Electrify America Network

I will say, that even with the single station, having EA in place has made multi-state journeys more doable in the midwest. Prior to that we had many more sections with just Level 2 availability.

Crescent City, CA (U.S. 101, S. of Jct. U.S. 199) is open, #2 for the month, #234 total.

At the moment the only way to reach it is from Grant's Pass. It will require the "Coming soon" sites in Willits and Eureka to open to make it practical from the south, and Anderson and/or Yreka from the east or southeast.

EA has added some new sites to the "Coming Soon" map, that fall into the "this is an obvious spot where one's needed" category: Baker, CA (presumably right next to the EVgo station); Ritzville, WA; Lordsburg, NM; Perry, UT (basically Brigham City); Glenwood Springs, CO. Still waiting for Green River, UT and Wendover, UT or more likely W. Wendover, NV.

Two sites have opened, making 4 for the month and 236 total: Erie, PA (Jct. I-90/U.S. 19); Cary, NC (Urb.,, Jct. I-40/440/U.S. 64).

Cary's listing is kind of strange, as it shows 1 CCS, 2 CCS/CHAdeMO, 1 L2. Judging by site photos it appears that the CCS-only and CCS-CHAdeMO numbers have been reversed, as 2/1/1 is the norm, and that's what appears to be present.

I had occasion to ride past the "Coming soon" site in Castro Valley a few days back and they had the trenches dug, but no pedestals as yet. Any time I happen to pass by I'll check on the progress and report it.

The pictures on plug share show 2 ccs only and one combo station, guessing it’s a mistake. I was exited for a minute that my calls into EA had possibly changed policy. No such luck.

DougWantsALeaf said:

The pictures on plug share show 2 ccs only and one combo station, guessing it’s a mistake. I was exited for a minute that my calls into EA had possibly changed policy. No such luck.

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Yes, and what appears to be 1 L2 on the right. The Plugshare listing appears to be incorrect from the photos, as they show the site as having 4 CCS, 1 ChAdeMO". EA's method, while reversed in this instance, is more accurate: X CCS, Y CCS-CHAdeMO, Z Level 2 (if present). The correct listing should be 2 CCS, 1 CCS-CHAdeMO, 1 Level 2, the normal urban site. I'll send them an email.

Casa Grande, AZ (Jct. I-10/S.R. 287, N. of Jct. I-8) is open, #5 for the month and #237 total.

This either shortens or eliminates the detour to Buckeye when driving between Yuma and Benson. Instead of Yuma <-155-> Buckeye <-189-> Benson, it's now Yuma <-155-> Buckeye <-81-> Casa Grande <-111-> Benson = 347 miles total, or else Yuma <-178-> Casa Grande <-111-> Benson = 290 miles total.

To make the direct trip practical as opposed to possible, a QC in Gila Bend or somewhere west of it, say Dateland, and/or the "Coming Soon" one in Tucson is needed

Two sites are open, making 7 for the month and 239 total: Madisonville, TX I(Jct. I-45/U.S. 190/S.R. 30); Tallahassee, FL (Jct. I-10/U.S. 319).

Madisonville shortens the leg from Huntsville to Dallas from 170 miles to a more reasonable 145, and makes the leg from Houston 96 miles instead of 70. There's a "Coming soon" site in Ennis will make a 111 mile leg from Madisonville, and then it's 35 miles to Dallas.

The much-needed Tallahassee shortens the 186 mile leg between Chipley and Lake City to two legs of 86 and 102 miles. The longest remaining legs along the I-8/10/12 route that need shortening are between San Diego and Casa Grande, and Benson and Deming (Lordsburg).

Also, Pecos, TX has finally appeared on the "Coming soon" map, which will make the entirety of I-20 in W. Texas practical when open.

Guy, still no sign of progress here in Central California. None of the stations with kiosks installed have come on line: Pismo Beach, Bakersfield, Coso Junction, Bridgeport.

For that matter, same with ChargePoint. Recargo has fallen off the face of the earth.

Paul

Paul, I figure they'll happen when they happen; if they're open by the end of the year, I can live with that even though it's later than i'd wish. Having just driven down 101 from the Bay Area to Solvang and back, at least there are EA sites under construction all along the route, even though none of them are open yet. Same for 395. 101 does at least have some Chargepoint and EVgo stations already.

St. Charles, MO (I-70 W. of St. Louis) is open, #8 for the month and #240 total. Also, the "Vernon, PA" site is now being called "Belle Vernon".

St. Charles is a much better location than Collinsville for people traveling E-W along I-70, or between I-70 west of STL and I-55 north. Boonville to Collinsville is a 159 mile leg while Boonville to St. Charles is only 125 miles, and from St. Charles it's 110 miles to Springfield, 117 miles to Effingham and 99 miles to Mt. Vernon, IL.

