Public Charging?

[au1994]

I’ve got the ChargePoint app and used it Saturday at a shopping center where we went to dinner. I think I paid a little over $3 to fully charge as I ran it out right when we got there. App is easy to use and helpful. I also have PlugShare and EVGo but haven’t used yet.

One side benefit of using the chargers was the spots were right up front and the place was packed.

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[GoldenKnight]

Most of the state and county government buildings around us have free 240v charging. They're not advertised really, but if you look you can find them at weird places like the health department

 

[Black96z]

You have to really watch out with public charging prices compared to the local rates. Here, electricity is about 8-12c. Some public chargers the owners want to charge $3/hr for a 6KW charger. That's 50c/Kwh! Some of the EVgo chargers around here are 39c, while others are 10c. You have to pay attention to the chargepoint chargers also, as their prices are set by the owners. One hotel in Austin made a big point to advertise they had EV charging. It was $10/hr!

 

[2018JLRUSellersremorse]

Anyone here have luck with charging stations in your community? I seem to move around in a vacuum of public charging stations. Some grocery stores have them but none I usually use.

I'm going to see if my company may want to install some for employee use. With our short EV ranges 4xe owners are going to be needy.

I use the PlugShare app to find location to charge. You can fuse the filters to find what you are looking for. It will even let you know if they are currently in use.

 

[JollieOllie]

The whole point of a hybrid is there's no range anxiety.

I'm not sure if that statement is correct. I will say that I bought this particular hybrid because:

• I want to reduce my reliance on gasoline
• I live close enough to work so that I can get there and back on electricity
• I like driving silently
• I like the instant torque
• I like the tax incentives and the access to some free charging stations to induce consumers to move away from gasoline-dependent engines

I don't think the whole point of the hybrid engine is to to remove range anxiety. The electric range is only about 20 miles and the vehicle is 700 pounds heavier. We have range anxiety if we go for a long trip. But on short trips...I'm loving almost never using gas.

 

[4xeRubicon]

I think the statement about range anxiety might be more accurately stated this way -

Once you have decided to go electric or hybrid, for whatever myriad reasons that may be, the differentiating factor of a hybrid over an electric is that there is no range anxiety. You can always drive on gas and stop at gas stations on a long trip. In an electric vehicle, you have to plan out your trip to take advantage of the less available charging stations and longer time to max power.

Or -The whole point of a hybrid vs an electric is there's no range anxiety, but you can still enjoy most of the benefits of electric.

 

[sconrad24]

I am not sure if I'll use public charging. The way I think about it is 1 charge equals 22 miles which is about 1 gallon of gas highway. So if a charge cost more than a gallon of gas then you arent saving yourself any money.

 

[rickinAZ]

As an aside, what is with this deliberate blocking of the charging stations to stymie access? [usually by a group of pickup trucks]

For all I know this has been going on since early 20th century scofflaws parked their horse/buggy in front of the new-fangled gasoline pumps.

 

[rickinAZ]

Someone told me that AAA has a quick charge capability on some of their roadside assistance trucks. 10 minutes gets you 10 miles of range.

 

[entropy]

All this " Free" BS, who is paying for this free power, the taxpayer or rate payer???

I thought the idea with these would be to plug in at your own damn home, if your under 16 cents/KW-hr, you will save money, if over you are spending more on electricity to fully charge the battery and get your 21 mile range on electric power vs simply using gas.

It costs the rate payer or taxpayer about 300K$ to install one of these "Free" Charging stations, I know, we get pimped by our PUC to put these things in, cost is spread among all customers.

And that is now that the % of EV owners is minimal. Imagine if we had to do this EV thing large scale.... Our electrical infrastructure can't support large scale EV. There all these plans to go full electric, specially in CA, and nothing in place to improve our crappy electrical infrastructure.

Also, most EV owners are wealthy. This whole thing is so dumb. The only people saving money with EVs can easily afford gas. The lower classes are forced to pay for gas for their shitty old cars. The tax breaks, the "free" chargers, the benefits of less traffic (in CA you can use the carpool lane).

 

[Thane]

@entropy, you hit it exactly.

How is California going to fix it's commuting load when elites can buy access to diamond and tollroad lanes?

Don't know why it's not a state initiative to remove both systems, force everyone to experience the problem and get some influence on increasing capacity.

For those who think I'm just jealous, I have 2 evs and feel guilty every time I hit the diamond lane... not too guilty, just a little guilty.

 

[entropy]

@entropy, you hit it exactly.

How is California going to fix it's commuting load when elites can buy access to diamond and tollroad lanes?

Don't know why it's not a state initiative to remove both systems, force everyone to experience the problem and get some influence on increasing capacity.

For those who think I'm just jealous, I have 2 evs and feel guilty every time I hit the diamond lane... not too guilty, just a little guilty.

yeah same here. i am not jelous at all. i dont even have a commute, and if i ever go back to the office it isnt even bad. Wife works 5 miles from home and we are blessed to be able to afford a house in a great community in Pasadena.

this insane taxes that we pay need to go to the right place thats all.

 

[Gazelle]

Getting back on topic, I used a Charge Point L2 charger for the first time today just to try out the app & the system. The charger worked with my credit card but would not accept payment from the app. The charger rate was .09/kWH + $1/hr set by my city.

On a related note, I've seen several free L2 chargers at casinos both here in WA and in CA. I will keep an eye out for them while taking road trips. Might be worthwhile to stop in for a charge and a bite to eat.

 

[2018JLRUSellersremorse]

I am not sure if I'll use public charging. The way I think about it is 1 charge equals 22 miles which is about 1 gallon of gas highway. So if a charge cost more than a gallon of gas then you arent saving yourself any money.

I will use the "free". At the shopping center close by my, advertising pays for the charging.

 

[sentience]

I am not sure if I'll use public charging. The way I think about it is 1 charge equals 22 miles which is about 1 gallon of gas highway. So if a charge cost more than a gallon of gas then you arent saving yourself any money.

Easy parking. I’ve driven into DC and used public (paid) chargers just to get easy access to the building I’m going in. Certainly beats looking around for ten minutes for a standard spot.

One note on public and government funded chargers. YMMV greatly:

Specific to state funded or state maintained buildings - Maryland was one of the first states to provide EV chargers on their lots. As such, a lot of these chargers are the wrong standard for the 4XE (CHAdeMO) since at the time of installation, those vehicles were more prevalent. SAE J-1772 +DC looks like it might be compatible, but the separate lower DC plug prevents the charger from mating with the car. (Bonk!)

Specific to local governments, it depends on the county and the age of the building. In mine, all buildings built in the last ten years have been LEED certified, and include some free to use J-1772 chargers. Older buildings *might* include them, might not. Chargers may have the pay-to-use feature activated in the future.

Except Libraries. Local libraries have a partnership with the local energy utility (BGE) and have pay-to-use chargers installed via BGE.

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