Level 3 (public quick charge stations)

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johnr

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2010
Messages
884
Location
Exeter, CA
This topic is to share any news or info on level 3 public quick charge stations.
(I didn't see any topic specifically about level 3 chargers - sorry if I overlooked one)

To start things off, here's an announcement from ECOtality about their new rapid charge stations to be revealed this Wednesday:
ECOtality to Unveil New Fast Charging Technology at the Business of Plugging In 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Monday, October 11, 2010 – ECOtality, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECTY), a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, announced today the company will reveal its commercial DC Fast Charging station at the Business of Plugging In 2010 during a press conference on Wednesday, October 13th at 12:30 p.m. at the ECOtality booth (#9). The charging station— designed by the global innovation firm frog design—will be on public display for the first time at Wednesday’s press conference.

ECOtality CEO Jonathan Read and Don Karner, President of ECOtality North America, will discuss how the company’s smart commercial chargers will provide fast, efficient charging on the go, and help fuel consumer use of electric vehicles. Paul Bradley, Executive Creative Director for frog design will speak alongside ECOtality on the charging station’s design.

ECOtality will begin deployment at commercial locations as early as March 2011, as part of The EV Project. ECOtality is project manager of The EV Project, and will oversee the installation of 15,000 commercial and residential charging stations in 16 cities and major metropolitan areas in six states. The project will provide an EV infrastructure to support the deployment of 8,300 EVs. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8 million, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The grants are matched by private investment, bringing the total value of the project to approximately $230 million.

WHAT: ECOtality Press Conference for the new DC Fast Charging station

DATE: Wednesday, October 13, 2010

TIME: 12:30-1:00 p.m. EDT

LOCATION: The Business of Plugging In, Booth #9
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
400 Renaissance Drive
Detroit, MI 48243
They have contracted with the same firm that designed their level 2 blink charging station. Will be interesting to see how they've approached the design for the level 3 charger - I assume it will resemble the blink evse in many ways.
 
I know there is a newer thread than this, but I'll be damned if I can find it. Mods - if you know the one I'm thinking about, could you move this post to it?

I heard last night (but am yet to confirm it with them) that my PD - Connell in Costa Mesa - is putting in a DC Fast Charger to compliment the L2 chargers they already have installed.

Possibly something to do with them being the regional tech center for Nissan, I'd guess.

Will try to have more information today.
 
mwalsh said:
I know there is a newer thread than this, but I'll be damned if I can find it. Mods - if you know the one I'm thinking about, could you move this post to it?

I heard last night (but am yet to confirm it with them) that my PD - Connell in Costa Mesa - is putting in a DC Fast Charger to compliment the L2 chargers they already have installed.

Possibly something to do with them being the regional tech center for Nissan, I'd guess.

Will try to have more information today.

Nice! I find that L3's location very interesting.
 
Confirmed by Mark at Connell - they are going to be having a L3 charger!

He also said they have a LEAF right now - one owned by Nissan corporate and used on a regional basis. So while he's not in a position to give any test drives in it, he said he can show it to customers, and that anyone who wants to stop this weekend to see it/sit in it is welcome.
 
That is a great location for a L3 charger - it's about 70-80 mi from San Diego (depending on exactly where you are) which means it will make trips to/from Los Angeles a non-issue.

I assume that this is the location close to the 405 on 2850 Harbor Dr?
 
drees said:
That is a great location for a L3 charger - it's about 70-80 mi from San Diego (depending on exactly where you are) which means it will make trips to/from Los Angeles a non-issue.

I assume that this is the location close to the 405 on 2850 Harbor Dr?

You'll have to stop twice, and from Encinitas you'll barely make it. Its about 70 miles from Encinitas, and if you stop when you get there, you'll get another charge to 80% to roam around, and then if you stop on the way back, you get charged back up to 80% for the drive home. 80% charge will barely get you home in Encinitas. I don't think folks in San Diego can make it. And you'd have to be driving very slowly on the freeway to do it at that. But I do agree, it is a great start, and we need to see a few more scattered around along the major highways. This is a good location for a L3. Need another one in Oceanside to make it work for all of SD.
 
Yeah, sorry, I was thinking of my typical drive to LA which usually means I'm there for the weekend so I would only need to quick charge once to get there, trickle charge overnight and then quick charge once on the way back.

Of course, a road where I could travel at a constant 45-50mph would allow me to get there on one charge (my common trip is 105 mi). It would take 2h 15m which is only slightly longer than traveling 70mph (1h 30m) and stopping once for 30min to quick charge.
 
My company (Real AC Power) is working on a Mobile Level 3 charging truck.

The charger comes to you vs you making it to the charger. This would be great for AAA!

Great video of the system in action below:

http://www.realacpower.com/plugincarolina.html
 
Vincent said:
These guys are working on a Mobile Level 3 charging truck.

The charger comes to you vs you making it to the charger. This would be great for AAA!

