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patrick0101 said:
Adamboesel said:
Hey all! Having a surprisingly hard time figuring out how to get from portland to seattle. It appears I need an aerovironment membership to use the quick chargers?...If anyone could give insight on how to plan the trip most efficiently, make sure I can use the quick chargers, etc., I'd appreciate it.
Here is my trip report from Portland to Centralia, Wa.. One more hop and we would have been in Seattle. You can read more details here (link).

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Grand Mound? Headed to Great Wolf?
 
Hi, I'm planing a trip up north to do a charge N' plug campaign.

How has the network fared up there in the Pacific Northwest since they started charging the subscription ($20 /month?)

Have the Nissan Leaf's taken over wit their free 'No charge' program giving away free charging.

I've also heard their are relaibility issues with using the AeroVironment and Blink fast charge stations. Has anyone had any issues. Was thinking of just brining my moded Clipper Creek along the way and finding RV plugs incase.

Peace

Mr Electron
 
I've literally never been unable to charge at a Aerovironment charger, and that's in dozens of quick charges over the last year or so. Best $20 I spend each month.
 
pkulak said:
I've literally never been unable to charge at a Aerovironment charger, and that's in dozens of quick charges over the last year or so. Best $20 I spend each month.
+1 If they are within reach of your home, they are one of the most reliable and available systems out there. I just wish they would put two more in, one at the Wanapum Dam and one in Umatilla. Then we actually get back and forth between SEA, PDX, and PSC.
 
Reddy said:
pkulak said:
I've literally never been unable to charge at a Aerovironment charger, and that's in dozens of quick charges over the last year or so. Best $20 I spend each month.
+1 If they are within reach of your home, they are one of the most reliable and available systems out there. I just wish they would put two more in, one at the Wanapum Dam and one in Umatilla. Then we actually get back and forth between SEA, PDX, and PSC.

I just wish whomever signed whatever contract it was that gave Blink every large metro area looks over that thing and finds some clause to use to rip it to shreds. Some reliable chargers in Portland and Seattle would be fantastic. But, that's all I really have to complain about. That and the old-school connectors they use, even on new installs.
 
Reddy said:
pkulak said:
I've literally never been unable to charge at a Aerovironment charger, and that's in dozens of quick charges over the last year or so. Best $20 I spend each month.
+1 If they are within reach of your home, they are one of the most reliable and available systems out there. I just wish they would put two more in, one at the Wanapum Dam and one in Umatilla. Then we actually get back and forth between SEA, PDX, and PSC.

living on the northern edge of the AV boundary makes it very inconvenient for me. I rarely have a reason to go South
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
Reddy said:
pkulak said:
I've literally never been unable to charge at a Aerovironment charger, and that's in dozens of quick charges over the last year or so. Best $20 I spend each month.
+1 If they are within reach of your home, they are one of the most reliable and available systems out there. I just wish they would put two more in, one at the Wanapum Dam and one in Umatilla. Then we actually get back and forth between SEA, PDX, and PSC.

living on the northern edge of the AV boundary makes it very inconvenient for me. I rarely have a reason to go South

Portland just got burned!
 
Not, really. From PDX/Vancouver we can use AV to go North to Olympia, to The Dalles, to Central Oregon and up and down I-5 and the Oregon Coast. Charge at home to skip Blink unless you can use Blink L2 at home or in the community. :)
 
pkulak said:
Portland just got burned!

ok, let me clarify a bit. There is a 100+ mile gap from the Tumwater Station to the southern most station north of Seattle. Living in Lacey (7 miles North of Tumwater) with office in Tacoma (30 miles North of Tumwater) means that is where I go 9 of 10 days for work. Occasionally I am in the Olympia area (4X this month) but its rare for me to be in Centrailia. We do have work there but also have a Supervisor will lives just North of there so she gets most of those jobs as she should. So previously I would be in the area 1-2 times a month. well that has dried up to "haven't been there one time in the past 6 months"

This thing about AV not being in the same area as Blink is truly a devastating decision. Blink has greatly underperformed while AV has been pretty much rock solid.
 
Hi all. Dec 5 I need to go from Olympia to PSE at Bellevue. According to Plugshare, there is a Blink DHAdeMO at Nissan of Eastside. A few comments there make me wonder if I should depend on a quick in and out. There are parking places listed at Skyline Tower and something listed as "Office Building" (10885 Northeast 4th). Both are reasonably close to PSE so I could park there and walk.