Four sites have opened, making 12 for the month and 244 total: Flagstaff, AZ (I-40 E. of Jct. I-17); Erick, OK (Jct. I-40/S.R. 30); Royse City, TX (I-30 NE of Dallas); N. Miami Beach, FL (Urb., Jct. I-95/S.R. 826).

Flagstaff makes ABQ - PHX possible; once Winslow opens it will be practical. In addition, you can now reach the south rim of the Grand Canyon coming from either the south or east.

Erick completes I-40 from OKC to Amarillo, and with extreme care you can make it to Wagon Mound from Amarillo. at least two more sites, probably Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, are needed to join Amarillo to ABQ, and the "Coming Soon" ABQ is still needed to complete I-40 all the way to Flagstaff.

Royse City shortens the leg between DFW and Mt. Pleasant. and is necessary to make the leg practical (63 and 86 miles vice 149) if starting from Ft. Worth instead of Dallas.

Two sites have opened, making 14 for the month and 246 total: Madera, CA (S.R. 99, just N. of Jct. S.R. 145); Torrance #2, CA (forget which one was first - one's on S.R. 1 and the other on S.R. 107. The site on Hwy 1 is an urban one).

Kalamazoo MI EA (worked) after 30 minutes of messing with equipment reboot. Collinsville IL EA (worked). Park Ridge MO EA (worked). Casey's General Store Lebanon MO EA (worked). Vinita OK EA (not working) no matter what was tried!!! Bristol OK EA (not working) no matter what was tried!!! Grants NM EA listed first as broken but was relisted repaired 1 hour before arrival and was pleased that it was (working) but machine sounded abnormal. So, a total of 8 locations tried and 2 of the stations left me stranded. I was very unhappy with the 2 that didn't work as they were listed as working.

Tesla Supercharging was the primary charge station type used. Model S towing over 7,000 cargo trailer. Total weight of full vehicle and full trailer 12,240 lbs. 7 of the 8 EA station layouts did not accommodate well for towing a trailer. The one that did was a pull through station in Kalamazoo MI.

Evoforce said:

Tesla Supercharging was the primary charge station type used. Model S towing over 7,000 cargo trailer. Total weight of full vehicle and full trailer 12,240 lbs. 6 of the 7 EA station layouts did not accommodate well for towing a trailer. The one that did was a pull through station in Kalamazoo MI.

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The layout problem isn't only an EA problem. I haven't bothered reading this but Edmunds had trouble with Supercharging with a trailer attached as well: https://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-x/2016/long-term-road-test/2016-tesla-model-x-range-and-charging-while-towing-a-trailer.html.

It stems from both the layout and where Tesla decided to put the charging inlet, in a stupid location, if you ask me. No Tesla is based upon an ICEV so it's not like they were reusing the location formerly used by the gas hole. In my almost 6 years of driving Leaf and now having a Bolt since end of Jan 2019, I'm convinced that driver's side front fender is way inferior to in the center of the nose, at least for most US public and workplace charging setups. I explained why at https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=548912#p548912 w/a crude drawing.

The other locations are even worse. Not only does Tesla often force you to back in, which might be tricky and slow in a busy crowded area, it's also the on the wrong side for street side charging (if it's on the right side). Fortunately, street side parallel parked charging isn't common in the US.

If they put in the (or another) inlet in the center of the nose, some of of the problems Edmunds encountered would've gone away.

The CCS/CHAdemo unreliability sure makes the decision to take an EV dependent on that network for a long trip very problematic. Given the patchwork nature of the network I imagine the only solution will be to over-build and for drivers to keep a reserve adequate to reach at least the next station.

Tesla's approach of providing more than one charging station per location would also help.

Levenkay said:

Tesla's approach of providing more than one charging station per location would also help.

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Very good point. I've read more than a handful of reports of Tesla stations going down but I cannot think of an occurrence where the entire location went down due to malfunction.

So CCS is better off in that regard than poor CHAdeMO

Two sites have opened, making 16 for the month and 248 total: Lincolnwood, IL (Urb., E. of U.S. 41, N. of Chicago), and Boca Raton, FL (Urb., Jct. I-95/S.R. 808).

cwerdna said:

The other locations are even worse. Not only does Tesla often force you to back in, which might be tricky and slow in a busy crowded area, it's also the on the wrong side for street side charging (if it's on the right side). Fortunately, street side parallel parked charging isn't common in the US

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Interesting that in Japan most vehicles are backed into parking spaces. Yet LEAF has charging in the front....

smkettner said:

cwerdna said:

The other locations are even worse. Not only does Tesla often force you to back in, which might be tricky and slow in a busy crowded area, it's also the on the wrong side for street side charging (if it's on the right side). Fortunately, street side parallel parked charging isn't common in the US

Click to expand...

Interesting that in Japan most vehicles are backed into parking spaces. Yet LEAF has charging in the front....

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hmmm, interesting observation. Can't say I have a lot of familiarity with Japan but in my trips there, most QC's allowed parallel parking as the standard option. Turntables were popular (at least in Yokohama) in residential apts.