level 3 charging in san francisco

[bernie82]

I'm considering taking a trip with my Leaf from Sacramento to down San Francisco this coming weekend. I can get a level 3 charge in Vacaville. I'll need another level 3 charge in San Francisco in the Golden Gate Park area. Anyone know of any?

 

[asinclair]

The only level 3 I am aware of near SF is in the North bay (across the Golden Gate Bridge) in Fairfax at the Good Earth store. If you charge there, you can go up Hwy 101, then across Highway 37 and meet up with Highway 80 in Vallejo to get back to Sacramento. Try the PlugShare website and look for DC fast charge stations in Fairfax to get directions.

 

[oakwcj]

There is a Blink DCFC at the Concord Hilton.

 

[Spindoctor]

There are 0, Zero, Nada, NO L3 chargers anywhere in SF. (Despite assurances in 2010 that the city would install them "everywhere.")

 

[Nubo]

There is a Blink DCFC at the Concord Hilton.

Yes, but FYI I noticed they were about to put up electric gates to all the parking areas, including the spot where the charger is. According to the valet you can get a "free pass" for charging. But I haven't tried charging there since. so I don't know how much hassle or time that takes in actual practice.

I thought this charger was supposed to have free public access. Apparently "free" is not the same as "unhindered".

 

[Deleted member 3147]

There is a Blink DCFC at the Concord Hilton.

Yes, but FYI I noticed they were about to put up electric gates to all the parking areas, including the spot where the charger is. According to the valet you can get a "free pass" for charging. But I haven't tried charging there since. so I don't know how much hassle or time that takes in actual practice.

I thought this charger was supposed to have free public access. Apparently "free" is not the same as "unhindered".

My understanding from other posts is that paring is automatically free if you exit within 90 minutes. Given that, I don't mind having to get a ticket out of the machine to enter. In fact, I like that it's within a relatively protected area. Less like to suffer from copper thieves :!: :!: :!:

 

[Nubo]

There is a Blink DCFC at the Concord Hilton.

Yes, but FYI I noticed they were about to put up electric gates to all the parking areas, including the spot where the charger is. According to the valet you can get a "free pass" for charging. But I haven't tried charging there since. so I don't know how much hassle or time that takes in actual practice.

I thought this charger was supposed to have free public access. Apparently "free" is not the same as "unhindered".

My understanding from other posts is that paring is automatically free if you exit within 90 minutes. Given that, I don't mind having to get a ticket out of the machine to enter. In fact, I like that it's within a relatively protected area. Less like to suffer from copper thieves :!: :!: :!:

My understanding from the valet I spoke to was that the valet would provide a "free pass", but if it's just a matter of pulling a ticket then no prob. I'll have to check it out. My conversation was a few weeks ago when they were beginning to install the stuff so the fellow may not have had all the info.

 

[Nubo]

I charged at the Concord Hilton today. The electronic parking gates are indeed the ticket-dispensing type, and the first 3 hours of parking are complimentary. So no real hassle using the Blink QC.

 

[rmhyman]

I'm considering taking a trip with my Leaf from Sacramento to down San Francisco this coming weekend. I can get a level 3 charge in Vacaville. I'll need another level 3 charge in San Francisco in the Golden Gate Park area. Anyone know of any?

I tried this weekend as well but the Vacaville charger was down and they had no contact info to call to notify them. Found that weird. In short I got stuck in Vacaville... Had to use the level 2 chargers and just hitched a ride with a friend the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait 4-5 hours forit to charge. I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

 

[KJD]

I tried this weekend as well but the Vacaville charger was down and they had no contact info to call to notify them. Found that weird. In short I got stuck in Vacaville... Had to use the level 2 chargers and just hitched a ride with a friend the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait 4-5 hours forit to charge. I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

Being stranded is a pain. The RECARGO web site builds a nice list of charge stations in the area.
http://www.recargo.com/search?search=Vacaville+CA&commit=+++SEARCH+++" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They also list a contact number on QC station there. Not sure if this is the one you were trying to access or not.
http://www.recargo.com/sites/1138" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[planet4ever]

I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

Nearly all public L2 EVSEs are at least 30A. A few lower powered ones are sold, intended for use in private garages. It is the 2011 and 2012 LEAF on-board charger which is limited to 16A, and that makes the EVSEs effectively 16A when charging a LEAF. The 2013 LEAF has a faster on-board charger (optional on the S model) which runs at up to 27.5A.

Ray

 

[rmhyman]

I tried this weekend as well but the Vacaville charger was down and they had no contact info to call to notify them. Found that weird. In short I got stuck in Vacaville... Had to use the level 2 chargers and just hitched a ride with a friend the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait 4-5 hours forit to charge. I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

Being stranded is a pain. The RECARGO web site builds a nice list of charge stations in the area.
http://www.recargo.com/search?search=Vacaville+CA&commit=+++SEARCH+++" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They also list a contact number on QC station there. Not sure if this is the one you were trying to access or not.
http://www.recargo.com/sites/1138" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you look at the bottom, I did the last check-in. The number was not helpful and don't believe it is the number to anyone who could help. I think I left a message telling them that the charger was down.

