Big Power Slows You Down

One Minute Charge #7

More power isn’t always better, especially at the start.

It’s natural to think bigger is better. More power means faster charging. Faster charging feels like progress. 

But when it comes to deployment, more power often means more time. 

As we discussed earlier, power (kW) is what drives infrastructure cost. It’s also what drives timelines. Higher-power charging often requires larger transformers, electrical upgrades, and coordination with utilities. Those steps don’t move quickly. 

So while higher power can improve charging speed, it can also slow down how fast a project gets built. And that has real consequences. 

If charging takes longer to deploy, vehicles take longer to go into service. Fuel savings are delayed. Emissions reductions are delayed.  

In other words, bigger infrastructure doesn’t always mean faster impact. 

There’s another way to think about it. If you ask for less power, you can often move faster. Projects are simpler, upgrades are smaller, and timelines are shorter.

This is a series of quick hits on the overlooked fundamentals of fleet electrification

And when projects move faster, electrification happens faster. Because in the end, the goal isn’t just to build infrastructure. It’s to electrify miles. And the faster projects get built, the faster those miles get electrified. 

Big projects take time. Faster projects create impact. 

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