The future of charging (English)

For this blog, when analysing charging behaviour, we examine to what extent the size of the battery and the charging speed influence the charging behaviour. For the charging speed, we look at whether a car can charge on 1-phase (3.7kW) or 3-phase (11kW) at public charging points (there are also some cars that can charge 2-phase, but these are due to lack of data outside considered left). Battery size is specified by the maximum number of kWh charged. Shared cars and taxis have been omitted for the sake of clarity of interpretation.

Charging volume

It goes without saying that plug-in hybrid cars (PHEVs) charge less because they sometimes run on petrol. But does the number of kilometres driven also depend on the battery size? The charging data shows that on a weekly basis PHEVs charge an average of 22 kWh and fully electric cars charge 66 kWh. It is also noteworthy that an average of 80% of the charged kWh takes place at the most used charging point (or in the neighbourhood). Regular users account for approximately two thirds of all energy charged.

Earlier research by TNO has already shown that, especially for PHEVs, the number of electric distance driven depends on how big the battery is. It is often completely empty when charged. Analogous with PHEVs, fully electric cars charge more with increasing battery size. Visa versa it can also be said that drivers who drive many kilometres opt for a car with a wide range.

Despite the large difference in energy charged, the variation in the number of charging session is limited. Fully electric cars with a small battery (16-30kWh) charge most often (~ 4 times a week). This decreases as the battery size increases. It is also striking that cars that can only charge on 1 phase (3.7 kW) charge more often than cars that can charge 11 kW. In particular, cars with a smaller battery and 1-phase charging also use more different charging points than cars with a large battery; about 1 in 4 charging sessions of this group do not take place at the most used charging point in the city.

In addition to this information from users who mainly charge on public charging stations, it is also good to compare the differences between users with or without a private charging station. It is clear that those with their own charging station use this much more often (60-80%). EV drivers without their own charge point charge about 40-50% of the time at the most used public charge point. It is also striking that EV drivers with their own charging station charge slightly more than EV drivers without. Furthermore, the same trend can be seen as for EV drivers at public charging stations.

These analyses show that the charging behaviour depends on a combination of the technical capabilities of the car and the charging options that EV drivers have at their disposal. In addition, there seems to be an interaction between the range of the car and the number of kilometres driven. The needs of private drivers, who drive fewer kilometres compared to business drivers, may therefore change in the future. When estimating the required charging infrastructure in the future, it is therefore necessary to monitor in which direction the market is moving.

Read more: See the full study of charging behavior here.

** Data used for figures 1 and 2 are provided by the municipalities Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht and the Amsterdam Metropolitian Region

** Data used for figure 3 data are provided by MultiTankcard, the biggest provider of mobility services in the Netherlands v