When you can't charge over night, then standing for an hour on a charger is absurdly inconvenient. Like returning from touchscreen phone to rotary phone and screaming progress.
It already doesn't take one hour to charge most new cars - rather half, unless you insist on charging also for the last 15-20% which is slower to protect the battery. And this is a baseline from which we're steadily improving year after year. DC Fast charging was 50kW, then 150, now 350kW chargers are being deployed (admittedly not many current, and very few older cars can take advantage of the full speed) and will keep getting even faster over time.
An 80% charge at 350kW would take under 10.5 minutes even for a semi-large 75kW/h battery*, you'd barely have the time to hit the bathroom and order a fast food meal to consume in the car - and this will gradually become the new baseline, from which you can expect further improvements down the line.
* it would actually take more if you showed up with a completely empty battery - the first 10ish % needs to be slower, to protect the battery - but in reality you would NOT plan to reach a charger with such little range remaining, so it would actually take you quite a bit less. A 15% to 80% charge on a 75kW/h battery at 350kW would take 8m21s.
That's all nice theory, but from my experience as BEV owner:
* 350kW chargers are rare, cars able to take the charge even more. (I have Enyaq, charge is capped around 150kW, never saw it charging faster). The most common charger in the wild is around 50kW
* 100kW+ chargers are insanely expensive. It is cheaper to drive ICE than charge on those.
* Chargers are often broken
* You are assuming that there is nobody in front of you. Good luck getting your 8 minutes with 2 other cars waiting to charge as well.
* 8 minutes is still slower than getting a gas to an ICE
Enel X - Charging points in Italy: 0,69€/kWh for AC charging points, 0,89€/kWh for DC charging points up to 150 kW and 0,99€/kWh for DC charging points over 150 kW (HPC)
• Charging points outside Italy: 0,70€/kWh for AC charging points, 0,95€/kWh for DC charging points up to 150kW and 0,99€/kWh for DC charging points above 150kW
Those are just two charging network known for high power chargers on European highways, which I can get top out of my head.
It’s not for everyone. If you can charge at home with average electric rates and you’re not regularly traveling more than 5 hours at a time then it’s probably a good option. If you travel more frequently, get a Tesla. If it’s still not for you, then it’s not for you. If you’re just angry and mad other people like them, I’ve got no recommendations.
