The Future of Public L2 Chargers

[IssacZachary]

Sadly where I live there are no DCQC stations anywhere nearby.

What part of then world do you live in & do you think that DCQC will remain an urban phenomenon?

Gunnison, CO, USA. And by DCQC I meant CHAdeMO stations. There is a DCQC Tesla station in Grand Junction about 130 miles northwest (but that doesn't do me any good).

• The closest CHAdeMO station is east of here in Pueblo, 160 miles away. Then there are some along I-25 north of there up into the Denver area.
• The next closest is north of here in Aspen, 175 miles away if I can make it to the L2 station in Paonia, 87 miles away. Otherwise it's about 250 miles away the long way around.
• Going south the closest CHAdeMO is in Santa Fe, NM, 260 miles away.
• If I want to head west the closest CHAdeMO is in Provo, UT, about 370 miles away.

As of now, the J1772 stations are still a novelty. Many of the ones that were installed around here were installed last year. And so far these were from county efforts. I can foresee L2 stations popping up sometime in the future in Delta and Ouray. But from there it looks a bit bleak to me. So far I've counted 3 Leafs (mine and 2 others) in my town and one other Leaf in the county, which makes 4 total. I've also seen one Volt. The other 3 Leafs are S's without CHAdeMO. Looks like I have the only CHAdeMO port on a vehicle in the county! One of the Leaf owners (actually she leases) said she was going to lease a Bolt next when her Leaf lease expires. The other two Leaf owners, like me, bought their Leafs to keep.

So far it looks like the EV market here is very slow growing, and therefore the charging infrastructure is too. Now it's time for businesses to take a look at putting in J1772 stations. So far there is one business that did over in Salida and another in Buena Vista. There's also a Hotel in Grand Junction that did. But I'm a bit pessimistic that others will catch on soon. Colorado is trying to get more DCQC stations along it's interstate highways. But I'm sure we'll still be behind other places like California for several years to come.

[Scaramanga]

That's terrible, if it makes you feel any better, fully half of the DCQC chargers in Tacoma are broken on any given day. We've got a ways to go to make them as common as gas pumps. You just L2 charge in the garage?

[IssacZachary]

You just L2 charge in the garage?

Yes, or occasionally the only L2 station in town since it's free.

[PianoAl]

Where I live (near Eureka, CA) there are no fast chargers. My Leaf oonly has L2 capability.

[hyperionmark]

Within a 90 miles radius of my home there is only 1 DCQC and it's $7 per session. Heck, there aren't even that many L2's around here. A few parking garages here and there have them. Hoping this will change shortly.

[SageBrush]

There are many sub-groups of EV drivers:

Urban/Rural/Suburban
Commuters/Middle distance/Long distance
Affluent/Money constrained/Money tight
Single car/multiple car households

That is 54 sub-groups already

It is interesting e.g. to read IssacZachary as a sub-group, but it is best not to extrapolate or generalize.

L2 destination charging and L3 road tripping covers the lion's share of use cases.
OP: Tesla has the best data so far of how a group of people in the US with 200+ mile EVs equipped with L3 use their cars. Overall it works out to 10% miles by L3 and 90% charged up at home. Their use of public L2 chargers is minimal.

I would also keep in mind that this discussion has so far been US and 208/240v centric regarding L2 but that is not a given. As one example, Germany has an extensive L2 public charging network based on 400v and 22 kW that is apparently working well and supporting local EV adoption.

[Scaramanga]

There are many sub-groups of EV drivers:

Urban/Rural/Suburban
Commuters/Middle distance/Long distance
Affluent/Money constrained/Money tight
Single car/multiple car households

That's an interesting way to think about EV drivers, they can't all be painted with a single brush. I drive pretty short distances mostly with a twice a month 70 mile round trip commute to the office, but L2 charging is plentiful around here, L3 is spotty but I don't need it.