the grid into DC for charging a car. 00:10:54.365 --> 00:11:01.197 Those are the actual chargers, and since we don’t have the space or cooling limitations of an onboard charger, 00:11:01.197 --> 00:11:04.966 and since these are hooked to megawatt-plus electrical supplies, 00:11:04.966 --> 00:11:08.881 these things can handle immense amounts of power. 00:11:08.881 --> 00:11:12.317 That’s the key to DC fast charging. 00:11:12.317 --> 00:11:16.363 With AC charging, it’s pretty hands-off and fairly limited. 00:11:16.363 --> 00:11:20.870 Basically, the EVSE tells the car “hey, you can take up to 30 amps” 00:11:20.870 --> 00:11:23.383 and the car will say “great I’d like power now” 00:11:23.383 --> 00:11:28.564 and the EVSE goes *clack* and now the car will have AC line voltage at its charge port, 00:11:28.564 --> 00:11:30.979 and it’s up to the car to handle the rest. 00:11:30.979 --> 00:11:36.612 But DC fast charging is much more hands-on in pretty much every way. 00:11:36.612 --> 00:11:42.752 In the case of the CCS connector, the control pilot pin becomes used for high-level communications. 00:11:42.752 --> 00:11:45.300 When you plug a car into one of these chargers, 00:11:45.300 --> 00:11:50.811 a handshake occurs and a number of things start getting communicated in both directions. 00:11:50.811 --> 00:11:55.591 See, now that we’re offloading the task of charging from the car’s own electronics, 00:11:55.591 --> 00:11:59.819 the car has to be able to control the charger on the other end of the cable. 00:11:59.819 --> 00:12:03.608 Of course the charger also needs to tell the car what it's capable of, 00:12:03.608 --> 00:12:07.763 and a sort of game plan is agreed to during the initial handshake. 00:12:07.763 --> 00:12:11.254 Once the car and the charger agree that charging can proceed, 00:12:11.254 --> 00:12:13.345 the connector becomes locked to the car 00:12:13.345 --> 00:12:19.162 (which by the way happens on the car-side, so you won’t be trapped there if the charger should die for whatever reason) 00:12:19.162 --> 00:12:25.667 and then the car closes a contactor in its battery pack which connects the DC pins of the combo connector 00:12:25.667 --> 00:12:27.545 straight to the pack. 00:12:27.545 --> 00:12:31.545 At that point, the car and charger are in constant communication, 00:12:31.545 --> 00:12:37.022 and the car tells the charger the voltage and current it wants based on its battery pack’s capabilities, 00:12:37.022 --> 00:12:40.448 characteristics, conditions, and state-of-charge. 00:12:40.448 --> 00:12:43.306 If anything seems to be going wrong on either side, 00:12:43.306 --> 00:12:45.838 charging will immediately stop. 00:12:45.838 --> 00:12:51.838 Earlier I said these chargers can output anything from 200 to 1000 volts DC. 00:12:51.838 --> 00:12:54.028 Why such a big range? 00:12:54.028 --> 00:12:56.930 Well, let’s talk about battery pack voltage. 00:12:56.930 --> 00:13:02.105 Every EV out there was designed with its battery pack configured in a certain way. 00:13:02.105 --> 00:13:08.975 The actual battery cells are wired in series-parallel groups to attain a certain nominal pack voltage. 00:13:08.975 --> 00:13:13.740 Many cars, including Teslas, have what we call 400V architectures, 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:18.609 but that’s really more of a class than it is an exact pack voltage spec. 00:13:18.609 --> 00:13:22.271 Since the actual pack voltage varies from car to car, 00:13:22.271 --> 00:13:25.688 the voltage the charger needs to provide will vary as well. 00:13:25.688 --> 00:13:31.705 And as a battery takes on charge, the voltage required to keep charging it gradually goes up. 00:13:31.705 --> 00:13:37.031 So the charger needs to have a range of voltage output even when charging a single car. 00:13:37.031 --> 00:13:42.342 Now, a 400V car will never need 1000V pumped into it. 00:13:42.342 --> 00:13:44.643 That would be, in fact, bad. 00:13:44.643 --> 00:13:48.529 But many manufacturers are moving to higher pack voltages. 