ICEless in Seattle : Official Pacific NorthWest thread

[GaslessInSeattle]

Burlington is quite doable and from there you can explore deception pass/san juans, Bellingham, Vancouver BC. I motored pretty hard from Shoreline to Burlington, going 75 most of the way, started with 12 bars and got to the QC station with 4 left.

I just got my fob today. They sent it via UPS.

Now if there just were any QC stations within reason range that I could use it on....

 

[doug401]

I was hoping that all of the DC QCs that AV installed would become active today but alas, the Tumwater station is still dark.

Any word as to when they plan to open these stations?

The troubling part about this is that their web page says it's operational. How can we believe any of their info on any of their sites? Is Aerovironment aware of the conflicting info on their web site?

 

[blackleaf]

I was hoping that all of the DC QCs that AV installed would become active today but alas, the Tumwater station is still dark.

Any word as to when they plan to open these stations?

The troubling part about this is that their web page says it's operational. How can we believe any of their info on any of their sites? Is Aerovironment aware of the conflicting info on their web site?

Looks to me like they show Tumwater status as "not communicating". Probably a good rule of thumb to not trust any charger in this situation. Kind of tough in some locations when the QC is not very near an alternate L2 on another network. Do you count on it....or don't you? :?

 

[camasleaf]

I just got my fob today. They sent it via UPS.

Now if there just were any QC stations within reason range that I could use it on....

+1 Got mine June 1st. I am looking forward to a trip to Seattle just because I can.

 

[solardude]

I just drove 250 miles from Corvallis, OR to Seattle for a family wedding. 5/31, Straight shot to Portland where I used the Electric Ave L3 charger. Went to Ridgefield and the AV chargers were dead. Stayed at a motel in Castle Rock. I used my 240 converter and charged up while I slept. Next morning (6/1) went to Centrailia, where the AV chargers were dead. Went to Tumwater, AV chargers dead. Settled for about 5 hours of L2 charging in Olympia. Made it to Seattle and found L2 in a parking garage. I gave AV an ear-full for listing their L3 chargers as active. Back home on Monday.

 

[saywatt]

Sorry you had to go through what you did with our potion of the WCGH being offline. But those locations have been posted as offline in this string for sometime. Glad you gave AV an earful. Maybe now they will at least change their dang map status!!

Folks up here are getting pretty frustrated about all this :evil:

I just drove 250 miles from Corvallis, OR to Seattle for a family wedding. 5/31, Straight shot to Portland where I used the Electric Ave L3 charger. Went to Ridgefield and the AV chargers were dead. Stayed at a motel in Castle Rock. I used my 240 converter and charged up while I slept. Next morning (6/1) went to Centrailia, where the AV chargers were dead. Went to Tumwater, AV chargers dead. Settled for about 5 hours of L2 charging in Olympia. Made it to Seattle and found L2 in a parking garage. I gave AV an ear-full for listing their L3 chargers as active. Back home on Monday.

 

[Luft]

I just stopped by the DC QC in Tumwater. It lives!!

I'm on my way to Centralia to check out the one there.

 

[klapauzius]

I just stopped by the DC QC in Tumwater. It lives!!

I'm on my way to Centralia to check out the one there.

Did you need a fob for this one? How is access to it handled presently?
I wonder if 62.5 miles from Seattle will work on a 80% charge at freeway speeds?

 

[TaylorSFGuy]

I wonder if 62.5 miles from Seattle will work on a 80% charge at freeway speeds?

Just charge to 100% - no problem. I drive this far each way every day.

 

[Luft]

I just stopped by the DC QC in Tumwater. It lives!!

I'm on my way to Centralia to check out the one there.

Did you need a fob for this one? How is access to it handled presently?
I wonder if 62.5 miles from Seattle will work on a 80% charge at freeway speeds?

You do need a fob. Until AV decides pricing, charging is free.

The Centralia and the Ridgefield stations are also alive!

