We're Doing EV Charging Wrong: A 1990s Charger Design Would be Cheaper and Simpler—And Just as Safe, Say EV Pioneers

To those who don't yet own an EV, a robust infrastructure may seem unimportant. Studies, after all, show that in developed markets, as much as 90 percent of all charging takes place in the home. It turns out, however, that the remaining percentage of charging is critically important. Drivers of delivery trucks and taxis, residents of apartment buildings, students on their way to college, families on vacation, and countless others have learned that driving an EV can be a struggle where public charging is scarce or unreliable. A 2022 survey by Forbes, for example, indicated that 62 percent of EV owners were so anxious about EV range that they had at times curtailed their travel plans.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
IEEE Spectrum
Published
2025-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/mspec.2025.10960524
Primary Topic
Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

We're Doing EV Charging Wrong: A 1990s Charger Design Would be Cheaper and Simpler—And Just as Safe, Say EV Pioneers

Alan Cocconi, Wally E. Rippel
IEEE Spectrum
Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure
article

We're Doing EV Charging Wrong: A 1990s Charger Design Would be Cheaper and Simpler—And Just as Safe, Say EV Pioneers

Alan Cocconi, Wally E. Rippel
article en

Abstract

To those who don't yet own an EV, a robust infrastructure may seem unimportant. Studies, after all, show that in developed markets, as much as 90 percent of all charging takes place in the home. It turns out, however, that the remaining percentage of charging is critically important. Drivers of delivery trucks and taxis, residents of apartment buildings, students on their way to college, families on vacation, and countless others have learned that driving an EV can be a struggle where public charging is scarce or unreliable. A 2022 survey by Forbes, for example, indicated that 62 percent of EV owners were so anxious about EV range that they had at times curtailed their travel plans.

IEEE SpectrumVol. 62(4)
Openalex Percentile: Top 94%
Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure
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