Report of Trip from West LA to Claremont and Back

[Stoaty]

OK, in case anyone is wondering about making this round trip, here is my experience:

1) Charged to 92% (11 bars)
2) Set cruise control to 50 MPH on freeway
3) One way distance 50 miles, net elevation gain West LA to Claremont about 900 feet

Results:

1) Took about 7.5 bars to get there
2) Charged on L1 for 6 hours at my sisters house, bringing battery from 3.5 bars to 8 bars
3) Took about 5.5 bars to get back (although there were occasional slowdowns that may have helped range)

Efficiency reported by center console energy screen:

1) To Claremont - 5.0 miles/KWh
2) For round trip - 5.9 miles/KWh (must have been a heck of a run on the way back to bring the average this high)

I thought the L1 charging would be kind of marginal and planned to stop at West Covina Nissan to see if I could charge for 45-60 minutes, but it wasn't necessary. Stayed out hiking (to top of Baldy) long enough that I got plenty of charging done.

Next week: if I get my Chargepoint RFID card, I will try the Chargepoint charging docks in the new Pomona College parking structure on South Campus. The L2 charger should make the trip a breeze, even at faster speeds. Will increase speed slightly.

 

[GPowers]

Biased on the Chargepoint map the Pomona chargers are unrestricted. I think that means no card required? Not sure. But I can check the station at Phoenix Motors.

 

[Stoaty]

Yes the Pomona College chargers are unrestricted and free. Word is that they will probably start charging to charge in the future, but nothing definitive yet.

 

[Stoaty]

Pomona College chargers are now $1.25 per hour. Since I hadn't put any money on my RFID card for Chargepoint, I wasn't able to charge there today. I borrowed a Quick220 from tbleakne (who had borrowed it from abasile) to test out possibilities for 240 volt charging at my sisters house. Unfortunately, couldn't find a working combo of sockets outside, partly because many of them were GFI. I did locate one non-GFI outdoor outlet that was convenient, but had to use an indoor outlet to get the Quick220 light to come on indicating that the outlets were out of phase (as required). However, my sister was going to be gone all day, and I haven't had my L1 EVSE modified for 240 volt anyway, so I ended up charging on L1 for about 4 hours.

After my hike, took the Quick220 back to tbleakne. We had a nice chat for about 45 minutes, and he showed me his SOC meter. The LED looks really good in blue, but probably a bit hard to read in the sunlight.

On my way back I immediately saw that I was still short on charge, so stopped at West Covina Nissan for an hour of L2 charging. Both of the L2 chargers had ICE vehicles in them (the vehicles were for sale), but they were very nice and immediately moved one of the vehicles for me and said "Charge away."

 

[JimSouCal]

Thanks for the report. Any reason why you did not go L2 at the SCE facility in Irwindale. It is right on route.

 

[Stoaty]

Thanks for the report. Any reason why you did not go L2 at the SCE facility in Irwindale. It is right on route.

I think it is actually a bit out of my way if it is on the 210. Other reason is I am not sure exactly where it is located, while West Covina Nissan was right on my route and the Nav took me right to it.

 

[EricH]

Thanks for the report. Any reason why you did not go L2 at the SCE facility in Irwindale. It is right on route.

I think it is actually a bit out of my way if it is on the 210. Other reason is I am not sure exactly where it is located, while West Covina Nissan was right on my route and the Nav took me right to it.

It is about 1/4 mile south of 210 freeway, at 6090 Irwindale Ave (first exit east of 605). ChargePoint and Recargo list the site. From Claremont, you might just get on 210 (you were hiking at Baldy, which sounds more 210 than 10 anyhow), then cut south on 605 after charging. Or cut north on the 57 to 210.

There are eight ChargePoints there, so chances of delay/stranding due to EVSE malfunction or ICE'ing are basically zero; also there is no access restriction so they are available 24/7.

 

[abasile]

Pomona College chargers are now $1.25 per hour. ... I borrowed a Quick220 from tbleakne (who had borrowed it from abasile) to test out possibilities for 240 volt charging at my sisters house. Unfortunately, couldn't find a working combo of sockets outside, partly because many of them were GFI. I did locate one non-GFI outdoor outlet that was convenient, but had to use an indoor outlet to get the Quick220 light to come on indicating that the outlets were out of phase (as required).

Thank you for the update on the Pomona College chargers. Now just a few of us can claim to have charged there for free. :lol: While $1.25 per hour at 3.3 kW is a tad more expensive than gasoline for a Prius, I would find it worth paying from time to time for the convenience.

