Will free charging kill EA usefulness for long distance travel

solarjk

solarjk

Member
So VW, Audi, Polestar etc all give "free charging". How many local EV's does it take to create waiting line at EV stations that have 4 or 6 chargers. I don't have the math skills to do this exercise, but I visited the EA charging location in Lebanon, NH and there was one spot left. I just charged to 35%, because that what I needed, and by the time I unplugged, there was a polestar and another VW waiting. The Audi was at 95% and there were two VW ID-4 charging. At least all the charger were working and it is a key travel route
 
The amount they give you varies by manufacturer, of course. I think VW is the most generous of the bunch. Some only give you 250kWh, which is roughly like if they gave you a 25$ gas card.

I think it was Kyle who warned of problems like this that may persist a few years.

And you probably hit peak fall color traffic. It will be interesting to see what Thanksgiving brings us - thats probably worst case until next year, when even more EVs will be on the road.
 
FWIW, the EA app let's you see real-time status. At the moment, not very busy. If long lines become a problem, people can use the app to check status, or perhaps charge early in the morning when lines are likely to be less less of a problem.
 
It is an interesting thought. Would I rather drive to a local DC charger and wait 30 minutes while getting free electrons, or charge in my garage while I sleep or do other things and pay ¢x?

I don't think I would want to wait, even if I had to pay for my L2 charge.

Luckily for me I will be able to charge for free from solar at home or (non-solar) at work, so L2 for me.
 
I think it's going to take years for availability of charging stations and the number of EVs using them to balance out to a comfortable steady state. That's almost inevitable as a new technology comes into wider use. There will be hiccups along the way.
 
It is hard to properly size these things - you can't completely look at peak usage (like holiday travel),but inevitably there will be times when usage seems low.

That one station in NH has only 4 stalls. I thought they somewhat future proofed some of these,, making it possible to upgrade later. Once ski season gets going, it will again get busy.
 
Esprit1st said:
or charge in my garage while I sleep or do other things and pay ¢x?
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But that's not an option on long road trips - which was the whole point of this thread. Sure, for regular commutes that's an option for most, but not all, EV users, but longer trips will need a charge-up stop.

I also think that more public EV stalls or locations will be necessary to convince those who don't live in houses to adopt EVs.
 
Free or not, we will need a lot more trip and local chargers out there in the near future given the projected EV sales going forward.
 
Calliope said:
But that's not an option on long road trips - which was the whole point of this thread.
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But it's necessarily part of the problem. If I get 3 years of free EA charging with my new car why would I pay money to charge it at home if I can charge for free down the road on a DC charger which I will now block for someone who needs the charge to continue their road trip.

Like I said, I personally wouldn't do that because I value my time. But most certainly there will be people doing just that.
 
Calliope said:
Sure, especially those who can't charge at home.
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And that's fine and reasonable. But I'll bet you there will be people that do have a charger at home but still like to block a DC stall because it's included in the first three years of their car.

AND they will complain if they have to wait in line on a holiday. [emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787]
 
I think we need a lot more L2 destination charges from VW and EA that are also free. That way there is less of a need for DCFC on the road for those that can make it to their destination. I can also see problems at hotels that have a couple of L2 and a lot of customers wanting to charge overnight. How many L2 chargers can a hotel support or can the town or city put in banks of L2 chargers for locations that have a lot of hotels?

1. How many EVs can a hotel accommodate when owners want to charge overnight to 100%?
2. Will Tesla superchargers be available soon and will VW owners even want to go there because of their potentially high cost and membership fees?
3. Will utility companies be allowed to jump into the business and install L2 and DC fast chargers and make a profit?
4. Will the auto companies pull together and fund more L2 public charges.

My town, Milford Michigan, (yes home to GM Proving Grounds) has 3 L2 chargers and the cost is $1 per session no time limit. This encourages everyone to use it as it is very cheap and convenient to local businesses and it is usually in use by both Bolt and Tesla owners. Parking space is limited so adding more is not possible. How do we solve these types of parking issues?

Would like to know how businesses and cities are addressing these problems to share results with others.
 
Esprit1st said:
It is an interesting thought. Would I rather drive to a local DC charger and wait 30 minutes while getting free electrons, or charge in my garage while I sleep or do other things and pay ¢x?

I don't think I would want to wait, even if I had to pay for my L2 charge.

Luckily for me I will be able to charge for free from solar at home or (non-solar) at work, so L2 for me.
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The DC charger is fast, but it shortens the life of your pack if you use it all the time.
 
Jebcidic said:
The DC charger is fast, but it shortens the life of your pack if you use it all the time.
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That occurred to me, too. I suppose VW has taken this into account in their battery warranty? I wonder how much additional battery degradation accrues from 3 years of nothing but fast charging?
 
Jebcidic said:
The DC charger is fast, but it shortens the life of your pack if you use it all the time.
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But not to any realistically important amount. The lifespan of your battery pack is so long, it will probably outlast a lot of other components of the car; most people won't keep their computer on wheels (i.e. an electric car) for that long anyway.
 
The best motel situation with free chargers was one in New York that had maybe twenty 120 plugs spaced out so one could plug without having to run a cord across a drive/walk way. It was a two night conference so I left with a full battery.
 
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