DFW Metroplex

[jhm614]

Saw my first Tesla Model S today -- it was on I-30 in Arlington, heading towards Fort Worth. Black 60 model. Looked great! No plates.

 

[Stanton]

Saw my first Tesla Model S today -- it was on I-30 in Arlington, heading towards Fort Worth. Black 60 model. Looked great! No plates.

There's a guy that brings his to the NTEAA meetings most every month (85 kW Signature model): come to the meetings and you can see more than it "drive by"!

 

[Pipcecil]

Friday Updates!

2 Name changes - did some minor editing to two Kohl's blink stations - you won't notice, it was a deletion of a space.

One new station:

Walgreens – Coppell
eVgo – One DC Fast (CHAdeMO), One Level 2 (J1772)
313 North Denton Tap Road
Coppell, TX 75019

 

[Jim]

One new station:

Walgreens – Coppell
eVgo – One DC Fast (CHAdeMO), One Level 2 (J1772)
313 North Denton Tap Road
Coppell, TX 75019

This is great. I am planning a trip to The Colony tomorrow and I was looking for a place to stop and charge on the way back. This will make the trip much more relaxing.

Thanks for keeping this updated, Pipcecil.

Do you know if the Walgreen's in Saginaw is supposed to get a charger at some point?

 

[Stanton]

I got a pleasant surprise when I plugged-in @Love Field today after returning from a biz trip: the Blinks were free! I assume they were $1/$2 like (almost) all the other Blinks around. I was prepared to PAY for the first time (only an hour), but I stayed and charged for almost 2 hours before I had to pick-up my son from school.

 

[jhm614]

I got a pleasant surprise when I plugged-in @Love Field today after returning from a biz trip: the Blinks were free! I assume they were $1/$2 like (almost) all the other Blinks around. I was prepared to PAY for the first time (only an hour), but I stayed and charged for almost 2 hours before I had to pick-up my son from school.

It's a nice perc -- also like the fact that the ones in "A" parking are right next to the terminal.

 

[Bluebull]

Have you tried Turbo3's new app to see what your current capacity is?

No, I haven't bothered since I didn't feel like buying an additional device to connect to the car (its $25 bucks?) to only depress me more. Why pay $25 bucks for depression? I really think I am just about to loose the 3rd capacity bar. Range has been abysmal lately, WORSE than the winter (shouldn't this be opposite??). I was hitting low 70's on a perfect day and high 60's on rougher days. Now its mid to high 60's on a perfect day (more mid 60's really) and upper 50's on bad days (although 70 degrees and a cross wind is a bad day now...). I have hit mid to upper 50's regularly now to VLBW.

Unfortunately that leaves me a round trip driving range from my home in midlothian to slightly beyond the mixmaster on IH 35E (either a couple miles on IH 30 or up IH 35E/DNT/Downtown). I can barely make it to downtown and back - but its a bit of nail bitting sometimes. I used to be able to sail to LBJ & the DNT for the half way point or even to the eVgo station @ Belt Line - I would regularly arrive @ 50-52%. Now its prettly low, usually in the 30's based off the DC Fast Charger station readout). I have hit LBW from the eVgo station @ Belt Line going home from a 80% DCQC recently - thats not good. I can no longer reliably charge to 80% without getting into trouble, and have to "top off" requently because any loss below 100% can spell trouble. Trips requiring 0-1 QCs are now a solid 2 QCs.

As for the mileage - ~38,000. Two year mark will be on June 17th. I think with all the capacity loss debackle, it was determined that heat+miles is the main cause regardless of how you treat it (80% charging, no topping off, no QCs, etc.). Unfortunately I got both, the higher mileage accelerates the heat issue. In retrospect, my mileage in cooler seattle or some place else, I might see my first bar loss soon, but probably would still have full 12 bars. In Arizona I would definetely have lost the 3rd already and maybe halfway to the 4th.

That is unusual that heat would have a greater effect than cold?? I suppose I will find out here in the DFW area where temperatures can reach 100+ in July and August (sometimes September). If you had an air conditioned garage, I would think that you could slow that degradation down.

 

[vrwl]

Have you tried Turbo3's new app to see what your current capacity is?

No, I haven't bothered since I didn't feel like buying an additional device to connect to the car (its $25 bucks?) to only depress me more. Why pay $25 bucks for depression? I really think I am just about to loose the 3rd capacity bar. Range has been abysmal lately, WORSE than the winter (shouldn't this be opposite??). I was hitting low 70's on a perfect day and high 60's on rougher days. Now its mid to high 60's on a perfect day (more mid 60's really) and upper 50's on bad days (although 70 degrees and a cross wind is a bad day now...). I have hit mid to upper 50's regularly now to VLBW.

