Automakers and battery manufacturers are racing to improve electric-vehicle range, but that’s not the only number car owners care about. Consumers are also concerned with how fast they can charge their vehicles.
The six-figure Lucid Air Grand Touring might be their best bet. It achieves the most range during a 20-minute charging session, according to a new report from consulting firm P3 Group. It got 208 miles in 20 minutes, the top charging metric among the 13 EVs analyzed in the report.
With a price tag of $139,650 including destination fees, customers are getting what they pay for. Tesla’s Model S Plaid ranked second in the study, and the Kia EV6 LR RWD finished third. The EV6 charged 191 miles — only 17 miles from the top spot — in 20 minutes. At $43,920, it costs nearly $100,000 less.
Charging speeds are an important metric for consumers as they consider whether electric vehicles can meet their transportation needs.
“A typical, real-world charging session needs to answer one crucial question for the electric vehicle driver: What range is required to reach the next destination, and how long does it take to recharge that range?” consulting firm P3 said in its first P3 Charging Index for the U.S. market, viewed by Automotive News.
Tesla dominated the rest of the top five, with its Model 3 LR AWD at No. 4 and the Model Y LR AWD at No. 5.
Prices for the Tesla models spanned from $48,630 to $109,880 with ranges of 330 to 396 miles. The overall range of the Lucid Air GT is an EPA-estimated 516 miles and the EV6 is estimated at 310 miles on a full charge.
Tesla likely excelled on its battery efficiency and its charging technology, said Loren McDonald, CEO of EVAdoption.
“Tesla has always been at or near the top for efficiency,” he said.
The company’s Supercharger network, which it recently announced will be open to Ford and GM vehicles, also sets the automaker apart. Nationwide, 1 in 5 charging attempts failed last year, according to J.D. Power. But Tesla’s Supercharger network tends to have much better charger uptime than peers. Fewer Tesla drivers face outages and, if a charger is down, the driver typically finds a working charger at the same location, J.D. Power said in February.
P3’s report included 13 EVs tested on the roads of San Francisco on Electrify America 350-kilowatt chargers and Tesla Superchargers from April 3 to 16. All of the vehicles were preconditioned before charging. P3’s report did not include data on charger uptime or reliability.
The study was designed “to see whether these vehicles reach the full charging power and see most of the vehicles are just reaching their claimed charging power for a very short amount of time,” said Simon Buderath, P3 USA partner for strategy and technology.
The industry should focus on battery conditioning and efficiency and improved charging power to increase EV adoption, P3 said in the report.
P3’s subsequent charging reports will be done in partnership with shopping and data site Edmunds and will combine Edmunds range and efficiency data with P3’s charging data, said Buderath.
Edmunds EV Range and Efficiency Test is an effective measure of real-world EV performance, Alistair Weaver, Edmunds’ vice president of editorial, said in a statement.
“As more Americans consider an EV for their next vehicle purchase, range and charging efficiency will remain key concerns,” he said. “Through this partnership, Edmunds continues to empower and guide car shoppers with valuable insights. We look forward to sharing more in the months ahead.”
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