Vacaville L3 Chargepoint

[Nubo]

...
I only had patience to wait about 25 minutes, but in that time I got back to around 75% of a total charge (my range display then showed about 72 miles or so and I had only about 25 miles left to get home, so). It was cold, windy, and raining, so that reduced even more my general lack of patience for anything that involved me doing some standing outside in that setting....

The implication seems to be that one can't sit in the vehicle while it is charging. Is that true?

 

[DarkStar]

The implication seems to be that one can't sit in the vehicle while it is charging. Is that true?

I hope you're just joking...

 

[GeorgeParrott]

I am not at all sure there was any display on the screen of the unit before I plugged in, so I am not ready to just say "I was lucky," and I am usually not "lucky."

I generally lack patience, and I could have stayed inside the car, but that was cold too, and I could have walked thru the rain to the Sonic Drive-In, but a cold coke didn't seem too attractive on that day, so ....

I will followup tomorrow/Wednesday (9 March) with a call to the Vacaville City offices to see what they say about the "status" of that L3 charger; I will be shocked if I just hit it on a "lucky moment."

 

[gascant]

I will followup tomorrow/Wednesday (9 March) with a call to the Vacaville City offices to see what they say about the "status" of that L3 charger; I will be shocked if I just hit it on a "lucky moment."

Tell them they need to get it working soon--those of us from the Bay Area will need it when we have our first joint NorCal/Sac-SF BayLEAFs (regional) meeting, which will be targeted for Vacaville.

 

[GeekEV]

I could have walked thru the rain to the Sonic Drive-In, but a cold coke didn't seem too attractive on that day, so ....

Three words: French fries dude!

 

[jkirkebo]

There is no way for the "user" to modify the rate of charge at a DC Quick Charge station as they are currently designed. I've wished many, many times that Nissan should have added a function to allow me to choose the maximum charging rate for both Level 1/2 and DC Quick Charging...

The person waiting in line to charge after you would probably not be so happy if you set your DC quick charge to take 1 hour because you didn't need it to finish faster...

 

[jkirkebo]

There is no way for the "user" to modify the rate of charge at a DC Quick Charge station as they are currently designed. I've wished many, many times that Nissan should have added a function to allow me to choose the maximum charging rate for both Level 1/2 and DC Quick Charging...

The person waiting in line to charge after you would probably not be so happy if you set your DC quick charge to take 1 hour because you didn't need it to finish faster...

IMHO such limits should not be possible to set yourself, DC charging should always work at the maximum possible. If you don't want to charge that fast, simply use the L2 charge point instead.

 

[GeorgeParrott]

8:45 am Wednesday, 9 March...

I called to the Vacaville Public Works offices this morning and was transferred to an answering unit for Brian McClean who is apparently THE person for the EV charging stations in town. He was in a morning meeting, but I left a voice message with our question about open access on that L3 charge unit.

As soon as I hear more I will update the thread.

 

[rclams]

Without some real-time data on the status of charge-stations (individual e-pumps), especially QC stations, it will be difficult to risk depending on one QC to accomplish your journey.

Coulomb MyChargePoint.net site gives data that seems current within about 10 minute sample rate, but does not show legacy/other sites...

NONE of five L2/L3 charge stations in Vacaville show up on MyChargePoint.net. Is MyChargePoint.net restricted to Coulomb charge stations exclusively?

George: do the Vacaville stations show up on your LEAF charge stations screen?

 

[DarkStar]

NONE of five L2/L3 charge stations in Vacaville show up on MyChargePoint.net. Is MyChargePoint.net restricted to Coulomb charge stations exclusively?

George: do the Vacaville stations show up on your LEAF charge stations screen?

Correct, Coulomb stations only show up on MyChargePoint. Currently the LEAF will only show stations that you've saved into it, but Nissan will be updating them soon (hopefully)!

 

[KeiJidosha]

Without some real-time data on the status of charge-stations (individual e-pumps), especially QC stations, it will be difficult to risk depending on one QC to accomplish your journey.

Coulomb MyChargePoint.net site gives data that seems current within about 10 minute sample rate, but does not show legacy/other sites...

NONE of five L2/L3 charge stations in Vacaville show up on MyChargePoint.net. Is MyChargePoint.net restricted to Coulomb charge stations exclusively?

George: do the Vacaville stations show up on your LEAF charge stations screen?

Coulomb stations have "Added Value" in internet connectivity so they can report status "Available/Busy" in real time. Legacy stations are not internet connected, so unable to report status. I do not know if/how ECOtality/Blink station will show status.

I would like to see Coulomb partner with Quick Charge providers to be able to see status of QC sites.

 

[LEAFer]

George should export his NAV data onto SD and send the result to EVNation for analysis. Since he charged there ... the QC location should have been stored automatically.

Looking forward to the result of that return phone call ...

 

[LEAFer]

8:45 am Wednesday, 9 March...

