Fast Charge Survey

Well into my 3rd year leasing my 2013 S so anticipating the issues that my 2011 SL saw in its 3rd year when it saw 90% of its degradation happen in the last 8 months which means more charging on the road. Then along came a perfect opportunity AKA "EZ Charge" to investigate the differences of the various fast charge options that are available to me. Besides location considerations, there were also cost factors involved. EZ Charge gives me 90 days of free charging for AV, NRG and Blink.

Now AV is by far the least convenient. It only benefits me going South (which is rare) and its not located in an area that is normally convenient to me. Now, AV's break but twice I have seen the Tumwater station fixed in 2-3 days which is literally "lightning speed" in the world of Fast Charge Station repair.

NRG is the most expensive but they have a station just over a mile from my office in Tacoma. Right now, their locations are very sparse as they are the newest game in town but they promise to expand. I don't live on promises though

Blink; has the most stations but their nearest one being in Fife (about 10 miles North of the office) is very well placed for many of the locations I need to travel for work but they also have the reputation of breaking the most.

Anyway the blog is very much a work in progress since I still have several weeks of EZ Charge left so I will be adding to it for at least a few more weeks. What I am looking for is your observations, tips on gathering or interpreting data, etc.


http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2016/04/fast-charge-profiles.html

Here's an out-lyer (sp?) for you:

I never wanted to pay $ to charge...and knew that L3 would never be "free" (unless I bought a Tesla)...so I didn't get the QC port on my Leaf...which means I've never paid for public charging of any kind (although I've used a few "free" L2's).

So it's probably not a surprise I share the viewpoint that "almost all of the plugs we need are in your garage"...and that EVs are not for everyone...but someday they will go just as far on a "tank" as an ICE (and sooner if you own a Tesla).

Stanton said:

Here's an out-lyer (sp?) for you:

I never wanted to pay $ to charge...and knew that L3 would never be "free" (unless I bought a Tesla)...so I didn't get the QC port on my Leaf...which means I've never paid for public charging of any kind (although I've used a few "free" L2's).

So it's probably not a surprise I share the viewpoint that "almost all of the plugs we need are in your garage"...and that EVs are not for everyone...but someday they will go just as far on a "tank" as an ICE (and sooner if you own a Tesla).

Click to expand...

Well, I am ok to pay and a 300 mile Tesla means I would still pay for public charging because as robust as Tesla wants us to believe their SC network is, it still ignores areas I want to go to. FYI; so does every current fast charge provider but that will soon change but not because of corporate desires. The change will likely come about over the efforts of a single person.

The other thing as mentioned is that I have to drive for work so I can take the gasser; which I do for 5-6,000 miles a year, take the company car which is sometimes required (company is too cheap to pay mileage for longer trips) or my LEAF. Sometimes the LEAF is simply out of the question due to time restraints but what I want to eliminate is those times when its charging options...

Either way; this is not the point of the post. I maybe ok with paying for public charging but I am not ok with paying more than I need to... THAT is the point of the post. The other point is that "Not only are all fast chargers not equal, some are not even in the same ballpark"