Next Generation of EV Charging (#Electrifying Webinar with Peter Badik, GreenWay)

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Update: The webinar is now over and the Facebook video embedded above.

For years, it has been clear — electric car customers want superfast (not just “fast”) charging. In other words, they want charging that enables convenient long-distance travel. It has also been clear that only Tesla has looked out for its customers in this regard — so far. It wasn’t until this year that any other charging companies really started offering products capable of something more than 50 kW (Tesla offers approximately 120 kW at Superchargers), and there still aren’t any electric cars on the market that can charge more than 100 kW (hence the reason non-Tesla charging networks and producers don’t offer superfast charging).

That said, there’s been a clear shift in this direction, implying that automakers understand the importance of much faster public charging. Daimler, Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen Group formed a consortium to develop such a network in Europe (though, little is known about the progress to date), while EVgo and ChargePoint have started work on superfast charging stations in the United States (presumably, with the expectation that certain automakers are planning cars that will soon be able to utilize such chargers).

Another company in Europe that’s rising up to the challenge — outside the normal stomping grounds of early EV adoption — is Slovakia-based GreenWay. The company built a fast charging network around Slovakia, and it’s now quickly building one around Poland — putting up a charging station “every other day,” co-founder and managing director Peter Badik noted to me earlier this week.

As part of that, 13 of the new stations will be “ultrafast” charging stations that have charging capacity up to 350 kW. Here are more specs on the split (across all 195 charging stations being built in Poland as well as the 53 in place already in Slovakia):

  • 145 fast charging stations
  • 70 AC “slow” charging stations
  • 13 ultra-fast charging stations
  • 20 battery assisted charging systems

After officially forming Tesla Shuttle today in Łódz, Jacek Fior, Tomek Gać, and I got to test one of the freshest GreenWay stations (maybe the freshest). After having to use the 22 kW charger for a while as another Tesla charged, we jumped over to the CHAdeMO port (50 kW). We ate while plugged into the 22 kW port and then had coffee while plugged into the CHAdeMO one — all while talking business, of course.

This new charging station stimulated several discussions about the overall EV charging network that we have today and the future of EV charging. We have a lot more to say.

GreenWay is also a co-organizer of our upcoming “West Meets East: Charging Central & Eastern Europe’s Electromobility Revolution” conference — part of our Cleantech Revolution Tour conference series. Furthermore, we’re convening a working group of EV charging leaders to create a white paper on EV charging guidelines.

So, I thought it would be interesting and useful to discuss the future of EV charging with Peter Badik on our next #Electrifying webinar (which is free, as always).

I’m particularly interested in filling knowledge gaps for myself and CleanTechnica readers/viewers regarding:

◊ Current status and evolution of EV superfast charging hardware.
◊ Automaker hints regarding cars that can use superfast charging.
◊ Challenges of installing/offering superfast charging.
◊ Expected future mix of different charging options/rates.

If you have other matters you’d like to see us discuss, chime in! And join us on Saturday for the webinar. Details are here:

Registration link (free!)
◊ Date: October 14
◊ Time: 6:00pm CET


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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