Opinion: Lots of misinformation circulates about electric vehicles and charging process

In 2023, 1.25 million plug-in electric vehicles (battery electric vehicles, BEVs, and plug-in hybrids, PHEVs) were sold in the United States, a 51% increase over 2022, following a 76% increase from 2021-22, and a 72% increase from 2020-21. Other countries are seeing even stronger growth. The EV transition is disrupting trillions of dollars of annual cash flows. People who stand to lose in that transition are working hard to delay the change by spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Much of their current spin claims that charging is too slow, unavailable and unreliable, falsely implying that EVs are only useful for short trips in cities.In reality, charging an EV takes its owner 20 seconds: 10 to uncoil the cord and plug in, and 10 to unplug and recoil the cord. In between, s/he walks away and does something else. EVs aren't like internal combustion vehicles, which require you to babysit the pump while transferring a highly explosive fluid, with potentially disastrous consequences if something spills. But the car obviously takes longer than 20 seconds, so let's explore more deeply.It's useful to consider EV charging in terms of speed: miles per hour (mph), the miles of driving range that can be replenished for each hour plugged into the charger. This speed depends partly on the car being charged, but more on the electricity source, which comes in three levels: slow (Level 1), medium (Level 2), and fast (direct current fast charging, DCFC, also called Level 3).Level 1 uses a standard 120 volt outlet of the sort found in every house, and can replenish 2-7 mph; 2 mph for big pickups and SUVs, 7 mph for small city cars. Most EVs charge at about 4-5 mph, so an overnight charge on L1 will replenish a typical day's travel for most drivers.Level 2 uses a 240 volt outlet, of the sort used for a clothes dryer, oven, or RV hookup, and can replenish 15-40 mph.  Most EVs will gain at least 20 mph on L2, so an overnight charge will completely refill even a fairly large (long range) battery.There are two situations where neither L1 nor L2 is fast enough: on road trips, and for people lacking access to home or workplace charging, who have to use public chargers like gas stations. In these cases, Level 3 chargers can fill a battery 80% full in 15-80 minutes (depending on the vehicle), usually about 30-40 minutes, roughly the time it takes to eat a fast food meal or shop for groceries. Note that this is percentage, not speed; an EV with 80 mile range will get to 64 miles in this time, while an EV with 500 mile range will see 400 miles.L3 chargers are already sufficiently common to allow convenient road tripping almost anywhere in the United States, with more being installed daily. Because L3 cords aren't yet as ubiquitous as gas pumps, EV road trips still require a little planning, but apps like plugshare.com make it quick and easy. Many of the apps include crowdsourced status reports, so you can avoid unpleasant surprises by checking the reliability of the chargers you intend to use.For people who remain fearful about charging, but still want to enjoy the numerous advantages of electric drive, there are PHEVs. PHEV batteries are large enough to travel a non-trivial distance purely on electricity. When the battery gets low, the driver can stop and recharge, or just keep driving, in which case the car will seamlessly switch over to gasoline.Charging is just the tip of the EV disinformation iceberg. There are many other bogus narratives (about price, size, environmental issues and more) out there. But a quick look at a few real EVs and a short talk with a few real EV drivers can easily dispel the myths and clear up the confusion. National Drive Electric Week exists to provide those opportunities. The Blue Ridge EV Club will hold its 11th annual NDEW event on Sunday, Sept. 29, at Tanger Outlets Asheville on Brevard Road. For more information, visit driveelectricweek.org.

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Automotive engineer Dave Erb Erb developed vehicles using gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, alcohol, compressed methane gas, electric and hybrid electric powertrains.Hewrote Chapter 1 of David Hrivnak's "Driving to Net 0: Stories of Hope for a Carbon-Free Future" and hasn't bought gasoline since 2019.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Charging is just tip of the iceberg in EV misinformation