Fast Charger Showdown: Local Usage Trends in 2023
Here in Columbia, Maryland, I’ve been closely monitoring the usage patterns of nearby electric vehicle fast chargers since 2020. This includes a mix of CCS/CHAdeMO stations from EVgo, Electrify America, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), and Tesla Superchargers. My approach is simple: I track the electricity consumption at each location by recording monthly meter readings and analyzing the data over time. The goal? To gain valuable insights into how fast charging infrastructure is being utilized in this region and identify trends in usage growth.
The chart above visualizes how much people utilized the fast chargers at four different locations throughout 2023. To understand this, I calculated the average daily usage per charger at each site. Here’s how I did it: I took the total electricity used each quarter, divided it by the number of days in the quarter, and then divided that daily usage by the number of fast charger dispensers at the site.
While all four locations saw an increase in usage compared to earlier quarters, there are some significant differences. The utilization rates and growth rates vary greatly between stations. Notably, in the last quarter of 2023, each Tesla Supercharger port dispensed, on average, more than three times the amount of electricity daily compared to the EVgo chargers. Interestingly, the BGE chargers, despite being less than a mile away from the Electrify America station, have a significantly lower utilization rate.
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