8 Stall ChargePoint CHAdeMO+CCS site online in Mountain View

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miimura

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Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
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Location
Los Altos, CA
There is now a 8 stall DCFC site online in Mountain View, California. The site uses the ChargePoint Express 200 DCFC units that can output 125 amps (50kW) to either its CHAdeMO connector or its CCS connector. This is the largest industry standard (ie. non-SuperCharger) fast charge site I know of in the United States.

PlugShare - NASA Ames - Visitor Parking Lot

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Do they have an indicator if in use?


The ones here locally have a giant light on top to tell you

1) Unplugged
2) Charging
3) Not Charging

so you can see if someone is just parking their car there.
 
Good to see. Most of the CSS/DCFC stations weren't near major highway intersections, but something this large right at 101/85 is very handy.

BTW there is a new EVgo station at Summit House on Highway 17, for those headed towards Santa Cruz this summer.
 
$.50 a minute to recharge? 30 minutes is $15 on an E-golf, 20 minutes is $10. $10 of diesel in my TDI is easily good for 160 170 miles in my Passat. Peoples time must be cheap up there in Mountain View. No thanks, I'll recharge in my garage at home at $0.15 a kwh, which VW strongly encourages in the owners manual here on my 2015 SEL. Might be a better value when the 2018 with 35kw batteries go on sale.

My e-Golf basically burns the first minute figuring out what the maximum recharge rate is on these types of chargers, and then it's only 80% full, maybe from 15 or 20% to start in 20 minutes. I just don't run my battery down that low, hardly ever.
 
The charging cost is $0.25/minute at these stations. There is no session fee, so you can just charge the amount that you really need. Obviously, these will only be used by people who really need the energy. There are no shops around and they are not eligible for the various No-Charge-to-Charge programs from the manufacturers. IMHO, that's good because that means that they won't be clogged with freeloaders.
 
It's so beautiful, we want one down in SoCal! Specifically the San Fernando Valley but we'll take 'them all over.

Speaking generally, I believe we've certainly outgrown the two stall strategy in California, especially in the LA and Bay areas. More often than not there are two cars already waiting to charge in the existing charging areas. I don't know the deal with the Chademo only chargers but it's time those go away and be replaced with combos...that will helpful and could be done fairly easily without more construction, permitting, etc. Anyone out there that really knows about this please chime in...this is only my opinion.
 
EVgo has a history of changing chargers to suit the mix of usage. Very early on in the CCS rollout, they installed a CCS charger at the Nob Hill Foods site in Mountain View. This is only about 1/4 mile from BMW Mountain View. The site was initially a Nissan CHAdeMO and an ABB CCS-Only charger. After a little while, they changed the ABB charger for a dual CCS & CHAdeMO charger. About a year later, they changed out the Nissan CHAdeMO for another ABB dual CCS & CHAdeMO charger. Replacing chargers is not an involved process. It's just a maintenance operation, so no permits are needed or anything.

There are more Leafs on the road than all the CCS cars combined, so having more total CHAdeMO plugs does make some sense. However, the problem arises when Leaf owners arrive to an empty site and plug in to the dual charger. Then an e-Golf or an i3 arrives and they can't use the available charger. If I were to guess, I would think that EVgo is not buying any new Nissan chargers, but are re-deploying the old ones to new sites when the busy sites are upgraded to two dual standard units.
 
This 8 stall DCFC site is a wonderful! I'm glad that NASA is investing in EV infrastructure. I hope other government agencies follow their lead.
 
f1geek said:
This 8 stall DCFC site is a wonderful! I'm glad that NASA is investing in EV infrastructure. I hope other government agencies follow their lead.
If you notice the blue and white stickers on the chargers, that is the logo of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The presence of those stickers makes me think that this installation was significantly funded by a BAAQMD grant like the one linked below.

BAAQMD - Charge Fast Program
 
You are correct. I have looked into this program for my office in the Bay Area, and while there is money available, there is still a significant amount of work and money required on the part of the organization installing the stations.
 
f1geek said:
You are correct. I have looked into this program for my office in the Bay Area, and while there is money available, there is still a significant amount of work and money required on the part of the organization installing the stations.

Let's talk hard numbers, to sell electricity.
 
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