EVgo road trip check

Just wanted to report a good experience with an EVgo support rep. I called to check on the status of some DCFC charging stations. I looked at the EVgo map to find the ID number of each station I was going to visit. The support rep gladly informed me that each one had no problems reported. She told me the last time each was used, and the last successful CCS charging session.

Now I have some confidence that I won't be stranded. Nice job EVgo!

And they now have a usable website and app. Took them forever.

Well, considering how much they charge, they should be able to afford good phone support!

In CA at least, EVgo seems to be the most ubiquitous DCFC choice for inter-city travel. They should be, considering they conned the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) to turn an over-$100M fine for energy price manipulation into a "let us install EV charging stations with that money instead, so we can corner the EV charging market" 'punishment'. And they would have (cornered the market), if they had finished the installs when they were supposed to (they were supposed to have finished over 5 years ago, but they still aren't done yet).

However, although I myself have never used one, I always check where they are along my route so that if I need to, I can use one of their (extremely overpriced) stations. It's better than getting stuck.

PS: I have no problem with the idea that the fine was used to install EV charging stations. But the money should have been put into a pot used to finance installation of EV charging by ALL vendors (not used by EVgo's parent Co. to get a dominant position in the marketplace.)

Think about it. Suppose it cost $250K per "charge lot", with two 50 kW DCFCs in each location (more than reasonable, since 50kW units are under $50K each, and that leaves $150K for installation costs, future-proofed - $250K is waaaay more than most of them should cost, but some might cost more). $100M gives 400 "EV lots". DCFCs every ~50 miles along I-5, CA-99, and US-101 I-5 from "northern-most mid-sized city" to San Diego, and I-80 from SF to Reno, and I-10, I-40 & I-15 from LA county limit to Nevada state line. It's a bit under 800 miles from Yreka to San Diego, so sixteen stations covers it. CA-99, and US-101 are considerably shorter, let's say 21 for both - we are up to 40 "charge lots". I-80 from SF to NV border is about 200 miles : another 4 stations. San Bernardino, CA to Las Vegas is about 200 miles, as is San Bernardino to Ehrenberg AZ (route to Phoenix), and Barstow to Needles is only 150 (ignoring all the overlaps), so 15 more stations covers that - we are up to 55. Folsom (near Sacramento) to South Lake Tahoe on US-50 is under 100 miles, so say 4 more. Now were are up to 59 "lots", 120 "plugs", which cover the vast majority of the major routes for CA inter-city travel.

So what to do with the remaining $40M? Put out a call for subsidies. A business can submit an application for a partial subsidy to install 20 kW DCFC units. Requirements:

- charging spots must be marked as "reserved for vehicles actively charging - other vehicles may be towed"
- must be within 2 miles of a freeway or highway exit, which road must have XXX amount of annual traffic (exception for smaller cities, like Yreka)
- area must not already have "sufficient" DCFC coverage (priority to spots where there are fewer DCFC units)
- priority given to spots outside of urban area, about halfway between 50 kW charge lots???
- priority given to businesses willing to install two (or more) DCFCs???
- business must agree to maintain (or replace) units for a minimum of 7 years
- business may not charge more than 2x cost of electricity (exception: they may charge up to tier-2 residential rates for electricity in their area)
- DCFCs must be open to all public - cannot restrict to customers
- business may give preferential rates to customers spending a minimum amount of $$$ at their business
- business must also install (min of 2 per DCFC) L-2 J1772 charge stations (25 amp min) near DCFCs - which CAN be reserved for customers
- business must charge a 'punish' (or parking) fee for users that leave vehicle plugged in after charging rate drops to below 5kW (with 10 minute grace period) - rate must be at least as expensive as would be charged if unit were providing full rated charge to vehicle
- cost (charging fees) must be clearly displayed
- customer must be allowed to pay with a credit card (may use network-specific card as well). $1 fee may be charged for using credit card.

Suppose that the CEC simply gave these units to businesses, and the business was required to pay for installation costs and the electricity. (Installation of a 20 kW unit that runs on 208V 'business' power hookup costs a LOT less than costs to install a 50 kW unit.) Suppose that these 20-25 kW units cost $25K each (which is low, actually). $40M would buy ... 1600 20 kW DCFCs!

I don't know why I think "commissions" would be logical, or honest, or exempt from "the good ol' boy's network" or "back-room deals".

An optimist, I guess.

There are lots of things to hate about EVgo, but I'm glad they are there or my trip would not be possible. The trip is through TN and EVgo is the only game in town for DCFC CCS.

And I'm very glad they were polite and willing to give me the information I needed over the phone without any hassle. With the terrible reliability of DCFC overall, I will not set out on a road trip unless I know the charging stations are in good working order.

