Test drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas

[GetOffYourGas]

In this age of electronic connectivity, it amazes me that you have to place a phone call at all. It's only a matter of time before they create an app of their own. Maybe once their network grows and the number of users explodes, they will see the light. Until then, expect the call centers to get more and more swamped.

Well, they expect their RFiD cards to work and their business model seems to be primarily one 30 minute charge per customer, given their subsidies from Nissan and BMW.

So no need for an app!

Yes, I'm sure that is their plan. But I already have an RFID for BL!NK and ChargePoint. I don't need a third. What I need is a common way to access them all, whether it is through a smart phone app, or just my regular Visa card. I trust we will get there eventually, but I kind of expect EVGo to be more forward-thinking than just "they expect their RFiD cards to work", which already seems to be a stretch.

 

[WetEV]

But I already have an RFID for BL!NK and ChargePoint. I don't need a third. What I need is a common way to access them all, whether it is through a smart phone app, or just my regular Visa card. I trust we will get there eventually, but I kind of expect EVGo to be more forward-thinking than just "they expect their RFiD cards to work", which already seems to be a stretch.

LOL. Cards: 2 Blink (work and personal), 2 Chargepoint (work and personal), AV, Semacharge, Greenlots, Circuit electrique, NRG EVGO, Plugshare phone app and I'm sure I've missed at least one.

Maybe some day there will be a universal standard way to pay. Not yet.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

But I already have an RFID for BL!NK and ChargePoint. I don't need a third. What I need is a common way to access them all, whether it is through a smart phone app, or just my regular Visa card. I trust we will get there eventually, but I kind of expect EVGo to be more forward-thinking than just "they expect their RFiD cards to work", which already seems to be a stretch.

LOL. Cards: 2 Blink (work and personal), 2 Chargepoint (work and personal), AV, Semacharge, Greenlots, Circuit electrique, NRG EVGO, Plugshare phone app and I'm sure I've missed at least one.

Maybe some day there will be a universal standard way to pay. Not yet.

You laugh at my measly collection of two cards. Meanwhile, I am jealous of your abundant infrastructure. I would gladly stack all of those cards in my center console to have your level of coverage!

 

[vrpratt]

It's only a matter of time before they create an app of their own.

When it comes to simply buying stuff "over the counter", product-specific apps are for apes. I see no reason why paying for electrons at the electron pump should be any different from paying for groceries at the supermarket checkout with a generic phone pay like Apple Pay or Android Pay. For the latter I open my phone with my fingerprint (two steps: wipe the oil off my finger then press the button) and hold it against the card reader. Two seconds later, ding, approved, and I put the phone back in my pocket. In EVgo's case the charge would be as a hold on a suitable amount, $10 or $20 or whatever the bank approves at the time, the way hotels do it.

It should also be possible to reserve a pump the same way. While one car is charging you get in line by holding your phone or RFiD card against the card reader and the screen shows your expected wait time (as a maximum, not everyone in line ahead of you need use their full 30 or whatever minutes). When everyone ahead of you has been served you get a text message telling you the pump is now reserved for you (but only for 5 or whatever minutes if anyone is in line after you). If at the end of your allotted charge time there is no one in line, charging is paused and you get a message telling you what the cost is so far and asking you to reply with yes or no as to whether you wish to continue charging. A yes resumes charging. If you reply no or don't reply within 5 minutes the pump notifies the next in line to transfer the plug to their car. To allow this there should be two parking spots one behind the other, with the pump at the midway position between them (and off to the side of course). Car number three should move into the spot vacated when car number one leaves. To facilitate an orderly transition the screen should show the order of numbers (last 3 or 4 digits) of card holders in line, similar to the take-a-number system.

As a refinement, instead of the five minute wait for a yes-no reply the pump can ask you at the outset the maximum time you're willing to pay for. That way if no one else shows up while you're charging the only notification you'll get is when either the time you asked for is up or charging has slowed to a trickle.

Provided no one has already applied for the patent on this procedure, my posting it here should make it impossible for anyone to patent it later on, allowing all electron pump vendors to use it without restriction. (But what would I know? I'm not a patent lawyer, I just design stuff.)

I am so grateful to the inventors of fuel cell technology that I don't have to deal with this sort of thing with my Mirai, at least within range of H2 stations (furthest out of state we've gone is to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe). My wife was going to get a Honda Clarity FCV until she saw how much more cargo space the Bolt had. Also the Bolt can drive out of state: we're setting off in it tomorrow morning for Yachats OR, Seattle WA, Lake Quinault WA, Vancouver BC and Pitt Lake BC. Between Sacramento CA and Salem WA Plugshare shows no EVgo CCS stations, only ChargePoint (and only 24 kW at that), but from Salem northwards EVgo CCS is abundant (though not anywhere near Lake Quinault) but also with abundant CCS competition.

Apologies to Michael for the thread creep here. It comes with the Internet.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

To allow this there should be two parking spots one behind the other, with the pump at the midway position between them (and off to the side of course). Car number three should move into the spot vacated when car number one leaves. To facilitate an orderly transition the screen should show the order of numbers (last 3 or 4 digits) of card holders in line, similar to the take-a-number system.