Anyone have a suggestion they really like?
 
rdhauser said:
Hi all. Dec 5 I need to go from Olympia to PSE at Bellevue. According to Plugshare, there is a Blink DHAdeMO at Nissan of Eastside. A few comments there make me wonder if I should depend on a quick in and out. There are parking places listed at Skyline Tower and something listed as "Office Building" (10885 Northeast 4th). Both are reasonably close to PSE so I could park there and walk.

Anyone have a suggestion they really like?

There are a lot of options for DCQC in Bellevue. Eastside Nissan's Blink is a good option as it'll be close to where you are. Then there is another one on the west side of 405 just north of I-90. Bellevue College has a Blink. All three of these are pretty close to your route. Check PlugShare just before leaving for one to make sure there are no reports of them being down.
 
Thanks, QB. You know, when looking around on PlugShare to find your suggestions (all good one's thank you much) I noticed that the 1772 in the "Office Building" might possibly be part of PSE. Since this is a holiday, no one is at the number (except emergency services), but it gets to PSE so I'm thinking that they have a charger.

Kind of a cool story, when I called I used the option to get to corporate offices and was connected to "emergency services". Lady didn't know the answer directly, but looked around for a bit to get me an extension to use Monday when they're open again. Nice she didn't just say "can't help" but gave me her best guess.

I'll call next week but now I'm thinking that what makes the most sense is to park and charge during the meeting and hit the DCQC at Tahoma Market on the way home if I think I need it.
 
Its funny, but charging twice on a longer trip is faster than once... why? Because you get to charge at full power, instead of the limited power at the top end of the charge Provided you don't have to wait your turn at the charger. In these temps, Bellevue to oly is about the max. Oly to renton is easy.. Of course, its even faster just to get to your destination and let it charge while you do your thing, but if it's not possible, I'd charge at younker. twice... to 80 percent.
 
johnrhansen said:
Its funny, but charging twice on a longer trip is faster than once... why? Because you get to charge at full power, instead of the limited power at the top end of the charge Provided you don't have to wait your turn at the charger. In these temps, Bellevue to oly is about the max. Oly to renton is easy.. Of course, its even faster just to get to your destination and let it charge while you do your thing, but if it's not possible, I'd charge at younker. twice... to 80 percent.

that and its almost always more convenient for me and passengers to stop twice a few hours apart for 15 minutes than it is to stop for 30 minutes one time.

getting some snow today, probably gone tomorrow. anyone planning any journeys today?
 
johnrhansen said:
Its funny, but charging twice on a longer trip is faster than once... why? Because you get to charge at full power, instead of the limited power at the top end of the charge Provided you don't have to wait your turn at the charger. In these temps, Bellevue to oly is about the max. Oly to renton is easy.. Of course, its even faster just to get to your destination and let it charge while you do your thing, but if it's not possible, I'd charge at younker. twice... to 80 percent.

My little trick is to turn the car on (not full on, just two taps on the ignition button without a foot on the brake) after the charge starts, put the next charger in the GPS, and wait until the GOM says 15 more miles than the GPS does. I hate charging any more than I have to. Especially since the charging speed starts dropping immediately.

This only applies to AV chargers, or course. You need 100% certainty that the next charger will be operational. :D
 
You have to be really careful doing that. If the rest of your trip is under similar conditions as before it works, but you have to tweak that number if you plan to drive slower/faster, uphill/downhill, etc. Also as I am driving I look for the dreaded convergence when the miles on the gps exceeds the gom. this means drive slower... unless of course it's downhill the rest of the way.
 
Reporting back on our trip to PSE. We charged at Yonker Nissan about 2:00 PM on Friday Dec 5. No hassles, but it was busy. One car had just hooked up. When they were done, a salesman changed over our car from the J1772 he started us with to the Quick charger and then came back to let us know hi'd done that. We got 20 min or so of charge and then took off. There were two cars waiting......

At PSE, we didn't find any open chargers because they were mostly taken up with company cars. I wouldn't depend on getting a charge there. Also parking fee is a bit high for us yolks from Oly. $11 for about two hours.

At our PSE event, we were invited to a dinner in Burien, so we left PSE and charged up at Burien Nissan. Very successful quick charge there. That dealership had a good "vibe" from what we could tell.

After our dinner, we headed home and decided to stop at the Tahoma Market quick charger for a security charge. We thought we were just about through with the seventh bar (just below half a tank) and so selected 60% charge from the Blink quick charge options. That wasn't quite enough so I suspect there is some difference between what we track and what a charger gets from he car's system. We got home fine, but the last two or three miles were under the Low battery warning. Didn't ever see turtle, though. If we stop for a security charge in the future, I'm sure we'll take the time to get more charge than we need.
 
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