Phoenix SUT on "Living with Ed"
 

Caught what's becoming my new favorite TV show, "Living with Ed", last night on Planet Green. I'd seen what I thought was a Phoenix SUT, and last night they showed a bit more of it. Friend of Ed's came over, Actor Bradley Whitford. They took the Phoenix for a short spin, and I would love to have seen and heard more about it.

Ed said that with a 440 volt service, the battery can be recharged in 10 minutes! Anyone else heard this? If true, OMG! Obviously, that ain't household service and would have to be out of a commercial location. But still it makes EVs extremely viable and much, much sooner than anything I read or been led to believe, assuming perhaps a Congressional mandate for recharging stations nationwide were introduced.

Re: Phoenix SUT on "Living with Ed"
 

Yes, fast charging technology is out there and is being developed. A lot of people think that fast charging is necessary for EVs to become mainstream. This is not true. I'm not saying that fast charging isn't great, or that it won't come in handy, but it's not necessarily the best solution.

Imagine everyone coming home on the freeways after work at the same time. There is so much traffic. Now, imagine all those people going home and pulling 440V (assuming that fast-chargers make it to households). The same thing that happens on the freeways will happen on the grid. Utility companies don't make money creating electricity (they actually lose money); they make money distributing electricity. They need to make sure that the grid stays level and that it never spikes too high. Charging throughout the night while you are asleep helps level the grid at night. Electricity is being produced at night that is not being used. Slow charging throughout the night makes perfect sense. In fact, 160 million EVs could charge at night off the US's current grid... that means 160 million cars can drive with no new power plants, no new oil wells, no foreign oil, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-fast-charging. I think it's a great technology and will definitely be useful. I just want to make it clear that fast-charging is not always the best solution.