[triboybolt]

I am in the SF Bay Area. Am I correct to assume the only places within Nor CAL right now to get DC Fast Charger is through the EVGo vendor?
If ChargePoint has these stations, are they plentiful?

I decided to go cheap and not opt for $750 DC fast charge. Having owned now for 2 months, I am not yet regretting my decision, because it appears the network still hasn't gained traction and using L2 at 24/miles or 12/miles an hour is sufficient.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Jon

 

[Lin19687]

Your Answer is on PlugShare. Look on there.
Not sure WHY you care about the DC chargers since you say you CAN'T use it ??

 

[jim0266]

Depends on your use case. My used Leaf does not have DCFC. Purchased it knowing I probably would never need it because of the range I intended to use the car. Our Bolt, however, needs DCFC for its intended purpose. In a few weeks we'll be taking a 250-mile RT. Level 2 at our destination would be too slow for the return trip.

 

[Vertiformed]

I am in the SF Bay Area. Am I correct to assume the only places within Nor CAL right now to get DC Fast Charger is through the EVGo vendor?
If ChargePoint has these stations, are they plentiful?

I decided to go cheap and not opt for $750 DC fast charge. Having owned now for 2 months, I am not yet regretting my decision, because it appears the network still hasn't gained traction and using L2 at 24/miles or 12/miles an hour is sufficient.

Sufficient for what?

If you only drive to destinations less than 200 miles away, you might be okay, but I suspect you can’t make it to Lake Tahoe due to the elevation gain. You need about 20 kWh more, easy to add at a DC fast charger along the way, over three hours to add with Level-2.

In eight months many more chargers will be open, especially Electrify America but others too.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

I am in the SF Bay Area. Am I correct to assume the only places within Nor CAL right now to get DC Fast Charger is through the EVGo vendor?
If ChargePoint has these stations, are they plentiful?

I decided to go cheap and not opt for $750 DC fast charge. Having owned now for 2 months, I am not yet regretting my decision, because it appears the network still hasn't gained traction and using L2 at 24/miles or 12/miles an hour is sufficient.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Jon

Personally, I would not purchase a Bolt EV without the CCS option (even if I didn't plan to use it regularly). If power goes out at your home, what do you do? If you have a sudden emergency, and need to drive 300 to 600 miles from home?

As for the network not gaining traction, that's not quite right. The public DC fast charging infrastructure in the United States has grown more in the last six months than Tesla's Supercharger Network has (considered the gold standard for fast charging implementations).

From a San Francisco perspective:

100 miles to the south, Recargo (parent company of PlugShare mentioned earlier) is in the process of opening a six 200 kW charger site: https://youtu.be/oXubVPMLVeI

100 miles to the northeast, Electrify America is finishing construction on a five 150+ kW charger site in Dunnigan at the I-5/I-505 Junction:
https://youtu.be/Lw-0pW6nXH4

110 miles to the southeast, ChargePoint has opened a three 50 kW charger site in Santa Nella as part of their West Coast Electric Highway:
https://youtu.be/7sglqq3nnGU

In addition to those, we are seeing numerous compelling sites coming online in the near future by even more charging providers. In less than six months, it will be possible to drive from San Diego to the Oregon border using several different routes while having the choice of using no less than six different public charging providers along the way.

If Tesla ever decided to join the public charging providers (not going to happen), we'd have a compelling enough public charging network that, this time next year, it would simply be assumed that you could travel anywhere in the country rapidly with a 200+ mile EV. Realistically, it would be true even without Tesla, but the Supercharger cachet would woo a lot of people.

 

[XJ12]

Have never used the DCFC option. So far, I've never seen a DCFC station and can't even make it on one charge to get to the nearest.

Still got the DCFC option because I have this vision once the warranty runs out, to figure out to run the DCFC backwards as a backup generator like they have on the Leaf.

Would be nice if GM certified and backed a unit that would do this now. Hint hint.

 

[ZoomZoom]

I've never seen a DCFC station yet, but they are coming in my area soon. Well, not in my area, but if I was to drive from Madison to Minneapolis there are some going up along that route. I understand that some have the Bolt as their primary and only car but for me it's just a commuter car. There are 4 Tesla Super Charger stations in my area (3 under construction/1 done). I do Level 2 charge at the grocery store, but for the parking not for the charge really. Now, the brand new Ikea has Level 2, went there, the parking is great but the spots were ICED, all 6 of them.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Personally, I would not purchase a Bolt EV without the CCS option (even if I didn't plan to use it regularly). If power goes out at your home, what do you do? If you have a sudden emergency, and need to drive 300 to 600 miles from home?

I'm as big a proponent of having DCFC on the car as anyone, but you can't buy a car to satisfy every last unlikely unique situation you might ever encounter. What about if you have to move - the Bolt won't hold as much as van, does that mean you have to buy one of those instead?

The answer to your scenario is just to rent or to take public transportation like a bus, train or plane.

 

[ZoomZoom]

I'm as big a proponent of having DCFC on the car as anyone, but you can't buy a car to satisfy every last unlikely unique situation you might ever encounter. What about if you have to move - the Bolt won't hold as much as van, does that mean you have to buy one of those instead?

The answer to your scenario is just to rent or to take public transportation like a bus, train or plane.

