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How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

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261–270 of 286 posts

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, retooling gas stations is the way to go. Already happening in Norway where stations now show the price of kWh in addition to gas and diesel prominently on signs by the road. Charging is just a different kind of pump.

Charging stations don't need all the environmental equipment that gas stations have to catch oil and gas run off. I guess we could convert old gas stations that don’t need extensive environmental cleanup, but building new ones just to charge EVs is huge overkill when you just need some space in a parking lot.

a key difference between a gas station and a parking lot is that people only park at a gas station to get gas (and have a rest, get dinner, bathroom break etc), so, assuming quick charging, you need less chargers as they will spend less time not charging a fully charged car left parked on them. Gas station staff can ensure charging spots are utilized correctly as they do now for the pumps.

Also everyone understands how gas stations work, so it is easier to slip EVs into the social fabric.

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 99.9% of use cases of EVs can charge at home/work/shop This is yet again a very US-centric view where you assume people are living in house with a garage.

In Europe, I live in an apartment with an garage in the basement with EV chargers. Not sure why you you think it's an US-centric view.

because most buildings are too old to have an underground garage, at least in Western Europe.

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charging stations don't need all the environmental equipment that gas stations have to catch oil and gas run off. I guess we could convert old gas stations that don’t need extensive environmental cleanup, but building new ones just to charge EVs is huge overkill when you just need some space in a parking lot.

a key difference between a gas station and a parking lot is that people only park at a gas station to get gas (and have a rest, get dinner, bathroom break etc), so, assuming quick charging, you need less chargers as they will spend less time not charging a fully charged car left parked on them. Gas station staff can ensure charging spots are utilized correctly as they do now for the pumps. Also everyone understands h…

Those fast chargers rely on a buffer, so I’m not sure thy can be used continuously like a gas pump can.

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"home" can be substituted for "place where car resides when owner is at home" without meaningfully changing the point

In NYC that would be the street. The great conundrum of ev's. People that have access to home-charging, worry about range. The one's that mostly sit idling in traffic, don't have access to charging.

In London, I saw lampposts with EV chargers built in, as well as tastefully concealed sidewalk ports. This is not an intractable problem.

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#265
post #180
post #3

More importantly, the US has banned these cars in America to give protection to american manufacturers.

During the Cold War would have imported cars from the USSR if they were better Do we want to strength economically an authoritarian country who is opposed to Western aims across the world? Of course not. That would be shooting ourselves in the foot.

I just want the better product, period.

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I felt the same way as you until I took a few road trips in sn EV. I drove about 20 hours in two days. The thing that struck me is how refreshed I felt when I arrived. Normally I'd be dead on my feet and the travel day would be lost completely but I was ready for activity on arrival. I was very surprised.

What kind of EV was it? I have heard that the combination of self-driving and mandatory 30-60” breaks every few hours is very relaxing. I look forward to trying it some day. Meanwhile… I would be very wary of taking my bolt on a long journey. I have no confidence that what few fast chargers are out there would actually work, or be available, and I wouldn’t want to plan my journey around charging stops, with copious b…

It was a Kona 2019. Not self driving, requires hands on the wheel but it does lane keeping and adaptive cruise control.

If you find a semi going a good speed and set the follow distance to maximum, it's a very easy drive.

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#267
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reducing carbon emissions most certainly is a human rights issue. I absolutely can not breathe when I go to large cities. I live in a village, drive an electric, and charge it from rooftop solar.

You actually can breath in "large cities", unless you have a pre-existing health condition. Otherwise, all the people in those "large cities" would already be dead, and they'd cease being "large cities". Or at least, populated ones. "Carbon emissions" is a human rights issue, just as 1000 other things are. Whether "reducing" carbon emissions is determined to be a right is not black and white as of yet. Regardless, le…

I may have exaggerated. In large cities the air is significantly less comfortable to breathe.

  > because you own an electric car, it's now a human rights issue that you get to pay less. Right?
No, why would you think that? It is only fair that electric car users, myself included, pay for the proportional damage and wear to the roads.

Now tell me why the polluting carbon-burning vehicles don't have a separate tax to repair the damage they do to the environment, e.g. climate change? How much would that tax cost?

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#268
post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an certified electrical engineer, this is certainly a problem. The main issue is of course how much copper is burried underground and how big transformer capacity is. The first solution is of course to try avoiding farst charging if possible by charging at home or at work over hours if possible. A faster charge will have to be a more expensive charge. Another solution that could ease things a little is to spread t…

Ah thanks for the expert opinion. I used to be an EE, but I've not been working in the field for a long time Forgive me, but afaik you can't really run truly high voltage AC lines underground - the main issues are electrical arcing and capacitive ground coupling, which leads to losses. HVDC has its own issues as well, mostly having to do with electrolysis, and it being crazy dangerous. I mean, you can , but it's goin…

Yeah but I am not talking about high voltage AC under the ground, the bigger problem IMO is literally the last few kilometers to peoples houses. Everything before that costs money as well, but is usually better upgradable by design (at least over here in Europe).

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#269
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> paying more than we would if we drove gas vehicles The 6 people driving EVs in Alberta/Saskatchewan are paying more than $7 trillion in taxes[1]? I find that hard to believe! [1] Fossil-fuel subsidies surged to a record $7 trillion last year: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2023/08/24/fossil-fuel...

Are you seriously comparing the number of people? That's silly. It's the amount paid per person. You pay so much in gas, I pay so much for my EV. For the same amount of driving, I am paying more than you do. That's the problem.

> For the same amount of driving, I am paying more than you do.

You aren't. See this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47475419

Re: How BYD got EV chargers to work almost as fast as gas pumps

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ‘burbs truly are the worst of all worlds. Some of the homes in my neighbourhood have 2 cars in the driveway and another two on the street. They all move regularly. Walkability is terrible. Public transit is iffy. People have to get places on time.

Zoning changes: can't park inside, in front of the house, and on the street. This will address the problems you raised. Unlikely it will be passed.

Change these rules in hopes there are less cars? Or what?

Where will people put all the cars? The driveways holds 2, and really that’s only if you choose them wisely.

It is already illegal to park your car on the street for an extended period of time. Nobody cares.

Limit the number of vehicles owned by each address?

Fix public transit? Pipe dream. We’ve invested millions and it’s even worse.

The stores and plazas are already built, so walkability is unlikely to improve.

WFH? Actively being abolished.

We really suck at this civil planning thing, don’t we?

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