100km of range in 7 minutes of charging
In my previous post “Electric Motorcycles Are The Future, But Are We There Yet?” I raised the issues of battery capacity and charging times being two major reasons for the low uptake of electric motorcycles.
This week the leading Israeli motorcycle magazine Fullgaz reports that the State of Israel will subsidise the rollout of charging stations for electric vehicles, including fast and ultra fast charging.
The magazine quotes an Israeli Ministry of Energy data, detailing the plan and the budget:
- 731 standard charging stations will be established in municipal-public places (sidewalks, carparks, etc). The state of Israel will provide 65-75% of the costs. Expected to be up by the end of 2020
- 812 standard charging sockets will be installed at 148 public places (shopping centres, entertainment centres, etc). The state will provide some funding and the sockets are expected to be up by mid-2020
- 940 standard charging sockets will be installed at work places. The state will provide some funding and the sockets are expected to be up by the end of 2020
And the highlight:
- 110 Fast and Ultra Fast charging stations will be rolled out within a year!
The fast charging stations will work at 50kW and will allow a range of 100km in 20 minutes of charging.
The Ultra Fast stations will work at 150kW and will allow a range of 100km in 7 minutes of charging!
The State of Israel will provide NIS 15 million (approx $AU6.3 million) for this rollout
Such a project is much easier to deploy in Israel than in Australia.
Israel is a tiny country, only 22,072 km² (less than a third of the size of Tasmania, which is 68,401 km²).
It has less than 20,000 km of roads (compared with 185,000km in NSW), used by 3.5 million cars and 130,000 bikes.
With the government subsidising the roll-out of the charging stations, Israel is making a significant step towards the shift to electric vehicles.
Charging stations have been rolled out in other countries too. But this subsidised rollout of ultra-fast charging stations in Israel demonstrates that in the not too distant future, charging of electric vehicles will be as fast as refuelling.
So although the future is not here yet the direction things are moving towards is clear.
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Related articles:
Electric Motorcycles Are The Future. But Are We There Yet?
Harley-Davidson Electric Scooter Prototype Revealed
Ultra-fast charging technology is an exciting development for the electric vehicle market. With the promise of charging times as low as 10-15 minutes, range anxiety could become a thing of the past. However, the infrastructure required for such technology is still in its early stages and will need to be rapidly developed to make it widely available. It’s a promising sign for the future of electric vehicles.