Among the many data that manufacturers provide about their electric cars there is the one of the maximum load power. In the case of the Volkswagen ID.3 58 kWh it would be 100 kW. An important fact to know to what extent it will be possible to carry out a fast charge, especially when you are traveling.
However, manufacturers do not usually communicate what is called the load curveThat is, how is that load. And is that if a car like the Volkswagen ID.3 can be recharged with a power of 100 kW, it will not do so from the moment it is plugged in until it is unplugged to follow its route.
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Broadly speaking, the battery of a car is no different from that of a mobile. The more empty it is, the faster it will recharge at first, raising the charging power to its maximum, it will stay there for a while and will subsequently lower its charging power until it is full.
Hence, the really important data is not the maximum charging power itself, but how it is charged and how long it maintains that maximum. That is the load curve. Thus, it is of little use if a car can charge up to 150 kW if it will only reach that power a few minutes and the rest of the time it will charge 30 kW.