00:13:48.529 --> 00:13:53.314 My Hyundai, along with its Kia and Genesis siblings on the E-GMP platform, 00:13:53.314 --> 00:13:55.927 has an 800V architecture. 00:13:55.927 --> 00:14:01.726 The advantage of a higher pack voltage is that every conductor involved in making the car go 00:14:01.726 --> 00:14:06.614 (so bus bars between cells in the pack, the cables from the pack to the motor inverters, 00:14:06.614 --> 00:14:10.938 and most importantly for this discussion the cables coming from the charging connector) 00:14:10.938 --> 00:14:14.846 can carry more power with the same current. 00:14:14.846 --> 00:14:19.212 There are some extra considerations that need to be made when you cross into higher voltages, 00:14:19.212 --> 00:14:23.540 particularly with insulation and certification of power-handling components. 00:14:23.540 --> 00:14:30.234 But the upside of a higher pack voltage is that it requires less material for conductors throughout the system, 00:14:30.234 --> 00:14:36.012 and also gives you much more overhead before you start running into problems where those conductors heat up 00:14:36.012 --> 00:14:37.938 and cooling is required. 00:14:37.938 --> 00:14:41.368 Speaking of cooling, people who know their way around electricity 00:14:41.368 --> 00:14:46.546 might be surprised by how relatively thin the cables are on these chargers. 00:14:46.546 --> 00:14:53.573 A conductor which can carry 500 amps is generally quite thick, and this doesn’t look thick enough for that. 00:14:53.573 --> 00:14:56.293 In fact it's not - but that’s on purpose. 00:14:56.293 --> 00:15:05.082 These cables are actually liquid-cooled, with a pump circulating coolant along the cable’s length and through a radiator inside the dispenser. 00:15:05.082 --> 00:15:11.200 This allows it to use smaller conductors to carry the current, making the cable easier to handle. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.080 I would say it’s a tiny bit more difficult than handling a gas pump nozzle and its hose, 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.259 but that mainly comes from the cable’s stiffness. 00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:23.939 The actual weight is pretty comparable, and I could easily plug in one handed. 00:15:23.939 --> 00:15:28.029 Liquid-cooling does come at the expense of a little charging efficiency, though, 00:15:28.029 --> 00:15:31.399 as some energy is lost as heat in the cable. 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:36.193 But the same cable without active cooling can only handle 200 amps, 00:15:36.193 --> 00:15:39.132 so I’d say it’s definitely a worthwhile trade-off. 00:15:39.132 --> 00:15:44.370 Oh, and that’s yet another reason why higher pack voltages are likely the future. 00:15:44.370 --> 00:15:51.899 200 amps at 750 volts is 150 kW - and that’s still a pretty fast charging rate. 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:58.749 But a 400V pack when limited to 200 amps will only see 80 kilowatts at best. 00:15:58.749 --> 00:16:04.484 A lower pack voltage will always require much more current to deliver the same power, 00:16:04.484 --> 00:16:08.700 and while there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with that, it is a limitation 00:16:08.700 --> 00:16:16.251 and is one of the main reasons many manufacturers are eyeing 800V - or even 900V - battery architectures. 