I called to the Vacaville Public Works offices this morning and was transferred to an answering unit for Brian McClean who is apparently THE person for the EV charging stations in town. He was in a morning meeting, but I left a voice message with our question about open access on that L3 charge unit.

As soon as I hear more I will update the thread.

George ... any news yet ?

 

[GeorgeParrott]

I finally talked directly to the Vacaville city coordinator (Brian M.)for the public charge stations there. He told me that the L3 charger was installed completely FREE to the city and is actually still owned by PG&E. Apparently in the 10 months or so since the install, according to Brian, it appears that all of the PG&E staff who worked to bring that charging point online have been transferred, and he thinks "PG&E have forgotten that it even exists." (NOTE: PG&E is also the utility company that "forgot" to test more than 30% of its gas lines on any regular basis, which installed a pipe insulating tube as a local gas line here in Sacramento rather than the proper tubing (the house blew up and killed the homeowner), and which "served" San Bruno gas services which led to more than 50 homes destroyed and more people KILLED)

Anyway, according to Brian, the charge station is active and open, and there is some chance that we will be going to Vacaville this weekend or next, and IF so, I will directly check it out (again). Further Brian did note, that THIS was the first L3 station on the West Coast and maybe is still the ONLY L3 station up and running....

 

[Spies]

Anyway, according to Brian, the charge station is active and open, and there is some chance that we will be going to Vacaville this weekend or next, and IF so, I will directly check it out (again).

This is fantastic news!

I still wonder if the unit just appears to be without power until it is actually plugged into a vehicle.

 

[DarkStar]

Further Brian did note, that THIS was the first L3 station on the West Coast and maybe is still the ONLY L3 station up and running....

Not true, the DC Quick Charge station in Portland has been open to the public and available to use continuously since it's installation August 5th.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHh6IFownfE[/youtube]

 

[Deleted member 1622]

Anyway, according to Brian, the charge station is active and open, and there is some chance that we will be going to Vacaville this weekend or next, and IF so, I will directly check it out (again). Further Brian did note, that THIS was the first L3 station on the West Coast and maybe is still the ONLY L3 station up and running....

Hi George --

That's funny, I talked to Brian myself today (Friday, the 18th) and got similar information... except that my interpretation of what he said was that he confirmed the station is NOT open to the public. He confirmed what Ed Huestis (the last transit manager at Vacaville) told me in an e-mail after he talked with people at PG&E (Brian cannot get a call back from PG&E!). Ed said that PG&E does not consider this station open to the public, as it is a demo project open only to CARB staff and a few others (see the posted e-mail from Ed below).
I would really like to use this charger, so I hope you can go by in person and check it out, but any use of it might be, ah, less than legal according to PG&E. Then again, if they've forgotten about it, that's their problem! Thanks for keeping on top of this and going to check it out. I have re-posted what I wrote below in another thread about charging with an L3 (with Ed's e-mail).

From the "Can you 'top off' after a DC quick charge" thread:
Hello --

It looks like my Leaf and I will not be visiting Vacaville and its L3 charger anytime soon. Now I have it from two solid sources in Vacaville that the L3 charger at the Bella Vista Road Park and Ride is definitely NOT for public use. I have an e-mail from Ed Huestis, former transit manager at Vacaville who talked to his contacts at PG&E, and a phone call from Brian McLean, the current transit manager there. Here is Ed's e-mail in full:
"I checked with my contact at PG&E. The EV Quick Charger at the Bella Vista Road Park and Ride Lot here in Vacaville is only available to OEM's and to CARB staff as part of a demonstration program for the time being. We have no chargers with J1772 connectors here in Vacaville yet.

We don't charge for using any of the electric vehicle public charging stations in Vacaville (45), and they are available 24/7. We just don't have any with the J1772 connectors yet.

I haven't heard if you can effectively "top off" with Level 2 charging immediately following the use of the EV Quick Charger."
Ed Huestis

Brian's call conveyed mostly the same information. I also learned some disappointing news from him... the grants, including Ecotality's EV Project to install more public chargers, all require some kind of local matching funds. Brian told me that it was very unlikely that Vacaville will put up any general fund money to upgrade to J1772's or to get the DC L3 charger online for the public. Given the recession, this is an unlikely scenario for most small to mid-sized cities in California. I am guessing that it will take 10 years before we have any significant number of public chargers on our highways. That's a reality I didn't want to face, but given the cost of installation, the lack of awareness, and the low numbers of EVs on the road at this time, that's my guess.

I'd like to know how George managed to charge at this station on Feb. 18 given that PG&E does not want the public charging from it. Could it have been left on by mistake? Is it actually online and usable even though PG&E doesn't want it to be?

Does anyone know of any other working DC L3 chargers in the Bay Area?

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

California needs an "Adopt a Charger" program.

 

[MaryC]

You would think that Nissan, Chevy, Tesla and all the other companies w/EV's would help sponsor some of these charge stations. It is in their best interest if they want to promote the EV's they are selling.

 

[EVDRIVER]

There is the entire private sector that will install charge stations to drive business, it's not going to take ten years.