The Ridgefield station is located behind the Country Cafe. If you're coming from the north take exit 14, make a left go down to the next stop sign and make another left. The Cafe will be right there.

There needs to be a station between these two however. I charged to 98% in Centralia and when I got to the Ridgefield charger I was down to two fuel bars. I was behind a truck on I-5 that was going 55 mph.

At Ridgefield I charged to 98% and drove back to Centralia at 60 mph and arrived with one fuel bar.

There will be no way we will be able to make this trip in winter or when our batteries degrade.

 

[klapauzius]

There will be no way we will be able to make this trip in winter or when our batteries degrade.

These were probably the same kind of people that planned the Mars Climate Orbiter
Maybe another confusion of English and Metric units ?

 

[Luft]

There will be no way we will be able to make this trip in winter or when our batteries degrade.

These were probably the same kind of people that planned the Mars Climate Orbiter
Maybe another confusion of English and Metric units ?

:lol: Oh well... Let's hope someone realises the error before funding runs out.

 

[Luft]

Can anyone tell me a good place in Salem, OR to charge. It looks like they only have level 2 chargers there so I need to find a charger close to things to do. I figure I'll probably be there for a couple of hours. A charger close to a movie theatre would be great!

If you do know of a good charger can you tell me the cost to use/park?

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

are you saying you used a QC in Ridgefield? I've made the Shoreline to Olympia trip, about 75 miles in the winter with a few bars to spare but it required keeping speeds down around 55 and lots of prewarming and no heater use. heated seats make this much more enjoyable and still doable.

I just stopped by the DC QC in Tumwater. It lives!!

I'm on my way to Centralia to check out the one there.

Did you need a fob for this one? How is access to it handled presently?
I wonder if 62.5 miles from Seattle will work on a 80% charge at freeway speeds?

You do need a fob. Until AV decides pricing, charging is free.

The Centralia and the Ridgefield stations are also alive!

The Ridgefield station is located behind the Country Cafe. If you're coming from the north take exit 14, make a left go down to the next stop sign and make another left. The Cafe will be right there.

There needs to be a station between these two however. I charged to 98% in Centralia and when I got to the Ridgefield charger I was down to two fuel bars. I was behind a truck on I-5 that was going 55 mph.

At Ridgefield I charged to 98% and drove back to Centralia at 60 mph and arrived with one fuel bar.

There will be no way we will be able to make this trip in winter or when our batteries degrade.

 

[WetEV]

I suspect I have a FOB in the mail, as my account has a card# ID.
Card#:xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

This ID showed up on my account on Monday (plus or minus a day) last week. Another email arrived Friday.

We'd like to welcome you to the AV Charging Network along the West Coast Electric Highway. We are excited to have you as part of the network and know you will enjoy traveling the highways in your electric vehicle.

If you have not received your key fob yet, we want to assure you that it is in process, but due to the high volume of requests there are some slight delays. You should receive your key fob within 7 business days of your request.

We would also like to remind you to check the website http://www.evsolutions.com/avnetwork" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; to view active station locations.

If you have had the chance to use a charger we would love to know about your experience. Email us at [email protected].

Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you on the West Coast Electric Highway

Your Friends at AV.

Fob arrived today.

 

[Luft]

are you saying you used a QC in Ridgefield? I've made the Shoreline to Olympia trip, about 75 miles in the winter with a few bars to spare but it required keeping speeds down around 55 and lots of prewarming and no heater use. heated seats make this much more enjoyable and still doable.

Yes, I drove to Ridgefield and arrived with two fuel bars showing. I used the AV QC to charge to 98% then then made the trip back travelling at 60 mph and arrived with one fuel bar remaining.

The speed limit for a lot of that trip along I-5 is 70mph so I would be afraid of getting a ticket if I tried it at 55. I got lucky on the way down finding a slow moving truck. I just never bothered passing him.

