In September I continued my EV series for Road & Track, this time covering how long aspects that influence how long it takes to charge an EV, both when at home and on the go. A section discussing true vs peak fast-charging speeds is below.
”At higher power levels, lithium-ion batteries charge on a curve, typically receiving less charge as they reach higher states of charge. This phenomenon is apparent with smartphones, as they charge from 10 percent to 20 percent much faster than from 90 percent to full.
This curve declines so sharply that the commonly stated metric for fast-charging speed is the time it takes for an EV to charge from 10 percent to 80 percent because ‘fast-charging’ above 80 percent isn’t fast at all. Below, you can see the different charging curves for various EVs, showing the relationship between the car’s state of charge and the power that its battery can receive.
It’s important to know that how fast a car charges in the real world is not a function of the peak power the car receives. What matters is the average charging speed”