[gdroth]

:|One of the few things holding me back from purchase is the difficulty in understanding which highway stops will accommodate high speed charging with the Bolt. I look at plugshare and others and I get cross eyed. Simply put, where could I charge (relatively) quickly between Richmond and Washington, DC near I-95? Could someone walk me through how you find out only the high speed compatible charging stations. Much appreciate any help.

 

[GJETSON]

I suspect I am about the least computer savvy person on this forum. But I will tell you what I do. Go to https://www.plugshare.com/ In the box in the upper right corner, make sure only the high powered station box is checked. Under more options, select North America under region, uncheck everything but CCS DCFC, and payment required. Leave all networks, and map view checked. Now zoom in on Virginia. You will see three chargers on or near I-95 between the loop, around Richmond, and the Beltway. Lots more chargers inside each city, of course. The two Greenlots are free. The EVgo near DC is pay. The total distance is less than 100 miles. If you leave Richmond with a full charge, you will have no trouble getting to any of the chargers around DC. If you drive around DC until you are down to 30 miles of range, or so, when you arrive at a station for a 30 minute charge, before returning to Richmond, you will get enough miles back in to return easily. Clicking on each station location you may use will show what is there. Not having a smartphone, we sent away for RFIC cards for the two networks in our area. Most stations will have a phone number, and charger number. If you are adventurous, you could just show up, call the service number, give them your credit card info, and they can start the unit remotely, but I wouldn't suggest that as your first choice.

 

[David M O'Rourke]

multi-part reply coming up

go to plugshare.com (or an app on your phone or tablet) and set the more-options or 'filter' option to the following chargers - screen shot included - click on it to see the Settings for a Bolt.

there are 3 basic chargers you can use:

EV Plug - slow - overnight - full charge
NEMA 14-50 - slow - overnight - full charge - requires a mobile charger you carry with you in the car
CCS/DCFC/SAE Combo - fast - used for road trips

EV Plug J-1772 - these are typically 208 volts @ 30 amps - yielding about 6,000'ish watts - charging the Bolt from one of these will take 9-11 hours

CCS DCFC (SAE Combo) - these range from 24,000 - 60,000 watts - depending on where your battery level stands charging at one of these will take 30-90 minutes

NEMA 14-50 - these are 240 volt high powered plugs used typically for RV hook ups power in RV parks - however it's a high quality 240 volt 50 amp outlet - with the right portable charger in the Bolt with you on trips you could charge at 32 amps from any of these plugs (typically found at RV parks all over the US).

when looking at Plug-share you want to stick to the "orange" chargers - these are the fast DC chargers and will charge the Bolt the fastest.

 

[David M O'Rourke]

Richmond to Washington DC area looks to have a nice selections and dense selection of fast chargers…

see screen shot.

 

[GJETSON]

The J1772 and NEMA 14-50 outlets are 220-240 volt outlets. If you are very concerned about range, or running on empty, the J1772 locations will get you maybe 25 miles in an hour. That is slow, but if it gets you to the next DCFC it is worth the wait. The 14-50 outlets are in campgrounds mostly, and require carrying a portable charge cord. If you are not a seasoned EV owner yet, I wouldn't consider this option.

 

[gdroth]

great response. I see the word "greenlots" in your reply and when clicking on those two locations just north of Richmond. What does that term mean?

 

[GJETSON]

Greenlots is an "integrator". I think that means middleman/go between. They hook up parking lot/restaurant/hotel operators with equipment manufacturers. Poking around Virginia, on the map, I see some at hotels with no charge to charge, some at parking lots, where you only pay for the parking, some at hotels where only guests are allowed to use them, some at free public lots where you pay for the charge.

http://greenlots.com/what-we-do/

 

[David M O'Rourke]

anyone serious about using public charging infrastructure should consider setting up accounts with regions charging networks - typically these accounts are not same day service so you need to establish the account ahead of time - and it costs nothing if you do not use their network - but having their RFID/Token in the car lets you use one of their chargers when you need to…

I have accounts with the following charging networks (in order of actual use)

Chargepoint - https://www.chargepoint.com
Blink - https://www.blinkcharging.com
evGO - https://www.evgo.com
greenLots - http://greenlots.com
SEMA - http://www.semaconnect.com

now I live on the west coast and I've used chargers from all 5 of these networks - your ideal list will be different for different regions of the country.

 

[surgeonFWW]

It may be worth mentioning that not all DCFC stations (Level 3, which is really SAE DC Level 2, but that's another story) have the same charging capability (re: rate of charge). But, none of the apps (especially PlugShare) filter by this difference. To the app, all Level 3s are the same.

Similarly, to them, all Level 2s are the same, but we soon learn that, although rated at 240 volts, some are as low as 206 volts. Some Level 2 chargers deliver only 16 amps (11-12 mpch {miles per charging hour} made to fill the needs of the VOLT) while others can provide the full 32 amps (24-25 mpch) that the BOLT can take. [A 40 amp home or commercial EVSE will not charge a Bolt any faster than a 32 amp EVSE will.]

Even without a filter, if each of us, when using a Level 3 DCFC station would comment on the wattage (volts x max amps) we could adjust our travel plans. All DCFC supply diminishing amps as the battery fills, sometimes from 100 amps at the start down to 5 amps at finish (if charging to "full"). Charging rate diminishes also such that you rarely charge for more than an hour, or above 80% SoC. Drive on to the next station. You will spend less time charging in the long run.

 

[David M O'Rourke]

+1 on surgeonFWW comments - it's worth while to read the comments and check in's sometimes - there is a range of public charging quality.