Electrify America has just announced a ‘Congestion Reduction’ Pilot” program with the hope of getting cars on and off chargers in a more timely manner to ultimately reduce waiting times. The idea: An 85% state of charge limit.
As Electrify America explains, certain stations – starting with just 10 in California – will only let you charge an EV to 85% capacity. Once it reaches that number, the charger will automatically stop charging and the 10-minute grace period will begin. If you haven’t unplugged the car after those 10 minutes, you’ll be charged idle fees.
The goal here is to pull cars off EA’s fast chargers once they’ve completed their “bulk charge.” With today’s technology, basically any EV will have its charging rate slow down dramatically once it goes past the 80% state of charge. For example, the 10-80% charge on a Kia EV6 takes about 16 minutes on a fast charger that can charge at its maximum charging speed. However, that last 80-100% charge takes at least 15-20 minutes due to the rate at which the charging speed decreases. This unnecessarily clogs up charging stations, leading to long wait times and frustration for those stuck on hold.
On the other hand, some road trips may require you to squeeze every last percent of charge out of it to reach your next destination. EA recognizes this, which is why all of the pilot stations chosen are high-usage locations that aren’t typically used for road trips. The distance between stations and the usage statistics of the stations were the two main considerations, so those who need a full 100% charge should be able to find alternative charging options within a reasonable radius.
And don’t even try to circumvent the rules. Electrify America says that if you try to start a charging session with an EV that has a state of charge of more than 85%, it will not start charging. The same goes if you try to plug it back in after it’s started at the 85% limit. There will be no exceptions for manufacturer-supported charging plans or other loopholes.
Electrify America says the pilot program will begin this month. You can check out the list of stations hereEA says it will continually update the list if it decides to expand the pilot program, while monitoring station performance and customer sentiment.
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