Fast charger fills electric car in minutes

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"I might buy an electric car if it didn't take hours to recharge." This is a common hesitation for people who might otherwise be in the market for an electric car. We want to arrive at our destination without worrying that we might get stuck somewhere for hours waiting for our car to charge. But that concern can now fall to the wayside. Next generation Direct Current (DC) fast charging stations let drivers fill up an electric car's battery in the time it takes to grab a bite at a roadside restaurant.

DC fast chargers, like those produced by Blink, can deliver a full charge in under 30 minutes. This is an advantage over AC chargers, which can take six to eight hours to fully charge a vehicle. Another DC fast charger, ABB's Terra 51, which can fill up an EV in 15 to 30 minutes, was just installed this week in Europe. So the new norm for EV drivers could be pulling into a rest stop for a bite to eat, plugging in and having a fully charged vehicle before they're finished eating.

With this capability, DC fast charging stations could well become an important part of the transportation infrastructure. Deploying them now could be particularly important since charging station sales are expected to multiply rapidly over the next five years, reaching 1.6 million units globally by 2015, according to Pike Research. Considering the high price of fossil fuels and the growing investment in electricity from renewable sources, a network of fast charging stations removes one of the last speed bumps that might be preventing people from making their next car electric.

Not every charging station on the road is a DC fast charging station yet, but you can find the fast chargers near you by using Google or a number of other maps that let US drivers locate charging stations. Globally, there are also a growing number of phone apps, such as the ones released by ChargePoint and CarStations, which use GPS positioning to search for a charging station near you.

Photo by NRMA New Cars