“Pencils Down” For Tesla Model 3, As Chevrolet Bolt Readies For Production

Aidan · Aug 1, 2016

Charging stations located in rest areas is a brilliant idea

sam · Aug 1, 2016

I hear from a lot of people that charging stations are an issue for them and I don't think they'll feel comfortable until they actually have an EV and experience what charging your vehicle means Charging stations at rest stops I think would alleviate a lot of concern for potential electric vehicle buyers. it's commonplace where I live for people to commute over 150 km a day for work

Tcdn · Aug 1, 2016

A few years ago the state of California and the province of British Columbia were discussing an electric vehicle Highway meaning from the southern part of California up the coast to the northern point of British Columbia the infrastructure for EV charging stations would be mandated. ,Does anybody have any details or recent news on what happened to this idea?

SeanNelson · Aug 1, 2016

Tcdn said:
A few years ago the state of California and the province of British Columbia were discussing an electric vehicle Highway meaning from the southern part of California up the coast to the northern point of British Columbia the infrastructure for EV charging stations would be mandated. ,Does anybody have any details or recent news on what happened to this idea?

I don't know if the original plans were completely followed through but the charging infrastructure up and down the Left Coast has developed very nicely. If you look on the PlugShare app or web site you can see that there are enough CCS fast chargers for a Bolt EV to make it from Whistler (north of Vancouver) down to Tijuana. Most of the usable route is via the I-5, but curiously in southern California the I5 is pretty much devoid of them and so you have to use Highways 1 or 99 instead. Some sections might be too long for EVs like the Leaf with shorter range, but it looks to me like the Bolt could make it with no sweat.

There were also plans for a "hydrogen highway" for fuel cell vehicles, but I think they fell apart. I'm pretty skeptical about the future of fuel cell vehicles - it seems like all the momentum right now is with EVs. Despite how many people decry the state of EV charging facilities they're light-years ahead of hydrogen and growing at a rapid pace, whereas there only seem to be a few pilot hydrogen refueling stations in widely scattered cities. And unlike electricity, nobody has a hydrogen fueling station in their garage.

DucRider · Aug 2, 2016

SeanNelson said:
I don't know if the original plans were completely followed through but the charging infrastructure up and down the Left Coast has developed very nicely. If you look on the PlugShare app or web site you can see that there are enough CCS fast chargers for a Bolt EV to make it from Whistler (north of Vancouver) down to Tijuana. Most of the usable route is via the I-5, but curiously in southern California the I5 is pretty much devoid of them and so you have to use Highways 1 or 99 instead. Some sections might be too long for EVs like the Leaf with shorter range, but it looks to me like the Bolt could make it with no sweat.

There were also plans for a "hydrogen highway" for fuel cell vehicles, but I think they fell apart. I'm pretty skeptical about the future of fuel cell vehicles - it seems like all the momentum right now is with EVs. Despite how many people decry the state of EV charging facilities they're light-years ahead of hydrogen and growing at a rapid pace, whereas there only seem to be a few pilot hydrogen refueling stations in widely scattered cities. And unlike electricity, nobody has a hydrogen fueling station in their garage.

West Coast Electric Highway: http://www.westcoastgreenhighway.com/electrichighway.htm
Oregon & Washington Map :http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/OIPP/docs/ElectricHwyMapREV_4-15.pdf
California Map: http://www.energy.ca.gov/transportation/zev/pev/ev_charging_stations_ca.pdf

These have been installed for several years, and as such are CHAdeMO and not usable by the Bolt (2016 and later CA installs will be CHAdeMO/CCS).

I went to a round table discussion about the future of the West Coast Electric Highway with representatives fro WA, OR & CA. WA is planning some expansion of their system to reach some parts of the State not currently covered. They have the funding approved to do this and the new installs will be CHAdeMO/CCS combo chargers (50 kW). There are no plans to upgrade existing stations to include CCS.

Oregon was the first to complete it's system, and has no funding for expansion or upgrades.

CA never did complete to section from Sacramento to the Oregon border, but they have funding and are working to complete it. IIRC, they will do 101 first, then I5, but i could be mistaken. They will be CHAdeMO CCS combo (50 kW).

The CCS stations you are seeing on Plugshare are not part of the project. Many of the new ones (Oregon/N Cal) are subsidized by BMW/VW and are 24 kW units. While it is possible to travel long distance using those, it's not practical. If you left with a full pack and wanted to travel 500 miles, you would spend close to 4 hours charging on the road (plus the time to leave the freeway, find the charging station, validate payment, return to freeway, etc).

I've driven from Portland to the Bay Area in my hybrid. It's about 10 hours door-to-door with a few stops (fuel, lunch, restroom). Driving the Bolt would add a minimum of 3 charging sessions to spend 5 hours plugged in to a 24 kW DCFC. And that's assuming the DCFC was available when I needed it and I didn't have to wait - they are pretty much all single plug units. If they could provide the Bolt maximum 50 kW, it would cut charging time down to 2.5 hours. If they enabled 100 kW CCS (like the IONIQ) and the stations were available, it would cut charging time to 1.2 hours (still 3 charging stops).

Interestingly, if 100 kWh were available, the IONIQ (with it's 110 mile range) would need 1.4 hours of charging (7 charging sessions of about 12 minutes each)

SeanNelson · Aug 2, 2016

DucRider said:
SeanNelson said:

I don't know if the original plans were completely followed through but the charging infrastructure up and down the Left Coast has developed very nicely. If you look on the PlugShare app or web site you can see that there are enough CCS fast chargers for a Bolt EV to make it from Whistler (north of Vancouver) down to Tijuana.

Click to expand...

I went to a round table discussion about the future of the West Coast Electric Highway with representatives fro WA, OR & CA. WA is planning some expansion of their system to reach some parts of the State not currently covered. They have the funding approved to do this and the new installs will be CHAdeMO/CCS combo chargers (50 kW). There are no plans to upgrade existing stations to include CCS.

BC is going through the same process - a network of more than a dozen 50KW CHAdeMO/CCS chargers has been installed over the past year or so.

The rapidly evolving standards and capabilities are an obstacle to charging network growth, but that's what you get for being an early adopter, I guess. But my biggest gripe is the labyrinthine lengths to which you have to go to in order to be assured of being able to charge at any location. All chargers should just accept a credit card, period.