CCS DC fast charger coverage map

Breezy · Aug 15, 2016

The Tesla Supercharger map with associated range circles is commonly published online, but I haven't seen a corresponding map for CCS. So I created one. This uses data from the Alternative Fuels Data Center, downloaded August 11. There were 767 stations as of that date.

The shaded areas show parts of the US within approximately 175 miles of an existing CCS fast charging station.

ssspinball · Aug 15, 2016

Nice map!

As someone that already daily drives a CCS car, the real-world situation is worse than any map implies because unlike Telsa with it's average of 8 plugs per locaiton, CCS chargers are usually a single CCS plug. That means it is less safe to make long distance trips based on maps like this because you don't want to get into a situation where you have 20 miles of battery left and only then find out that the one CCS plug is broken and/or already in use.

I am really hoping this situation improves in 2017.

Breezy · Aug 15, 2016

Thanks. It's great to hear from someone who actually uses the existing infrastructure. I grant Superchargers the win, currently. It's by far the best network for now.

Back to CCS, PlugShare gives real time availability for EVgo, Chargepoint, Greenlots, etc. That would help with knowing whether the station is at least online and not occupied (at the time).

One advantage, I would think, of this non-centralized planning of chargers is that if one is down or occupied, in many cases there should be another nearby.

Zoomit · Aug 15, 2016

ssspinball said:
Nice map!

As someone that already daily drives a CCS car, the real-world situation is worse than any map implies because unlike Telsa with it's average of 8 plugs per locaiton, CCS chargers are usually a single CCS plug. That means it is less safe to make long distance trips based on maps like this because you don't want to get into a situation where you have 20 miles of battery left and only then find out that the one CCS plug is broken and/or already in use.

I am really hoping this situation improves in 2017.

Agreed, nice map! I'd prefer 100-mi "as the crow flies" circle radii, but it's great to see all the spots on one map.

ssspinball's point is often under appreciated. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing a long trip and having to rely on a single site and plug to continue at the planned pace. It's true that a dense, diverse network would inherently help this, but we are a long way from that situation.

Breezy · Aug 16, 2016

I agree. If I get a Bolt, I won't be relying on a single charger that could be blocked or broken. Routes that I travel on would have at least two or three alternatives, usually more.

A 100-mile radius would be more reflective of the real-world use case and of the ability to complete travel between fast chargers. But 175 miles is what the Tesla Supercharger map uses, so this does as well.

michael · Aug 16, 2016

Daily activity, no worries about having enough energy: Bolt
Trips of a few hundred miles: Volt
Coast-to-coast trips: Southwest Airlines

Geo · Aug 23, 2016

Really good idea.

Here's one with 100-mile radius circles.

Assuming a 200+ mile range for the Bolt, 100 miles gives you either an out/back to a charger or, if the circles overlap, it gives you safe passage to the next charger.

It also shows where we still need more coverage, such as the mountain states and the Midwest.

voltage · Aug 23, 2016

Impressive map nice work gave a really good visual

Zoomit · Aug 23, 2016

Geo said:
Really good idea.

Here's one with 100-mile radius circles.

Assuming a 200+ mile range for the Bolt, 100 miles gives you either an out/back to a charger or, if the circles overlap, it gives you safe passage to the next charger.

Assuming a 200-mi Combined EPA rating, I'd expect a realistic highway range of no more than ~150-160 mi. From that I'd take off 33% for the multitude of unknowns and uncertainties. That leaves a 100 mi planning range at highway speeds with a decent (take the family along) margin.

With that, if you want to see where the chargers connect with blue areas, I suggest halving the radius again to 50 mi. That is even somewhat non-conservative since the circles are straight-line "as the crow flies" instead of real road distances.

SeanNelson · Aug 23, 2016

Zoomit said:
Assuming a 200-mi Combined EPA rating, I'd expect a realistic highway range of no more than ~150-160 mi. From that I'd take off 33% for the multitude of unknowns and uncertainties. That leaves a 100 mi planning range at highway speeds with a decent (take the family along) margin.

This is of course very subjective and varies a lot from one person to the next. But 100 mile circles seem pretty reasonable to me because your highway range is completely under your control - if you're worried about charger availability then just slow down a bit and you magically get more range. Also, for multi-day trips you can use a hotel's Level 2 charger, and that can even act as a stop-gap measure if you need it to get a bit of extra range to the next fast charger if one you planned on using is out of service.

GetOffYourGas · Aug 24, 2016

Zoomit said:
Geo said:

Really good idea.

Here's one with 100-mile radius circles.

