DFW Metroplex

[EVthinker]

The saga continues - - D'OH!

I got the new App "chargecar" from the Apple Store, and Lo and Behold there was a Blink charger on the campus of St. Marks School. So we drove over to find it, and no problem. As you drive in the main driveway from Preston Road (at the traffic light), go straight, go over 3 speed bumps, and it will be on the left side.

Pipcecil, you have this charger as "Restricted" on your map (again THANKS!!!!), but I didn't see any signs limiting it, and it is a Blink charger.

HOWEVER, the saga continues - - D'OH D'OH - - we got there to find ANOTHER car ahead of us!!! It was a Grey Leaf and was already charging!!!
Just like the EvGo on Belt Line..........."ahhhhhhhhh, ye shoulda been here yesterday, the fish were jumpin' outta of the water, and didn't I expect Jonah to jump out of the mouth of one of those fish!!" HOW do I ALWAYS find the charging stations where someone is ahead of me?? Just my luck, I guess!

Happy Holiday, All!

 

[Pipcecil]

BTW, the Garland Road one is in Dallas.

Yea, my mistake when typing it. I have used it a few times before and I should have known better - its in the Casa Linda area. Its more closer to Garland than Mesquite...I don't know what I was thinking.

I got the new App "chargecar" from the Apple Store, and Lo and Behold there was a Blink charger on the campus of St. Marks School. So we drove over to find it, and no problem. As you drive in the main driveway from Preston Road (at the traffic light), go straight, go over 3 speed bumps, and it will be on the left side. Pipcecil, you have this charger as "Restricted" on your map (again THANKS!!!!), but I didn't see any signs limiting it, and it is a Blink charger.

I got the email from CarCharging group about their new app - sad I run Android and not iOS. Oh well, they said it will be out soon. I have noticed many companies are trying to "combine" all the companies. Their first attempts were awful, but they are doing better - ChargePoint's app does this fairly well.

St. Mark's stations (2 of them) are actually listed as split, one being restricted and one being available. Blink doesn't offer an ability for only certain cards to access a station (pretty sure of that...), so the only limited access would be if its behind a fence, employee parking or some other way to prevent the public from free access. Were both stations together and out in the open or was it only one?

 

[EVthinker]

The charging station on the premises of St. Mark's of Texas (just off of Preston, south of Royal Lane) has what appears to be a Blink charger. The sign says "BLINK", there was a long black hose/chord, and a charger.

After I cut the barbed wire, and fed the guard dog, the charger was open EXCEPT FOR THAT GREY LEAF!!! D'OH!!! Just like that Leaf that pulled in before us at Belt Line and Montfort (D'OH D'OH)............the saga continues.

More realistically, for those not familiar with the campus, there are basically two ways into the St. Mark's campus: one off of Preston at the traffic light, and there is a second smaller entrance on the north side. I believe that it is Caladium that runs off of Royal (generally north/south) and straight into the St. Mark's campus. If you enter from Preston, as you drive East, the road "splits": one road goes straight ahead and is closest to the buildings, and ends up near the administration building. The second road/aisle branches off of this main road and angles NNE, and then runs parallel with the main road. This second aisle/road ends up at the back of the campus near the stadium.

The Blink charger is straight ahead, near the buildings, in front of Administration, and you have to go over about 3 speed bumps. I did not see any restriction makers or signs. It was not fenced off. There are reserved parking spaces for EV cars. The Leaf that was charging (ohhhhhhhh, if I ever see him again!!!! ) was facing West, and I was driving East. I did not think to go around to see if there was a restrictive sign facing West, but there was no sign facing East.

My job this week will be to drive over and check it out, North/South/East AND West and report back.

My thoughts are that the folks at St. Marks probably don't want a lot of non-parents coming onto their campus to charge a car. IF it was an emergency or we were getting low and needed a 45 minute to one hour charge (or less), they probably wouldn't say anything. If it is a constant stream of cars charging, they may ask to have it removed or restrict it. don't know!

I'll report........."I'm late!" "Where are you going??" "On a Great Adventure."..................more later.

BTW I've used the EVgo charger (Freedom Station near Casa Linda). The EvGo Freedom station is located North (towards LBJ 635) from Buckner and Garland Road. Simply go down about 3 or 4 blocks on Garland Road, towards LBJ, look left at the traffic light, and there is a Walgreens. The Station is on the Walgreens parking lot).

A GREAT ADVENTURE!

 

[shay]

How much are the battery checks running? I need to get one since my car is about to be 3 years old.

 

[Stanton]

How much are the battery checks running? I need to get one since my car is about to be 3 years old.

