Any questions for Coulomb/Chargepoint?

[Tugrik]

I'm meeting up with Coulomb/Chargepoint tomorrow morning as a rep of my company (Coulomb's offices are just a few blocks from mine). We've currently got four of their chargers on-site and we're adding another pack of them to a new site farther up in San Jose, so this is an info-gathering mission about their network and charging options.

As long as I'm there pickin' their brains over their network and charger products are there any questions the community here wants me to ask? I'm glad to bring them up if so.

--Tug

 

[oakwcj]

I'd like to know when and where the QC stations are coming.

 

[planet4ever]

Why is there nothing on the 680 corridor south of Walnut Creek, and nothing on the 880 corridor between Hayward and Los Gatos? (I don't think downtown San Jose stations in expensive parking garages should count.)

Ray

 

[GeekEV]

The units I've used to far, you have to swipe your card and wait while it cycles from "port 1" (I forget exactly what it's called, but it's the level 1 120v outlet) to "port 2" before it unlocks the J1772 and lets you pull it out. This takes several seconds and if you don't know how it works, you might be confused as to why you can't pull the J1772 out. I'd like to see them unlock them both simultaneously, then re-lock which ever one you didn't use.

 

[UkrainianKozak]

I wonder if anyone is thinking about retractable cable or some form cable-less charging... (docking or inductive or something else)
Having to deal with the cable pre- and post- charging is one of the most annoying thing, especially in public locations. Sometimes I need to do some sort of puzzle-untangling before I can start charging...
It should be a better way to deal with it...

 

[EVDRIVER]

Costal EVSE units? Highway 1 between Santa Cruise and up past Marin? There is no way to access costal areas at the moment.

 

[Nekota]

I would ask about cable theft and vandalism.

Why the charge point installations at Solyndra don't show up on any of the maps and what will happen to their availability with the chapter 11 status of Solyndra.

How many other of their installations don't show up?

 

[TRONZ]

I'd like to know when and where the QC stations are coming.

ditto

 

[Randy3]

1. Who should businesses/organizations contact at Coulomb to get commercial units installed?
2. Can we get a few units in Yosemite National Park (valley floor and Wawona), please?

 

[Tugrik]

I wonder if anyone is thinking about retractable cable or some form cable-less charging... (docking or inductive or something else)
Having to deal with the cable pre- and post- charging is one of the most annoying thing, especially in public locations. Sometimes I need to do some sort of puzzle-untangling before I can start charging...
It should be a better way to deal with it...

The folks at Coulomb showed me their 'tall boy' charger that has an auto-reelup cable (looks like a gas pump cable with the overhead take-up reel design). It's out there in front of their office now for the public to see. They didn't relay anything to me about inductive or other 'cable-free' solutions, sorry!

 

[Tugrik]

I would ask about cable theft and vandalism.

Why the charge point installations at Solyndra don't show up on any of the maps and what will happen to their availability with the chapter 11 status of Solyndra.

How many other of their installations don't show up?

I wasn't able to get into discussions about Solyndra in the limited time I had (and it would have derailed talks I was having about my own company). But he did show me the various warranty options and replacement parts should there be vandalism. There are also options for locking vs. non-locking holsters, etc, but the cables are still exposed for the truly determined-and-toolbearing kind of thieves.

 

[Tugrik]

I'd like to know when and where the QC stations are coming.

They didn't tell me anything about when they are coming but did express frustration with the various standards and UL-approval problems that L3 charger efforts in California are currently experiencing. They _are_ working with the various manufacturers of L3 chargers (including Nissan themselves) to try and get them to allow their units talk to the Chargepoint API and thus allow them on the chargepoint network. Other companies (Leviton, Siemens, etc) make their L1/L2 chargers; similarly it appears that they'll look to L3 manufacturers to make L3 chargers that'll be able to interact with their network.

I'm sorry I couldn't relay all the 'we want charge stations (here) or (here)' type of questions. Coulomb provides the hardware and network, but it's up to the individual property owners as to who buys and places the units. Getting a unit at your favorite location(s) would be a matter of talking to business and property owners there and convincing them it's a good idea (brings in customers, keeps customers there longer, or even just charging for the energy to make a profit there, etc).

I'm doing that with other companies I interact with, such as the various datacenters around the Silicon Valley. Many companies have no idea what's involved with installing chargers and there's a lot of FUD floating around. Getting individual businesses and property owners interested in providing chargers to their customers and then getting them in touch with Coulomb to get info on how it works is a good thing for the community here to try for.

Hrm. Maybe it's a good idea to get a bunch of the glossy brochures (with contact data) on them for other MNL members to hand out around their communities. It'd be good to get the idea of "hey, maybe I can attract more customers this way" into the heads of gyms, local merchants, movie theaters and the like. Closing the 'we don't know how to do it' info gap can only help.

 

[Nekota]

I would ask about cable theft and vandalism.

Why the charge point installations at Solyndra don't show up on any of the maps and what will happen to their availability with the chapter 11 status of Solyndra.

How many other of their installations don't show up?

I wasn't able to get into discussions about Solyndra in the limited time I had (and it would have derailed talks I was having about my own company). But he did show me the various warranty options and replacement parts should there be vandalism. There are also options for locking vs. non-locking holsters, etc, but the cables are still exposed for the truly determined-and-toolbearing kind of thieves.

Thanks for the feedback and updates from your visit.

 

[tbleakne]

Coulomb provides the hardware and network, but it's up to the individual property owners as to who buys and places the units. Getting a unit at your favorite location(s) would be a matter of talking to business and property owners there and convincing them it's a good idea (brings in customers, keeps customers there longer, or even just charging for the energy to make a profit there, etc).

Hrm. Maybe it's a good idea to get a bunch of the glossy brochures (with contact data) on them for other MNL members to hand out around their communities. It'd be good to get the idea of "hey, maybe I can attract more customers this way" into the heads of gyms, local merchants, movie theaters and the like. Closing the 'we don't know how to do it' info gap can only help.

I would like to get some of the brochures. Can you help? Most important, about how much $$ is a Chargepoint station, not counting wiring it up, which obviously will vary? Do they charge ongoing fees to the owner in addition to installation?

 

[qcar]

I think you meeting is well over, but I do have a question for the group. They just put a chargepoint in my building. I travel 40.5 miles roundtrip per day and Carwings indicates I use about 9 kWh per day net (I get about 3.5 regen per day). So I plugged into the chargepoint this morning and it says I drew 7.55kwW to fully charge my car. That seem like too much power...

 

[davewill]

... They just put a chargepoint in my building. I travel 40.5 miles roundtrip per day and Carwings indicates I use about 9 kWh per day net (I get about 3.5 regen per day). So I plugged into the chargepoint this morning and it says I drew 7.55kwW to fully charge my car. That seem like too much power...

Is there an elevation change between home and work? If you go uphill to work, then you could be using more power in that direction. Also, how are you measuring the 9kWh at home? It sounds about right, but if you're using Carwings, I wouldn't trust it to be accurate. The other idea I had was that you could have charged to 80% at home, but used the timer override and charged to 100% at work.