Disappointed with Bay Area, Ca public charging

[linkim]

For me, I was looking specifically at driving to SF from SJ and would definitely pay for QC rather than renting a car to make the trip. As it is, the options seem very limited (many of the QCs in SF are perennially down, unavailable, plus a lot of them are closed at night). Right now the only way I can drive to SF without much anxiety or inconvenience is if the destination I'm going to happens to be near a parking garage that has L2 chargers and is open in the evenings (many garages seem to close early evening), and those garages (concentrated around Union Square/FiDi) are not in the parts of town I usually go to.

I often drive from Silicon Valley (Cupertino) to SF using I-280. There is a QC at Daly City (eVgo), free L2 at Stonestown Galleria and many L2 (Chargepoint) at Lake Merced apts. There are other L2s in the west side of the city. I don't know where you typically go in the city, but I think there are a lot of charging stations in and near the city. There are some LEAFers from the San Jose area who drive to SF and use chargers at public paid garages. However, further south of SF on I-280, its close to a desert for chargers. So please give us an example of where you go that is not a convenient location to charge.

 

[cBeam]

I often drive from Silicon Valley (Cupertino) to SF using I-280. There is a QC at Daly City (eVgo)

It's interesting, based on your post I went to the eVgo website and looked up their QCs ("Freedom Stations") in and very close to San Francisco. They only show 3 QC stations. The eVgo mapping tool places the Daly City station right next to San Francisco Zoo (pretty far away from I-280), however the address they provide is the one at Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City (much closer to I-280). The only other eVgo QC station somewhat close to a freeway seems to be the one at 2001 Market Street (close to Central Freeway). This one seems to be open only between 8am and 10pm.

The Daly City QC really seems interesting if it is available and functional when OP needs it, as 280 connects to 101 in the North and via 380 in the South, so should be doable for any SJ - SF round trip.

Re L2: IMHO, L2 charging is destination charging. One has to spend around 3 hours there to recharge a Leaf for the trip back to San Jose. Not feasible unless you find reliable L2 charging at your destination and plan to spend 3 hours plus at destination anyway.

 

[linkim]

It's interesting, based on your post I went to the eVgo website and looked up their QCs ("Freedom Stations") in and very close to San Francisco. They only show 3 QC stations. The eVgo mapping tool places the Daly City station right next to San Francisco Zoo (pretty far away from I-280), however the address they provide is the one at Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City (much closer to I-280). The only other eVgo QC station somewhat close to a freeway seems to be the one at 2001 Market Street (close to Central Freeway). This one seems to be open only between 8am and 10pm.

The Daly City QC really seems interesting if it is available and functional when OP needs it, as 280 connects to 101 in the North and via 380 in the South, so should be doable for any SJ - SF round trip.

I didn't find the eVgo chargers in Daly City at the SF Zoo as you mentioned. In any case, I use the QC at Westlake Shopping Center about 2 or more times a month. My experience is that the QC is very reliable and operational. I even saw a contract worker there one time cleaning the filters. The biggest problem I observed recently is new LEAF drivers (with the free charge card from Nissan) who park and connected at the QC beyond 30 minutes. There is also an eVgo QC at Walgreens on Columbus Ave in SF, but I have never used it. The eVgo QC at Whole Foods on Market St. is sometimes difficult to access, and I find the L2s parking space occupied by ICE vehicles.
What is missing is QCs on 101 south of San Jose. NRG/eVgo did not seem to have any plans to install them in that area, at least when I talked to them.

 

[mgs333]

For me, I was looking specifically at driving to SF from SJ and would definitely pay for QC rather than renting a car to make the trip. As it is, the options seem very limited (many of the QCs in SF are perennially down, unavailable, plus a lot of them are closed at night). Right now the only way I can drive to SF without much anxiety or inconvenience is if the destination I'm going to happens to be near a parking garage that has L2 chargers and is open in the evenings (many garages seem to close early evening), and those garages (concentrated around Union Square/FiDi) are not in the parts of town I usually go to.

I often drive from Silicon Valley (Cupertino) to SF using I-280. There is a QC at Daly City (eVgo), free L2 at Stonestown Galleria and many L2 (Chargepoint) at Lake Merced apts. There are other L2s in the west side of the city. I don't know where you typically go in the city, but I think there are a lot of charging stations in and near the city. There are some LEAFers from the San Jose area who drive to SF and use chargers at public paid garages. However, further south of SF on I-280, its close to a desert for chargers. So please give us an example of where you go that is not a convenient location to charge.

Thanks for the pointers. I've never yet made the journey but I know someday I will try.

The places I usually find myself in are the northwest corner around Land's End, Ocean Beach, then around Sunset or Richmond.

The L2s at the apartments won't work for me (not gonna sit there for a couple of hours), but those QCs around Daly City should work as long as they're available.

 

[linkim]

The L2s at the apartments won't work for me (not gonna sit there for a couple of hours), but those QCs around Daly City should work as long as they're available.

I agree, its not convenient to charge at the apts. However, I used them when visiting a friend who lives there. Besides charging, the L2 is at a convenient to the apts. and one of the few spots available when SFSU is in session (provided the parking site is not ICEd). As I mentioned earlier there are 4 free Volta L2s at Stonestown which is close by. However, the chargers are often occupied so they are hit and miss.

Unfortunately, the west side of SF is barren of charging sites.