Rapid Charging Will Help Jump Start the Electric Vehicle Market

Fleet customers – corporations, utilities, municipalities, and car-sharing organizations – will be among the first American customers of the first generation of mainstream, mass-produced EVs. These corporate customers will be attracted to the low ‘fuel’ cost – the electricity to power the THINK City costs about 2 cents a mile – as well as reduced maintenance cost and down-time. Aside from a brake job at 40,000 miles, there’s not much required service until the tires need replacing. And these fleet customers will be happy to be seen doing the right and responsible thing for society – driving vehicles that don’t create any tailpipe emissions and don’t even have a tailpipe.

EVs will be put into service in highly visible urban roles in which they will rapidly accumulate miles. Even though most of the miles driven will be from electricity provided through off-peak 220 volt charging, the availability of rapid charging will be essential to help keep these vehicles in constant service, day in and day out.

Significant numbers of fleet sales over the next two to three years are crucial to provide needed economies of scale for EV makers like THINK and battery suppliers like Indianapolis-based EnerDel. Cost reductions that result from volume production will pave the way for retail customers to get in on EVs in a big and sustainable way.

There are millions of car owners in this country who accumulate far less than 100 miles of driving a day. For them, an electric car like the THINK City may be just right: Quiet, fun, low-operating costs, almost no maintenance, and the satisfaction of clean, responsible driving. With a range of 100 miles per charge, the THINK City can be easily recharged overnight using ordinary 110- or 220-volt power.

But even for these millions of potential EV customers with relatively short and predictable daily driving use, ‘range anxiety’ may continue to be a purchase barrier.

No one wants to get stranded. Rather than pay for and constantly carry around an additional power source in the form of an emission-creating internal combustion engine, these customers will find solace in knowing that a rapid recharge is available and not far removed from their daily drive route.

And so, accessible and extremely fast charging will provide not only the necessary ingredient to make EVs practical for daily fleet use but will provide a sense of ‘range security’ to help retail purchases of EVs take off as well.

However, some large automakers are talking about rapid-charging as a ‘someday technology,’ with technological barriers still to be overcome. Subjecting an EV to the powerful surge in current necessary for a very quick charge may prove grossly detrimental to the car’s power electronics and to its battery, they warn. Some additional years of development will be necessary to work out these bugs.

But we are here to tell you the technology is ready today. As a company that has been building EVs for 19 years, THINK knows a bit about electric drivetrains. And THINK’s battery supplier EnerDel brings a deep experience in large-format prismatic batteries. From the cell design on up, EnerDel has developed a battery specifically made to stand up to the rigors of fast-charging.

Earlier this year at the Washington Auto Show, THINK, EnerDel, and AeroVironment announced a new benchmark in extremely fast charging: zero charge to 80% charged in just 15 minutes. THINK City test cars are being fast-charged daily at EnerDel’s development facility. The technology works. From the very first cars to be built at THINK’s new manufacturing facility in Elkhart, Indiana, the capability for extremely fast charging will have been built in.

Richard Canny is CEO of THINK, www.thinkev.com