New EVSE maps website http://electric.carstations.com

[Jimmydreams]

lets face it, we are bombarded by these tools now

"Kids eat free"
"buffets noon to 3 PM mon-fri"
"buy one get 2nd ½ off"
"Free EV charging"

look at that!! it blends right in!!

WHAT blends right in???

[garygid]

The eventual distributed-charging solution is like streets and pavement, simple, weatherproof, safe plugin 240v (and possibly 120v) sockets available to every public parking spot. If supported by road-use taxes, like the roads themselves, they will not require billing or any expensive, high-function, credit-card "EVSE" for each parking spot.

There might still be private parking lots, with some additional charging arrangements. Perhaps valet park-n-charge, with an additional fee for the valet service, which might also offer QC services for those grab-n-run shoppers.

Yes, QC charging must be able to operate SAFELY, fill to at least 95%, and be properly regulated by the car's BMS to avoid any abuse or unusual damage to the battery.

Wherever one drives, one simply plugs in their own cord (possibly with one 120/240-socket adapter), capable of using either 120 or 240v to power the car's charger. For now, something like the "universal" 120/240v version of the "included" L1 EVSE.

Then, for longer trips, Quick-E-Fill locations will be necessary, near/on the transportation corridors, used for extended-range trips.

Then, we will have a relatively inexpensive, reasonably efficient, charge-everywhere infrastructure.

$100 per parking spot seems possible, but $3000 is much more of a stretch, especially considering the cost of on-going maintenance required.

In any case, an idea.

[DaveinOlyWA]

ok someone probably already posted this one, but what the heck!!

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/12/02/hi ... r-charger/

[ranchleaf]

Someone earlier mentioned a possible future issue of people going to locations and expecting to charge, but finding it in constant use. A perfect example of this what will happen right away is free parking at the L.A. airport. Even now, with just Rav4's, a few mini-e's and rangers I have seen the parking nearly full. Imagine when a few thousand leafs and volts hit the L.A. area.

Eventually on the site and mobile app, I hope to alleviate some of that through some social networking so people could easily post and you can get on your mobile app, that they are sitting at a location for X number of hours/days, so you know that a certain location is being used. There are no timers currently on any EVSE that I know of that will tell you how long someone is going to be charging.

[KeiJidosha]

There are no timers currently on any EVSE that I know of that will tell you how long someone is going to be charging.

I put this card on my dash so others know how to get hold of me and how long I need to charge. But connectivity would help.

http://www.evchargernews.com/chargeprotocolcard.pdf

[ranchleaf]

There are no timers currently on any EVSE that I know of that will tell you how long someone is going to be charging.

I put this card on my dash so others know how to get hold of me and how long I need to charge. But connectivity would help.

http://www.evchargernews.com/chargeprotocolcard.pdf

The card is great as a starter for sure, but as you noted about connectivity, being able to get it on your phone or portable device it will be great to know before you show up at the site. Could even add options like OK to pull connector out after X number of hours as well.

[SeattleBlueLeaf]

i think that it will be months if not at least a year before any area is inundated with Leafs to cause a line up at the charging stations. hopefully synergy of the idea will have taken off by then and many many more will be in the works. i still fully believe that the private sector will take off with the idea when they see the level of adoption of the technology

My thoughts exactly.

If someone snapped their fingers and suddenly 10% of the vehicles on the road were EVs, then yes, infrastructure problems would be all over the place. But the buildup and demand for charging stations, opportunistic charging etc., will occur slowly. Sure, SOMETIMES the Costco charging station will be full....but when it becomes commonplace, then Costco (for example) will hear about it and make the appropriate changes.

Agree fully and I think worth stating that the need for opportunistic charging 5, 10, 15 years from now is completely different if the battery technology provides 300 miles per charge. Lots of things moving around in the technology and I think this will all work itself out pretty well.

[ranchleaf]

i think that it will be months if not at least a year before any area is inundated with Leafs to cause a line up at the charging stations. hopefully synergy of the idea will have taken off by then and many many more will be in the works. i still fully believe that the private sector will take off with the idea when they see the level of adoption of the technology

My thoughts exactly.

If someone snapped their fingers and suddenly 10% of the vehicles on the road were EVs, then yes, infrastructure problems would be all over the place. But the buildup and demand for charging stations, opportunistic charging etc., will occur slowly. Sure, SOMETIMES the Costco charging station will be full....but when it becomes commonplace, then Costco (for example) will hear about it and make the appropriate changes.

Agree fully and I think worth stating that the need for opportunistic charging 5, 10, 15 years from now is completely different if the battery technology provides 300 miles per charge. Lots of things moving around in the technology and I think this will all work itself out pretty well.

Having been an ev driver for a decade now and also driving and charging when there were just a few hundred left in the bay area I can tell you all how surprised you all are going to be how often they'll be used. Particularly the popular ones, like Costco(as you mentioned) or anything near good stuff like restaurants, coffee shops, etc. Remember the airport and other places like it will be hammered due to free parking.

Also here is why I am so excited about the carstations site. It can be more than just where sites are. As I mentioned before we hope to allow folks to use current technology to "check-in" at these sites, letting people know where and how long they'll be charging. Remember, people will be be spending significant time at these stations. What is occurring here at this forum site is only the tip of the iceberg of what will occur in person for the first few years as far as community is concerned. In addition to knowing that popular site A is being used for 2 hours so we can find another one quickly to charge at; I think we'll all find quickly we'll want to know if there is a friendly hanging out(checked in) on EVSE 1 so we can also sit and chat while we charge at EVSE 2

this is the reason i got involved with the carstations.com site and now will be running it. having dreamed of this day coming for years I want to see good, fun accurate info about these charge sites. Not just boring coordinates, but the interesting info that's going to make it truly useful for everyone. I believe we'll be going back to the future in our EV travels, taking a breath and making some new friends along the way.

David

[TimeHorse]

comment on duplicity; when talking about any software app, there are a lot of apps that supposedly do the same thing. now how well they work across multiple platforms, user interface, server reliability, etc. is really not quantifiable in advance. so to say "been there, done that" to something that has just started is a bit presumptuous at this point.

I think you're mixing up data with interface. Interfaces can change but the data is the same no matter the interface. Data like where a station is, is it in service and level are all pieces of information that seem more cloud oriented than centralized. I would much rather see a joint effort to create some kind of Google spreadsheet or some such purely data-driven back end that all front-ends use to present the different interfaces to the data they wish to present. Sharing the data collection goal benefits everyone and allows each site to add their own special bells and whistles. It you all agree to use the same source data, then you all benefit from the shared information equally and you can truly compete on aesthetics.

[AndyH]

Also here is why I am so excited about the carstations site. It can be more than just where sites are. As I mentioned before we hope to allow folks to use current technology to "check-in" at these sites, letting people know where and how long they'll be charging.

The last thing I'm going to want to do when looking for a charge is get into a "Facebook/Twitter-wanna-be" state of mind and let me friends know that I'm cooling my heels at exit 14 waiting for the car in front of me to move. Am I missing the gene that requires I regularly tweet?