I would drive my ICE car if taking a trip over 300 miles. However, I have two friends who each have multiple ICE car's but when they drive across a couple state lines or more, they rent a vehicle. They don't want to put the miles on their cars (not leased) and they get something nearly new from Enterprise and go that route. Not sure if that is common or not.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

I'm as big a proponent of having DCFC on the car as anyone, but you can't buy a car to satisfy every last unlikely unique situation you might ever encounter. What about if you have to move - the Bolt won't hold as much as van, does that mean you have to buy one of those instead?

The answer to your scenario is just to rent or to take public transportation like a bus, train or plane.

Moving is something you plan. I was talking about sudden, unplanned (but common) occurrences. But moving is another good example because it can sometimes take a while to install new charging at home. Being able to DCFC when you don't have home or work charging is a godsend (I've had to do it for over a week).

As long as you live in an area with basic DCFC infrastructure, making an impromptu 500-mile trip still gong to be less hassle and most likely faster in an EV than a rental ICE car or taking public transportation.

I guess it comes down to how likely you are to encounter one of those situations.

 

[GregBrew]

Have never used the DCFC option. So far, I've never seen a DCFC station and can't even make it on one charge to get to the nearest.

Still got the DCFC option because I have this vision once the warranty runs out, to figure out to run the DCFC backwards as a backup generator like they have on the Leaf.

Would be nice if GM certified and backed a unit that would do this now. Hint hint.

You don't need the DCFC port to use the Bolt as a backup generator. The DC-DC will provide ~1600W to the Aux Battery. I've got a fused, beefy 120A Anderson connector to the Aux Battery in my Bolt. I can use it to run a 1000W load on a 1500W 12V inverter. It's like having four Powerwalls in the driveway. You just need several extension cords...

 

[XJ12]

You don't need the DCFC port to use the Bolt as a backup generator. The DC-DC will provide ~1600W to the Aux Battery. I've got a fused, beefy 120A Anderson connector to the Aux Battery in my Bolt. I can use it to run a 1000W load on a 1500W 12V inverter. It's like having four Powerwalls in the driveway. You just need several extension cords...

tempting. my main application is running our well during a power outage. that would use 240V. my breaker for the well is 30A. but I just went out to the garage and verified my well motor is only 1/2 HP. 30A is overkill. so maybe the Bolt setup the way you did would work. just with a different inverter that also outputs 240V.

 

[GregBrew]

tempting. my main application is running our well during a power outage. that would use 240V. my breaker for the well is 30A. but I just went out to the garage and verified my well motor is only 1/2 HP. 30A is overkill. so maybe the Bolt setup the way you did would work. just with a different inverter that also outputs 240V.

Just don't exceed ~1000W on the inverter's load side. I found that with a load much more than that, the DC-DC simply can't keep up. Experiment! (I had fun doing it.):nerd:

 

[twriter]

Your Answer is on PlugShare. Look on there.

The PlugShare website, when viewed in its default configuration (all types, all companies), does not show the chargers in my company's building's garage, which are ChargePoint chargers and the garage does not restrict access to the public. The app does not show all that are available in our garages.

 

[SparkE]

The PlugShare website, when viewed in its default configuration (all types, all companies), does not show the chargers in my company's building's garage, which are ChargePoint chargers and the garage does not restrict access to the public. The app does not show all that are available in our garages.

Your company provides DCFC in its garage ?!!!? Wow, you lucky *@^%$* !!!

 

[SparkE]

I am in the SF Bay Area. Am I correct to assume the only places within Nor CAL right now to get DC Fast Charger is through the EVGo vendor?
If ChargePoint has these stations, are they plentiful?

Attached are snapshots of the non-EVgo CCS providers around the SFBay, and in Calif (there are a lot). The 'wrenches' are ones that are under construction.

(Yes, you can find the info you want in PlugShare).

 

[Lin19687]

The PlugShare website, when viewed in its default configuration (all types, all companies), does not show the chargers in my company's building's garage, which are ChargePoint chargers and the garage does not restrict access to the public. The app does not show all that are available in our garages.

Then they made it Private OR someone needs to ADD it to PS. It is that simple.


Yes, you have to Configure what you want to see on PS, so his Answer IS there. He just needs to Do it. probably would have been faster then asking this question or searching on google.

Question is WHY does he need to know about CCS chargers if he doesn't HAVE one.
Kind of a silly question to me, but maybe there is a bigger question in it that I missed?

 

[twriter]

Your company provides DCFC in its garage ?!!!? Wow, you lucky *@^%$* !!!

No. The building does. And it's not free. They are ChargePoint chargers, and as far as I can determine, their $$$/KWh is at the upper end of the EV charging cost scale. That said, when I arrived yesterday morning, all 6 spaces in the west garage were occupied by cars being charged. I think charging at work may be a challenge once I get my Bolt.



Google provides free charging in its garages and on its campus though, to its employees.


And I discovered today that there are 2 chargers in front of another building in our complex that are free. I think they are "only" level 2 chargers though, not DCFC.

 

[SparkE]

So, have you added the DCFCs to PlugShare?

 

[Bob Armstrong]

I recommend to everyone who is considering a Bolt that they buy the fast charge option. you cannot add it later.

Here in Massachusetts, there are fast chargers along the highways like the Mass Pike and at many universities. There are fast chargers at hotels. I don't use them often but am very glad to have them when I need them. When I drive to the cape, I need to recharge, and if I'm visiting someone, they likely don't have an L2 charger...but I can get up early, drive to the local Whole Foods and charge for an hour our two while I go back to sleep...get woken up by the trucks delivering supplies before they open and go in an buy breakfast and excellent coffee.

I don't want to limit my use to ONLY being able to short commutes. there are more charges being installed every day.