humbaba
sleeping until $7000
While I agree that faster charging is perceived as a big deal, I don't believe it actually is one. Not for the owner anyway. What an owner needs is charge availability not charging speed.Faster charging is a big deal. One of the major complaints/concerns people have about EVs is that they take too long to charge. If that hurdle can be broken down, that would unleash a lot of demand.
Charging Speed
When I get asked about my car one of the inevitable questions is "what about charging" and I patiently try to explain that they are looking at it all wrong. Even the V2 chargers are fast enough -- or a tad too fast at times -- because I'd like to get an actual break when I stop. Its never been long enough to go into a restaurant and eat a meal -- I have to get up early and move the car to avoid charges.
Where faster charging makes a difference is in throughput: a ten stall charger that takes thirty minutes to go from 20% to 80% can handle 20 cars an hour, but drop that down to five minutes and it can handle 120 cars an hour. Even in California V2 chargers would be largely sufficient if there were enough of them. But the foot print gets quite large. V3 helps with that, but fundamentally the advantage is accrued to Tesla, not the driver, who now doesn't have enough time to even use the bathroom before having to move the car and necessitating him/her staying with the car. Those few minutes aren't even enough time to get in a game.
Charging Availability
For an owner what is far more important than charge time is having charging where the car is parked. This is mostly home, followed by work and, more distantly, by destination. If I did not have home charging then it would not be anywhere near as reasonable to drive an EV. As I try to explain to folks, it doesn't really matter if takes five hours or five minutes if it is happening overnight or over a work shift.
It does need to be fast enough, and if you are subject to frigid conditions then the trickle charger doesn't cut it. Which is why Jan/Feb 2019 I had to go to a super charger: the trickle charger couldn't keep up with depletion in the arctic conditions. Once I finally got the home charger installed those problems went away. I used to charge once every week or two thinking I needed to let the battery get some work (e.g., running from 60% to 40%) but with scheduled charging I just plug it in each night and have 80% charge in the morning -- which is also my departure charge if I'm going on a trip because, realistically, I can't get enough range to skip a super charger, would be stopping periodically anyway, and the charge will be faster (and thus cheaper) when depleted to a lower soc.
Perception versus Practice
So while I get that charging speed is perceived as a big deal, with greater EV penetration more people will be learning from others that in practice it isn't actually a problem (at least for Tesla with super chargers). Instead, they will be concerned with having a home charger, or whether or not the apartment complex has chargers. Overnight charging is the practical issue.