There doesn't seem to be a "set" price (in fact some have reported "free"), but it should be <$100

 

[shay]

How much are the battery checks running? I need to get one since my car is about to be 3 years old.

There doesn't seem to be a "set" price (in fact some have reported "free"), but it should be <$100

I got a quote from Lewisville Autozone for 125. Where is it under a 100?

 

[EVthinker]

I have been to Mordor and back.

Yesterday we visited St. Mark's of Texas. The TWO Blink chargers are where I described: one faces East and one face West. There are reserved parking for each.

I asked the security guard whether the chargers were open to the public. He said that he thought so, but sent to the Athletic Director. He confirmed that the Blink charges ARE NOT restricted, they are open to the public, and he said the he thought that one was a commercial charger and the other "residential charger". Due to time constraints, we did not examine the chargers or ends to see if they were Level 2 or fast chargers. I suspect that they are the same. Because of the demographics of the student body, it may be possible that one has a Tesla charger "nozzle" and the other a Level 2 "nozzle".

So we can add these to our list. Let me know if I need to return on an Another Great Adventure! (the first 4 blocks were most dangerous, but the last 3 were okay).

 

[Pipcecil]

Two removals, 2 modification and 1 new station:

Denton Municipal Electric Company (Blink) & Autobahn BMW (ChargePoint) have been removed due to a change in status to private.

Classic BMW (ChargePoint) has two new stations, bring the total to six at this location.
St. Mark's School (Blink) has had the icon changed the the restricted access removed

New station:

Beltline Surgery Center
ChargePoint – Two Level 2 (J1772)
2858 North Belt Line Road
Sunnyvale, TX 75182
$0.80 per hour

I asked the security guard whether the chargers were open to the public. He said that he thought so, but sent to the Athletic Director. He confirmed that the Blink charges ARE NOT restricted, they are open to the public, and he said the he thought that one was a commercial charger and the other "residential charger". Due to time constraints, we did not examine the chargers or ends to see if they were Level 2 or fast chargers. I suspect that they are the same. Because of the demographics of the student body, it may be possible that one has a Tesla charger "nozzle" and the other a Level 2 "nozzle".

Well, even if they aren't pedestal type stations, they can still be public (See the stations at the West Village garage - they look like home units). BUT I will say they CAN limit access on those type of units (if I remember right, people in the EV project still need to use some type of card to access their home units??? If that is the case, then they could limited those stations to only certain people - i.e. restrict them).

Blink doesn't implement Tesla connections - no one uses Tesla HPWC connectors except Tesla. The ONLY official public Tesla units are the supercharges, although there are a few places (actually one here in DFW) where the business owner installed a HPWC for the Model S that is open to the public (it is mounted outside).

You would have also known if they were DC chargers - these units are HUGE like an entire gas station pump huge (not a small pedestal), plus they are very expensive. These are most definitely 100% J1772 units. As for one being restricted...it might be. I changed it to unrestricted for the time, but it someone will have to try and charge into both to see if it would let them.

As for the battery check - I will be getting mine a little over a couple of weeks so I will update the cost of the check. It will be done at Don Davis Nissan - I am not going anywhere else mostly because they have been good to me, I don't trust Clay Cooley, they are very close to work, and everything else is a QC+ away (66% capacity hurts...) from work or home...soo...no.

 

[EVthinker]

This is DEFINITELY stretching "DFW Metroplex", but I hope that it covers Hillsboro.

There are two Blink chargers at the Outlet Mall on I-35E South, heading towards Waco. If you exit on Texas Hwy. 171 (this is Outlet Mall exit), turn left on the overpass over I-35, and left again to proceed North along the service road. Watch your turn in driveways into the Mall. There are two malls - North and South. The first entrances are the South mall which has a Polo Ralph Lauren store and a Coach store. Keep going past these and proceed to the North Mall. Enter at the Nike store and turn left. The Blink chargers are basically in front of the Under Armour store. THANK GOODNESS. We charged at the Cracker Barrel store in DeSoto, and headed south with a 95% charge. We got to Hillsboro with a 41% charge, and looked for a plug! We plugged in and did a nice stroll around the mall for about an hour, and left Hillsboro back to Dallas with a 69% charge. We limped into Cracker Barrel with 12%! After a nice snack and tea, we headed home with a 97% charge. As our illustrious map poster, Pipcecil notes, the Cracker Barrel has an EvGo charger, and that high speed Freedom Station is wonderful! Pipcecil your map of charging stations is invaluable. THANKS.

Thanks to all of the [past posts by our members, I DID notice my battery temp and it was sky high!!! So I took easy getting home, and I've left our Leaf outside to cool off.

