Quick Charge L3 in LA, San Bernardino, Riverside Counties

Yeah, there are quite a few reports on Plugshare about chargers overheating, and it is not even summer yet. I don't remember such widespread issues last summer. I did see the vent on the bottom left clogged with dirt in several places, wondering if this has any role. After all the fans seem to be on 24/7 sucking dirty air in constantly, so I wouldn't be surprised if it is just a matter of keeping the equipment clean.

91040 said:

At eleven days shy of 3 years and 60 miles short of 71k, I am not past the adventure stage.

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I'm only at 18 months/16k, but am also trying to stay "forever young". LOL

Yesterday we had plans to be in Claremont and Pasadena, and drove the LEAF 161 miles in total. Thanks to the availability of L2 charging at our destinations, we didn't have to actually wait for a charge until we reached the QC at the 7 Eleven in San Bernardino. This was the only available QC in the area, as according to PlugShare, all three Nissan dealers' (Fontana, San Bernardino, Metro in Redlands) QC units aren't currently available!

We were thus taking a chance on a single point of failure, as the alternative would have been 3+ hours of L2 (at 3.3 kW). Even so, after I selected "100%" on the Blink, it once again stopped upon reaching 90% indicated, at 66% in GIDs which is a little below our car's "80%". After some L2 charging (and shopping) at the Redlands Walmart, we were good to go for our 4900' climb back to our mountain home.

The moral of the story is, if you're willing to take chances on a single QC working (I am thankful that the land developer had it installed), then it's still feasible to QC and then drive into the San Bernardino Mountains. With a newer LEAF, the "90%" charge might be adequate by itself, with no additional L2.

The DC QC is now operational and open to the public at LADWP's substation at Riverside Drive and Hazeltine in Sherman Oaks. It is located off the alleyway behind the station building, accessible 24 hours/7 days. Bloomingdales signage across Riverside Dr. is clearly visible from this spot, and in fact mall restrooms are convenient and can be accessed within a 10-minute walk, even going the long way around to Bloomingdales entrance (but a back exit from the restrooms opens onto Riverside Dr., a much shorter walk). Trader Joe's and a Chase Bank branch are even closer, directly across Hazeltine from the DWP substation. Not that I encourage leaving your vehicle while fast charging, but if you park to accommodate other vehicles, allowing them to access the QC, a brief visit to the restroom or TJ's would do no harm.

timhebb said:

Not that I encourage leaving your vehicle while fast charging, but if you park to accommodate other vehicles, allowing them to access the QC, a brief visit to the restroom or TJ's would do no harm.

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Would still be good to leave a note. I have one that I clip to the charge port latch that says I'll be right back, yet still has my mobile number on it.

EvGO will start billing for their subscription plans in July because "Los Angeles now has 15 Freedom Station® sites". This is bogus because they are counting the ones in Ventura county and Palm Springs. The web-site says "you won’t be billed a monthly fee or variable usage fees until there are at least 15 Freedom Station® sites in the Los Angeles Basin". According to Wikipedia at least half of the stations they deployed are not in the LA Basin. Anyone else senses false advertisement?

Valdemar said:

EvGO will start billing for their subscription plans in July because "Los Angeles now has 15 Freedom Station® sites". This is bogus because they are counting the ones in Ventura county and Palm Springs...

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14 of the sites are within 60 miles of downtown LA. Cabazon site is usefully placed on the way to Palm Springs with Corona/Chino/San Bernardino sites on the 91/60/10 freeways providing DCQC < 50 miles apart. If technically wrong, do they get credit for useful placement at desirable locations?

They do. Although I wish they installed a site close to the 118/405 intersection instead of one of the somewhat redundant Tarzana/Woodland Hills locations.

Valdemar said:

They do. Although I wish they installed a site close to the 118/405 intersection instead of one of the somewhat redundant Tarzana/Woodland Hills locations.