00:16:16.251 --> 00:16:18.304 But not everyone is. 00:16:18.304 --> 00:16:20.166 At least, not yet. 00:16:20.166 --> 00:16:23.650 Now I think it’s a good time to address the elephant in the room. 00:16:23.650 --> 00:16:28.428 So far, I’ve been talking exclusively about CCS chargers. 00:16:28.428 --> 00:16:31.029 I’ve done that on purpose because, you see, 00:16:31.029 --> 00:16:36.117 CCS is the established standard DC fast charging connector, 00:16:36.117 --> 00:16:42.690 and every automaker selling cars for the US market is either already using it or, in the case of Nissan, 00:16:42.690 --> 00:16:45.563 has pledged to use it going forward. 00:16:45.563 --> 00:16:49.304 Except… oh right, except for… 00:16:49.304 --> 00:16:50.779 them. 00:16:50.779 --> 00:16:54.179 You might be familiar with Tesla’s Superchargers. 00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:58.472 Tesla calls their DC fast charging network the Supercharger network, 00:16:58.472 --> 00:17:01.548 and the tech is fundamentally the same as CCS. 00:17:01.548 --> 00:17:07.600 In fact in many markets it IS CCS - just with their slick brand. 00:17:07.600 --> 00:17:10.583 However, here in the North American market, 00:17:10.583 --> 00:17:16.061 Tesla decided to make their own connector for their cars which they use to this day. 00:17:16.061 --> 00:17:19.995 Now, I have to tell you (because if I didn’t I’d never hear the end of it) 00:17:19.995 --> 00:17:23.056 that they initially did this with good reason. 00:17:23.056 --> 00:17:25.624 When they released the Model S in 2012, 00:17:25.624 --> 00:17:28.819 the CCS standard had not yet been finalized. 00:17:28.819 --> 00:17:33.190 They didn’t want to wait around for that to happen, and so made their own standard. 00:17:33.190 --> 00:17:36.599 And to their credit, they were pretty clever with the design. 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:42.140 Tesla’s proprietary connector doesn’t use separate pins for DC and AC charging. 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:46.701 Instead, it uses two very large pins that serve both purposes. 00:17:46.701 --> 00:17:51.683 When AC charging these are Line 1 and 2, and feed the car’s onboard charger. 00:17:51.683 --> 00:17:55.578 But, when Supercharging, they connect directly to the battery pack 00:17:55.578 --> 00:17:58.374 and the offboard charger takes care of things. 00:17:58.374 --> 00:18:03.766 Now I will freely admit the Tesla connector is much more elegant than this… 00:18:03.766 --> 00:18:05.332 stormtrooper thing. 00:18:05.332 --> 00:18:09.157 However, a closed ecosystem has costs. 00:18:09.157 --> 00:18:13.276 There are some great benefits, too - undoubtedly why it’s still the way it is. 00:18:13.276 --> 00:18:18.755 But I have serious concerns about Tesla’s continued use of their proprietary connector. 00:18:18.755 --> 00:18:21.846 OK, I have to interject with some news. 00:18:21.846 --> 00:18:24.690 Literally the day after I shot this video, 00:18:24.690 --> 00:18:27.147 because of course that’s how my luck would go, 00:18:27.147 --> 00:18:34.344 Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla plans to start fitting CCS cables to their Superchargers here in the US 00:18:34.344 --> 00:18:37.748 and will open up their network to serve other vehicles. 00:18:37.748 --> 00:18:44.988 This is genuinely great to hear, and while we don’t have any specifics yet on how this will go or when it will happen 00:18:44.988 --> 00:18:50.195 (and given Tesla’s track record on promises and timelines I’m definitely reserving judgment for now), 00:18:50.195 --> 00:18:58.280 I’m glad to see Tesla honoring their commitment to accelerate electrification and not just the sale of their own cars. 00:18:58.280 --> 00:19:03.050 I’ve decided to leave in the rather angsty section you’re about to see because, 00:19:03.050 --> 00:19:07.152 while it’s great that Tesla is making moves to help out other EVs 00:19:07.152 --> 00:19:11.522 (and I mean frankly why wouldn’t they, their supercharger network is a revenue center for them, 00:19:11.522 --> 00:19:15.138 though I do have some serious reservations about the precedent that sets) 00:19:15.138 --> 00:19:20.254 they are still building their own cars with their own proprietary connector. 