I'm glad it worked out for you to try the Quick220. Your experience mirrors mine. I have not been able to use it anywhere without utilizing at least one indoor outlet. It has come in handy, though. At some point, I hope to try it from a hotel room with adjacent parking.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Pomona College chargers are now $1.25 per hour. ... I borrowed a Quick220 from tbleakne (who had borrowed it from abasile) to test out possibilities for 240 volt charging at my sisters house. Unfortunately, couldn't find a working combo of sockets outside, partly because many of them were GFI. I did locate one non-GFI outdoor outlet that was convenient, but had to use an indoor outlet to get the Quick220 light to come on indicating that the outlets were out of phase (as required).

Thank you for the update on the Pomona College chargers. Now just a few of us can claim to have charged there for free. :lol: While $1.25 per hour at 3.3 kW is a tad more expensive than gasoline for a Prius, I would find it worth paying from time to time for the convenience.

I'm glad it worked out for you to try the Quick220. Your experience mirrors mine. I have not been able to use it anywhere without utilizing at least one indoor outlet. It has come in handy, though. At some point, I hope to try it from a hotel room with adjacent parking.

I think I could see paying $1.25 per hour, actually it would be cool if they did Time Of Use (TOU) on the charging costs. During the peak maybe $2/hour and off peak $1/hour. When we finally get 6.6 kW (or better yet 12 kW) on board charger, it will be a good price. I still don't really see how that would work for a Plug In Prius, but it's not so crazy. And with the charging metered, you're going to want to come back and move the car when you have enough charge which may be a bit inconvenient if you are in the middle of doing something else for several hours (watching movie, long hike, walked somewhere else...).

 

[tbleakne]

I tested the Pomona College Chargepoint station charging algorithm this evening. I programmed a timed charge of 30 minutes, and left to have dinner at Eureka Burger in the village, a nice place. I returned 1hr 34 min later.

The SOC meter confirmed that I had received 30 minutes of charge. Chargepoint deducted $1.98 for the full 1:34 connect time, just like PCC does.

About 30 minutes after I had disconnected, my cell phone alerted me to some text messages. Chargepoint had sent me a notice when charging itself had stopped. If the message hadn't been delayed, in principle I could have returned to my vehicle to unplug.

How about charging $1.00/hour for actual charging time, plus $.25/hour connect time to discourage long connects ? Of course in actual practice, if someone else arrives and wants to charge, my car's blue lights will tell him whether my charge is done, and if so I would be glad for him to unplug my car and stop my charges. Therefore even $.25/hr does not seem to be necessary to avoid unnecessary delays for the next user.

Has anybody called Chargepoint to ask whether other billing formulas are available to the station owner? We know that PCC was first charging a flat fee (was it $.50 ?) per session, with no timing. The text messages have a call-back help number of 888-758-4389, but the person at that number might not be able to answer this question.

I liked the Chargepoint stations when they were free to the user, but this kind of connect-time charging could really discourage their use. If they cost a lot more than a simple AV EVSE, perhaps we could argue to perspective station owners that the non-free stations would take a long time to pay back their costs.

 

[EricH]

Has anybody called Chargepoint to ask whether other billing formulas are available to the station owner? We know that PCC was first charging a flat fee (was it $.50 ?) per session, with no timing. The text messages have a call-back help number of 888-758-4389, but the person at that number might not be able to answer this question.

My understanding is that Chargepoint will bill nearly any rate scheme that the EVSE host wants, based on time (probably even TOU), kWh consumption, etc. So any concerns about Coulomb 'pricing' are best addressed to the site host, not Coulomb. Coulomb merely takes a billing fee (not unlike Visa or MasterCard does); they don't set the actual price.

 

[Stoaty]

The SCE facility is about 1/4 mile south of 210 freeway, at 6090 Irwindale Ave (first exit east of 605). ChargePoint and Recargo list the site. From Claremont, you might just get on 210 (you were hiking at Baldy, which sounds more 210 than 10 anyhow), then cut south on 605 after charging. Or cut north on the 57 to 210.

There are eight ChargePoints there, so chances of delay/stranding due to EVSE malfunction or ICE'ing are basically zero; also there is no access restriction so they are available 24/7.

Stopped at Irwindale to check it out on my way back from Claremont today. Very cool setup, solar panels above the charging docks. Charged for a few minutes so my Leaf will know exactly where it is located. Is it open 24 hours (for future reference, just in case)?

 

[abasile]

Stopped at Irwindale to check it out on my way back from Claremont today. Very cool setup, solar panels above the charging docks. Charged for a few minutes so my Leaf will know exactly where it is located. Is it open 24 hours (for future reference, just in case)?

As far as I know it is open 24 hours. I charged there at midnight once.

 

[JimSouCal]

Stopped at Irwindale to check it out on my way back from Claremont today. Very cool setup, solar panels above the charging docks. Charged for a few minutes so my Leaf will know exactly where it is located. Is it open 24 hours (for future reference, just in case)?

As far as I know it is open 24 hours. I charged there at midnight once.

There is also a breakfast cafe close that can be found via yelp, and I read somewhere that EV drivers get a discount (unsure how they know you drive an EV)...