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Yes, the 5/405/118 Bermuda triangle of no charging is an obvious spot (Coco's on Sepulveda at the 118?). Roxford off the 5 would also be a good crossroad near 5/405/118/210/14 and help those going over the hill to Palmdale or Bakersfield. But because eVgo likes mall locations, I expect one to end up in Valencia at Magic Mountain Parkway first.

Hats off to LADWP for installing a QC at their 1394 S. Sepulveda Blvd. substation in Westwood.

As I wrote on PlugShare: "Superb location: Westwood, but not in the highest-density traffic area, rather on nearby Sepulveda Blvd. with relatively easy access and entry. Also convenient access to and from the nearby 405 fwy. 24-hour access. Almost makes up for DWP's epic fail installing an identical CHAdeMo unit in a restricted-access underground parking garage at UCLA a mile or so away (probably flooded in last summer's notorious broken water main incident). Thanks, DWP! Hope this is a harbinger of your EV charging station project's future."

Perhaps DWP has learned something from the disastrous results of their EV charging collaborations with educational institutions UCLA (see above) and USC, where a CHAdeMo unit is installed on the premises of a parking facility where ONLY USC-permitted vehicles are allowed. Furthermore (having driven my Leaf there, violating the prohibition to satisfy my curiosity) the damn thing is by default switched OFF, rendering it not only inaccessible to the general public but also effectively out of order even for those who can get to it! WTF?!

In these days of EVGo usurping control of most Nissan dealership QC's, the few fee-free DWP CHAdeMo chargers sprinkled around town are even more welcomed and appreciated. Keep 'em coming, DWP!

There is nothing wrong with EVgo if you can justify their monthly plan. I find myself giving them preference over free alternatives as the latter are more likely to be found occupied or broken. However I suspect that the EZ charge program will start affecting availability at some point.

It absolutely sickens me that the 6th St. Blink QC in Azusa has been down for TWO MONTHS now with no promise of it ever getting fixed. This was a symbol of pride for my hometown and now this vandalized eyesore lays dormant. Interestingly enough, the instructional video still loops even though half of the large display is a mass of spider webs from a brick thrown through the center.

I tried calling twice and was on hold for 40 minutes each time with me being "the first in line", but nobody ever picked up.

Sad.

z0ner said:

This was a symbol of pride for my hometown and now this vandalized eyesore lays dormant. Interestingly enough, the instructional video still loops even though half of the large display is a mass of spider webs from a brick thrown through the center.

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I'm amazed that anyone thought it was a good idea to put a large TV in them at all. Just asking for trouble and what a waste of resources.

z0ner said:

I tried calling twice and was on hold for 40 minutes each time with me being "the first in line", but nobody ever picked up.

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Try sending an email or contacting them online. I did so a few weeks ago and someone responded.

z0ner said:

Sad.

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Even though I'm really dislike eVgo rates, at least they appear to be making an effort to keeping their network running. I'm almost hoping that eVgo will just buy out CCGI, though I'd rather someone else did to keep more competition in the market. It's only a matter of time before CCGI runs out of money.

TomT said:

I disagree. I believe that Tesla has a very strong motivation to keep them all working and to grow the network. It's Nissan that is lacking motivation it would seem...

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What gives more hope to me is how quick Kia has been .... installing QC's at dealerships even befor they have cars to sell in some instances !! Compare THAT to Nissan.

z0ner said:

It absolutely sickens me that the 6th St. Blink QC in Azusa .....snip....

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say no more

TomT said:

I disagree. I believe that Tesla has a very strong motivation to keep them all working and to grow the network.

walterbays said:

I'm skeptical of the long term prospects for Tesla's supercharger network.

