Any idea what it costs to charge at a CHAdeMO station at a Wal-Mart?

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The charging thing is all about cost. Are you doing this trip? If so what route are you taking and what stops are you going to use? this looked like a hard trip to do. It would be nice to see your route, and KWH you think you will have for each leg? Do you want to share?
 
cwerdna said:
Have you checked Plugshare? We have 2 at a local Walmart and they're EVgo. With no monthly fee, flex plan at https://www.evgo.com/charging-plans/ means $4.95 to start a session + 20 cents/minute.

With rates like that (and Blink's 59 cents/kWh to DC FC for members), that's why I didn't bother paying a $1K to $1.5K premium for a car w/QC + LED package (at the time) when shopping for a used '13 Leaf. Much cheaper to fuel and less painful to use my Prius instead.

Doesn't EVgo also limit QC sessions to 30 minutes? So, if you still need more charging, you have to go back and restart it after 30 minutes plus pay an additional $4.95 for a new session.
 
speedski97 said:
The charging thing is all about cost. Are you doing this trip? If so what route are you taking and what stops are you going to use? this looked like a hard trip to do. It would be nice to see your route, and KWH you think you will have for each leg? Do you want to share?
Yes of course! And so is my wife.

First leg, starting about 10AM Tuesday, July 25, from my house in the middle of Gunnison, CO to Salida Hospital. 65.9 miles. 16.7kWh or about 97% of my 11 bar battery at highway speed, so I'll creep this at 35mph until I make it to the top of Monarch Pass, then I'll see what I got for the way down. Hopefully I'll be in Salida by about noon.

Charge on L2 in Salida to around 95%, so about 3 hours.

Second leg, starting at around 3PM, Salida to Echo Canyon Campground near Cañon City. 50.3 miles. 11.2kWh. Arive around 4ish.

Charge on L1 (stock EVSE at 12A) from 4PM until at most 11AM the next morning. I should be done charging long before then.

Third leg, morning around 9:00AM hopefully, Wdnesday, July 25. From Echo Canyon Campground to Colorado Springs. It's 61 miles to North Nissan Dealership. Also REI EVgo CHAdeMO near by as backup. Estimated 15.2kWH at highway speed, so I'll take it easy and go slower than the speed limit in trying to not run out. There is a Walmart EVgo CHAdeMO near the entrance of Colorado Springs if I use more than I plan and can't make it to the northern section of the city. I'll probably get there around 10:30-11am.

Charge at Northern Nissan Dealership on CHAdeMO to 80%, or 100% from South part of town.

Fourth leg, sometime before noon, Colorado Springs to Castle Rock. It's 36.8 miles from northern Nissan Dealership with an estimated 10.1kWh use. Should get there before 1PM.

Charge on CHAdeMO at Walmart at Nissan Dealership to 80%.

Fifth leg. So sometime after 1PM I'll go from Castle Rock to a friend's house in northern Denver near the Airport, about 38.5 miles 9.6kWh away from Castle Rock. Hope to make it there before 3PM.

Return, first leg. After doing my stuff, on 3:30/4pm Sunday, July 30, I'll be headed from Smoky Hill RD Aurora to near the Colorado Mills Mall in Lakewood. I hope to start out with about 80%. It's 36 miles and I estimate about 8.7kWh. Arrive around 4:30.

Charge to 80%. There's a Nissan Dealership there with a CHAdeMO, but bad reviews. So I'm prepared to stay some extra time at a nearby L2 if necessary. I better check if the Colorado Mills is open that late on Sunday (last time I charged near a mall with my wife, this was in Grand Junction, it was Sunday and the mall was closed). Hopefully I'll be out of there by 5:00pm.

Second Leg. Head from the Colorado Mills Mall area to Idaho Springs, to Beau Jo's Pizza. Around 23.3 miles and 10.2 kWh. So hopefully by 6:00PM we can have some Pizza. They're open until 9:30 so hopefully we don't have to charge too long in Lakewood.

Charge at Beau Jo's until I have 100%, so hopefully that's around 9:00PM.

Leg 3. Now to Lowery Campground in Silverthorne. It's 41miles and 14.4kWh estimate at highway speed. I'll take it easy up the pass. I'm good at driving like my grandpa.

Charge at Lowery Campground off of L1 all night.