Assuming a 200+ mile range for the Bolt, 100 miles gives you either an out/back to a charger or, if the circles overlap, it gives you safe passage to the next charger.

Click to expand...

Assuming a 200-mi Combined EPA rating, I'd expect a realistic highway range of no more than ~150-160 mi. From that I'd take off 33% for the multitude of unknowns and uncertainties. That leaves a 100 mi planning range at highway speeds with a decent (take the family along) margin.

With that, if you want to see where the chargers connect with blue areas, I suggest halving the radius again to 50 mi. That is even somewhat non-conservative since the circles are straight-line "as the crow flies" instead of real road distances.

Agree completely. I live in Syracuse, NY. There is a single QC in Ithaca which, on the surface, seems to connect much of central NY to the I-95 corridor. In practice, it would take a good hypermiler to make it from that QC to the next one in Newburgh on a single charge. That takes you on I-86 through the Catskills. There are no L2 charge points along that route. The best you can hope for is someone generous enough to lend you a 120V outlet.

That said, it is promising that the map has filled in so much in the past few years. Remember that today the only nationwide CCS-capable car is the i3. The eGolf is the next most common car, but it is limited in availability and sales numbers. I fully expect that once the Bolt hits the road, this map will fill in at a greatly accelerated pace.

Bottom line - these maps are nice to look at, but at this stage you still have to carefully plan out your own particular trips. Don't just assume that because your travel area is all blue, that automatically means you can take a Bolt.

Breezy · Aug 26, 2016

I made a few changes as well as adding Canadian stations. The light grey shading is the same 175 mile radius as before. The dark grey is half that (88 miles) to give an idea of stations that should be reachable from other DCFC stations.

Distances are approximate. At this point, 60% of the US is within 175 miles of a CCS charging station.

Higher resolution version here:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAPxF2a6geA/V79zoR2ut-I/AAAAAAAACd4/739QZoa47_8iqcmCMfE2g7x47AWFINthQCLcB/s1600/CCS_175%252687.5mi_radius_Can_Am.png

Geo · Aug 26, 2016

Excellent.

If there were a few more chargers in places like Utah and Nebraska, cross country trips would be possible. Not that I'd personally want to do one, but it is certainly good from a marketing standpoint.

Anonymous · Aug 27, 2016

Would have been nice if someone made a map like that for Europe as well. I am planning to buy an Opel Ampera-e next year and I am sure the car can take me almost anywhere i my country Norway.
But what If I want to go to the Mediterranean next summer ....

Breezy · Aug 27, 2016

Gnilre said:
Would have been nice if someone made a map like that for Europe as well. I am planning to buy an Opel Ampera-e next year and I am sure the car can take me almost anywhere i my country Norway.
But what If I want to go to the Mediterranean next summer ....

A trip like that would be possible with the existing infrastructure. There are over 2200 chargers in Europe, about twice as many as in North America.

http://ccs-map.eu/

tedkidd · Aug 30, 2016

Breezy said:
The Tesla Supercharger map with associated range circles is commonly published online, but I haven't seen a corresponding map for CCS. So I created one. This uses data from the Alternative Fuels Data Center, downloaded August 11. There were 767 stations as of that date.

The shaded areas show parts of the US within approximately 175 miles of an existing CCS fast charging station.

Love to see 90 mile circles. Intersecting circles would roughly show which CCS can be used for 180 mile multi-stage travel.

Breezy · Aug 30, 2016

tedkidd said:
Love to see 90 mile circles. Intersecting circles would roughly show which CCS can be used for 180 mile multi-stage travel.

Already done. See post above.

http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6242#p6216

tedkidd · Aug 30, 2016

Breezy said:
I made a few changes as well as adding Canadian stations. The light grey shading is the same 175 mile radius as before. The dark grey is half that (88 miles) to give an idea of stations that should be reachable from other DCFC stations.

Distances are approximate. At this point, 60% of the US is within 175 miles of a CCS charging station.

Higher resolution version here:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAPxF2a6geA/V79zoR2ut-I/AAAAAAAACd4/739QZoa47_8iqcmCMfE2g7x47AWFINthQCLcB/s1600/CCS_175%252687.5mi_radius_Can_Am.png

This is very cool. I wonder if this represents just CCS and CCS combo, or also just CHAdeMO?

Surprising to see some places with such build out. Like Colorado, how did that happen?

Breezy · Aug 30, 2016

These are all CCS a.k.a. SAE Combo. Many stations are dual standard and have CHAdeMO as well.

WetEV · Aug 31, 2016

Breezy said:
Many stations are dual standard and have CHAdeMO as well.

And many CHAdeMO only stations. Few if any CCS only stations.

CCS DC fast charger coverage map

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