00:19:20.254 --> 00:19:22.886 I’m pretty confident that they’ll eventually give it up 00:19:22.886 --> 00:19:28.272 but until they do they are putting themselves and their drivers in a bit of a pickle. 00:19:28.272 --> 00:19:29.272 Why? 00:19:29.272 --> 00:19:30.272 Well… 00:19:30.609 --> 00:19:33.247 By not adopting CCS natively, 00:19:33.247 --> 00:19:38.402 which by the way they could have done half a decade ago and are only making the switch harder by continuing to not do it, 00:19:38.402 --> 00:19:47.305 Tesla is setting themselves up to be their customer’s sole (or at least primary) provider of fuel for long-distance travel in the US. 00:19:47.305 --> 00:19:51.350 And that’s a bad precedent. And it's bad for both parties! 00:19:51.350 --> 00:19:56.078 In the case of Tesla drivers, they are at least partially beholden to Tesla 00:19:56.078 --> 00:20:00.775 when they want to go long distances (or just need a quick top-up in-town). 00:20:00.775 --> 00:20:06.903 A CCS adapter is on the way, but not all Tesla vehicles are able to support it 00:20:06.903 --> 00:20:08.877 without a hardware upgrade. 00:20:08.877 --> 00:20:14.592 Many can, but even in that case everybody knows the dongle life is not fun. 00:20:14.592 --> 00:20:20.317 And Tesla is now essentially forced to keep expanding the Supercharger network on their own 00:20:20.317 --> 00:20:22.388 as they sell more cars. 00:20:22.388 --> 00:20:29.456 They’re kinda stuck catering only to Teslas unless they start fitting CCS connectors to their chargers and open their network. 00:20:29.456 --> 00:20:32.540 Which they keep hinting they’re gonna do, in fairness. 00:20:32.540 --> 00:20:33.119 *ahem* 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:38.540 Of course Tesla deserves loads of credit for jumpstarting the switch to electrification, 00:20:38.540 --> 00:20:40.820 and I’ll never push back against that. 00:20:40.820 --> 00:20:44.193 They have done a lot to prove the merits of EVs, 00:20:44.193 --> 00:20:49.300 and undoubtedly we would not have so many options to choose from today were it not for them. 00:20:49.721 --> 00:20:50.300 See? 00:20:50.300 --> 00:20:51.930 I say nice things about them. 00:20:51.930 --> 00:20:58.511 But at this point, every automaker who isn’t Tesla has signed on to the CCS standard. 00:20:58.511 --> 00:21:05.034 And the reason this is such a thorn in my side is that I run across countless folks online who say things like 00:21:05.034 --> 00:21:09.301 “I won’t consider an EV until they settle on a dang charge port” 00:21:09.301 --> 00:21:13.425 and this irritates me so much because they have! 00:21:13.425 --> 00:21:17.150 Except… well except for Tesla. 00:21:17.150 --> 00:21:19.624 And the fact that Superchargers are only for Teslas 00:21:19.624 --> 00:21:20.408 *ahem* 00:21:20.408 --> 00:21:27.517 is deep enough in the public consciousness that many people wrongly assume the rest of the industry must be copying that model. 00:21:27.517 --> 00:21:30.247 They aren’t, and thank goodness. 