Forth leg. Next morning, Monday July 31. I can top off at a L2 nearby. I haven't decided whether I'll go through Breckenridge, Alma and Fairplay to make it to Buena Vista. If I did I could charge up to 100% in Breckenridge. It would be a tough pass to Buena Vista though, but doable I do believe. Or I can charge up to 100% at Copper Mountain. That will give me enough to make it to Buena Vista. If I can charge up in Leadville I could make it clear to Salida. But I do believe the chargers in Buena Vista are more centralized than in Leadville.

Charge in Salida to 100%.

Fifth leg. Salida to home in Gunnison. This will be another slow drive (35mph with flashers on). I hope we make it!
 
leaftryer said:
cwerdna said:
Have you checked Plugshare? We have 2 at a local Walmart and they're EVgo. With no monthly fee, flex plan at https://www.evgo.com/charging-plans/ means $4.95 to start a session + 20 cents/minute.

With rates like that (and Blink's 59 cents/kWh to DC FC for members), that's why I didn't bother paying a $1K to $1.5K premium for a car w/QC + LED package (at the time) when shopping for a used '13 Leaf. Much cheaper to fuel and less painful to use my Prius instead.

Doesn't EVgo also limit QC sessions to 30 minutes? So, if you still need more charging, you have to go back and restart it after 30 minutes plus pay an additional $4.95 for a new session.
Oh brother! At least I won't be doing this regularly.
 
I think the 30-minute limitation on EVgo is part of the NCTC (no charge to charge) program and it may be possible to charge longer by calling. EVgo and Blink have membership programs that charge credit card as you go without charging set amount in advance (like Charge point). I am not sure how to get a combined RFID card without initially being part of NCTC program, but I can use that one card at any station and it bills my appropriate account (Blink, Charge point, EVgo, etc.). You should be able to charge at Blink or EVgo chargers by calling the appropriate customer service phone number with credit card number ready. Good luck on your trip--it sounds like you have planned you routes carefully.
 
GerryAZ said:
I think the 30-minute limitation on EVgo is part of the NCTC (no charge to charge) program and it may be possible to charge longer by calling. EVgo and Blink have membership programs that charge credit card as you go without charging set amount in advance (like Charge point). I am not sure how to get a combined RFID card without initially being part of NCTC program, but I can use that one card at any station and it bills my appropriate account (Blink, Charge point, EVgo, etc.). You should be able to charge at Blink or EVgo chargers by calling the appropriate customer service phone number with credit card number ready. Good luck on your trip--it sounds like you have planned you routes carefully.

No, Boit and Tesla owners complain about the limit.
The limit is probably less of an issue on a Leaf because of the low capacity battery.
 
GerryAZ said:
... You should be able to charge at Blink or EVgo chargers by calling the appropriate customer service phone number with credit card number ready...
You must be right, and thanks! After sending EVgo an email last week and getting no response I finally found this on their website under >>FAQS<<:
I want to use your network but don’t have an EVgo® network subscription-what do I do?
We offer subscription plans to ensure the highest level of value and convenience for our drivers. In addition, to activate a charger without a subscription, please call our call center from the station and they will be happy to assist you with an individual charge.
 
IssacZachary said:
...First leg, starting about 10AM Tuesday, July 25, from my house in the middle of Gunnison, CO to Salida Hospital. 65.9 miles. 16.7kWh or about 97% of my 11 bar battery at highway speed, so I'll creep this at 35mph until I make it to the top of Monarch Pass, then I'll see what I got for the way down. Hopefully I'll be in Salida by about noon...... I hope we make it!
Good luck and let us know how it goes! For the good of the EV community, perhaps call or stop at the Monarch Mnt ski area to see if there is a J1772 ClipperCreek in addition to the Tesla HPWC. Plugshare indicates such and most Tesla installations have both. However, plugshare says not available "off season", which probably mean summer.
 
Reddy said:
Good luck and let us know how it goes! For the good of the EV community, perhaps call or stop at the Monarch Mnt ski area to see if there is a J1772 ClipperCreek in addition to the Tesla HPWC. Plugshare indicates such and most Tesla installations have both. However, plugshare says not available "off season", which probably mean summer.
I'll check it and maybe take some pictures. But usually they barricade the entrance with cement barricades during the off-season. :( It would be awesome if there were a way to charge there! On the way back it would help since Gunnison is a but higher than Salida, so I'll need more charge on the way back.
 
FYI, the CHAdeMO at Empire Lakewood Nissan (the one you noted with 'bad reviews') does indeed work, they're just assholes there, the primary L2 is broken, and the charge costs ~$0.35/kWh through Greenlots.

You can visit my house (undisclosed location between Evergreen and Morrison, PM me) to L2 if you want. I'm on a TOU plan and all I ask is that you pay for the juice you use, and you can use my WiFi for free. Let me know if you're interested.
 
