SHELL RECHARGE FAQS
Shell Recharge is Shell’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network. Please review our frequently asked questions to learn more about Shell Recharge and electric vehicle charging.
1. Charging speed depends on several factors, including temperature outside, type of car, size of battery and battery condition. Please check with your OEM for compatibility and further information. 150kW+ charger will charge most vehicles from 20% to 80% within 30 minutes in ideal conditions.
2. Shell only permits the use of adapters supplied by the manufacturer of the electric vehicle to be charged. The use of third-party adapters is not permitted on the Shell Recharge network.
3. The various parameters that impact the charging speed/time during a charging session at a specific EV charger include (but not limited to):
a) Peak Charging Power accepted by the EV: For example, if the peak power that can be accepted by the EV is only 77 kW (e.g. Kia Niro EV), even if that EV plugs into a 150 kW charger, it will only receive a max of 77 kW during a session. The peak power accepted by the EV is dictated by the voltage and current limits of the EV battery.
b) Ambient Temperature: If it is cold outside, the EV charging will be sluggish because the EV battery management system (BMS) slows down charging
c) Battery Temperature: Ambient Temperature will have an impact on the battery temperature; however, the battery could get hotter once the EV is being driven. Typically, a warm battery will be able to accept more power compared to a cold battery.
d) Battery State of Charge (SoC): The starting SoC at the time of charging will dictate the amount of power accepted by the EV during that session.
e) Battery State of Health: This has an impact on the instantaneous power accepted during the charging session.
f) EV usage prior to charging: Some EV manufacturers calibrate their battery management system (BMS) in such a way that the use of EV prior to charging dictates the charging speed. For instance, if you had driven the EV for towing or high-speed driving prior to charging, the BMS would slow down the charging potential for a certain time period. In addition, for certain EVs, if you had already charged the EV a certain number of times in the past 24-hour period, the BMS limits the charging power.
g) EV charger current and voltage specification: For instance, many chargers typically have a maximum current specification of 350 A. An EV capable of 400 V would be limited to a certain maximum power from that charger even if the EV can accept higher powers levels from other chargers with a higher current rating. At the same time, an 800-volt EV could get higher power from the same charger.
h) Use of other loads while charging such as cabin AC, heating, lights or radio: This has an impact on the amount of time taken to reach the desired state of charge as some energy is used for that specific load during the session.
i) EV Charging energy losses: If you want to charge a 50 kWh battery (say from 0-100%), transferring 50 kWh energy may not be enough due to these losses. We would need to transfer more than 50 kWh energy, which means higher charging time than one would think for a charging session. These charging losses can be classified into: 1) Battery loss, due to heat generated in the battery pack 2) Cooling losses: some energy (especially at high power DC charging) is used to cool the battery components to prevent the heat generated from damaging any components 3) charger loss: due to heat generated in the cables and conversion of AC to DC at the charger.