Chargepoint and EVGo chargers

SparkEVPilot said:

Do you know if those who were able to charge for more than 30 minutes all had the EVgo On-The-Go plan to activate the charging session?

Click to expand...

I do know that I am on the On-The-Go plan and I have mostly encountered EVGo chargers that are limited to 30 minutes.

Just got my EvGo card in the mail. Now I can more easily spend $10.95 for a 30 min/40-50 mile DCFC charge.

PS: I was surprised to see that I was only charged $10 on 4/7 for my 30 min 2 sec EvGo session on 3/26 in SF. According to the posted rates, the cost should have at least been $5.95 + 30 x 20 cents/min or $11.95.

I was charged $12.35 for my previous 32 min EvGo session which was charged at the appropriate rate. Not complaining, just curious about the billing discrepancy, but, of course, since the "error" is in my favor, I am not going to bother to inquire about it.

sgt1372 said:

Just got my EvGo card in the mail. Now I can more easily spend $10.95 for a 30 min/40-50 mile DCFC charge.

Click to expand...

No, now you can more easily spend $3-$5 for 20 kWh for 60-80 miles extra range using ChargePoint, instead of being raped by EVgo.

For example, there's a 50 kW charger in Richmond (I-80 from SF to Richmond, then back on I-80 to Pinole/Hercules and CA-4 to home) that charges $7/hr.

There's also a FREE (well, for the moment) 50 kW charger at point Richmond (it's on Marina way - not far from the Richmond police station - open 8a.m.-6p.m.).

You have now freed yourself from the tyranny of EVgo! Rejoice!!

And for those of you in the south bay (SF Bay Area) - a new ChargePoint-managed charging lot with EIGHT 50 kW stations is opening 'real soon now' just outside of NASA-Ames, just off US-101 (near CA-85).

It's not open yet, so price is unknown, but the arrival of this super-lot is HUGE for (non-Tesla) EV drivers on the peninsula and in the South Bay. There have been DCFC spots up and down the peninsula for a while, but the availability of EIGHT of these chargers in the same place (just off the freeway) opens up daily travel to-and-between Marin and (say) Gilroy for even 80-mi range EVs. "Is-the-DCFC-avail" anxiety will just plain go away when these go live. Even if all 8 are full when you pull in, you can expect that one of them will open up in 5 minutes or less. I can't wait for my first fill-up there!

In the midst of a round trip from home to Santa Cruz to Benicia back to Santa Cruz and then home using a different route tomorrow, using Chargepoint and EVGo.

Where is the best place to post my summary?

MichaelLAX said:

In the midst of a round trip from home to Santa Cruz to Benicia back to Santa Cruz and then home using a different route tomorrow, using Chargepoint and EVGo.

Where is the best place to post my summary?

Click to expand...

I would create a brand new topic in the "Bolt Electric Vehicle Owners ... General / Main Chevy Bolt Owners" forum.

Ok! That's where it will be then when I return. Thanks.

SparkE said:

No, now you can more easily spend $3-$5 for 20 kWh for 60-80 miles extra range using ChargePoint, instead of being raped by EVgo.

For example, there's a 50 kW charger in Richmond (I-80 from SF to Richmond, then back on I-80 to Pinole/Hercules and CA-4 to home) that charges $7/hr. There's also a FREE (well, for the moment) 50 kW charger at point Richmond (it's on Marina way - not far from the Richmond police station - open 8a.m.-6p.m.).

You have now freed yourself from the tyranny of EVgo! Rejoice!!

Click to expand...

Nice to know but, except in an emergency, those locations aren't of any use to me because I am not going to stop in Pinole or Pt. Richmond when en route to or from San Francisco.

Only makes sense to me to charge in San Francisco while I'm there and, for now, I'm just going to have to pay EvGo, which seems to monopolize the DCFC sites in SF. to use one of their chargers in the City,

PS: The following article makes my point about how I believe that the charging network/mentality needs to change for EVs to be truly successful. As stated in the article:

People aren't going to go a place to charge. They're going to charge at the places they go.

