Enabling Fast Charging: A Technology Gap Assessment

Despite rapid drops in cost within the battery electric vehicle (BEV) powertrain of over four times in the last 10 years and significant improvements in drivability and performance, the BEV market still only accounts for approximately 1% of new light-duty vehicle sales annually. BEV powertrain costs are not quite at parity with the internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV); however, another identified gap to wider adoption of BEVs is the ability to refuel quickly or to fast charge. The majority of BEV recharging is done at home, but having access to public direct current (DC) fast chargers can have a big impact on BEV utility from a consumer perspective. Studies have shown that in areas where drivers have access to 50-kW or 120-kW fast charge stations, annual electric vehicle (EV) miles traveled (i.e., eVMT) increased by over 25%, even in cases where fast charging was used for 1% to 5% of total charging events. Having access to these fast charge stations can help alleviate the “range anxiety” commonly cited as a reason for consumer’s hesitation to buy a BEV. To be truly competitive to the ICEV refueling experience, even higher power stations are necessary. To address the fast charge barrier, charging at 400-kW, or extreme fast charging (XFC), has been proposed and will serve as the basis for discussion in this report. These XFC stations should be able to recharge a BEV in less than 10 minutes and provide approximately 200 additional miles of driving. However, this introduces a host of new challenges that need to be addressed. As a result, it is expected that packs designed to meet XFC will initially be significantly more expensive than BEVs optimized for current charging technology. From the battery cell to the power grid these 400-kW chargers are connected to, this study will discuss issues that need to be addressed at each level in order to implement a 400-kW charging network. Although this report is U.S.-focused, the findings should be applicable to other countries with mature automotive infrastructures. Battery, vehicle, and infrastructure technical gaps are highlighted and discussed, each with an attached appendix that provides further technical detail.

• Record URL:
  https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/10/f38/XFC%20Technology%20Gap%20Assessment%20Report_FINAL_10202017.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  Department of Energy

  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  1000 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20585

  Argonne National Laboratory

  ,    

  Idaho National Laboratory

  Idaho Falls, ID  United States 

  National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  Golden, CO  United States  80401
• Authors:
  • Howell, David
  • Boyd, Steven
  • Cunningham, Brian
  • Gillard, Samm
  • Slezak, Lee
  • Ahmed, Shabbir
  • Bloom, Ira
  • Burnham, Andrew
  • Hardy, Keith
  • Jansen, Andrew N
  • Nelson, Paul A
  • Robertson, David C
  • Stephens, Thomas
  • Vijayagopal, Ram
  • Carlson, Richard B
  • Dias, Fernando
  • Dufek, Eric J
  • Michelbacher, Christopher J
  • Mohanpurkar, Manish
  • Scoffield, Don
  • Shirk, Matthew
  • Tanim, Tanvir
  • Keyser, Matthew
  • Kreuzer, Cory
  • Li, Oibo
  • Markel, Anthony
  • Meintz, Andrew
  • Pesaran, Ahmad
  • Santhanagopalan, Shriram
  • Smith, Kandler
  • Wood, Eric
  • Zhang, Jiucai
• Publication Date: 2017-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 83p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Electric batteries; Electric vehicle charging; Electric vehicles; Infrastructure; Internal combustion engines; Technology assessment
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01650937
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: INL/EXT-17-41638
• Contract Numbers: DE-AC02-06CH11357; DE-AC07-99ID13727; DE-AC36-08GO
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 15 2017 11:34AM