When are you going on your trip? (how did it go?)

So, about your rant. We have a card that we were given when we bought out Leaf. It works on every charging network we've found so far. These machines shouldn't have to take cash (the 1800's are over), but they all should take a credit card. We misplaced the card one day, and I couldn't start a level 3 charger, I had to sit for a while as there happened to be a free L2. I'd have happily paid w/ a CC in that case. OH well. Bring your cards. I also noticed that I think we can just register our card w/ whatever network online, then they work. Yes, you might have to top up a couple times, but so far, we've haven't had to top up - we just had to register the card. We topped up on one card, but that was user error and we didn't need to do so.
 
IssacZachary said:
leaftryer said:
cwerdna said:
Have you checked Plugshare? We have 2 at a local Walmart and they're EVgo. With no monthly fee, flex plan at https://www.evgo.com/charging-plans/ means $4.95 to start a session + 20 cents/minute.

With rates like that (and Blink's 59 cents/kWh to DC FC for members), that's why I didn't bother paying a $1K to $1.5K premium for a car w/QC + LED package (at the time) when shopping for a used '13 Leaf. Much cheaper to fuel and less painful to use my Prius instead.

Doesn't EVgo also limit QC sessions to 30 minutes? So, if you still need more charging, you have to go back and restart it after 30 minutes plus pay an additional $4.95 for a new session.
Oh brother! At least I won't be doing this regularly.


Yes, they often stop at 30 minutes... but if you get ~80% (in a Leaf), that's not so bad, and usually enough!! But I know some Tesla folks do it twice!
 
sendmeonmyway said:
These machines shouldn't have to take cash (the 1800's are over), but they all should take a credit card.
There's a good reason they don't: transaction fees. The credit card companies typically (always?) charge merchants both a percentage, and also a small, fixed fee, for each transaction. I say "small" (say, $0.10), but that's relative -- on the very small fees that are usually collected for EV charging, it can be a large percentage of the total.

OK, so, simple answer: Allow credit cards, but pass on the fee to the customer. Right? Wrong, because the credit card companies also put it in their agreements with the merchants that the merchants can't charge higher prices for their customers to use credit cards. So, they either have to eat the cost, pass it on to all customers... or find a way around the transaction fee. That's what the dedicated EV cards do, by taking in cash in larger chunks, so that one CC fee covers multiple charging sessions.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I haven't had the time nor at times the internet to be able to check this while I was on my trip. (Did I mention I use a "dumb phone" and like to get away from the internet and all, especially while camping?) Anyway the trip went very well. I just, right now, plugged in at my house for the first time since we started out on the trip last Tuesday. The odometer is showing 701.1 miles from this trip! There were a few problems on the trip but mostly mistakes I made. Good thing I had my wife with me to fix them! But other than that everything went very well and it was fun. We're thinking of doing it again and soon. I'll post more about it later.
 
sendmeonmyway said:
When are you going on your trip? (how did it go?)

So here's a bit more detailed story of how it went.

We left around 10:00AM on Tuesday. Since Monarch has a climb to over 11,000ft from 7,700ft here in Gunnison I took it very slow, going 35mph on the shoulder with my flashers on, until we reached the top of the pass. At the top of the pass I had 24% battery left. From there we went on into Salida going the speed limit, although I did take a back road from Poncha Springs to the Salida hospital that was 45mph instead of the 55mph highway. Even going the speed limit I regained 12% going down the pass topping out at 36% and when we finally made it to the charger at the Salida Hospital the Leaf had 32% left.

In Salida it was about noon, and we walked from the Hospital to the park on fourth street. There we had lunch. On the way back to the car we passed by a thrift store where I left my wife as I went to go get the car. However, it started to sprinkle. And when I got to were I could see my Leaf from just across the street from the parking lot it started to downpour and soaked my pants in spite of using an umbrella.

Well I got the Leaf unplugged and jumped into it in that downpour. It was about 2:30 and the Leaf had 99%. I went and picked up my wife from the thrift store and we went along towards Cañon City going the speed limit. Now let me clarify one thing. When I say "going the speed limit" I mean I not only obey the actual speed limit, but also all those advisory yellow speed signs for every corner and intersection.

