ICEless in Seattle : Official Pacific NorthWest thread

[edatoakrun]

have to agree. each charger can only really service two spaces, the SAME two spaces. they should be able to service a total of 8 spaces in a 2 X 2 config. now 8 spaces is a lot in a gas station but there should be at least the option to service more than the two

I think multiple chargers at consolidated stations will soon replace individual chargers, just as most gas stations now have 6-60 pumps, rather than the single pump (per octane) common years ago.

Whether there is one charger or more, each should have multiple charge outlets, so that you can simply park next to charging car(s), plug in your BEV, go to the adjacent "comfort station" a mini-mart, coffee shop, or fast food outlet, and begin charging, as soon as the charger has sufficient capacity for your BEV.

 

[saywatt]

Any idea what the black box to the right of the screen is?

Edit - Oh, that's the fob reader! Dah!!!

Did you happen to try your Leaf's fob ? It may read some vehicle info from it - just a SWAG
Or, perhaps ask someone in the Starbucks about it?

Key fob? Looks like you have to have a magic key fob to activate it

Yeah, I tried my Leaf key fob, nada :lol:

 

[camasleaf]

From an OEVA email

"As for the AeroVironment card, they are not ready for online registration yet. Ashley had forms for us to fill out, she was going go send it to AV directly to get us key fobs. If you don't have an access fob, there is a 24/7 phone number on the units and they will activate them for you.

http://www.avinc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (membership sign-up coming soon)"

When I will get an AV card I will have 5 total (Blink, ChargePoint, Kanematsu, SemaCharge and AV). But we only charged at home for the last month ....

 

[saywatt]

This could make for another topic - WHY NISSAN MADE THE CENTER CONSOLE STORAGE SO SMALL THAT WE CAN'T STORE ALL OUR CHARGER FOBS! :lol:

From an OEVA email

"As for the AeroVironment card, they are not ready for online registration yet. Ashley had forms for us to fill out, she was going go send it to AV directly to get us key fobs. If you don't have an access fob, there is a 24/7 phone number on the units and they will activate them for you.

http://www.avinc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (membership sign-up coming soon)"

When I will get an AV card I will have 5 total (Blink, ChargePoint, Kanematsu, SemaCharge and AV). But we only charged at home for the last month ....

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

how much you pay for any of your cards? i got a blink card free when getting Leaf (shows what i knew back then, i let my Son play with it...its long gone, had to order another. their delivery system was so screwed up, i waited over 2 months to get the card. finally called up and escalated issue and in 3 days received 3 of them in the mail all in separate packages)

Sema i know charges $20 so not sure i will do them. they only have one local charger as of now (there web page for station locations is VERY incomplete so there may be others since nothing showed up anywhere between Seattle and Portland. )

but Kanamatsu i would definitely be interested in since Portland already has a few QC;s from them

 

[camasleaf]

how much you pay for any of your cards?

Like you said I only paid for the Sema, they have a bunck of chargers at the Walgreens in Portland. The other three were free (got the ChargePoint on EarthDay).

We only used the Blink QC about 10 times and L2 Blinks mainly to get them in the system. I stopped doing that because the car map will eventually update and I had to delete my entries.
I charged twice for about 1 hour on L2 in Willsonville (Fry's is the only store I can stay in for more than 30 minutes), and twice at Kohl's in Clackamas for about 40-50 minnutes (visited multiple stores). My wife does not drive outside the range of the car, when by herself. Waiting for the QC network so we can reach the beach .

 

[doug401]

This is great news... and it gets better. Plug Share app posts that the ground work is complete in Burlington for the DC3, see photo at Plug Share. It's ready for some fork lift action. As soon as Bellingham or Burlington is confirmed "up and running", I'm doing a road trip.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

I think it's a little soon to jump to such a conclusion. having L2 next to L3 is actually a way to free up the L3 for the next fast charge sooner. as soon as you get done your 80% charge you can just swap EVSE's and top off with L2... that's how they were doing it at the Nissan event at Seattle Center. before we barrow worry from the future, let's see how this works out.

Is this not an obvious error in charger location?

A L2 charger should NEVER be placed next to a fast charger.

Be sure to go back and take a picture, when all spaces near the DC are taken by Volts and PIPs, waiting their turn at the L2.

I expect you may have plenty of time to wait, as the L2 only "plug in" drivers will insist they have "just as much right" to park there, as DC BEVs do, and will be thoroughly conditioned to parking for hours to charge, and leaving their cars in front of the charger, after they are finished.

