OOOOOO, I already feel that I am in Electric Land. I thought a fast EV charger with 480 Volts costs $60,000 +. At just $13,000 its very affordable.

For $13 million, we can install 1,000 such chargers and for $1.3 billion, we can install 100,000 chargers which is almost the same as # of gas stations.

Lets install this in every Parking Lot, Mall, Post Office, Library, School, Govt Office, Grocery store, etc. People will naturally buy EVs.

There is an informative press section with Nissan where they report that they expect to cut the price of their 50kW charger to 3000 to 4000 USD (most likely an indoor version).

To quote: “Now, there are other things we can do. We have a program right now putting in-house built quick chargers. What does that do? Well, that for example reduces the price point of a quick charger. Today, a quick charger is probably $40,000-$50,000. We're doing it in-house and think we can get it down to $3,000-$4,000. It changes the paradigm completely. It introduces some competition outside, but also allows you to go to the governments and say: 'We can donate or sell you some quick chargers but you have to be committed to having the parking space connecting to the electrical supply.' It allows us to be a little bit more aggressive in our relationships with governments, utilities, telecommunication companies, etc.”

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/REPORTS/2011/09/110905.html

So what is the business case for a 50kW quick charger?

Assume an outdoor version can be made for 5000 USD and installation cost adds another 10000 USD so total cost is 15000 USD for an installed charger.

One charger should be able to charge 8 cars per day with 20 kWh each. That is 4 hours of effective charger use per day. The charger could bill drivers not for electricity but for the time you are connected to the fast charger so that you have an incentive to unplug and move your car as soon as your charge is finished.

Assume you are billed 20 cents per minute you are plugged in that gives 6 USD for 30 minutes or 20 kWh costing 30 cents each. If the owner of the charger pays the utility 10 cents per kWh then the quick charger can make a profit of 11680 USD per year (=(0.3-0.1)*20*8*365). Even assuming a high 3000 USD per year in maintenance the charger can pay for its installation and maintenance in about 2 years time.

Now, if Nissan could do a 90kW charger so you could charge 20kWh or about 100 miles in 15 minutes and also maintain the mentioned prices that would reduce the payback time for the installed charger to only 12 months. I think it is realistic to expect that the Leaf will come with a 90kW charging option by the time the next generation Leaf hits the market sometime in 2016.

There is a new 90kW international charging standard in circulation right now for approval. See link below.

90kW charging
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/08/sae-20110811.html

Who is really going to use a quick charger tho? it will cost more to charge with one, it will shorten your battery life and charging at home works so well! combine that with public transit for long trips and car share programs for longer trips that require personal vehicles, that money spent on quick chargers that are only going to be used a few times before they become outdated and replaced could instead be used to improve public transit and allow you to charge your batteries slower so that they might last the life of the car.

@EvDriver > "Who is really going to use a quick charger tho?"

The quick charger moves persons who were thinking of a PHEV to an EV since they can charge while in route to a further destination. Should also help bring EVs to the taxi companies too.

@KeiJidosha > "Unless the unit is located for almost constant use, cost to operate could push charging prices over $2/kWh."

Operating costs for flowing electrons? Just kidding. I thought someone would come up with how huge the installation costs would be. So what is your calculation based on, do you have a source ref?

It might be a better idea for them to keep the 100 miles or maybe make it 125miles, but lower the cost of the car. they could then add some money to each car to pay for part of a fast charger. Lets say there are 10 cars in some area of San Francisco. Each owner pays for a tenth of a charger in their locality. If you rolled out the cars in regions (which they are basically doing at the moment) you could get the owners to pay for their own charge network. It would make sense to base where you put in the chargers to where the actual cars are. If there was a fee for a charger as part of the cost of a car then there would be this geographic linkage. It's pretty stupid putting a load of level 2 chargers that no one will use in regions with no electric cars.

While the battery pack might last the longest if you don't use it at all, Nissan has also said that you'll see an effect of fast charging only if you fast-charge several times every day for many years. If you have an EV which has enough range for your daily driving, then additional long trips with fast charging should be fine. Staying at 80% or 90% is an advantage in any case. But with the huge improvement which pure EVs are for our future, and the need to create a new market which allows longer-lasting batteries in the future, we shouldn't be too concerned with a percent or two over many years. Don't tell me you suggest that's a reason to buy a hybrid instead, because for many that would be the only alternative.

Right, it would be "stupid" to go from LA to New York in any car. ;)

Which of course doesn't have anything to do with the "mainstream" topic being discussed in this article.

@ex-EV driver > "I think that's a bit harsh "...

Well, I kind of agree, and that's why I quoted it, as in fact, as a vacation trip, I would consider using an electric car for cross-country, if it has a 200+ mile range and DC fast charging is in place.

But the topic here is mainstream ICE use, and in the absence of high speed rail, most mainstream use will have to use the airplane for time reasons. I don't think a lot of people will buy ICEs instead of EVs for coast-to-coast trips, so that seems irrelevant. (And even if, that would be perfect case for for renting since you don't travel coast-to-coast on a weekly basis.)

I am very certain that short range EVs will not substitute mainstream ICE use, and neither will bicycles, buses, trains, electric airplanes, or hydrogen. This will require long-range EVs plus DC fast charging.

@Norbert there was a light rail plan that would have taken me every place that I've driven my current gasoline powered car in the last 5 years and my 30 year old electric car that charges off 110v would have been able to handle the rest of my transportation needs, but instead we are paying out more money for quick charging stations.