EVgo infrastructure thread

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cwerdna

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Since there's https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=30763 which was "to post news related to new fast charger installations which are neither Electrify America or EVGo", how about we talk about EVgo here?

I'll start.

Virginia Triples Its Public Fast Charging Network
https://insideevs.com/news/449974/virginia-triple-public-fast-charging-network/
Thanks to 24 new EVgo fast charging stations across the Commonwealth.

EVgo recently has completed Cycle One of the fast charger deployment plan for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality using funds from the Volkswagen settlement program.

24 new EV charging stations, installed through the Drive Electric Virginia program, allowed to triple the public fast-charging network (we assume that EVgo excludes Tesla's proprietary stations, as they are compatible only with Tesla cars).

The first station was opened in September 2019, and then EVgo was adding five chargers a month - totaling 24 fast-charging site locations and 76 individual chargers.
Click to expand...
Press release at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evgo-triples-fast-charging-network-through-the-drive-electric-virginia-program-301152678.html.
 
EVgo to go public via $2.6 billion SPAC deal
The company has more than 800 fast-charging locations across 34 U.S. states
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/01/23/evgo-public-spac-electric-car-charging-network/
 
Anyone have any word on the supposed mass upgrade to 100-150 kW chargers that EVGo claimed they were going to begin in 2019? It was supposed to involve a partnership between Nissan and EVGo, and it looks like it just never happened, not even a little bit. This is why I’m suspicious of EVGo’s more recently announced partnership with Chevy to expand chargers in cities....
 
This is somewhat older news, but EVgo and GM announced they will be installing 2700 more charging stations by 2025. To date, I have not been able to find any more details about this initiative. They say the chargers will be deployed "to cities", and "meant to help apartment dwellers that don’t have access to overnight charging". No idea which cities might be included.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a... and EVgo team up,vehicles to market by 2023.
 
That’s what I mean. They make these grand announcements about partnering with an OEM for some grand expansion, then the expansion doesn’t happen, then they never speak of it again and move onto a new announcement. It’s kind of like VW’s announcements about their future EV production 3-4 years ago....
 
There have been some new stations installed, yes, but the implication two years ago was that the entire EVGo network was pre-wired for and “easily upgradable to” 150 kW. But there’s been no effort to make this happen along any long-distance or even moderate distance corridors. There are clusters of 100 kW stations in DC, Atlanta, the Bay, etc, but no reliable trail of them anywhere to my knowledge. It begs the question: what is EVGo’s plan for competing with EA? Why would someone stop at a 50 kW EVGo station when there’s a national network of 150 kW EA stations? Reliability? OK, sure, for now. But I have to think that EA is going to work out their kinks, so then what?
 
Kieran973 said:
That’s what I mean. They make these grand announcements about partnering with an OEM for some grand expansion, then the expansion doesn’t happen, then they never speak of it again and move onto a new announcement. It’s kind of like VW’s announcements about their future EV production 3-4 years ago....
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry. I started to type out my response, and then got distracted. When I came back to it and submitted, you had posted your comment. So I didn't see it until after I submitted (despite it being an hour later).

This pattern of announcements is probably more about raising money than anything substantial, sadly.

Kieran973 said:
There have been some new stations installed, yes, but the implication two years ago was that the entire EVGo network was pre-wired for and “easily upgradable to” 150 kW. But there’s been no effort to make this happen along any long-distance or even moderate distance corridors. There are clusters of 100 kW stations in DC, Atlanta, the Bay, etc, but no reliable trail of them anywhere to my knowledge. It begs the question: what is EVGo’s plan for competing with EA? Why would someone stop at a 50 kW EVGo station when there’s a national network of 150 kW EA stations? Reliability? OK, sure, for now. But I have to think that EA is going to work out their kinks, so then what?
Click to expand...

Moreover, those 50kW EVgo stations cost 2x to 10x what EA costs. This is because they charge by the minute rather than the kWh and their per-minute rates are extremely high. When the charger is putting out max power, it still costs twice what EA costs. As the car begins to taper, it only gets worse. Much worse.
 
With EA moving to per kWh charging, at least for the Leaf, its not that different between the two price wise. For a while EA was cheaper because I could charge at 75kWh for the lowest per minute rate, but that's gone and the EA chademo chargers have been throttled to 50kWh.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
With EA moving to per kWh charging, at least for the Leaf, its not that different between the two price wise. For a while EA was cheaper because I could charge at 75kWh for the lowest per minute rate, but that's gone and the EA chademo chargers have been throttled to 50kWh.
Click to expand...

