Source: For home chargers, no problem around town. Between J1772 and destination chargers, again not a problem around town. But for cross country travel, it takes fast DC chargers: must be reliable - otherwise the whole trip is buggered So far, my experience: 100% Tesla SuperCharger and Model 3 - the car and charger are an integrated unit. 100% EVgo and BMW i3-REx - the fast DC charger just works. 16-66% Electrify America and BMW i3-REx - charging worked on 2 of 3 trips, 66%. However, there were 4 changing stations and only 1 of them worked. So of 4 * 3 = 12 stations, only 2 worked, 16%. What Tom and Alex talked about is the importance to charging reliability. But Alex turned in his Teslas and drives a Volt, a PHEV like my BMW i3-REx. Tom used to have a BMW i3-REx but lost it in an accident and now drives pure EVs, a BMW i3 and Tesla Model 3. We used to say '100 Atta Boys are wiped out by one Oh Shit.' That is the risk and challenge that unreliable, Fast DC chargers put on non-Tesla owners. Stick with EVgo for CCS and no problem, yet. As for the others ... pig in a poke. Bob Wilson
this won't be for quite awhile imo. the major growth in bev's will come from second cars for around town usage in the near term. later, as outside forces come more into play, public charging will be more important, and hopefully, availability and reliability will have improved greatly by then. i wonder if it will need to be a profitable enterprise vs tesla's model
EOL EVs are creating a mostly silent boon to off grid solar and EV conversions, along with booming the car export industry, which hopefully grows the 3rd world EV possibilities.
I first met Tom around 7-8 years ago at plug-in events. At the time, he was driving a prototype BMW EV. IIEC, he said that once BMW was done with them, they were going to the crusher. He has a restaurant up in North Jersey where he has the charging stations. I've been up there at plug-in events he hosted there, but the last one was so packed, there was no place to park, so I just stick to the local ones now. A month ago, I was coming back from Pennsy with the Volt and I stopped at the EA stations that Tom mentioned in Bridgewater to check them out. They had the BTC manufactured chargers there. EA also uses ABB manufactured chargers and from what I've read, the BTCs work with some cars and the ABB ones work with others, so they have a bit of work with them to get them both compatible with all plug-ins.
Perhaps they should have at least one of each at each station. Regardless, PlugShare remains the best source of which to use. Bob Wilson
If readers don't watch the video, at LEAST listen to the point raised at the 19-minute mark - where they talk about outrageous demand fees. Many people doubt such a fee exists. But they can be horribly high for car charging if vevdors aren't already using demand fees, as you would running a multi-story department store, service center auto dealership, Hotels Etc. When people cry about expensive cost for quick charging, & often, even with multiple L2's, this is the reason why fees are high in many instances. Demand fees pile up - plus there's the initial cost, installation cost, maintenance, liability insurance & so forth. .
when we owned our 20,000' building with 5 rooftop a/c units, they installed a system to prevent more than one starting at a time, to help keep demand down. maybe they can do that with charging stations
that means many might have to wait until the high use has diminished. The other alternative, mentioned in that video is to have battery backup. Some places - have already begun doing this. EDIT Just saw this. Talking about battery backup for leveling out large demand. Wow! Run a large city for HOURS. That ought to put the fear of God in the Natural Gas sales Critters. .
EVSE sets car on fire? EVSE falls over on car? EVSE sets itself on fire? Someone wanders over to EVSE and hurts themself? Not personal but this has got to be a pure rip-off unless the rates are very low. Bob Wilson
Or they are in line with what others are paying. Keep in mind that out side of plug in hot spots, these chargers are mostly sitting idle, or may not even see use for days at a time. The high rates are to cover the costs for these non-producing units. A national charging network faces the same issue as postal and electric service; there is not enough profit to support the investment in remote areas. In the charger's case, remote isn't necessarily rural, but simply places with a low plug in population. The profit driven business response is to not serve those areas isn't going to work if we want BEVs to become viable for most of the country. We have to pay to support service in little use areas. Either through higher rates from users, or through subsidies. At least as long as the EV population is small and unevenly distributed.
there are other Dynamics as well. Take Fort Smith Arkansas as a great example. I-40 runs right through it - one of, if not THE most traveled east/west Highway/freeway. It's not rural, but it is a somewhat depressed economy, and the 8th most dangerous city in the state according to FBI stats. Tesla owners have been waiting for years get a set of supercharger stations in that location. Each New Year rolls around, & their supercharge future location webpage continually rolls it up one more year. It's even a dead zone for CHAdeMO. Another Dynamic of cost? Serious vandalism. Take for example the picture below. 480v distribution box Breakers. $100's each. The criminals were either suicidal or were professionals trained to pull off a stunt like that. Now, realizing that potential, what is a station owner to do? Invest more for 1,000's of dollars in surveillance CCTV? And cloud storage for the video? And radio back up in case they cut the hardwired communication lines? Money gets astronomical in no time. .
