Charging at Chevy Dealers?
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I have not had any problems using chargers at the dealerships. Any dealership, not just Chevy. Sadly, about half of them were low power L2's. Much less than the 32A's the car can take from an L2 charger. I have not found many DCFC chargers at dealerships. I don't use them, but I do look aggressively for them, for others and to learn about them for my future needs with future vehicles.
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I haven't done any "destination" type charging at Chevy dealers.
I have asked my dealer to plug in my car when I've had it in for tire rotations, etc. (And they didn't remember to do that a couple of times)
I have heard people say that if you are planning a trip, checking with the dealers ahead of time is a good idea and that the dealers are usually good with that.
I do think some dealers aren't as happy with just leaving them open for people to stop by and use...
I have asked my dealer to plug in my car when I've had it in for tire rotations, etc. (And they didn't remember to do that a couple of times)
I have heard people say that if you are planning a trip, checking with the dealers ahead of time is a good idea and that the dealers are usually good with that.
I do think some dealers aren't as happy with just leaving them open for people to stop by and use...
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233 Posts
Based out of Portland, Maine here.
I have had acceptable service from Chevy dealers in Nashua and Somersworth. (Lannan in Lowell, Mass, has bridged some trips on I-495 for me.) Dealers here are generally friendly and will offer their service waiting areas while you charge. Use of these makes sense if I have 30-45 minutes and can live with the addition of, at the most, 15kWh or 50 miles of range.
Even though these local dealers are welcoming, there are times that the charger (i.e. Nashua) is turned off during business hours. Ultimately, the challenge is that dealer chargers normally max out a 20kW for a variety of reasons; they are intended as courtesy chargers or for internal service operations, not long distance travel chargers.
As you mentioned, New Hampshire has limited DCFC installations. Yet, the state is only 90 miles wide at its widest (or about 160 miles from Concord/Manchester to the Canadian border. With planning, you should be able to take trips almost anywhere in spring through fall, with some range anxiety in winter.
What really doesn't work in the Northeast, particularly Maine and New Hampshire, is counting on DCFC stations as your primary charging strategy. Weather and availability are not in your favor.
I have had acceptable service from Chevy dealers in Nashua and Somersworth. (Lannan in Lowell, Mass, has bridged some trips on I-495 for me.) Dealers here are generally friendly and will offer their service waiting areas while you charge. Use of these makes sense if I have 30-45 minutes and can live with the addition of, at the most, 15kWh or 50 miles of range.
Even though these local dealers are welcoming, there are times that the charger (i.e. Nashua) is turned off during business hours. Ultimately, the challenge is that dealer chargers normally max out a 20kW for a variety of reasons; they are intended as courtesy chargers or for internal service operations, not long distance travel chargers.
As you mentioned, New Hampshire has limited DCFC installations. Yet, the state is only 90 miles wide at its widest (or about 160 miles from Concord/Manchester to the Canadian border. With planning, you should be able to take trips almost anywhere in spring through fall, with some range anxiety in winter.
What really doesn't work in the Northeast, particularly Maine and New Hampshire, is counting on DCFC stations as your primary charging strategy. Weather and availability are not in your favor.
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I've done the "slow" level 3 chargers twice in the two years I have owned it. 1x in an Auto nation chevy dealer. 1x in a local (extra 3 miles away) harley dealer (just opened up a few weeks ago). I had same experience - gave the electricity around 4 times faster than an L2 and both stations free of charge! I think these stations are a great way to get a recharge.
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Chevy dealers are not generally a place where you can charge your Bolt. Those that even have L2 chargers are going to be using them to charge their customers' cars.
Bottom line - don't plan on it, as you will be frequently disappointed - GM is not Tesla, and most dealers hate electric cars because they get little or no revenue from servicing them.
Bottom line - don't plan on it, as you will be frequently disappointed - GM is not Tesla, and most dealers hate electric cars because they get little or no revenue from servicing them.
Agreed. Unless you've called ahead and made an appointment, I would never count on any dealer for a charge I needed to make a trip. And most of the ones they call DCFC are 25kW rating, which means you might get 18 kW out of them
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The Nashua dealer was nice when I was there in 2018, I think I left a Plugshare info on it (TiggerBolt)
Next to Lannan in Lowell is a Hannaford shopping that has a true Fast DC for free, but the guys at the dealer are nice and they have to turn on the charger.