DC chargers should be placed where there is NO other attraction for the parking space, with a Large sign saying "ANY VEHICLE PARKED HERE WHILE NOT CHARGING WILL BE SUBJECT TO FINE AND TOWED".

 

[UhClem]

There are three parking spaces at the Bellingham QC location. The QC is in the middle, L2 to the left, and big transformer boxes to the right. The CHAdeMO cable isn't terribly long, it might just barely reach to the outer spaces, but only if the car's CHAdeMO port is on it's nose.

I tried the L2 charger today and it wouldn't come on although it say it's "available". The L2 charger has a key fob sensor, too.

There's a new sign post behind the L2 charger (with no sign yet). Maybe that's where the 800 number will be, there's no 800 numbers posted on the chargers.

Oh, and after poking at the buttons on the QC I noticed that maintenance mode is enabled. :twisted:

 

[edatoakrun]

"GaslessInSeattle"]I think it's a little soon to jump to such a conclusion. having L2 next to L3 is actually a way to free up the L3 for the next fast charge sooner. as soon as you get done your 80% charge you can just swap EVSE's and top off with L2...

I can't think of many reasons to "top-off" a BEV.

If I'm on a long drive, I would want to complete my drive as quickly as possible, and stop charging at 80%, and charge at a much faster rate, at the next QC, along my route.

The vast majority of QC sessions, I expect, will be to less than 80% charge, as BEV drivers will only charge long enough, to reach their more convenient overnight charge location.

How often will your destination be at a distance, requiring between 80% and 100% of charge, and you have the extra time to wait for the slow final top-off?

Is it too much trouble, to move your to another space adjacent to an L2, when this happens?

 

[DaveEV]

"GaslessInSeattle"]I think it's a little soon to jump to such a conclusion. having L2 next to L3 is actually a way to free up the L3 for the next fast charge sooner. as soon as you get done your 80% charge you can just swap EVSE's and top off with L2...

I can't think of many reasons to "top-off" a BEV.

Not much reason to top-off with the L2 when you're done, but if the QC is in use when you get there at least you might get up to 30 minutes of L2 while you're waiting for the QC to open up. Of course, that 30 minutes of L2 will only knock a couple minutes of QC off, but better than nothing if you're waiting anyway!

 

[edatoakrun]

"GaslessInSeattle"]I think it's a little soon to jump to such a conclusion. having L2 next to L3 is actually a way to free up the L3 for the next fast charge sooner. as soon as you get done your 80% charge you can just swap EVSE's and top off with L2...

I can't think of many reasons to "top-off" a BEV.

Not much reason to top-off with the L2 when you're done, but if the QC is in use when you get there at least you might get up to 30 minutes of L2 while you're waiting for the QC to open up. Of course, that 30 minutes of L2 will only knock a couple minutes of QC off, but better than nothing if you're waiting anyway!

I suppose you could call that charging activity, the "on-bottom", as opposed to the "top-off".

Don't see myself doing it, "not that there's anything wrong with it"...

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

I like optimism, maybe that network will happen this year! I've been thinking similarly that once a full network is available why bother going to 100%. For now, considering how long it's taken from "ground breaking" to not even quite up and running, it's going to be a while before we see the rest of the green highway chargers in place. for now trips to and from Bellingham are going to require a 100% charge for me each way, and even that's pushing it. If I were headed out to Mt Baker I'd probably also want a 100% charge. In fact anytime you venture from the network, you could conceivably want a 100% charge to get to your destination... there are so many potential scenarios, I guess we'll see what works. In any case, it should help to have L2 there to help free up the L3 sooner, at least until we have our network. moving to another space would be ok to do the L2 but it seems convenient to simply allow the person waiting in line to unplug the L3 from your car when you've reached 80% and plug in L2 without you having to run back.

"GaslessInSeattle"]I think it's a little soon to jump to such a conclusion. having L2 next to L3 is actually a way to free up the L3 for the next fast charge sooner. as soon as you get done your 80% charge you can just swap EVSE's and top off with L2...

I can't think of many reasons to "top-off" a BEV.

If I'm on a long drive, I would want to complete my drive as quickly as possible, and stop charging at 80%, and charge at a much faster rate, at the next QC, along my route.

The vast majority of QC sessions, I expect, will be to less than 80% charge, as BEV drivers will only charge long enough, to reach their more convenient overnight charge location.

How often will your destination be at a distance, requiring between 80% and 100% of charge, and you have the extra time to wait for the slow final top-off?

Is it too much trouble, to move your to another space adjacent to an L2, when this happens?

