Is Fast Charging Really Necessary for Every Electric Car?

Among the biggest criticisms that are made against the electric car, we often find the problem related to long journeys. It’s about those trips that exceed the range of the car and force the driver to stop repeatedly to recharge the battery.

Some manufacturers praise the merits of their vehicles, supposedly champions of fast charging, with ever more impressive times to reach 80% battery. The few cars benefiting from an 800-volt architecture boast of a “10% to 80%” in 18 minutes (Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kia EV6, etc.) by highlighting this characteristic.

But reality tends to show that some cars do not need to charge quickly, as the uses are exclusively urban. We are of course thinking of city cars and micro-city cars, for which fast charging is far from essential. So let’s see what would be gained from dropping fast charging on some cars.

An electric car is mainly charged at home

The overwhelming majority of electric vehicle drivers will tell you: with few exceptions, the car is charged at home. Many Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf, which are now approaching 10 years of age, have never experienced fast charging, since they are content to use a few tens of kilometers from home.

The reason is quite easy to understand: they are probably secondary vehicles for the most part, with a household having another car for long journeys. However, there are a plethora of EVs that owners won’t want to take off with, and that don’t need fast-charging capability at all. We can cite the Fiat 500, electric Renault Twingo or even the Dacia Spring, all three of which are rarely considered for crossing France.

One might naively think that “ who can do more can do less in terms of fast charging, but it’s not that easy. Integrating something to charge in direct current with a very high intensity is quite expensive, in money as well as in occupied space.

A feature that can do more harm than good

The equipment needed for quick charging capability on the side of the vehicle has a cost, which is sometimes passed on to the final bill. This is particularly the case on the Renault Zoé since 2020, where the option to have a Combo CCS socket and the charging capacity at 50 kW is invoiced at 1,000 euros.

Similarly, on the Dacia Spring, adding the fast charging capacity to 30 kW only is charged at €600. For a vehicle whose WLTP autonomy is announced at 230 km (which corresponds to less than 150 km on the motorway), we can consider that this is superfluous.

Some see this as a major advantage when reselling, by putting themselves in the place of a future buyer, a few years from now. But it is important to remember that the Renault Zoé is able to charge at a power of 22 kW in alternating current as standard, which is at the level of the best vehicles on the market.

With its Combo CCS socket, the Renault Zoé can certainly charge faster, but what are the real use cases? How many Renault Zoé users will need fast charging to cross France?

It must therefore be borne in mind that the fast charge is for certain cars only there to reassure future owners, and that it has no real justification. Paying for such an option is sometimes a bad choice… Yet manufacturers continue to promote fast charging.

Why manufacturers continue to promote fast charging

The first questions that neophytes in electric mobility have often concern the charging time of a car. To respond to this concerned clientele, manufacturers often display very low charging figures.

For example, the Renault Mégane E-Tech is announced by Renault as recovering up to 300 km of autonomy in 30 minutes. On paper, that’s an enticing feature, but in practice, it means nothing concrete. The machine is often singled out for its inability to travel long distances quickly, the fault of an unfavorable combination of high consumption and a relative slowness to load.

Anticipate your needs well, before rushing headlong

Conquering thermal car drivers means promoting fast charging, but this is not always relevant. The overwhelming majority of uses of an electric car involve charging at home in masked time, and fast charging is reserved for vehicles that are there to travel long distances.

Everyone’s needs are different, and generalizations should not be made one way or the other. There are profiles of people who happily use fast charging even outside of the few holiday trips. Obviously, for them, fast charging is a necessity.

However, for everyday life, efficiency, a small battery and an inexpensive car are often much more important. It is therefore necessary to correctly anticipate your needs before rushing on a car which displays impressive fast charging times, which do not faithfully represent the reality of electric travel.

Do you want to know everything about the mobility of tomorrow, from electric cars to pedelecs? Subscribe now to our Watt Else newsletter!