Have you ever heard of opportunity charging?
If you have, welcome to the rabbit hole that is EV research. When designing EcoSwift's EV charging hub, I fell down the rabbit hole too. I did nothing but research for a good month. I gathered all the information I could find. I thought deeply about the entire EV ecosystem.
Through my one month of thought and research, I identified 2 distinct strategies of charging EVs; Overnight Charging, and Opportunity Charging.
Overnight Charging
Overnight charging is often what people will think of when thinking about charging their EVs. These chargers are usually the slower and cheaper AC chargers. Chargers placed in residential areas or office buildings are usually classified as overnight chargers.
Overnight charging offers EV drivers superb peace of mind. If you have access to one, then you definitely should consider changing to EVs. Imagine waking up everyday with a full tank of petrol in your car. That is what overnight chargers can offer you.
Moreover, scaling of overnight chargers is much easier as AC chargers are cheap, require little to no maintenance, and easily deployed. This will enable more charging points, which will in turn increase the convenience of EVs.
Of course, the slow nature of these overnight chargers will still induce range anxiety especially when there is an unplanned trip that you need to take. This brings us nicely on to opportunity charging.
Opportunity Charging
Opportunity charging, as the name suggests, allows you to charge your EV at any given opportunity. Opportunity chargers are usually situated at your destinations like shopping malls, tourist attractions, clubhouses, etc. Opportunity charging often utilise the faster DC chargers, but there are exceptions.
Opportunity charging works by offering you the flexibility to recharge EVs whenever the opportunity arises, rather than relying solely on planned charging sessions. This means that you do not have to go hunt for a charger every time your battery drops below 20%.
Instead, the idea is that your EV will NEVER drop below 20%. Think about how you will charge your smartphone at any given opportunity to make sure you wouldn't go wanting for more later into the day.
How You Can Benefit From Opportunity Charging
If you are still debating with yourself on whether you should change to EVs or not, remind yourself that even with little to no access to Overnight Chargers, Opportunity Chargers can still make EVs work for you. Don't worry, I will do the math for you.
A typical range of an EV today is around 500km. If you have access to overnight chargers, then congratulations, you have the full 500km every morning. If you don't, fret not. Opportunity chargers these days can reach a charge power of 250kW. Realistically, a car needs 1kWh for every 5 kilometers of travel. This means that for every 1 minute of charging, you can expect around 20km added to your range (If you are curious, click here.)
A quick 5 minute toilet break while charging can give you close to 200km. enough to get you around Singapore for another 2 days or so. After learning this, will you then think of access to overnight charger as a necessity?
Can Heavy Vehicles Benefit As Well?
Heavy Vehicles require around 1.3kWh for every 1 kilometer of travel. This equates to around 3km for every 1 minute of charging. It sounds like a whole lot less attractive than cars right? Think again.
A truck has much more opportunities to charge than a car. Trucks are used as delivery vehicles. Delivery vehicles require loading and unloading. This usually takes around an hour or so. Charging for 1 hour on just a 120kW charger will give you more than 90 kilometers of additional range. Do not forget to take lunch hour into account as well.
Now back to EcoSwift's EV charging hub. I decided that AC chargers simply do not make sense for Heavy Vehicles, so I did without it. I decided to install 20 units of 120kW DC chargers as overnight chargers for the heavy vehicles, but opportunity chargers for smaller vehicles. I then installed another 4 units of 240kW chargers as opportunity chargers for the trucks.
If you drive a car and work near Tuas, I now have 24 opportunity chargers for you. If you are looking to electrify but you are worried about charging, we have you covered. If you are also designing your own EV charging hub, I will be very happy to share my experiences.
-Ryan, Director, EcoSwift
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