 

[UhClem]

How often will your destination be at a distance, requiring between 80% and 100% of charge, and you have the extra time to wait for the slow final top-off?

I'm probably atypical, but I'd probably do that often. Most of my trips would then require a single QC+L2 at the midpoint. For example, it's 75 miles from Bellingham to Lynnwood. Easy to do with 100% charge but would be really tight on an 80% charge. I'd rather L2 charge Lynnwood while I'm doing other things than take time to charge mid route.

Is it too much trouble, to move your to another space adjacent to an L2, when this happens?

Nope, I'd definitely do that.

 

[UhClem]

This afternoon, a co-worker walked by the QC here in Bellingham and there was a guy charging his Plug in Prius on the L2 charger but parked in front of the QC. He chatted with the PiP owner for a few minutes, and the Prius onwer called the DoT about getting access to the charger and they directed him to call Aerovironment. Apparently, they enabled the charger for him "for free", but told him that to get a key fob and gain access to their charger network requires a $39.95 per month fee

I've emailed the DoT but haven't heard back yet, and haven't called Aerovironment yet, so take it with a large grain of salt...

 

[edatoakrun]

"GaslessInSeattle"I In any case, it should help to have L2 there to help free up the L3 sooner, at least until we have our network. moving to another space would be ok to do the L2 but it seems convenient to simply allow the person waiting in line to unplug the L3 from your car when you've reached 80% and plug in L2 without you having to run back...

As I posted this AM, Whether there is one charger or more, each should have multiple charge outlets, so that you can simply park next to charging car(s), plug in your BEV, go to the adjacent "comfort station" a mini-mart, coffee shop, or fast food outlet, and begin charging, as soon as the charger has sufficient capacity for your BEV

IMO, a well designed fast charger would begin charging the next BEV "in line", at the fast rate, without either driver unplugging or plugging in anything, while the first car "in line" continued to charge slowly, from 80% to 100%, if its driver had selected this option.

BTW, IMO, the Fast charger fees should probably be calculated, at least in part, by connection time from the start of charging, rather than kWhs distributed, so there would be less likely to be dawdlers holding up the "line".

That slow last 20% should cost more per kWh, IMO, if it causes someone to have to wait for a charge.

Ever been irritated by those folks who take only a few seconds of your time, by "topping off" with gas, while you wait for the pump? How will you feel about waiting 90(?) minutes, when an 80 kWh Tesla S (does the S charge rate taper off?) decides to "top-off", to get an extra 30 miles of range?

 

[klapauzius]

This afternoon, a co-worker walked by the QC here in Bellingham and there was a guy charging his Plug in Prius on the L2 charger but parked in front of the QC. He chatted with the PiP owner for a few minutes, and the Prius onwer called the DoT about getting access to the charger and they directed him to call Aerovironment. Apparently, they enabled the charger for him "for free", but told him that to get a key fob and gain access to their charger network requires a $39.95 per month fee

I've emailed the DoT but haven't heard back yet, and haven't called Aerovironment yet, so take it with a large grain of salt...

I am quite curious about that...$40 per month to use a QC once
in while seems even more ridiculuos than the initial placement
of that charger.
Anyone with QC experience want to weigh in this?

 

[saywatt]

A monthly fee to QC would end it for me before it even gets started! A fee like that would be ludicrous! QCwill be a convenience for me, not a necessity. Yeah, I would like to try a long trip in the Leaf but at that price, forget it!! Perhap there was another meaning to the term Green Highway!

This afternoon, a co-worker walked by the QC here in Bellingham and there was a guy charging his Plug in Prius on the L2 charger but parked in front of the QC. He chatted with the PiP owner for a few minutes, and the Prius onwer called the DoT about getting access to the charger and they directed him to call Aerovironment. Apparently, they enabled the charger for him "for free", but told him that to get a key fob and gain access to their charger network requires a $39.95 per month fee

I've emailed the DoT but haven't heard back yet, and haven't called Aerovironment yet, so take it with a large grain of salt...

I am quite curious about that...$40 per month to use a QC once
in while seems even more ridiculuos than the initial placement
of that charger.
Anyone with QC experience want to weigh in this?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

$40 a month is reasonable if there were a few hundred in the region. that will take about 75 years at the pace they are moving now

 

[klapauzius]

$40 a month is reasonable if there were a few hundred in the region. that will take about 75 years at the pace they are moving now

No, not even if there were hundreds....I will use a QC at best a few times a month...If they
dont have a pay-per-use model, they might as well drop it altogether, as I will never get
a subscription for a service I mostly wont use.