this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2025
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Electric Vehicles

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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.


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[–] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Mostly because we vote against having nice things.

[–] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Because deep down we know we don't deserve nice things

(but mostly because billionaires think they'll be the only ones paying for it)

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I mean, they do have all the money.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

Out of our efforts.

[–] madsenandersc@social.vivaldi.net 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

@Sunshine
Probably because the cost of the chargers will be really, really high and only two cars supports them so far.

Also, while it's technically impressive what BYD have done, the real world need for MCS is somewhat limited.

Personally we drive around 50000 km every year in our Kona 64kWh model, and it has a maximum charging speed on a good day of 77 kW, in winter around 55 kW.

However, given that it charges every night on a 11 kW home charger, it hardly ever sees a fast charger - perhaps 10 times a year, unless our summer holiday is a 3000 km roadtrim through Germany and their neighbouring countries.

Still, even then we tend to find slow destination chargers and charge through the night.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

MCS

Mind-blowing Charging Speeds?

@threelonmusketeers 😁

Megawatt Charging System. It is a standard meant for heavy haulers with its own specialized plug, but adding a CCS plug for these hyper fast charging cars would make a lot of sense.

The MCS plug supports up to 3,5 MW, so the CCS plug would need to be limited to e.g. 1 MW and heavily cooled, or both cable and plug would melt.

[–] ninthant@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You’re absolutely correct that this is not needed for routine usage. Level 1 charging is sufficient for most routine cases, and level 2 charging is sufficient for the rest.

The main use case for this super-fast technology is for cases where the vehicles are in constant use, such as taxis and long-haul trips. These are doable with level 2/3 but not ideal and are still areas where ICE are dominant.

So while not strictly required, this technology will be useful to make further inroads if we can get the infrastructure to accompany it. Which as the article suggests, is no small feat.

(Unrelated, I have the same car as you. Ioniq gets all the attention but the Kona is such a great EV!)

[–] madsenandersc@social.vivaldi.net 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

@ninthant in some ways I get the feeling that MCS-capable cars are just waiting for long haul electric trucks to get some traction in the market. Here the MCS makes a lot more sense and there is a financial gain to be had for the company if they can increase the practical daily range.

[–] ninthant@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Yes exactly. A lower total cost of ownership taxi or delivery fleet or long haul trucking could provide the incentive for this type of deployment.

Because as the grandparent comment suggests, for routine use this type of infrastructure is not worth the expense. But once it’s there, that opens up possibilities for broader use cases.

[–] cron@feddit.org 7 points 6 days ago

“So that [charging in 12 minutes] is actually the number we’re solving for,” he said. “Do we need to charge in five minutes? The answer is probably no.”

Saying "we don't need faster charging" isn't very convincing - especially when only the competition offers it. If Mercedes-Benz were the one offering megawatt charging, it would suddenly be marketed as the next big thing.

And I believe that we need to solve megawatt charging for a breakthrough of electric trucks and buses.

[–] kemsat@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

The private sector hasn’t figured out how to get the people to pay for it for them.