alt.hn

6/5/2026 at 12:36:43 PM

As EV batteries improve, ChargePoint debuts 600 kW fast charger

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/04/as-ev-batteries-improve-chargepoint-debuts-600-kw-fast-charger/

by PaulHoule

6/5/2026 at 2:09:59 PM

Probably useful for trucks, marginal utility for your typical EV owner. Articles like this seem to be speaking to people who don't own an EV and are still focused on the ICE car model of "plugging in" your car periodically at a public location. That isn't how EVs work for the vast majority of people.

by 4fterd4rk

6/5/2026 at 4:18:47 PM

Right now, EVs are only good for people who have houses with garages that let them charge. If you need to use street parking or something then EVs don't work. But maybe if such technology improves everyone can use EVs.

by devolving-dev

6/5/2026 at 5:18:58 PM

I must tell my brother in law that as he has neither a garage nor off street parking but has been driving an EV for the last five years.

by tonyedgecombe

6/5/2026 at 9:48:01 PM

If there are charge points in the street or there’s a way to run a cable there then I don’t see why that has to be an issue

by circuit10

6/5/2026 at 4:48:55 PM

BYD has cars supporting this afaik. And working in the electrical charging point data sector at the moment, we see that fast charge is a breaking point to make people decide the switch is worth it.

by thibaut_barrere

6/5/2026 at 2:18:44 PM

Why do EVangalists constantly think people don’t take road trips in cars, when the vast majority do?

Reducing 20 - 30 minute stops to 10 - 15 minutes is very worthwhile for road trips, and makes shorter range vehicles usable for those trips.

by NetMageSCW

6/5/2026 at 2:20:18 PM

That is a marginal improvement to a use case that, for most people, happens once or twice a year tops.

by 4fterd4rk

6/5/2026 at 7:34:32 PM

Even back in the 1970s there was a lot of talk along the lines that the overwhelming fraction of trips are short (<50 miles) so EVs would not necessarily need large batteries to be successful.

It ran into the problem that (rationally) people do do road trips to a certain amount and (irrationally) the whole reason people like cars is you can just get in your car anytime and go anywhere and if you wanted just to go where someone else decides when they decide you can go you can always... ride the bus.

For a long term the go-to-market picture people had for EVs was that they were going to start out as short range vehicles that were just marginally acceptable to people, we know now that Tesla's decision to position them as premium vehicles [1] rather than glorified golf carts was key to getting them accepted.

A counter though is that many families have multiple vehicles and if you have one gas car whoever needs to go a long distance can take the gas car and the others can drive a Nissan LEAF or something.

[1] ... look at how many automakers wish they could sell cars at a premium price but don't really have a differentiated product.

by PaulHoule

6/5/2026 at 2:45:46 PM

You're right, but many EVs today can't take full advantage of the faster chargers currently available. I have one of the faster charging vehicles available (EV6) and even at 350kW chargers, I've never seen faster than 200kW, and usually much lower than that.

by bdcravens

6/5/2026 at 3:04:21 PM

I like the current 30-45minute charging stops. Gives me more time to piss and stretch than the typical stop for gas.

by officeplant

6/5/2026 at 2:53:29 PM

This is their first model that will be rolled out in the EU and the US so they might be more likely to see faster charging EVs including some that would peak at nearly twice that speed.

by ZeroGravitas

6/5/2026 at 3:18:53 PM

Probably also useful for taxi and ridesharing fleets in cities.

by JumpCrisscross