This is a good idea. Tesla's superchargers actually one-up it. They are installed in pairs. The two connectors are driven by the same set of chargers, which automatically ramps up car number 2 as car number 1 is ramping down.

Here's how it might work for EVGo. Say you have a Bolt that charges at up to 125A on a 125A charger. It's going at 125A when Bolt #2 shows up. Bolt #2 plugs in, and has to wait its turn. Sure enough, after 10 minutes Bolt #1 is down to 100A due to the normal tapering process. Bolt #2 now gets 25A to start charging. The process continues until Bolt #1 is finished or leaves, at which point Bolt #2 gets the full 125A (assuming it can take it). This is how EVGo might serve large numbers of EVs with a limited maximum current in the future.

 

[Anonymous]

I am so grateful to the inventors of fuel cell technology that I don't have to deal with this sort of thing with my Mirai, at least within range of H2 stations (furthest out of state we've gone is to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe). My wife was going to get a Honda Clarity FCV until she saw how much more cargo space the Bolt had. Also the Bolt can drive out of state: we're setting off in it tomorrow morning for Yachats OR, Seattle WA, Lake Quinault WA, Vancouver BC and Pitt Lake BC. Between Sacramento CA and Salem WA Plugshare shows no EVgo CCS stations, only ChargePoint (and only 24 kW at that), but from Salem northwards EVgo CCS is abundant (though not anywhere near Lake Quinault) but also with abundant CCS competition.

Apologies to Michael for the thread creep here. It comes with the Internet.

Can you drive to Las Vegas in your Mirai?

Any updates on that poor young girl who required skin grafts after the hydrogen "leaked" during fueling and froze her fingers to the nozzle?

 

[JeffN]

Any updates on that poor young girl who required skin grafts after the hydrogen "leaked" during fueling and froze her fingers to the nozzle?

Source link? I googled for this and found nothing.

Unlike almost all other gasses, Hydrogen gas actually heats up when expanding under pressure from a nozzle or leak due to some obscure physics details. In fact, hydrogen leaks can actually spontaneously ignite due to this effect.

To compensate for that, Hydrogen stations pre-chill their compressed hydrogen so it won't heat up during the transfer to the lower-pressure vehicle storage tank during filling.

Unless I see a credible news article about this event I'm going to treat this claim as an unverified urban legend.

 

[PV1]

It should also be possible to reserve a pump the same way. While one car is charging you get in line by holding your phone or RFiD card against the card reader and the screen shows your expected wait time (as a maximum, not everyone in line ahead of you need use their full 30 or whatever minutes). When everyone ahead of you has been served you get a text message telling you the pump is now reserved for you (but only for 5 or whatever minutes if anyone is in line after you). If at the end of your allotted charge time there is no one in line, charging is paused and you get a message telling you what the cost is so far and asking you to reply with yes or no as to whether you wish to continue charging. A yes resumes charging. If you reply no or don't reply within 5 minutes the pump notifies the next in line to transfer the plug to their car. To allow this there should be two parking spots one behind the other, with the pump at the midway position between them (and off to the side of course). Car number three should move into the spot vacated when car number one leaves. To facilitate an orderly transition the screen should show the order of numbers (last 3 or 4 digits) of card holders in line, similar to the take-a-number system.

As a refinement, instead of the five minute wait for a yes-no reply the pump can ask you at the outset the maximum time you're willing to pay for. That way if no one else shows up while you're charging the only notification you'll get is when either the time you asked for is up or charging has slowed to a trickle.

ChargePoint offers this feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsG9hF5BeJk

I wish they would've jumped at the chance to become the standard back in the day. It would've made things much easier, as stations can be started with a card or with the app. Any paid charging pulls from an account credit that automatically re-ups in $25 increments from your credit card as-needed. I have EVGo, Greenlots, and ChargePoint accounts. Of the 3, I like ChargePoint the best.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Could you guys fix your quotes please, for the benefit of new readers? I have never seen a Mirai let alone driven one. And I certainly didn't claim some young woman had to have skin grafts after a hydrogen leak.

 

[SeanNelson]

When it comes to simply buying stuff "over the counter", product-specific apps are for apes. I see no reason why paying for electrons at the electron pump should be any different from paying for groceries at the supermarket checkout with a generic phone pay like Apple Pay or Android Pay...

Brilliant post! If you're ever applying for the job of charging company CEO I'll be happy to provide an enthusiastic reference.

 

[Anonymous]

Any updates on that poor young girl who required skin grafts after the hydrogen "leaked" during fueling and froze her fingers to the nozzle?

Source link? I googled for this and found nothing.

I heard this story from my BFF who follows everything automobile, so I repeated it without doing any checking myself.

I have asked him to source check it for us!

This is the same person who was going to lease a Bolt EV last February when his Volt lease expired and had one all ordered in Orange county. But when we both discovered to our great shock that when my Bolt EV came with no Nav last January 3rd, as promised by Ms. Barra at the 2016 CES keynote speech, he cancelled his order and found a used Tesla S lease instead.

