San Francisco Bay Area Quick Chargers Getting them sooner

[glemieux]

Anyone heard if any of these stations are live or not?

In the midst of all this love for 350, where's Ecotality update? Wasn't the latest that commissioning for the VWERL one supposed to be done last week?

That reminds me, I should also go see how Nissan Santa Rosa is doing on their L3...

 

[yoyofella]

Anyone heard if any of these stations are live or not?

In the midst of all this love for 350, where's Ecotality update? Wasn't the latest that commissioning for the VWERL one supposed to be done last week?

That reminds me, I should also go see how Nissan Santa Rosa is doing on their L3...

According to BlinkMap, the VWERL L3 is not up yet. If I email Jason Smith from Ecotality, he'll probably blame it on the rain again :roll:

 

[Ingineer]

Actually, the first public QC in both California and in the US as a whole was in Vacaville, but it was shut off (as it remains) for public use a scant few months after installation.

-Phil

 

[EVDrive]

Withholding quick EV charging from the public. Just another reason to hate PG&E. They make it so easy.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Actually, the first public QC in both California and in the US as a whole was in Vacaville.....

Was it ever actually public? Without checking in with PG&E, or with special approval, or some other not-quite-public nuance?

 

[Randy]

Withholding quick EV charging from the public. Just another reason to hate PG&E. They make it so easy.

Never mind that the CPUC prohibited utilities from owning public charging infrastructure in a decision last summer...

 

[Nubo]

...CSM said they have/are changing their Walgreen L2s to use this card also. I used a Chargepoint card at one location before, but she said, no more. ...

Does this mean my Chargepoint card will stop working with chargepoint L2 stations, or that they will accept both cards, only Walgreen units are converting, etc...?

Sorry, just trying to figure out what's what with my chargepoint card.

 

[Ingineer]

Actually, the first public QC in both California and in the US as a whole was in Vacaville.....

Was it ever actually public? Without checking in with PG&E, or with special approval, or some other not-quite-public nuance?

Yes, it was operational for some time before they shut it off. As of a few weeks ago, It's still there and operational, but shut off.

-Phil

 

[TonyWilliams]

Actually, the first public QC in both California and in the US as a whole was in Vacaville.....

Was it ever actually public? Without checking in with PG&E, or with special approval, or some other not-quite-public nuance?

Yes, it was operational for some time before they shut it off. As of a few weeks ago, It's still there and operational, but shut off.

-Phil

Installed May 2010

Available March 6, 2011, but never "open to the public" and locked up March 30, 2011.

 

[EVDrive]

Withholding quick EV charging from the public. Just another reason to hate PG&E. They make it so easy.

Never mind that the CPUC prohibited utilities from owning public charging infrastructure in a decision last summer...

Then PG&E should give it to the city. Then they won't own it and we could use it. It was a gift to PG&E anyway.

 

[Ingineer]

I've used it several times. The parking lot where it's installed is packed full of solar, so they probably are generating a LOT of excess power that's never used on-site. Having that much solar is a neat way to get around the demand fees. (Or course if you are the utility company, you don't have to charge yourself!)

It's also in a great location for taking trips from Bay Area - Sacramento.

-Phil

 

[tailgate1234]

Anyone heard if any of these stations are live or not?

In the midst of all this love for 350, where's Ecotality update? Wasn't the latest that commissioning for the VWERL one supposed to be done last week?

That reminds me, I should also go see how Nissan Santa Rosa is doing on their L3...

According to BlinkMap, the VWERL L3 is not up yet. If I email Jason Smith from Ecotality, he'll probably blame it on the rain again :roll:

As of tonight, it is not yet operational. I went and checked it out in person.

 

[TEG]

(VW ERL)... It looks fully installed, just not powered up.

By the way, the L2s there seem to be permanently occupied by VW & Audi test vehicles now.

 

[GoingGreener]

...CSM said they have/are changing their Walgreen L2s to use this card also. I used a Chargepoint card at one location before, but she said, no more. ...