See: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/earth-day-tesla-3-chevy-bolt-drive-new-charging-stations-commentary.html

That's how I feel about using the Bolt. If there are no charging stations conveniently located where I am going to go, then I'm not going to go there in my Bolt but, if there is, I'll go there to "top off" if necessary to make sure that I make it back home with a sufficient reserve but I absolutely do not want to go out of my way to charge the car.

This is spoken as a non-EV fanatic and normal ICE driver/consumer. An EV car has to become as convenient to use and "fill up" as any ICE vehicle to be widely accepted. If not, it will only be adopted by a much smaller segment of the market, as is the case now.

Hopefully, the predictions of wireless charging stations will come true. If it does, there will be no barrier to EV use anywhere by the general public and Supercharger and other hard wired charging station locations (and perhaps eventually gas stations) will become unnecessary.

We'll see . . .

sgt1372 said:

Hopefully, the predictions of wireless charging stations will come true. If it does, there will be no barrier to EV use anywhere by the general public and Supercharger and other hard wired charging station locations (and perhaps eventually gas stations) will become unnecessary.

Click to expand...

While I agree that wireless charging makes an awful lot of sense for public charging stations, I suspect that a lot of home charging will still be plug-in because of it's superior efficiency. My guess is that most EV owners would want the most efficient (read: least costly) charging method for home charging because in most cases that's where they'll get the vast majority of their energy.

SeanNelson said:

While I agree that wireless charging makes an awful lot of sense for public charging stations, I suspect that a lot of home charging will still be plug-in because of it's superior efficiency. My guess is that most EV owners would want the most efficient (read: least costly) charging method for home charging because in most cases that's where they'll get the vast majority of their energy.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't give up the L2 home charging station that I just bought and instaled but would upgrade to a wireless charging station at home if doesn't cost too much more.

However, I suspect that wireless charging would be mainly popular at public sites where hard wiring would be more costly and unsightly and where commerial property or business owners see the advantage of offering wireless charging as a way to promote business but it would only work if the cost of charging is comparable to that at hard wired charging locations.

I don't think wireless charging will be less expensive but rather more expensive

The big expense is bringing power to the parking spot. Once that's done installing an evse is cheap and easy. Putting in whatever under-pavement stuff is needed is even more expensive

Plus the fact that all cars will work plugged in and whose to say how many will be wireless equipped

I have also complained to EVGo about their stupid 30 minute fast charging limit. We go on trips all the time with our Bolt and having to constantly go back and start the charge again is a pain and a waste of time. I know where they are coming from about limiting your charge time so the next person can charge, but if you need the charge you need it. Put in more chargers and get rid of the limit or adjust it for the bigger battery cars. At least give the option of raising it to 60 minutes. 30 minutes at 50KW on a 60KW battery is nothing, it needs to be at least 60 minutes and it will only get worse when the next generation has a 100KW or 120KW battery!
The biggest problem with the 30 minute limit is that the charger isn't always in a convenient location, so you have to jog or run back to the charger after each 30 minute charge to start it up again. Having an app to restart it would be a good way to fix the issue. Sometimes you can't even get back while you are eating to start the charge, so that wastes your time and anyone that wants to charge after you.
One tip for fast charging is that the charging rate goes much slower once you get to around 75-80%, unless you really need the extra range, start driving again and don't waste the extra time to top it off. It takes more than twice as long to finish that last 20%! It helps the battery but wastes your driving time.

Easy answer: DONT USE EVGO... I refuse to pay that kind of money to charge my car... especially when the Bolt has such a high range.... Let EVGO GO out of business...!!!!

Also, I dont think they will have wireless charging for several reasons..... 1) Cars would need to be fitted with the correct hardware to allow the wireless charging, which costs a lot of $$ 2) Since wireless auto spaces will look less cluttered, NON-EV cars will be tempted to park in those spaces, and kill the utility of the charging parking spaces. 3) The larger the wired charging station looks the less likely that gas powered cars will park there. 4) I think people like the idea of plugging in their cars by cables because it assures that the car is properly connected AND it psychologically rewards them for the fact that they have a cool car...