We made it to the Echo Canyon campground around 3:30 with about 45% if I remember correctly. So we started to set up camp. However I came to find out that the tent poles weren't in the bag with the rest of the tent. So we went down into Cañon City with the Leaf to go look for something we could use. On the way, I used this as an excuse to go over the beautiful Skyline Drive into Cañon City. We found a Wal-Mart and bought several bamboo skewers and duct-tape and headed back. The climb took quite a bit more energy, but we still arrived with around 17% left at the campground. So we left the car charging off of the 120V 15A/20A outlet. Camping there went fine. Our spot was somewhat secluded and in the trees and the site was very nice overall. We could see the Royal Gorge bridge from our tent.

Next morning we had breakfast off of our camping stove and then packed up and went on our way to Colorado Springs. I took it easy to Colorado Springs by going 5 to 10mph under the speed limit. I made it fine to the northern part of town. My wife decided she'd prefer to charge near a store of some sort so I charged at the CHAdeMO at the REI. However I had forgotten my credit card. Good thing my wife had hers. It was a little over $10 and I charged to 90% from around 25%, if I remember correctly. However, I did end up with 7 temp bars, which is something I had never seen before.

Instead of driving to Castle Rock on I-25 I decided to go down highway 83 and then take the E-470 toll towards north Denver. We made it just fine to the free CHAdeMO station on the toll road. I charged to 80%, but ended up with 8 temp bars. After that we drove to where we were going to stay for the rest of the week, about 10 miles from there, and let the car set and cool down until morning.

I ended up not being able to charge where we were staying. So every morning and evening as I passed by along the E-470 toll road I'd charge from about 50% to 80%. Doing that didn't seem to affect the temp bars and they stayed around 5 in the mornings and 6 in the afternoons. The charging station wasn't completely free though. By going off and then back on the toll road it cost about $1.50 each time. But I do have an E-470 toll sticker on my car and an account with about $80 that I thought I'd never use anyway, so to me that wasn't a problem.

On the way back I hit a couple Green Lots CHAdeMO stations at Nissan Dealers in Denver and Lakewood. It was Sunday so there wasn't anyone at either one. The one mistake I did make was to do most of my charging at the dealer next to the Colorad Mills mall. I thought it would be a great idea for my wife but come to find out the mall was closed due to hail damage. But my wife was very tired and actually was preferring a nap anyway. I instead walked down to a Wendy's and got an chocolate Frosty.

From there we went to Idaho Springs. Pulling in to the level 2 for the Beau Jo's restaurant at around 6:30 someone else in a Leaf was just pulling out. I did have a hard time getting the handle to release. We had dinner there; fine place! By the time we were through the car had 99% and we were on the road.

I did take it a bit easy up the pass and made it just fine to the Lowery campground around 9PM with about 35% left. I can't remember how much we regained going down I-70 from the Eisenhower tunnel but it did seem to be a lot! However at Lowery I dicoverved I had reserved the wrong night and had no cash for the night. So we zipped on down to Frisco and got some cash from an ATM after finding one and headed back up to Lowery. It was after 11PM by that time. I had charged at the Whole Foods Market in Frisco for a bit so we ended up with 19% at Lowery.

Next day we had some breakfast we headed out with 86%. We made it too the charging station at Copper Mountain and charged to 100%. From there we went on into Leadville. I drove around the Mountain College looking for the charging station there but didn't see it. However we didn't look very hard and continued on to Buena Vista. After getting input from my wife we charged for 30 minutes at the charging station by the river walk and walked around looking at the river. I ended up paying $5 for less than 5kWh.

From there we made it so Salida. In Salida we left the car again at the Hospital and walked around town looking for a good place to dine since it was about 6:00. We ended up at Mama's Deli. After a somewhat light supper we walked back to the car at the hospital. It had 98% so we waited until 99% and got going. Again I took it really easy up the mountain. On this side the road is narrower, but fortunately most cars came up on me at places where I could pull over. We reached the top with 41% and down the other side we regained up to 57%. From there I did the speed limit and ended up in Gunnison with 25% at around 695 miles right before sunset. But we decided to go to the store and come back so I had 701.1 miles and 19% on the dash when I finally plugged in at home.
 
SageBrush said:
How did the actual SoC s compare to your estimates before the trip ?
I find I tend to end up with more than what I calculate. After trying it on paper several times I've decided that using EV Trip Planner is just as good as any hand written estimate. I just take what EV Trip Planner calculates and subtract it from the 17.2 kWh average an 11 bar 24 kWh Leaf is supposed to have. Obviously if I had LeafSpy I could get it a little more accurate. But a lot of times if I calculate 20% left over I end up with 35 or 40%. And I only calculate without the A/C, but I still end up with plenty SOC left over even when I use the A/C the whole way.
 
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