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Comment by avidiax | Hacker News Reader

There is a 4th reason. EA is not investing in features to prevent this.

They have added an 80% cap to a handful of busy chargers in California.

What they should do is add an electronic queue for the chargers, and automatically add the $0.40/minute idle rate to any charging above 80% when someone is queued for your charger.

They also need to do something about people with low voltage cars taking the high voltage spots. Something like a time factor in the price for the high voltage stations, to discourage low voltage cars using those unless necessary.

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Teslas are 400v up until the CyberTruck. You probably mean low kW. If I pull up to a charging station and it’s open and 350 kW, you better believe it I’ll be charging my 100 kW max car in that spot, and I shouldn’t haven’t to pay more for the same kWh.

It's both.

Some new cars have 800V architecture and will be able to benefit from high voltage chargers as they roll out.

There are also cars that can't charge at 350kW, but still take a 350kW charger.

Charging a 100kW car in the 350kW bay is fine, but these owners should be given some reason to prefer a 100kW or 150kW charger if it's available. I like the idea of using someone being queued for the charger to trigger an infrastructure charge if you are underutilizing the charger, just like we already do if you are simply parked there and not charging.

At the very least, require that drivers at least try to use the charger that best matches their car if it's available. Require that they plug in, or that they document a non-EV in the space before connecting to an over-spec charger.

How about no. I’m not going to fill out a form to charge my car. I use the 150 kW chargers when available, 350 kW when not. I rarely DC fast charge anyway.

Edit: yeah feel free to downvote me. I believe in not just the rich being able to fast charge without issue.

>I believe in not just the rich being able to fast charge without issue.

What about the competing interest of making charging fast and convenient, which surely would drive EV adoption? Is slowing the energy transition a worthwhile cost in the pursuit of equity?

Most EVs now can charge at over 100 kW peak, and that means most EVs will be able to in five years. I don’t see how it’s that big of a deal to allow people with older, used EVs to charge at all stations. Even charging companies have this stance.

The base principle I want to see is that if you have a 100kW car, and 2 stations are available, 150kW & 350kW, you have to at least try the 150kW station first, and move to the 350kW if it's not working or available.

People already do that.

Yes

>Charging a 100kW car in the 350kW bay is fine, but these owners should be given some reason to prefer a 100kW or 150kW charger if it's available. I like the idea of using someone being queued for the charger to trigger an infrastructure charge if you are underutilizing the charger, just like we already do if you are simply parked there and not charging.

...or just charge a premium for using the fast chargers. That way you're not you're not checking your phone every 5 minutes to see whether you're racking up additional charges and whether you need to move your car or not.

Definitely agree with this, last time I was at the EA charger I thought it was comical seeing Rivans and Audis waiting for an IKEA truck (ford van) that was creeping up from 95%.

While these measures will help, the reality is that EA did not invest in enough chargers per location.

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