Being that I arrived back at Centralia with only one fuel bar remaining I would be terrified to try it in cold weather. It was 60 degrees when I made the trip so I only lost about 5% of my range due to the cold. In winter we could have days where we lose 20%.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

thanks for the confirmation, that is great news. I wish it were easier to see what level a charging station was on the AV map. I'm pretty sure some are not QC's, but now I'm confused enough to call them tomorrow. oh, and BTW, I believe as long as you don't impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic around you, there is no minimum speed limit on highways. The right lane is for slow moving vehicles and I don't believe you have to feel at all guilty going 45-50mph if you need too as long as traffic can get around you. If traffic were heavy and fast that might be another matter, bottom line you want to be safe. I've been passed by police when I was going 45-50 mph up hill and not had an issue.

are you saying you used a QC in Ridgefield? I've made the Shoreline to Olympia trip, about 75 miles in the winter with a few bars to spare but it required keeping speeds down around 55 and lots of prewarming and no heater use. heated seats make this much more enjoyable and still doable.

Yes, I drove to Ridgefield and arrived with two fuel bars showing. I used the AV QC to charge to 98% then then made the trip back travelling at 60 mph and arrived with one fuel bar remaining.

The speed limit for a lot of that trip along I-5 is 70mph so I would be afraid of getting a ticket if I tried it at 55. I got lucky on the way down finding a slow moving truck. I just never bothered passing him.

Being that I arrived back at Centralia with only one fuel bar remaining I would be terrified to try it in cold weather. It was 60 degrees when I made the trip so I only lost about 5% of my range due to the cold. In winter we could have days where we lose 20%.

 

[Tagbert]

... I've made the Shoreline to Olympia trip, about 75 miles in the winter with a few bars to spare but it required keeping speeds down around 55 and lots of prewarming and no heater use. heated seats make this much more enjoyable and still doable.

While that might be technically "doable" I don't consider that acceptable and would not feel comfortable risking that. I would probably just have to use our ICE vehicle for a trip like that.

Its a lot like the trip from our home on the south end of Seattle to the closest northerly QC station at Burlington. I might be able to make it on a warm day with 100% charge but then getting back would be tricky if I just did the 80% QC charge. Sort of defeat the purpose of a quick charge if you have to wait around for another 90mins to top off the last 20%.

There are still some overlarge holes in the Washington range of the Electric Highway.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

just to be clear, it does not take 90 minutes to top off the last 20%, it takes 30 mins. To get a 100% charge takes about an hour from LBW. yes, there are some larger than ideal holes in the network, it sounds like locating and contracting sites was very challenging. seems like it's time to start leaning en mass on ecotality to cease the public L2 installs for a while and get focused on the QC's!

... I've made the Shoreline to Olympia trip, about 75 miles in the winter with a few bars to spare but it required keeping speeds down around 55 and lots of prewarming and no heater use. heated seats make this much more enjoyable and still doable.

While that might be technically "doable" I don't consider that acceptable and would not feel comfortable risking that. I would probably just have to use our ICE vehicle for a trip like that.

Its a lot like the trip from our home on the south end of Seattle to the closest northerly QC station at Burlington. I might be able to make it on a warm day with 100% charge but then getting back would be tricky if I just did the 80% QC charge. Sort of defeat the purpose of a quick charge if you have to wait around for another 90mins to top off the last 20%.

There are still some overlarge holes in the Washington range of the Electric Highway.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

For Centrailia, i am EASILY ok with an hour (average time spent in the area is about 90 minutes anyway...it is a good day to get out of there any sooner!) Ridgefield, i dont know anything about.

the DCFC is directly across the street from Burgerville. they are one of the greenest companies on the planet. they taylor their menu on locally produced ( in OR or WA) food. its all grass-fed beef. shakes flavored from fruits grown in the area, Tillamook cheese, etc. Yes, they are a "bit" higher (its EASILY $20 on a lunch for two) than a standard fast food restaurant but if you want to eat and reduce your footprint, its hard to beat them.

they would have been a perfect candidate for the DCFC but already host a Tesla charger.

plus you cant (unfortunately!) ignore the outlet Malls in which the station is positioned on the East end.