But all in all Never count on a charger unless you know for a fact it is alive and open.
Next to Lannan in Lowell is a Hannaford shopping that has a true Fast DC for free, but the guys at the dealer are nice and they have to turn on the charger.
But all in all Never count on a charger unless you know for a fact it is alive and open.
I would ask the Chevy Dealer next time before I left a Plugshare report as a courtesy. The dealer I have had a great experience with had a BMW blow up the board in a 25kW DCFC and found another local non-Chevy owner sneaking into the lot at night after closing and charging all night and leaving by dawn. I am concerned I will loose the privilege as the dealer is not to keen on this kind of behavior. Sign says Chevy customers only.
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I've had good experiences charging using Level 2 at the Chevrolet dealership when visiting a nearby business. It's convenient but I always check in with the service department first to get an ok before plugging in. Obviously if they need it they get priority. It's a small dealership and it's not where we purchased our Bolt; it's in another town but it's worked out well on the occasions that we've needed to use it. The other Level 2 charger at one time was ICE'd by the finance guy's Corvette. I thought that was pretty funny; it was about 3 years ago as I remember when the Bolt was still fairly new.
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595 Posts
I called my nearest dealer today and asked if it was OK to use their charger. She said no problem, just let them know when you arrive. Then she said free charging was available about 3 miles away and gave me the location, which sounds like its near a strip mall. Not sure what type she was referring to but it was nice to hear she shared that info.
You can look up Chargepoint website/app. Change the filter to show "free" and it will list the free Chargepoint stations.
You can look it up yourself using Plugshare.com or the Plugshare app. Just select J-1772 adapter and de-select Require Payment. That should show you the free stations.
You can look it up yourself using Plugshare.com or the Plugshare app. Just select J-1772 adapter and de-select Require Payment. That should show you the free stations.
PlugShare is a great crowd sourced app. The downside is that they do not show if a location is occupied or if it still exists at all.
Someone sees an outlet on the wall at Wendy's and suddenly it is on PlugShare. Everyone goes there, so Wendy's puts a plate
on and there is no more outlet. It is still on PlugShare unless / until there are enough complaints about it to be removed.
Someone sees an outlet on the wall at Wendy's and suddenly it is on PlugShare. Everyone goes there, so Wendy's puts a plate
on and there is no more outlet. It is still on PlugShare unless / until there are enough complaints about it to be removed.
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I have a Bolt, so I have a Chevy... not sure what you are talking about.
I did ASK when I went to Nashua because it is polite and after I asked it turns out it is not ON unless they do it.
I have NO ISSUE posting on PS about a location. It is an open format. If places don't want everyone using it then close it /make private/remove it.
ALL BMW dealers here charge $ and are locked at night.
My new restaurant I work at (brand new not even open for biz yet) put in a charger. I plugged there while training, it's free and unlocked. As I was telling the boss about putting in a sign of 2 hr limit and for patrons of the resturant only... we see a TESLA X drive by it slow and then leave, go up the hill to the Theater charger that is also free..... I said, see, you will get people charging here ALL DAY while they sit at Barnes and Noble next door. The Tesla DOESN'T work here as I am the only one with an EV
What I was trying to say is if you put a Chevy dealer on Plugshare, and hordes of non-Chevy EVs show up, my dealer for one, will be glad for the excuse and shut it down forever. This dealership is a huge sprawling complex with multiple entrances and they will take away the DCFC well before they invest in gates at every entrance. Yes, their answer is to lock the charger after hours which messes me up now because I often go through there after hours. These dealerships pay for the chargers, repairs and electricity themselves, GM does not. It is rare to find a Chevy dealer with 25kW in the first place. Call me selfish, but the sign says Chevy customer's only. PS might be an open format, but the dealerships are not. Your need to share might just screw me or others out of one of the only Chevy perks we get. Your solution to "close it/make it private/remove it" is no answer at all.I have a Bolt, so I have a Chevy... not sure what you are talking about.