00:21:30.247 --> 00:21:32.453 As much as Tesla led the way, 00:21:32.453 --> 00:21:36.863 they’re now the only company who builds cars for sale in North America 00:21:36.863 --> 00:21:39.691 with a connector that isn’t this one. 00:21:39.691 --> 00:21:42.523 On our trip we saw cars from many brands; 00:21:42.523 --> 00:21:47.506 Ford, Chevy, Polestar, Hyundai, BMW, Kia, Volkswagen, and Porsche 00:21:47.506 --> 00:21:51.189 all connecting directly to the same chargers we were using, 00:21:51.189 --> 00:21:54.736 almost like it’s some sort of standard or something! 00:21:54.736 --> 00:21:57.094 The Supercharger network is great, 00:21:57.094 --> 00:22:02.360 and when it comes to usability and reliability it’s currently the one to beat. 00:22:02.360 --> 00:22:08.938 But frankly I really don’t like the idea of automakers being in the business of selling fuel to their customers, 00:22:08.938 --> 00:22:11.957 especially when they sell a proprietary one. 00:22:11.957 --> 00:22:16.306 And that’s why I’m genuinely worried on behalf of Tesla'a drivers. 00:22:16.306 --> 00:22:20.114 This isn’t just me being sad about not having Supercharger access. 00:22:20.114 --> 00:22:21.230 *ahem* 00:22:21.230 --> 00:22:28.399 Soon, the competition that already exists in the 3rd party charging networks will drastically heat up. 00:22:28.399 --> 00:22:33.386 Really compelling EVs are being sold by just about every automaker at this point, 00:22:33.386 --> 00:22:35.714 and that’s accelerating quickly. 00:22:35.714 --> 00:22:42.253 I’m personally glad to have an EV that, while it’s currently more difficult to road-trip than a Tesla, 00:22:42.253 --> 00:22:50.547 is catered to by ChargePoint, EVGo, Electrify America, Shell ReCharge, and more without the need for adapters 00:22:50.547 --> 00:22:54.842 (it can also charge faster than any Tesla but l won’t rub it in too much). 00:22:54.842 --> 00:23:00.792 To everyone who thinks automakers should copy Tesla and build out their own charging networks, 00:23:00.792 --> 00:23:09.503 I’d ask that you consider what a future might look like where Ford is allowed to sell Ford Brand Electrons only to Fords. 00:23:09.503 --> 00:23:15.170 Unfortunately it sounds like Rivian might be headed down that path with their Adventure Network. 00:23:15.170 --> 00:23:17.764 Ugh, this timeline… 00:23:17.764 --> 00:23:20.228 Anyway, with my Tesla angst out of the way, 00:23:20.228 --> 00:23:21.700 here’s what we’re left with; 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:28.639 We have the technology to deliver 350 kW of power straight into the battery pack of a car. 00:23:28.639 --> 00:23:34.131 Earlier I said that would enable an 18 hour drive to happen with an hour of charging. 00:23:34.131 --> 00:23:36.120 Well, here’s how. 00:23:36.120 --> 00:23:41.520 It took my Ioniq 5 328 kilowatt-hours of energy to make that journey. 00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:44.544 And… that’s a bit less than 350, 00:23:44.544 --> 00:23:51.349 so if it had a battery which could take on all that power (which, it doesn’t but we’re playing with theory now not reality) 00:23:51.349 --> 00:23:55.525 not quite an hour of charging time would be needed in total. 00:23:55.525 --> 00:24:02.140 In a future car that might happen in four 15 minutes stops, or maybe six 10 minute stops if that's more your bag. 00:24:02.140 --> 00:24:05.682 Also, the Ioniq 5 isn’t the most efficient highway cruiser, 00:24:05.682 --> 00:24:11.905 so something like a Tesla Model 3 might be able to drop the total charging time down to only 45 minutes, 00:24:11.905 --> 00:24:13.980 once battery tech catches up. 00:24:13.980 --> 00:24:20.551 Now, what was the real-world charge time with my real-world car in the real-world conditions of the real world? 00:24:20.551 --> 00:24:23.029 Surprisingly close, actually. 