Great video of the system in action below:

http://www.realacpower.com/plugincarolina.html
Note: Big blue oil drums surrounding truck in the video. Props? Source of electricity? Both?
 
KeiJidosha said:
Vincent said:
These guys are working on a Mobile Level 3 charging truck.

The charger comes to you vs you making it to the charger. This would be great for AAA!

Great video of the system in action below:

http://www.realacpower.com/plugincarolina.html
Note: Big blue oil drums surrounding truck in the video. Props? Source of electricity? Both?


Props actually. This was shot at a BP gas station to unveil a Level 2 EV charging station. The drums represented the fuel savings tied to EV use and charging. The truck uses about 1 gallon of diesel fuel to provide a full Level 3 charge to a Level 3-capable EV.
 
Vincent said:
The truck uses about 1 gallon of diesel fuel to provide a full Level 3 charge to a Level 3-capable EV.
Wow! That's much more efficient than a typical "range extender", such as the Chevy Volt has.
 
abasile said:
Vincent said:
The truck uses about 1 gallon of diesel fuel to provide a full Level 3 charge to a Level 3-capable EV.
Wow! That's much more efficient than a typical "range extender", such as the Chevy Volt has.

also takes about 20 minutes to provide a full Level 3 charge, when EV starting from empty.
 
Vincent said:
The truck uses about 1 gallon of diesel fuel to provide a full Level 3 charge to a Level 3-capable EV.
That would seem to be impossible given that the most efficient generation plants are only about 60% efficient. Your typical generator is usually between 30-40% efficient. Given that a gallon of diesel has about the energy equivalent of 38 kWh of electricity, I'd expect it to take at least 2 gallons of diesel to charge a Leaf.

In other words - using diesel to run a generator to charge the Leaf should be very similar to to energy efficiency of your typical VW TDI.
 
drees said:
Vincent said:
The truck uses about 1 gallon of diesel fuel to provide a full Level 3 charge to a Level 3-capable EV.
That would seem to be impossible given that the most efficient generation plants are only about 60% efficient. Your typical generator is usually between 30-40% efficient. Given that a gallon of diesel has about the energy equivalent of 38 kWh of electricity, I'd expect it to take at least 2 gallons of diesel to charge a Leaf.

In other words - using diesel to run a generator to charge the Leaf should be very similar to to energy efficiency of your typical VW TDI.

The generator that powers the Level 3 charger is 95% efficient. It is fully integrated into the truck and uses the truck's engine to act as the power source for the Level 3 charger. The generator is a 60kW 3-phase unit. Note that the vehicle used to test the mobile application of the DC charger was the Mitsubishi iMiev. Providing a full Level 3 charge (85% of full battery capacity) on the iMiev required 20 minutes and used one gallon of diesel.I know that the battery pack on the Leaf has a different capacity.

*In the interest of full-disclosure, I work for Real Power, the company that created the Mobile DC Charging prototype vehicle.

We have not had a chance or an opportunity to charge a Leaf as of yet. It will be interesting to obtain some data once we obtain a test vehicle.

P.S. If anyone is located in the Midwest and has a Leaf, we'd love to have an opportunity to charge one.

Just pm me.
 
Vincent said:
The generator that powers the Level 3 charger is 95% efficient. It is fully integrated into the truck and uses the truck's engine to act as the power source for the Level 3 charger. The generator is a 60kW 3-phase unit. Note that the vehicle used to test the mobile application of the DC charger was the Mitsubishi iMiev. Providing a full Level 3 charge (85% of full battery capacity) on the iMiev required 20 minutes and used one gallon of diesel.I know that the battery pack on the Leaf has a different capacity.
There is no way you are converting 95% of the energy of a gallon of diesel into electricity (~38 kWh -> ~36 kWh.) for one reason alone - the truck's engine from which your generator draw's it's kinetic energy to convert to electricity is no more than 45% efficient at it's optimal loading point and most likely less than that since it's not optimized for power generation.

But for the sake of the argument let's assume it's 45% efficient so it's able to convert a gallon of diesel (38 kWh equivalent) into 17 kWh equivalent of kinetic energy. Then your generator which is 95% efficient is able to covert the 17 kWh into 16 kWh of electricity. (This still ignores any conversion losses of the DC quick charger itself which must convert the 3-phase AC to DC for the car - this should be 5% or less, though)

Still quite a bit short of a full charge for the Leaf, but enough to drive it about 50 miles or so - basically equivalent to the appx 50 mpg a TDI gets on the highway. Can't complain about that if you are stranded and need a mobile quick charge to get you to the nearest fixed charging point, though.

It would be interesting to see the official specs, though.

Vincent said:
*In the interest of full-disclosure, I work for Real Power, the company that created the Mobile DC Charging prototype vehicle.
Funny - your original post indicated that you were a third party. Might want to update that.
 
Mobile L3 is cool and all. But EV charge capable emergency AAA trucks, roaming the freeway, are not a substitute for permanent QC installed in useful locations. The current lack of public charging infrastructure teaches new EV owners that the LEAF is less useful than it could be.
 
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