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I agree Tesla has a very strong repetitional incentive to keep their Supercharger network in flawless order. When individual units go down, Tesla usually knows about it immediately because they are fully networked. A user can report a problem by calling in a report and talking to a real person 24x7. If a whole SC station goes dark, people could become stranded, because out in small towns there is no alternative, short of a multi-day stay on Level 1, so problems get fixed really fast. In small towns I have never seen less than 4 stalls; in urban locations I have seen up to 12 stalls. Tesla is selling not just cars, but a system that can reliably deliver long-range transport without gasoline. They have begun opening SC centers in major urban centers much closer together than is needed by the 85kWh battery because they want their network ready for both the range and quantity of the Gen3 car.

I know "free" often leads to abuse, but the Tesla network logs the VIN of every car that plugs in, and they know where you live. There have been scattered reports of folks relying on SC in urban areas near their home to get free local charge, but Tesla has stated that they reserve the right to block repeated abusers.

Tesla has the flexibility to operate the network with a different model for later cars. A few 60kWh Model S owners have not paid the fee and are blocked, but Tesla has allowed some of them to charge at a SC in emergency situations.

Even though there are no displays, on or off buttons, or card readers to break down, the Tesla network could be programmed to accept payment for individual charge sessions. You would just do it from your iPhone or Android.

Another factor that is often overlooked when questions are raised about the scaleability of the SC network is their economies of scale. Each SC 120kW charge unit is composed of 12 single-phase 10 kW chargers, wired in 3-phase Y sets of 3, each identical to the AC chargers in each car. Each SC unit serves 2 stalls. Tesla is installing many more of the 10kW chargers in cars each month than in SC units, so they get a very large economy of scale. Tesla prices each 10 kW charger as a $1.5K retail option, so it is very likely that they can produce one 120kW charger for less than other brands produce a 48kW Quickcharger.

The 2 DC chargers at CalState Northridge have been out for almost a month now with a temp error. Last time one of their chargers went out it didn't work for a number of months in a row. The transportation administration office responsible for keeping the EV chargers up around the campus seem to just ignore problem reports. I understand these chargers were installed using state funds. Is there a place a formal complaint can be filed which will hopefully cause an action to repair the units be taken?

I spoke to them when I was there Friday... They indicated to me that they have had so much problems with them that they are considering yanking them out and replacing them with six L2 chargers, which would be lower maintenance and give them more bang for the buck...

Valdemar said:

The 2 DC chargers at CalState Northridge have been out for almost a month now with a temp error. Last time one of their chargers went out it didn't work for a number of months in a row. The transportation administration office responsible for keeping the EV chargers up around the campus seem to just ignore problem reports. I understand these chargers were installed using state funds. Is there a place a formal complaint can be filed which will hopefully cause an action to repair the units be taken?

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TomT said:

I spoke to them when I was there Friday... They indicated to me that they have had so much problems with them that they are considering yanking them out and replacing them with six L2 chargers, which would be lower maintenance and give them more bang for the buck...

Valdemar said:

The 2 DC chargers at CalState Northridge have been out for almost a month now with a temp error. Last time one of their chargers went out it didn't work for a number of months in a row. The transportation administration office responsible for keeping the EV chargers up around the campus seem to just ignore problem reports. I understand these chargers were installed using state funds. Is there a place a formal complaint can be filed which will hopefully cause an action to repair the units be taken?

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How pathetic. I suspect the most trouble CSUN had with these units is the need to flip a breaker, but they are too lazy to do even that apparently. Is there any reason they can't somehow subcontract them to NRG? They seem to know how to keep their equipment up and running.

CSUF is also planning on pulling their DCQC units out. Luckily, they just want to replace them with new chargers that are more reliable. 1 has been broken for at least 9 months. They're just trying to get the funds to replace them.

TomT said:

I spoke to them when I was there Friday... They indicated to me that they have had so much problems with them that they are considering yanking them out and replacing them with six L2 chargers, which would be lower maintenance and give them more bang for the buck...

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How can "they" or Astrid Logan make that decision? Those 2 chargers were installed and placed with public/state funds. They cannot just "rip" them out and switch them to slow chargers. :roll:

Especially since they took the money and never maintained the units.