We are thrilled to see more and more electric vehicles on our roads every day. However, this also means more people would depend on DC fast charging network.

So it's important to follow a "fast charging etiquette" for a smooth experience.

Here are some of my tips:

1. Understanding when to fast charge your vehicle:

Fast charging is primarily meant for inter-district long trips. If your EV is unable to complete the journey on a single charge, we have to use fast chargers on the way.

That said when you arrive at your destination, you have to slow charge your vehicle overnight to full.

For any EV, the higher the fast charging, the higher the battery degradation will be.

2. How much should you fast charge?

Let us see how fast charging increases battery degradation.

All EV batteries are made up of chemicals. Heat causes them to deteriorate over time. In fast charging huge amounts of energy are fed into the battery which generates way higher heat than slow charging. Thus battery degrades quickly.

So we should stop the fast charging session when we feel we can complete the journey comfortably. A simple method is to keep a safe buffer of 15% and then add our vehicle range to calculate the required fast charging amount.

Etiquette tips:

Stop fast charging at around 85%.

Fast charging is generally much more expensive than slow charging. Also, EVs charge slowly after 85% battery. So it's best to stop charging at 85%.

Also when other people are waiting in line to fast charge, it would be rude to charge slowly making them wait even longer.

Prioritize other state vehicles.

People who are on really long EV trips would be out of their comfort zone and would also be facing charging anxiety.

So it's best to offer a helping hand by allowing them to charge if we are not in a hurry.

Hey, you might be traveling to another state with your EV soon! You'll also get this favor.

Always do destination charging.

When we are on a long journey and arrive at our destination or a hotel where we are halting for the night, we have to utilize that time to do slow charging overnight.

Unlike DC fast charging we aren't compromising any of our journey time here for a charging stop. This also helps in preserving battery health and cell balancing of the battery pack.

So make sure while booking hotels you pick hotels which has verified EV slow charging points.

If in case the hotel doesn't have a charging point, do inform them to install one in the future as it will generate additional income for the hotel and serve as a much-needed amenity for EV users.

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An article by Govind Kaniyath