Volkswagen investing $10-mil into US charging infrastructure

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mitchell

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Jan 15, 2014
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Does this hint at a nationwide rollout of the e-Golf? Why else would VW invest so much across the whole nation?

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This investment is one piece of a $10 million commitment Volkswagen has announced to support the electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The company will also invest to support installation of charging stations in certain dealer locations. To facilitate local, state and regional infrastructure deployment, Sommer suggested that the regulators will also need to support programs that reinforce these efforts to support mass electric vehicle adoption including the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program and the Department of Transportation’s MAP-21 program.


Full article: http://insideevs.com/volkswagen-invest-10-million-u-s-electric-car-charging-infrastructure/
 
From what I've read, they are currently investing in 2 separate east and west coast routes (which generally cover states where e-Golfs are sold... http://www.c2es.org/us-states-regions/policy-maps/zev-program ). I don't think this in any way shows a shift to selling in non "CA compliance car" states. But, it's great for those of us in these states!
 
Pity to see that Pennsylvania is not part of the program.
We had one of the original smart electric drives in our company fleet, and just returned it at the end of its lease.
Now have a silver 2015 e-Golf SEL.
 
PA isn't one of the states in which VW sells the eGolf. How are you able to have your car serviced? Dealer have to send their mechanics for extensive training.

Ron
 
Volkswagen, BMW partner to install around 100 US fast charging stations
Jan. 25, 2015
http://www.caradvice.com.au/332006/vw-bmw-partner-to-install-around-100-fast-charging-stations-in-the-us/
 
sweetwagon said:
That's a pretty old article. Anything newer regarding this? I wonder if they still plan on doing this or it got nixed.

I see the first DC fast charger deployments for charge point happening in south california, but nothing in north california yet. However they deploy the weaker 24kW chargers, not 50kW like NRG EVGO has already rolled out in the north bay. The EVGO stations are ABB chargers, and they give you the 80% charge for $10 without contract by calling from your mobile phone at the station or by getting a subscription with a key fob for $5, no monthly cost, then $5 per charge plus $0.20 per minute coming out to about the same but without the hassle of calling.

There are already a ton of L2 chargers out there, just DC fast charger rollout from charge point like they promised in articles published january 2015 nothing happened for a long time, and now the first rollouts appear to be in south cal.

There also was talk about PG&E rolling out their own charging network competing with chargepoint, but not sure what happened to that either - really we need more DC fast chargers connecting the cities...
 
Also, keep in mind there could be a breakdown of reporting new chargers the day of install.
I found a VW dealer with a Chargepoint station that CarNet information assistance didn't know about, plug share didn't list and even the Chargepoint app STILL doesn't list.

I added it myself to plug share thankfully but I was seriously disappointed by Chargepoint.

[Edit] Just got off the phone with Charge point and they informed me that the owner of the charging station is responsible for getting the site publicly listed on their maps.
If the VW dealership is neglectful and forgets to list the station I have no idea how we find out how many of the stations in these plans got installed and where.
 
blueiris said:
Also, keep in mind there could be a breakdown of reporting new chargers the day of install.
I found a VW dealer with a Chargepoint station that CarNet information assistance didn't know about, plug share didn't list and even the Chargepoint app STILL doesn't list.

I added it myself to plug share thankfully but I was seriously disappointed by Chargepoint.

[Edit] Just got off the phone with Charge point and they informed me that the owner of the charging station is responsible for getting the site publicly listed on their maps.
If the VW dealership is neglectful and forgets to list the station I have no idea how we find out how many of the stations in these plans got installed and where.

Call them up and add it to plugshare ? But really VW marketing should get their act together and do that for us.
 
Talking about n.California, not a single DC fast in Sacramento !

Our state capital shows no commitment to EV charging itself........nice!


Barry
 
BarryMW said:
Talking about n.California, not a single DC fast in Sacramento !

Our state capital shows no commitment to EV charging itself........nice!


Barry
SMUD, the Sacramento utility has been installing chargers. Their headquarters has an array of fast chargers, including a SAE Combo that is compatible with the e-Golf. There is also a NRG site with SAE Combo in Citrus Heights.

http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/44998

If you include CHAdeMO fast chargers, there are three Nissan dealers in Sacramento and one in Elk Grove and one in Folsom with fast chargers. NRG also has one in Folsom.
 
BarryMW said:
Talking about n.California, not a single DC fast in Sacramento !
Our state capital shows no commitment to EV charging itself........nice!
Barry

Yep, Davis is the closest one.
 