Great times. This is a life saver group, and I still have one question: when does the Leaf stop being fun to drive????

 

[Pipcecil]

I have definitely used that station in Hillsboro plenty of times. My parents and my brother & his wife and kid live in Austin, so when we leave to go south we stop here (in my wife's volt) charge while we walk across the street for some Wendy's or taco bell and get a few extra miles of electricity for the continued journey.

Unfortunately since my map is now officially funded by my work (i.e. I get to update it on work time and even have a charge code for it), Hill County (which Hillsboro is in) is not in the NCTCOG region, so I can't place it on the map since it is not in an area covered by our regional governing body. For future reference, here are the counties that we encompass:

MPO Area (smaller area, but we can do more work in these counties): Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, and Wise.
NCTCOG Area (larger, we don't do much, but I can "stretch" and call these areas within our jurisdiction when doing the map): All the previous counties plus - Erath, Navarro, Palo Pinto, and Somervell

So basically I will plot anything with the NCTCOG area (technically since this is part of our "air quality" grant I can only do it for the MPO Area, but I squeeze the others in because there just isn't much out there and they let me do it.). That's way the Corsicana Superchargers are mapped (since it is in Navarro County), but I can't map the outlets in Hillsboro (in Hill County), despite them being just as equally far south of the metroplex.

 

[EVthinker]

For our group and plug-ins, I received an email from Leaf........

https://driveelectricweek.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the past, does our group do anything for what used to be called National Plug In Day??

I don't mind assisting in organizing something around North Park Shopping Center??? Any other ideas for September 15 - 21?

"this is gonna be great"...............[all apologies to Flounder in "Animal House"

 

[adric22]

I went last year to the "plug in day" think over off 75 by the NorthPark mall. There was a decent turn out.

 

[Pipcecil]

My work hosts and organizes the event for the region (along with support from the regional committee for electric vehicles north texas - EVNT). Next time the event occurs, sign up to come with your car so you can talk and discuss about your vehicle with other people.

 

[Stanton]

I went last year to the "plug in day" think over off 75 by the NorthPark mall. There was a decent turn out.

I was there as well and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it won't/can't be there again since they're building something in what used to be a parking lot! Maybe it will return to the North again this year (it was in Frisco a couple years ago).

 

[Pipcecil]

Its been in Frisco at the movie theater (had charging stations there) and at the Pancake house in Addison near the NRG eVgo and Blink stations. It was kindof disappointing they couldn't hold it in a location that had chargers on site, but I guess you get what you can take. So far its been going for three years and there hasn't been a repeat location, so we shall see where they place it next time.

 

[Pipcecil]

Map updates - one mod and one new station:

Mod: Garland Animal Control (Blink) is no longer restricted

New:

Black Walnut Café
NRG eVgo – Two Level 2 (J1772)
955 West Stacy Road
Allen, TX 75013


For this station, it is part of NRG eVgo's system and will require a fob. But the software is not yet loaded so, currently, you do not need to use a fob to work the station. It should change to fob usage soon.

 

[adric22]

New:

Black Walnut Café
NRG eVgo – Two Level 2 (J1772)
955 West Stacy Road
Allen, TX 75013

Interesting.. I haven't seen EVGO install many Level 2 stations. In fact, the only ones I know of are at the airport. I hope they will install more of them around. In fact, EVGO has been more or less at a standstill in DF/W ever since they starting building in other states.

 

[EVthinker]

My work hosts and organizes the event for the region (along with support from the regional committee for electric vehicles north texas - EVNT). Next time the event occurs, sign up to come with your car so you can talk and discuss about your vehicle with other people.

Pipcecil - - I am SOOO there! I would love to attend an EV gathering!

 

[Pipcecil]

The plugin day event happens in September, so I will post when I get more details about it.

As for NRG eVgo, I knew they had interest in doing a decent network of public level 2's (heard about this when they did the dealership DC stations), and it looks like their program is finally getting kicked off. I tried to gleam some more information of when and where, but couldn't get much besides "more are coming soon." T

As for their slower growth lately, it could be many factors. I know its very difficult to get permits for DC charging stations, and sometimes it has taken eVgo over a year just to get the permits for a specific location. Secondly, the location has to want a charging station. There could just be a lack of interest, or a slowing of interesting.

My guess is the investment into the level 2 stations will help get more subscribers for plug in hybrid users or at least provide a better deal (or stations = better bang for your buck) for leaf owners too with additional level 2s. Either way, I am just happy more is getting installed. The more, the better.

 

[mkjayakumar]

Appreciate you taking the time to maintain the data. I have forwarded this map link to a few of my colleagues and friends who are new to Leaf and are not a member of this forum.