 

[rmhyman]

I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

Nearly all public L2 EVSEs are at least 30A. A few lower powered ones are sold, intended for use in private garages. It is the 2011 and 2012 LEAF on-board charger which is limited to 16A, and that makes the EVSEs effectively 16A when charging a LEAF. The 2013 LEAF has a faster on-board charger (optional on the S model) which runs at up to 27.5A.

Ray

Thanks for the clarification.

Ransford

 

[Phoenix]

I'm considering taking a trip with my Leaf from Sacramento to down San Francisco this coming weekend. I can get a level 3 charge in Vacaville. I'll need another level 3 charge in San Francisco in the Golden Gate Park area. Anyone know of any?

I tried this weekend as well but the Vacaville charger was down and they had no contact info to call to notify them. Found that weird. In short I got stuck in Vacaville... Had to use the level 2 chargers and just hitched a ride with a friend the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait 4-5 hours forit to charge. I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

I used the Vacaville QC on Saturday, April 13th around 8-8:30 AM and it worked fine! Initially, I had some learning problems with the first screen that said to touch the screen. Kept touching the screen and thought it didn't work. But, I think I finally touched it in the right place and the screen moved to the instructions, next and other screens.

What exactly was the problem when you used it on Sunday? Describe what happened.

 

[rmhyman]

I'm considering taking a trip with my Leaf from Sacramento to down San Francisco this coming weekend. I can get a level 3 charge in Vacaville. I'll need another level 3 charge in San Francisco in the Golden Gate Park area. Anyone know of any?

I tried this weekend as well but the Vacaville charger was down and they had no contact info to call to notify them. Found that weird. In short I got stuck in Vacaville... Had to use the level 2 chargers and just hitched a ride with a friend the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait 4-5 hours forit to charge. I noticed that they had a 240V/32A charger there. I thought most L2 ran at 16A. So I found that interesting

I used the Vacaville QC on Saturday, April 13th around 8-8:30 AM and it worked fine! Initially, I had some learning problems with the first screen that said to touch the screen. Kept touching the screen and thought it didn't work. But, I think I finally touched it in the right place and the screen moved to the instructions, next and other screens.

What exactly was the problem when you used it on Sunday? Describe what happened.

If it worked when you used it, then maybe I was culprit in putting out of order... This is what happened.

I plugged the charger into the ChAdEmo outlet, and didn't hear a response from the charger or my car. I pressed on the the touch screen to get no response. I pressed the start button many times and didn't hear anything.

My next action must have put it out of order...

I pulled the "Emergency" button in the top left corner and the screen lit up telling to return the charger to the base. That's when I got the "Out of Order" message and request to enter system administrator address.

Well I was the one who broke, I will do what I can to see back up and running. I will see who I can contact to get it back up ASAP. Also I would like to request that maybe they place some instructions and/or contact info on the unit so that newbies like me won't mess it up. That's pretty much our only lifeline between Sac and SFO. Thanks for at least letting me know it was operational earlier that day.

Ransford

 

[TonyWilliams]

If it worked when you used it, then maybe I was culprit in putting out of order... This is what happened.

I plugged the charger into the ChAdEmo outlet, and didn't hear a response from the charger or my car. I pressed on the the touch screen to get no response. I pressed the start button many times and didn't hear anything.

My next action must have put it out of order...

I pulled the "Emergency" button...

This happened a lot on the Fuji unit in San Juan Capistrano. It now has a glass cover and instruction stickers.

 

[TEG]

I charged at the Concord Hilton today. The electronic parking gates are indeed the ticket-dispensing type, and the first 3 hours of parking are complimentary. So no real hassle using the Blink QC.

That actually works out really well to discourage people from leaving their car parked at the QC too long.

 

[DaveEV]

My next action must have put it out of order...

I pulled the "Emergency" button in the top left corner and the screen lit up telling to return the charger to the base.

Guys - never ever press the emergency button on a CHAdeMO unit! Doing so will require a hard reset of the unit. As Tony suggests these things really need better labels/instructions to keep people from pushing the button inadvertently. And it needs to be known how to reset the unit when the button is pressed accidentally.

This is probably the #1 cause of CHAdeMO station downtime - I really have to wonder if the CHAdeMO guys did any usability testing with the general public on these things...

The Tesla Supercharger on the other hand is dead simple - no buttons to press, no levers to pull, just plug in and charge!

 

[EVDRIVER]

MNL OT chatter in perfect form. There are no L3 stations in SF but this thread will go on and on and on and on..... Then there will be yet another thread about the same thing that will repeat. The irony is that it never about the topic which is why this forum is so full of useless repeated threads. It's like a chatter box. At least the title is clear and legible.