Electric vehicle charging stations coming to Penndel, Bristol Township. Where to plug in?
Owners of electric vehicles produced by BMW, Chevrolet, GM, Tesla, Toyota, Volvo and other automobile manufactures may soon have two more charging stations in Bucks County.
The two new Direct Current Fast Charging — DCFC — stations will be located near high-traffic interstates in locations already serving volume traffic.
McDonald's, Wawa selected for new DCFC charging stations
One of the new DCFC charging stations will be at the McDonald's near Exit 13 of I-295 in Penndel. The other new station will be at the Wawa near Exit 42 of I-95 in Bristol Township.
These DCFC charging stations are funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The McDonald's project received $944,383, while the Wawa installation received $708,221.
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According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, DCFC equipment offers rapid charging along heavy-traffic corridors. DCFC equipment can charge a battery electric vehicle to 80 percent in just 20 minutes to 1 hour.
Most Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles currently on the market do not work with fast chargers, however.
"The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation anticipates some projects may have executed contracts by the end of the calendar year," said spokesperson Zachary Appleby. "Following contract execution the selected projects will have two years to complete construction and installation, unless extended by PennDOT.
"We will then oversee a five-year operations and maintenance period to ensure the site performance is in accordance with federal regulations.
Other electric vehicle charging stations, capacity in Bucks County
There are more than 100 publicly available electric vehicle charging stations throughout Bucks and eastern Montgomery counties, according to the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center website. These locations include car dealerships, shopping centers and hotels.
And according to the Bucks County Planning Commission, As of March 2023, there are 64 Level 2 and six Level 3 electric vehicle charging stations with a total of 171 individual charging points.
These electric vehicle charging stations are clustered around Quakertown, Doylestown, Warminster, Trevose, and Oxford Valley.
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There are differences in electric vehicles charging stations, in terms of power and connectivity.
There are three levels of EV charging: Level 1, Level 2 and Direct-Current Fast Charging.
According to the Pennsylvania Electric Vehicle Roadmap, all electric vehicles can plug in to a regular wall outlet with a Level 1 charger, which typically provides up to five miles of driving range per hour of charging.
Level 2 charging operates at 240 volts and typically at three to four times the amperage of a Level 1 unit.
Level 3/DCFC charging is the fastest of the three and especially useful for longer trips when the driver charges during longer trips.
According to Car and Driver, unlike Level 1 and Level 2 charging, Level 3 setups connect to the vehicle by way of a socket with additional pins for handling the higher voltage, typically 400 or 800 volts.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Electric vehicle charging stations coming to Bucks County