Now if they can just start posting this info on their web site along with the full specs of each charger.

At least EVgo maintains their network and fixes their DC chargers quickly. Can't say the same with Blink, Greenlots, or Chargepoint. I talked to the guy behind the CSUF Chargepoint chargers, one of which was offline for over 6 months. He said basically the contractor that Chargepoint used for maintenance was basically a single team responsible for the entire west coast and they'd only get to Fullerton around once a month. And they'd always "forget" to bring the part needed, bring the wrong part, the part would be defective, etc.

Also talked with someone who ran some L2 chargers. They're branded Chargepoint, but if you contacted Chargepoint they'd say maintenance was the responsibility of the site owner (in this case a local municipality) and they'd contact them. Talked to the guy at the municipality and he never once was notified by Chargepoint there was a problem with the chargers, and then it took them 3 weeks to get a replacement part.

SemaConnect also seems to do a good job maintaining their chargers.

Sorry, but EVgo is just way too expensive! They need some real competition so they will quit raping us. I can't wait for the day that they have to lower their prices. Their policy of only being able to charge the car for 30 minutes, and than have to wait an hour before being able to hook up and charge again, is ridiculous. I wish they could be boycotted. The company behind these charge stations had to put these chargers in as a settlement to the Government. Now they are just using us to refill their coffers now and into the future and laughing all the way to the bank. I can understand that you have to use them but I sure wish we could just pass by them.

Evoforce said:

Sorry, but EVgo is just way too expensive! They need some real competition so they will quit raping us. I can't wait for the day that they have to lower their prices. Their policy of only being able to charge the car for 30 minutes, and than have to wait an hour before being able to hook up and charge again, is ridiculous.

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^ This statement is just not true and should be deleted. In California, I have been to many that go past 30 minutes without needing to restart. ( they did shut off after 60 minutes ) This is a setting that may vary by location. Really busy locations may have a 30 minute timer to “keep the line moving” while less busy locations might have a 60 minute limit. I have also heard this setting is up to the property owner.

In the cases where mine DID shut off after 30 minutes, I was ALWAYS able to restart anouther 30 minute session immediately.

Price is not great, but not horrible either. About the average of all pay stations I’ve seen. If you use the whole session. (I always do.). It’s only expensive for short 10 or 15 minute charge ups because of the flat connection fee. How many people do 10 or 15 minute DCFC? Not me. I always do the full 30 or 60 minutes (okay, once I did 50 minutes) but then the connect fee is divided over 50 minutes so is just pennies per minute.

I've charged at a couple of EVgo stations. It always cut off after 30 minutes, but I never had trouble restarting. That part stinks. I think they will change that policy over time as more long range EV's start using the network.

I've never heard of a station that made you wait for an hour before charging again. However, that's something I wish I had asked about when I called them. With that kind of policy, the station would not be suitable for road tripping.

As for price, quick charging networks are not yet turning a profit so I'm not going to complain. One of the chargers I called about hadn't been used for over two weeks. Right now I'm just glad it's available at any price.

Usain said:

I've charged at a couple of EVgo stations. It always cut off after 30 minutes, but I never had trouble restarting. That part stinks. I think they will change that policy over time as more long range EV's start using the network.

I've never heard of a station that made you wait for an hour before charging again. However, that's something I wish I had asked about when I called them. With that kind of policy, the station would not be suitable for road tripping.

As for price, quick charging networks are not yet turning a profit so I'm not going to complain. One of the chargers I called about hadn't been used for over two weeks. Right now I'm just glad it's available at any price.

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This has been my experience too. It comes to about $12 for a 30-minute session. On longer trips, I frequently do back-to-back 30-minute sessions. With the double connection fee, it's $24 for 60 minutes, in which I get little more than 24kWh (due to the Bolt's strong taper). So it's about $1/kWh. That's higher than home, but really are you surprised? I think it is reasonable for a few reasons. EVGo had to pay (a lot!) to install each charger, which doesn't get used a lot (yet). They have to pay demand fees on top of electricity fees, so they pay much more than my home rate. With the low usage, the demand fees are not spread out across a lot of sessions. If they get one 30-minute session in a month, they probably lose money on the transaction.

Regarding the 30-minute limit, my theory is that it's due to Nissan's No-Charge-To-Charge and BMW's ChargeNow programs. Both of these provide free charging to new EV buyers via a partnership with EVGo. In order to contain the cost of the program, they limit the free sessions to 30 minutes. On the plus side, these programs are a major enabler for EVGo to continue to expand. Personally, I think EVGo is the best DC network out there, with the highest likelihood to succeed in becoming profitable. Of course, I'm biased. Their only competition here is Greenlots, who charges a flat $8/session. That just encourages people to camp out and squeeze as much power as possible out of each session, well into the taper time.