 

[Anonymous]

This all comes out of my experiences of my RFiD cards NEVER working, so I must call in EVERY time.

And are others having Michael's experience of "RFiD cards NEVER working"?

This may have something to do with the fact that I punch a round hole near a corner so that I can have all of my RFiD's on one keychain in my armrest storage unit!

However, all of the other ones similarly punched work!

 

[Anonymous]

The pending EVgo 4-car station at Baker, CA will make this trip easier later this year.

A fast charging station in Baker will be interesting for me, as that is about 190 miles from my home!

I suspect I would still charge in Victorville going north and in Baker going south!

 

[SparkE]

This all comes out of my experiences of my RFiD cards NEVER working, so I must call in EVERY time.

And are others having Michael's experience of "RFiD cards NEVER working"?

This may have something to do with the fact that I punch a round hole near a corner so that I can have all of my RFiD's on one keychain in my armrest storage unit!

However, all of the other ones similarly punched work!

RFID cards contain computer chips. There is no 'standard' as to where the chips 'live' in the plastic (middle, upper right, lower left, etc) or how big the 'chip' is that is hidden inside the card. So punching a hole in a card may or may not damage the chip. I would suggest using the card at least ONCE before punching a hole in it, and if it works then and doesn't after you punched a hole in it, well.. you damaged the card. If you have always punched a hole in your EVgo card and it never works, I would suggest not doing so next time and simply leaving the card in the car.

 

[Anonymous]

And are others having Michael's experience of "RFiD cards NEVER working"?

This may have something to do with the fact that I punch a round hole near a corner so that I can have all of my RFiD's on one keychain in my armrest storage unit!

However, all of the other ones similarly punched work!

RFID cards contain computer chips. There is no 'standard' as to where the chips 'live' in the plastic (middle, upper right, lower left, etc) or how big the 'chip' is that is hidden inside the card. So punching a hole in a card may or may not damage the chip. I would suggest using the card at least ONCE before punching a hole in it, and if it works then and doesn't after you punched a hole in it, well.. you damaged the card. If you have always punched a hole in your EVgo card and it never works, I would suggest not doing so next time and simply leaving the card in the car.

EXACTLY the procedure I had planned to follow after the dozen times I have asked EVGo for a new card and received nothing in return! But thank you for pointing that out.

However, since in the intervening time I discovered that EVGo NEVER charges me for usage charges, only the $14.95 monthly fee; why should I upset that apple cart for a few measly telephone calls?!?

I like to have ALL my cards interconnected:

EVGo
ChargePoint
Blink
EVConnect (e.g., LA Metrorail EV stations)
ShorePower (e.g., Flying J Truck Stop at top of Grapevine)

 

[SparkE]

I like to have ALL my cards interconnected:

EVGo
ChargePoint
Blink
EVConnect (e.g., LA Metrorail EV stations)
ShorePower (e.g., Flying J Truck Stop at top of Grapevine)

I can understand that! I have *almost* all of my cards connected. All but one are in an envelope in the glovebox of the EV. The other (ChargePoint) is in my wallet. It turns out that since I know where it is in the wallet, and isn't next to any other RFID-cards, I can just pull out my wallet, hold the wallet up to the reader, and the unit reads the card without even having to take the card out of the wallet! (If I had several RFID cards piled over one another, it probably wouldn't work.)

Although I have scads of other cards (Blink, EVgo, GE, GreenLots, ...), the ChargePoint card is the only one I've ever used. (I *have* used GreenLots smartphone app to start charges.) If I really had to use multiple cards on a daily (or weekly) basis, I might do things differently. But they are all in the glovebox where I can grab them if needed.

 

[Anonymous]

I am looking for something more convenient that will hold them all and still fit in the armrest box of the Bolt EV with all of the other stuff I keep in there, too!

I am liking the Chargepoint and EVConnect apps!

 

[Anonymous]

As we speak: the new EVGo card arrived in the mails!

Went to go try it out at the closest EVGo, even though I only used 1.2KWh, but a Nissan Leaf just had started 4 minutes into her charge!

Now I will go to those kiosks at the Mall and find a card holder that will keep me from punching a hole into this card!

 

[Anonymous]

The new EVGo card works!

No hole to be punched in it this time; I will look for a card holder.

Also will look and see if EVGo gives me a "per session" charge.

I started at 89% but ended manually at 96% when a Nissan Leaf drove up to this single port combo charger!

I have never taken a DCFC to 100% but I assume that everything would reset as an L2 charge to 100% does every night.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi I'm completely new to this forum and EV driving. I'm hoping to get my bolt in the next month or so. I am totally interested in driving from Apple valley to Vegas. It's slightly closer than Victorville. I've been on a few sites that say the cars range won't make it due to the mountains. I have seen that several have made it no problem. My worry is on the way back. Has anyone made it with a full charge from Vegas to Victorville??? Their is plenty of places to charge at the hotels in Vegas so I'm thinking I can have a full charge at least above 90% for sure. Any tips or advice would be appreciated. (I usually get above average gas mileage in all my cars so I don't expect to do to bad)