Unfortunately that leaves me a round trip driving range from my home in midlothian to slightly beyond the mixmaster on IH 35E (either a couple miles on IH 30 or up IH 35E/DNT/Downtown). I can barely make it to downtown and back - but its a bit of nail bitting sometimes. I used to be able to sail to LBJ & the DNT for the half way point or even to the eVgo station @ Belt Line - I would regularly arrive @ 50-52%. Now its prettly low, usually in the 30's based off the DC Fast Charger station readout). I have hit LBW from the eVgo station @ Belt Line going home from a 80% DCQC recently - thats not good. I can no longer reliably charge to 80% without getting into trouble, and have to "top off" requently because any loss below 100% can spell trouble. Trips requiring 0-1 QCs are now a solid 2 QCs.

As for the mileage - ~38,000. Two year mark will be on June 17th. I think with all the capacity loss debackle, it was determined that heat+miles is the main cause regardless of how you treat it (80% charging, no topping off, no QCs, etc.). Unfortunately I got both, the higher mileage accelerates the heat issue. In retrospect, my mileage in cooler seattle or some place else, I might see my first bar loss soon, but probably would still have full 12 bars. In Arizona I would definetely have lost the 3rd already and maybe halfway to the 4th.

Now that I've gotten a Bluetooth ELM327 that actually works, I'd be happy to meet you somewhere between Midlothian and Frisco some weekend so you could check your car's capacity. You do not need a full charge to get the data. It might be really important to know in case Nissan ever gets off their collected a**es and gets the battery warranty finalized. Would just need the meeting point to be a place where I could charge up a bit before heading home.

 

[vrwl]

That is unusual that heat would have a greater effect than cold?? I suppose I will find out here in the DFW area where temperatures can reach 100+ in July and August (sometimes September). If you had an air conditioned garage, I would think that you could slow that degradation down.

Heat causes a permanent battery capacity degradation whereas cold just temporarily reduces the capacity.

 

[Pipcecil]

Do you know if the Walgreen's in Saginaw is supposed to get a charger at some point?

Unfortuantely, no. This was eVgo's next round of installations. They usually go in batches of 3-4 and they come online wihtin a week or so of each other. They they start over again with getting agreeements signed, etc. I don't know if they have plans to push up to saginaw or not. They could just decide that the current sandwhich of lake worth and haltom city chargers is enough. In addition, getting city permits, commercial electricity capacity, and even willingness of that particular establishment all play into location. Its not as easy as picking one spot and forcing the installation there. We shall see when I get my next updates on the next round of installations and where they are located.

Now that I've gotten a Bluetooth ELM327 that actually works, I'd be happy to meet you somewhere between Midlothian and Frisco some weekend so you could check your car's capacity. You do not need a full charge to get the data. It might be really important to know in case Nissan ever gets off their collected a**es and gets the battery warranty finalized. Would just need the meeting point to be a place where I could charge up a bit before heading home.

You make a very good point. Lets see what I have going on the next few weekends and we can decide something. I am guessing maybe the QC @ beltline (slightly more in your favor - but you are doing me a favor!) or the new one @ mockingbird (its about half way to both of us). I know this weekend will be busy - we are in the middle of putting up a pergola and laying down a patio (yea i know!!). And my wife's birthday celebration (she will be 30!) is at the beginning of June. So it might have to be after that...we shall see . Thanks again for offering this up though! It will be nice to know the capacity.

 

[Jim]

Do you know if the Walgreen's in Saginaw is supposed to get a charger at some point?

Unfortuantely, no. This was eVgo's next round of installations. They usually go in batches of 3-4 and they come online wihtin a week or so of each other. They they start over again with getting agreeements signed, etc. I don't know if they have plans to push up to saginaw or not. They could just decide that the current sandwhich of lake worth and haltom city chargers is enough. In addition, getting city permits, commercial electricity capacity, and even willingness of that particular establishment all play into location. Its not as easy as picking one spot and forcing the installation there. We shall see when I get my next updates on the next round of installations and where they are located.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if they had published a 'coming soon' list or not.

 

[vrwl]

Now that I've gotten a Bluetooth ELM327 that actually works, I'd be happy to meet you somewhere between Midlothian and Frisco some weekend so you could check your car's capacity. You do not need a full charge to get the data. It might be really important to know in case Nissan ever gets off their collected a**es and gets the battery warranty finalized. Would just need the meeting point to be a place where I could charge up a bit before heading home.

You make a very good point. Lets see what I have going on the next few weekends and we can decide something. I am guessing maybe the QC @ beltline (slightly more in your favor - but you are doing me a favor!) or the new one @ mockingbird (its about half way to both of us). I know this weekend will be busy - we are in the middle of putting up a pergola and laying down a patio (yea i know!!). And my wife's birthday celebration (she will be 30!) is at the beginning of June. So it might have to be after that...we shall see . Thanks again for offering this up though! It will be nice to know the capacity.