Interesting. In NY, EA costs $0.31/kWh. EVgo costs $0.27/minute. HOWEVER, EVgo in NY is limited to 100A, or about 35kW. So at the max rate, it is $0.46/kWh. If you charge at the high end, into the taper, I have ended up paying over $1/kWh.

So my numbers were off. EVgo is 1.5x to 4x the cost of EA, not 2-10x. But it's always more expensive AND it charges more slowly.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
With EA moving to per kWh charging, at least for the Leaf, its not that different between the two price wise. For a while EA was cheaper because I could charge at 75kWh for the lowest per minute rate, but that's gone and the EA chademo chargers have been throttled to 50kWh.
Click to expand...
You talking about charging at 75 kW and 50 kW?
 
cwerdna said:
DougWantsALeaf said:
With EA moving to per kWh charging, at least for the Leaf, its not that different between the two price wise. For a while EA was cheaper because I could charge at 75kWh for the lowest per minute rate, but that's gone and the EA chademo chargers have been throttled to 50kWh.
Click to expand...
You talking about charging at 75 kW and 50 kW?
Click to expand...

I don't think Nissan ever made a Leaf that could charge 75kWh. If you emptied the 62kWh pack and took 75kWh to charge, that's only 83% efficient. Maybe if you are charging L1, you could get that low.

And I've never known EA to limit charge sessions to 50kWh. I'm not sure why they would do that. Although I think they say that typical charging sessions are only half that - around 25kWh or so?
 
I noticed the strange EA software throttle on chademo happen around the time the billing switched to per kwh instead of per min. I don't think it's the cables as I've looked on them and their rated for at least 100kw charging. The charge units were breaking a lot though back when I got the 70kw+ speeds on my leaf sl plus, so I suspect they throttled the speed, because the battery buffer storage their using to prevent demand charges can't keep up. It could also be some sort of part was wearing out at the higher speed, as the reliability went way up after they throttled the speed. Either way I think it's total volkswagen BS as evgo has some of the exact same ABB units charging at a full 100kw and not breaking. I have zero trust or confidence that their not doing something super shady, as some of their sites don't even seem like they ever worked properly on any of the units except the dual ccs/chademo unit. It's almost like they lied and skimped on things to meet a deadline, and basically all the units except one are empty shells at some sites. Theirs a site that has been open a year now and it still has 3 units that have no power and don't light up. It's crazy they can get away with this kinda stuff. On the plus side, customer care at EA is great.
 
1. I just leased a new 2020 Leaf and Nissan gave me a $250 credit with EVgo. The problem is the closet station is 60 mile from our home and the station is located in an Outlet Mall shopping center. My wife is ready to road trip - lol. The EVgo station offers only two CHADeMO chargers and is currently charging $0.27 / Min and a 50 kW max. In all seriousness, even though they are located in a outlet mall shopping center, they are strategically located near the intersection of two major highways.


2. Our local EA station that only offers 1 CHADeMO plug only charges $0.16 / minute with a 50 kW max. The highest I have ever been able to obtain was 48kW and when I reached 75% capacity it throttled down to 38 kW.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
My bad on the kW vs. kWh. Many of the EA chargers which used to deliver 200+ amps, suddenly post some software change reduced to a 50kW max. No clue why, except maybe the cables were only really rated for the lower power.
Click to expand...

VW is CCS. As simple as that. EA has Chademo only because they are REQUIRED to have it so they have done everything they could to make it less attractive including ignoring complaints of a single CCS vehicle charging on the dual format station while the other 3 to 5 stations sit empty.
 
ejm4 said:
1. I just leased a new 2020 Leaf and Nissan gave me a $250 credit with EVgo. The problem is the closet station is 60 mile from our home and the station is located in an Outlet Mall shopping center. My wife is ready to road trip - lol. The EVgo station offers only two CHADeMO chargers and is currently charging $0.27 / Min and a 50 kW max. In all seriousness, even though they are located in a outlet mall shopping center, they are strategically located near the intersection of two major highways.


2. Our local EA station that only offers 1 CHADeMO plug only charges $0.16 / minute with a 50 kW max. The highest I have ever been able to obtain was 48kW and when I reached 75% capacity it throttled down to 38 kW.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the perfect setup. You have a year to use it and trust me (since I did it) you can burn up a good chunk of that cash in a handful of road trips. To maximize my $250, I only charged at the max rate unplugging within seconds when the rate started to drop (most of the time. 2 or 3 times I was not back at the car in time so missed it by a few minutes)
 

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