00:24:23.029 --> 00:24:25.764 Had we stuck to what our route planner suggested, 00:24:25.764 --> 00:24:32.764 which involved stopping the charge at a suggested percentage to reach the next charger with about 10% state-of-charge remaining, 00:24:32.764 --> 00:24:39.295 we would have spent only 1 hour and 52 minutes charging at six different charging stops. 00:24:39.295 --> 00:24:45.560 Just 52 minutes on top of the theoretical best-possible charging speed ain’t bad. 00:24:45.560 --> 00:24:50.339 Now, we did hang around the chargers for a little while longer than suggested 00:24:50.339 --> 00:24:56.800 because we were facing a nasty headwind when we started out - and by nasty I mean like a sustained 00:24:56.800 --> 00:24:59.410 15 to 20 mile-an-hour headwind. 00:24:59.410 --> 00:25:04.169 So in actuality we spent a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes charging. 00:25:04.365 --> 00:25:07.535 It was my first time driving the car long distance, 00:25:07.535 --> 00:25:09.855 and I wanted some buffer just in case. 00:25:09.855 --> 00:25:15.592 It turned out, though, that the route planner was being quite conservative as even in those conditions, 00:25:15.592 --> 00:25:20.121 the predicted state-of-charge loss between stops was spot on. 00:25:20.121 --> 00:25:23.886 So, had we stuck to its plan, we would have been fine. 00:25:23.886 --> 00:25:27.474 And as we moved South the headwind started to diminish, 00:25:27.474 --> 00:25:33.787 and so we started arriving at the next stops with more and more buffer over the predicted arrival range. 00:25:33.787 --> 00:25:37.332 Which, actually, would have shortened the charging time slightly 00:25:37.332 --> 00:25:42.366 since those later charging sessions all started out at a higher-than-predicted state of charge, 00:25:42.366 --> 00:25:45.106 shaving off a few minutes at each stop. 00:25:45.106 --> 00:25:51.790 Ah, that last section sure makes it sound like trying to road trip an EV takes a lot of planning, doesn’t it? 00:25:51.790 --> 00:25:53.290 Well, kind of. 00:25:53.290 --> 00:25:55.230 But not too much, really. 00:25:55.230 --> 00:25:59.342 There are some pretty great apps and websites out there which will help you manage this, 00:25:59.342 --> 00:26:01.104 like A Better Routeplanner, 00:26:01.104 --> 00:26:09.253 and several cars are emulating Tesla’s navigation-with-charging-stops system but around the available third-party networks. 00:26:09.253 --> 00:26:13.716 As time goes on, though, there will certainly be more chargers in more places, 00:26:13.716 --> 00:26:17.847 and hopefully this whole route planning business becomes obsolete. 00:26:17.847 --> 00:26:21.872 It’s still early days for EVs and they’re not for everyone, 00:26:21.872 --> 00:26:29.077 but I hope you can see that the tech to make them work is here, it’s robust, and it’s fast. 00:26:29.077 --> 00:26:33.683 And I want to say that, having done this same road trip several times before, 00:26:33.683 --> 00:26:39.345 the forced 15 to 20 minute breaks every two or three hours were fantastic, 00:26:39.345 --> 00:26:44.118 and this genuinely felt like the fastest trip to Florida I’ve ever done. 00:26:44.118 --> 00:26:46.060 In both directions. 00:26:46.060 --> 00:26:48.678 Oh, and here’s a preview for the next video, 00:26:48.678 --> 00:26:54.172 if you’re worried about what all these mega fast chargers are gonna do to the power grid - 00:26:54.172 --> 00:26:56.556 well, don’t be. 00:26:56.556 --> 00:27:03.328 Yeah, even just four cars sucking down 350 kW sounds like a gargantuan feat… 00:27:03.328 --> 00:27:05.941 but that’s only 1.4 megawatts. 00:27:05.941 --> 00:27:09.689 I know, you’re thinking “only?” but seriously. 00:27:09.689 --> 00:27:12.470 Ya know what makes 1.4 megawatts? 00:27:12.470 --> 00:27:14.011 One of those. 