We need wired charging stations in all malls, churches, public places before electric cars start to take off as a GAS replacement.....

powersurge said:

Easy answer: DONT USE EVGO... I refuse to pay that kind of money to charge my car... especially when the Bolt has such a high range.... Let EVGO GO out of business...!!!!

Click to expand...

This seems short-sighted. Nobody has yet to turn a profit on reselling electricity through a charging network. Do we really want to hurt those that are trying by forcing them out of business?

powersurge said:

We need wired charging stations in all malls, churches, public places before electric cars start to take off as a GAS replacement.....

Click to expand...

It sounds like you are advocating for lots of L2 charging and letting the QC go out of business. QC will always be more expensive than charging at home. Yet, it's exactly QC that will let EVs take off as a replacement to gasoline.

powersurge said:

We need wired charging stations in all malls, churches, public places before electric cars start to take off as a GAS replacement.....

Click to expand...

GetOffYourGas said:

It sounds like you are advocating for lots of L2 charging and letting the QC go out of business. QC will always be more expensive than charging at home. Yet, it's exactly QC that will let EVs take off as a replacement to gasoline.

Click to expand...

Brian, I'm with powersurge on that one. As the price of gasoline goes up, more and more people will be lured to the prospect of "free" fuel. I think it's reasonable that most wouldn't mind paying a few bucks for a QC assuming they don't need to wait in line. Malls, businesses, etc, want to attract business. What better way than offering free L2 charging? When my wife & I go out and spend $100 on dinner, does the business really care about paying the $0.45 in electricity if it helped to get me through the door?

I love free. People love free. More free L2 = more EV's on the road. More EV's on the road = more revenue for QC providers. More revenue for QC providers = more QC stations. More QC stations = fewer gasoline vehicles on the road.

So your theory is that the perception of "free" is more likely to overcome the perception of "limited use"? Because even with free L2 around, people still cannot take an EV on a trip longer than the single-charge range without a huge inconvenience.

It seems we at least agree that the end goal is to have a robust QC network. I also agree that more EVs on the road creates more demand, which will hopefully result in more QCs installed.

Free charging is a nice perk. I do use it occasionally (e.g. one of the local grocery stores has installed a few near me). And I do shop at that store as a result of them giving me $0.50 of electricity. But that had zero bearing on my decision to buy an EV. And I have a hard time believing that it will convince many people to jump into an EV, given the lack of QCs along major travel routes.

GetOffYourGas said:

So your theory is that the perception of "free" is more likely to overcome the perception of "limited use"? Because even with free L2 around, people still cannot take an EV on a trip longer than the single-charge range without a huge inconvenience.

I have a hard time believing that it will convince many people to jump into an EV, given the lack of QCs along major travel routes.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's the theory.

"Free" is a catalyst that helps get us there. I regularly stop at Ikea for lunch & a free charge. On more than one occasion I've seen people shake their heads in dismay...probably pissed about the unimaginable injustice that I'm getting "free" fuel and they aren't. If there is more L2 available, that anger may eventually evolve into mass market acceptance of EV's. More EV's = more QC (overcoming the perception of "limited use")

I used a 50kW CCS charging station for the first time, last Saturday, on our e-Golf. Previously, we have used 25kW CHAdeMO stations on our Leaf. All have been Chargepoint units. Chargepoint has a much better pricing policy than EVgo.

50kW is great! We went from ~26 miles left to full in about 36 minutes.

Having said that, I just signed up for an EVgo Flex account, because they are the company that is installing most of the charging stations around here. So, paying a lot more is still worth it, when it means you can drive somewhere you need to go. Hopefully, EVgo makes things less expensive, once the risk of putting in and maintaining EVSE's is better. I.E. when a lot of EV's use them.

michael said:

I don't think wireless charging will be less expensive but rather more expensive

The big expense is bringing power to the parking spot. Once that's done installing an evse is cheap and easy. Putting in whatever under-pavement stuff is needed is even more expensive

Plus the fact that all cars will work plugged in and whose to say how many will be wireless equipped

Click to expand...

Right - wireless is (much?) less efficient - so you use (much?) more electricity AND it takes longer to charge wirelessly.