I did ASK when I went to Nashua because it is polite and after I asked it turns out it is not ON unless they do it.
I have NO ISSUE posting on PS about a location. It is an open format. If places don't want everyone using it then close it /make private/remove it.
ALL BMW dealers here charge $ and are locked at night.
My new restaurant I work at (brand new not even open for biz yet) put in a charger. I plugged there while training, it's free and unlocked. As I was telling the boss about putting in a sign of 2 hr limit and for patrons of the resturant only... we see a TESLA X drive by it slow and then leave, go up the hill to the Theater charger that is also free..... I said, see, you will get people charging here ALL DAY while they sit at Barnes and Noble next door. The Tesla DOESN'T work here as I am the only one with an EV
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Then charge at home or before they close. Seems you also are getting a FREE charge too.
most of us (EVers) charge at home.
Most dealers are open till 9 pm, some till 10pm.
My posting is in no way MAKING anyone use the charger. The PS listing was there and PS has been around for a LONG time.
Those listings are to HELP EVers to FIND chargers (in the beginning for those that had longer drives and CHOSE to buy a FULL EV with only 50-80 miles total), NOT just show where free ones are. Some of us have been driving BEV (full battery EV, not hybrid), I am not sure how long you have been an EVer.
Also MY dealer has a sign that does NOT say only for them... see here in the pics PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
Seems like we have totally different experiences at Chevy dealer. Mine is looking for any reason to shut it down and yours doesn't seem to care if anyone uses it. Good for you.
But, me getting a FREE charge has nothing to do with the discussion. This is a red herring. Charging at home when I'm 100 miles away on a 300 mile trip is sort of impossible. "most of us charge at home" Like Duh, bro, How did you ever assume I go strictly to the dealer to charge? Like I said, the dealer is 100 miles away on a trip I need to do once a month. As for the pissing contest, I was an EVer long before you even probably knew about them. I built my own VW Dasher station wagon with 120 volt DC motor and lead acid batteries 15 years ago and drove to work in it every day. Before the Prius, before the Leaf, and certainly before the Tesla so don't even try to press your credentials on me.
Like I said, glad for you the dealership you use welcomes all Evers. That's all you really needed to say in your 2nd post and I would have understood that. let's call it done, OK?
Bob Johnson Chevrolet in Rochester, NY has two Level 2s and I Level 3 Charger. They topped off my new Bolt on the Level 3 before I picked it up last Thursday.
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Not in my are
And regarding the plugshare comments,my Chevy dealer is not listed there but if it was,I believe they would not permit other makes to charge for the simple fact that each charger is located on either side of the service lane.
Just the opposite of your experience regarding using chargers at Chevy dealers. In just 30 days of ownership,I have charged at 3 local Chevy dealers. In fact, the dealer I've used for prior Chevy vehicles, was the 1st place I charged. They have an L1 charger in the drop-off lane where I was directed to connect. The assistant service manager came out and told me to move the Bolt 40 feet to their L3 charger and she connected it for me as I was looking at their charger! Whether they hate electric cars has no bearing whatsoever in using their chargers. So no, your experience isn't the norm. As an aside, in 30 days I have also charged 2x at the BMW dealer and also at the Audi and Porsche dealers with no issues. But I ask prior to charging.
And regarding the plugshare comments,my Chevy dealer is not listed there but if it was,I believe they would not permit other makes to charge for the simple fact that each charger is located on either side of the service lane.
I'm shocked that dealerships allow people to come on to their property and charge their EVs for free - especially non-GM brands. Do they ask for identification? This is so un-dealership-like! I could see if you bought your EV at that dealership ... maybe they'd give you some number of complimentary charges (kind of like free oil changes), but if you're just passing through with little chance you'll ever do business with them .... I can't see why they'd allow it. They're paying for the electricity; you're possibly getting in their way ... what if there's an accident (you cause damage, they cause damage). It just doesn't seem to make any sense (from their perspective). Maybe right now it's so few and far between that they don't care, but eventually it'll reach the point where they'll put the brakes on it for any one of several reasons.
But enjoy it while it lasts, I guess...
But enjoy it while it lasts, I guess...
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