I can easily go as far as Mockingbird if it is a bit more convenient for you with your reduced capacity. But if it's an eVgo station, I'm SOL, I don't have a membership with them.

 

[Pipcecil]

I can easily go as far as Mockingbird if it is a bit more convenient for you with your reduced capacity. But if it's an eVgo station, I'm SOL, I don't have a membership with them.

Well it is a necessity for me to have eVgo - I couldn't get north of IH 30 without a QC. I can still make it home from the beltline eVgo from an 80% QC. There is also blink's across the street at the pancake house - although ICEd quite a bit. For the mockingbird station, there are Blinks diagonal across the street @ the Kroger.

But it looks like the beltline station will be best overall. Yea for having a place to meet! Now we just need a time :lol:

 

[Pipcecil]

Friday Updates:

Two modified locations - both locations have reductions in units, most likely due to the location designating these stations to become completely private:

EV Autos (Blink)- number reduced 4 to 1
YMCA Town North (Blink) - number reduced from 2 to 1

 

[Bluebull]

Saw my first Tesla Model S today -- it was on I-30 in Arlington, heading towards Fort Worth. Black 60 model. Looked great! No plates.

There's a guy that brings his to the NTEAA meetings most every month (85 kW Signature model): come to the meetings and you can see more than it "drive by"!

Pardon me for breaking in, but that Tesla was at Earth Day at Fair Park in April. It is pretty neat but I would never be able to afford one at that price. I still love my Leaf (2012). I live in Haltom City/North Richland area.

 

[Bluebull]

It just gives more bad press for EVs in general and Leafs in particular that they take 10 hours to get somewhere that an ICE can do it in 3 hours. Leafs are an in town/errand/commute vehicle and they are great for that purpose. Lets leave it at that.

Actually, I thought about that. If I did such a video I'd just make sure to mention up front that the car isn't designed for this, and that quick charging stations would make this trip more tolerable, but wanted to show that nevertheless it could be done with current infrastructure.

I wish eVgo and/or Blink would start placing Fast Chargers about 40 miles apart on the major Interstates. That would be the only current solution to trip traveling with a Leaf or Volt. Do you think that will happen anytime soon?

This kind of "electric Highway" is being developed in California to be able to go from San Francisco to San Diego.

 

[Cheezmo]

eVgo is planning to build a string of charging stations between Dallas and Houston. Of course Volts already have a solution for trip traveling

 

[mkjayakumar]

After driving close to 18K miles in little more than year, I absolutely love the Leaf but also am quite convinced that Leaf is a great in-town errand/commute car, and a very bad long distance car.

Every attempt to somehow show that the Leaf can 'manage' long distances with 'some' difficulty and is worth the trouble, will only lead to more frustration and make the EV movement look more silly. These Chademo chargers are great in extending your driving circle by another 40+ miles but thats about it. Strategically placed Chademos in a large metro like DFW or Houston makes it feasible and practical to go from one end of the city to the other & back, but it would never make it practical to from Dallas to Houston & back, even if you have one every 10 miles.

So placing Chademo's between Dallas and Houston is a wasted effort and dollars for the Leaf community. And much of that comes from the puny 70 mile usable range in the Leaf. On the other hand a 250 mile Tesla can absolutely take advantage of superchargers/Chandemos and makes it practical to drive inter-city.


That is why i also think the DC port in the Leaf has very limited usefulness.

 

[adric22]

So placing Chademo's between Dallas and Houston is a wasted effort and dollars for the Leaf community. And much of that comes from the puny 70 mile usable range in the Leaf. On the other hand a 250 mile Tesla can absolutely take advantage of superchargers/Chandemos and makes it practical to drive inter-city.

I agree that the Leaf is not a good travel car even if there are Chademo stations every 10 miles. However, if the Leaf had twice the range it has now, I think it could be practical for trips between Dallas and Houston. So getting that infrastructure out there is probably a good idea for future vehicles that are to come along. However, given the choice I'd rather those stations be added around the metro area where they'd probably get more use.

 

[Pipcecil]

Friday updates!

One picture added, one location removal, and 4 new locations:

Added picture of the Mockingbird eVgo station

Removal:

Telecore (Blink) – this location has been converted to completely private access

New:

Park Central – 789 (Garage 7)
Blink – One Level 2 (J1772)
12790 Merit Drive #110
Dallas, TX 75251

Park Central – 789 (Garage 8)
Blink – Two Level 2 (J1772)
12790 Merit Drive #110
Dallas, TX 75251

TI South Campus Lot #2
Blink – Four Level 2 (J1772)
12500 TI Boulevard
Dallas, TX 75266
Restricted Access (4 of 4)

North Lakes Park
Blink – Three Level 2 (J1772)
2001 West Windsor Drive
Denton, TX 76201