A few months ago, President Joe Biden stated that his goal is for the United States to lead the world in electric vehicles. The aim is to be “clean and efficient” by adopting this form of mobility. Biden’s executive order includes the creation of charging stations, which will provide an answer to the question “where can I find a DC fast charger near me?”.
Biden set a goal: that, within ten years from now, half of all passenger cars and trucks sold must be zero-emission. That includes both all-electric and hybrid vehicles. It is an ambitious goal that can be achieved if it goes hand in hand with the large-scale installation of EV charging stations to answer the question asked by electric vehicle users: “are there DC fast chargers near me?
What’s the difference between regular and DC fast chargers?
If you’ve been driving for a while, you probably understand what type of gas your vehicle needs: regular or premium. You may also have some idea of the differences between them and why you choose one over the other.
The same applies to electric vehicle recharging. There are two types of “electric fuel” that can be used, depending on the charger you have available and what type of battery your vehicle has. So, before answering the question “where to find DC fast charger near me?”, let’s explore this a bit.
They are divided into ‘alternating current’ (AC) and ‘direct current’ (DC). The batteries stored in an EV can only store power as DC, but the power that comes from the chargers is always AC. So, most electric vehicles come with a converter built inside them to convert AC power into DC, and then “fuel” the vehicle’s battery with it. In this regard, there are two existing types of EV chargers: Level 1 and Level 2. Both use AC power, but Level 2 is faster than Level 1.
Level 1 is the one that comes when you buy the vehicle. It can be plugged into any common socket and charges a regular EV to its 80% in about 25 hours. While Level 2 chargers fill up the same percentage in less than 8 hours. Those chargers are mostly found in public EV charging stations.
On the other hand, we’ve got DC fast chargers. The main difference is that instead of providing the EV with AC to be converted to DC by the built-in converter, DC chargers convert AC to DC, meaning that it feeds the battery with DC directly. That translates into faster charging: an EV can get its battery to 80% in less than 60 minutes. By now, you may be screaming “tell me where can I find a DC fast charger near me!”. Let’s get to that, already.
How to find DC fast chargers near me
With the boom in EV purchases, the need to find EV chargers is also growing. Depending on the state you are in, you may be able to find a charger easily or it may be a challenge.
For example, in Idaho there are only 205 charging stations, while in California there are more than 22,000 chargers available. In order for users to find the nearest charger, several companies have created a number of different apps.
One of them is the one created by the company EVCS, which offers a search engine where you can find the nearest EV charger looking by address or zip code.
Plus, it not only gets you in touch with the nearest DC fast charger, but also allows you to pay using different payment methods and remembers them so that next time the recharging experience is even more convenient.
Have you ever tried an app like this? If you drive an EV or are thinking of changing your regular car for an electric one, an app like this is a good alternative.