00:27:14.011 --> 00:27:15.876 Just one. 00:27:15.876 --> 00:27:18.479 Yeah, I know, sometimes the wind doesn’t blow, 00:27:18.479 --> 00:27:19.515 ya got me! 00:27:19.515 --> 00:27:27.911 But there’s already a few thousand of these things just in my state so… they could charge 10,000 cars at the same time, 00:27:27.911 --> 00:27:31.787 all on these ultra-fast chargers (at least when the wind is blowing). 00:27:31.787 --> 00:27:35.118 Actually 18,000 if Wikipedia’s up-to-date. 00:27:35.118 --> 00:27:43.617 And wouldn’t ya know it, here in Illinois we’ve got 11.8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity just sittin’ around doing fission and stuff. 00:27:43.617 --> 00:27:47.449 How many of these chargers would that support simultaneously? 00:27:47.449 --> 00:27:56.316 33,831, and for some context Illinois only has about 4 thousand gas stations serving the entire state. 00:27:56.316 --> 00:28:05.529 So, every gas station that exists now could have 8 ultra fast chargers using only the capacity of our six nuclear power plants - 00:28:05.529 --> 00:28:11.090 and once we get at-home charging sorted, we won’t need nearly that many fast chargers. 00:28:11.090 --> 00:28:16.590 Yes, the grid will need to grow and change to support a whole bunch of EVs, 00:28:16.590 --> 00:28:19.444 but it’s a lot less scary than it sounds. 00:28:19.444 --> 00:28:24.013 People a heckuva lot smarter than I am have done much better math, 00:28:24.013 --> 00:28:25.595 and they’re not that worried. 00:28:25.595 --> 00:28:31.416 Plus, I always like to point out that the grid went from nobody having air conditioning 00:28:31.416 --> 00:28:39.180 to just about everybody having air conditioning in just a few short decades, yet it managed that just fine. 00:28:39.489 --> 00:28:40.790 We’re humans. 00:28:40.790 --> 00:28:44.750 And when we want things to happen, we always find a way. 00:28:44.750 --> 00:28:50.475 We’ve got some challenges ahead, for sure, but I’m confident that we’ve got this. 00:28:51.234 --> 00:28:53.935 ♫ standardizedly smooth jazz ♫ 00:28:55.034 --> 00:28:56.782 This video will c... eugh! 00:28:56.782 --> 00:28:58.361 [repeat] This video will c... eugh! 00:28:58.361 --> 00:29:00.118 [one more time] This video will c... eugh! 00:29:00.118 --> 00:29:02.602 OK... one of those has to be good. 00:29:02.602 --> 00:29:03.823 So stay tuned for that one. 00:29:03.823 --> 00:29:06.093 Yeah, again I changed the words... 00:29:06.711 --> 00:29:10.539 No, that's what happened, I... I made an adjustment on the fly the last time I read it 00:29:10.539 --> 00:29:13.473 and I didn't make the same adjustment, I made a different one. 00:29:13.473 --> 00:29:14.903 I'm really good at this! 00:29:14.903 --> 00:29:18.582 Our J1772 [falls apart] 00:29:19.593 --> 00:29:22.125 It sounds like I'm say RJ, like RJ45. 00:29:22.125 --> 00:29:24.850 There's another reason few cars sporting char... 00:29:26.395 --> 00:29:27.141 [deep breath] 00:29:30.541 --> 00:29:31.250 Bad! 00:29:31.250 --> 00:29:34.118 So, the charger... yeah no, I... why did you do that? 00:29:34.764 --> 00:29:36.751 That was clarified in the next sentence. 00:29:36.751 --> 00:29:39.477 You've proofread this many times, you dingo. 00:29:40.629 --> 00:29:44.951 OK, so I gotta admit, something that's really pushing my buttons is the shade Tesla stans throw at CCS for being ugly and/or bulky. 00:29:44.951 --> 00:29:48.997 I mean, the thing is handling the equivalent of SEVEN maxed out, large US homes and somehow it's still *that* small. 00:29:48.997 --> 00:29:51.272 I mean, that's an achievement! 00:29:51.272 --> 00:29:53.508 And the standard reference people have is a gas pump. 00:29:53.508 --> 00:29:55.729 Those ain't elegant, in case you hadn't noticed. 00:29:55.729 --> 00:29:57.170 It's just a plug, you guys.