The only possibilities that I can see are the new ones on the Central Coast - Buellton, Pismo Beach and King City. The Pismo Beach and King City units are at hotels and they are the lower power 24kW SAE Combo only ChargePoint Express 100 units. The one in Buellton is the ChargePoint Express 200 which is Dual Standard CHAdeMO and SAE Combo with 50kW max output. I have no information about whether these have any connection to the VW & BMW initiative.

Edit: One just popped up in Reading too. The Plugshare entry says it is a Express 100 and linked to this news article:
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/new-quick-charge-electric-car-station-in-redding/35972624
 
miimura said:
The only possibilities that I can see are the new ones on the Central Coast - Buellton, Pismo Beach and King City. The Pismo Beach and King City units are at hotels and they are the lower power 24kW SAE Combo only ChargePoint Express 100 units. The one in Buellton is the ChargePoint Express 200 which is Dual Standard CHAdeMO and SAE Combo with 50kW max output. I have no information about whether these have any connection to the VW & BMW initiative.

Edit: One just popped up in Reading too. The Plugshare entry says it is a Express 100 and linked to this news article:
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/new-quick-charge-electric-car-station-in-redding/35972624

Add Los Angeles Zoo and LAX airport to the list to receive Dual Standards. ABC had it on the 5 AM news cast today, Mayor Garcetti is coming out today for the inaugeration of the new Dual charger opening up today at the Zoo.

Here is another recent, really big addition of recharging stations at the Getty Museum, 16 units, although it is pay to park, the charging is free... how many times can you go to a museum and hang out for 3 or 4 hours to get a free charge, while paying for parking? Doesn't seem like a good business model to me, lack of frequency visiting museums is the problem.

http://abc7.com/automotive/los-angeles-museums-offer-free-electric-car-charge-stations/575298/

Since I own my e-Golf, I may go down there today, but I think I plan to avoid fast charging at all costs, it's hard on the batteries to charge them that fast, somewhat abusive, when VW stated they designed the batteries for slow charging parameters, at the Detroit Auto show, and deleted a liquid cooling system for the battery pack, to save on costs.
 
Another station in Yreka appeared on Plugshare. It was mentioned in the news story about the Reading, CA site.

I'm actually quite disappointed that these two are the SAE Combo only 24kW units. There really needs to be corridor chargers at these two Carl's Jr locations with 50kW dual CHAdeMO/SAE Combo chargers. I can understand the hotels on the Central Coast 101 corridor being the smaller units, but these are clearly not "destination" charging sites.
 
miimura said:
Another station in Yreka appeared on Plugshare. It was mentioned in the news story about the Reading, CA site.

I'm actually quite disappointed that these two are the SAE Combo only 24kW units. There really needs to be corridor chargers at these two Carl's Jr locations with 50kW dual CHAdeMO/SAE Combo chargers. I can understand the hotels on the Central Coast 101 corridor being the smaller units, but these are clearly not "destination" charging sites.

Agreed, any charger along the I-5 corridor, should by default, be a 50kwh dual CHAdeMO/SAE Combo charger, the speeds are fast and the distances long. My stock charger is 7.2Kwh rated, going to 25K is still a hours worth of charging, by the time it slows down to get the last 20% into the battery. That's still a long charging stop, too long.

At least future proof it and wire it for 50 kwh jobs in the future, save the labor on reworking... oh wait, are these union jobs and is it an issue of job security?

There has been a lot of problems with these 50 kwh units overheating in the summer time and not working, fans and filters clogging on farming dirt and dust that's always in the air in agricultural areas. A better design that doesn't overheat or clog up is needed.

For me, any trip going north or south of Los Angeles on I-5, I am just going to bite the bullet and buy diesel fuel for the TDI, and get 'er done, driving time wise, to my destination. The e-Golf is an urban warrior combat zone in city traffic type of vehicle, it doesn't get penalized in fuel consumption in stop and go traffic, it doesn't idle and burn juice the way an ICE does in stop and go traffic, much, much, much less waste. Plus, I'll never complain about 406 ft lbs of torque in the Touareg, if I need to pass an 18 wheeler on a two laned road, nor the all wheel drive in snow up at the ski resort in the mountains.
 
DasCC said:
JoulesThief said:
Bueller! Bueller? Anybody there?

none in N. California

I regularly use the DC fast charger at the ChargePoint HQ (250 E Hacienda Ave, Campbell, CA) and use their 44kW charger. Charges $0.25/kWh, half the price of nrg EVgo systems. plus there are always cool people around there to chat with.
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