Does this mean my Chargepoint card will stop working with chargepoint L2 stations, or that they will accept both cards, only Walgreen units are converting, etc...?

Sorry, just trying to figure out what's what with my chargepoint card.

Got our 350Green CharJit card in the mail today. It doesn't have any bar codes like the Blink and ChargePoint ones. Pic of front below. The back just has a support phone # smack in the middle and a smaller sized 10 digit number at the bottom right hand corner. It came in an info brochure including 480v station charging instructions.

Won't be able to test it at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto soon.

So took it to the same Walgreens we've used before to test on the L2. The CharJit card didn't work there. Seems like they haven't made the card switch yet because our ChargePoint card still works. Not sure if at some point both cards will work to help with the transition. Just keep all your cards handy!

Sorry... first attempt at posting pics. The card is super white and black in color and a regular credit card size.

Just realized how I like the Chargepoint keychain ones. Almost the same size as the pic above and it would be easy to keep all the different ones together.

 

[ericsf]

(VW ERL)... It looks fully installed, just not powered up.

By the way, the L2s there seem to be permanently occupied by VW & Audi test vehicles now.

Some photos of that

 

[MaryC]

At least the QC connectors are out of their boxes and inserted into the QC dock. That is progress from when I checked in on it last week. Good pics.

 

[GoingGreener]

Wow, dual quick charge ports?! Also, maybe when one might be down, the other will still work.

How is charging structured? Does VW own this Blink and would have priority in using them/parking their cars in the spaces/allowing the public to use?

Actually, do any prototype EVs have Chademo ports? I thought only Mitsubishi and Nissan are behind it?

The Blink, VW Golfs and Audi A3 look nice! Thanks for the pics!

 

[ericsf]

Wow, dual quick charge ports?! Also, maybe when one might be down, the other will still work.

How is charging structured? Does VW own this Blink and would have priority in using them/parking their cars in the spaces/allowing the public to use?

Actually, do any prototype EVs have Chademo ports? I thought only Mitsubishi and Nissan are behind it?

The Blink, VW Golfs and Audi A3 look nice! Thanks for the pics!

No QC visible on the Golf nor the A3. L2 (J1772) only where the gasoline used to go (the picture are a bit dark, sorry). Not surprising since VW is on the SAE camp. The fact that a ChaDeMo is being built in front of their building is interesting. But it could be the work of Edison rather than VW.

http://gm-volt.com/2011/10/14/gm-and-other-automakers-agree-on-proposed-level-iii-charging-standard/

Af for the using the charging stations, those seem to be constantly "in use". The Network is listing them as "unrestricted" but if the VAG prototypes are parked there 24/7 they are as good as "restricted".

 

[edatoakrun]

"ericsf
...Af for the using the charging stations, those seem to be constantly "in use". The Network is listing them as "unrestricted" but if the VAG prototypes are parked there 24/7 they are as good as "restricted".

Who cares about more slow L2s?

At least, it looks like, they didn't put the L2s within cable range of the DC, like most or all (?) of the Oregon/Washington stations did, so you won't get PHEVed at this DC.

So, does the DC charge one or 2 BEVs at a time?

If not capable of charging both at 50 kW, will it begin to charge the second, when the kW pulled by the first, tapers near full charge?

 

[ericsf]

"ericsf
...Af for the using the charging stations, those seem to be constantly "in use". The Network is listing them as "unrestricted" but if the VAG prototypes are parked there 24/7 they are as good as "restricted".

Who cares about more slow L2s?

At least, it looks like, they didn't put the L2s within cable range of the DC, like most or all (?) of the Oregon/Washington stations did, so you won't get PHEVed at this DC.

So, does the DC charge one or 2 BEVs at a time?

If not capable of charging both at 50 kW, will it begin to charge the second, when the kW pulled by the first, tapers near full charge?

When I was in Phoenix a few months ago I saw the same Blink QC "in action" at their headquarters. The large screen on top had a video rolling which explained that only one car can be charged at a time and if a second car is plugged, it would automatically starts when the first one is done. I'm assuming this one will work the same way.