[Darren Donovan]

Hi,

I'll be staying at a hotel in Irvine, and have been researching DCFC locations. Plugshare shows a few nearby:

Bristol Plaza
3341 S. Bristol St
Santa Ana
1.4 miles from hotel

The Square
18099 Skypark Circle
Irvine
1.4 miles from hotel

2600 Michelson Dr
Irvine
2.7 miles from hotel

BMW dealer
1500 Auto Mall Dr
Santa Ana
2.7 miles from hotel

624 E. First St
Tustin
5.4 miles from hotel

It'll be my first time charging away from home. I didn't search for any J1772, since DCFC stations are pretty plentiful in the area. I'll arrive late at night, so hopefully the chargers won't be occupied. Has any of you used any of these stations? Is payment pretty straightforward? I already have the Chargepoint card, awaiting the EVGo card to arrive.
Thanks,

 

[SparkE]

Another option I suggest is to research what hotels in the area have L2 charging available for guests. That way, you get to the hotel, plug in, go to sleep, and wake up with a full charge - using about 30 seconds of your time (15 seconds to plug in, 15 to unplug).

 

[Darren Donovan]

Another option I suggest is to research what hotels in the area have L2 charging available for guests. That way, you get to the hotel, plug in, go to sleep, and wake up with a full charge - using about 30 seconds of your time (15 seconds to plug in, 15 to unplug).

Great idea, though I didn't do it that way. I chose the Courtyard Marriott to be close to where the seminar is that I'm attending, this hotel does not have any charging available. I figure I still have to go out to eat, so 30 minutes at the DCFC station is not bad at all, there are lots of shops and restaurants around.

 

[eduardom]

The Marriott Courtyard Irvine Spectrum has two Chargepoint fast chargers. However, they were down when I stayed there two weeks and appear to still be out of commission as recently as this week per comments on Plugshare. Luckily, there is an Irvine Company parking structure across the street from the hotel with a couple of level two chargers that I ended up being able to use when I stayed there. It looks like there is another Chargepoint fast charger in the Irvine Spectrum that is within a decent walking distance.

 

[Darren Donovan]

Thanks eduardom for the headsup. I'll be at the Marriott on 8 Mac Arthur Place.

 

[octp50]

I work near where you'll be staying on the other side of the 55 fwy. I went on my lunch break today to check out The Square on Skypark Circle. BTW, these are neither Chargepoint or EVGo chargers. You pay with a CC and it charges a flat rate of $5. However, I tried twice to charge my Bolt and both times it attempted to connect to my car and failed. I called the toll free number to report the issue and was on hold for a long time. When I did connect the agent said she'd have to connect me with a technician but since I didn't have much time left on my break I hung up. Maybe it just needed a reset(?) The Level 2 chargers seemed to be working fine - a Volt was charging next to me.

As for the Bristol Plaza location the last time I was there, they only had one fast charger, it's located in an In and Out/Trader Joe's parking lot (read: lots of traffic), and an ICE was parked in the charging spot. They may have added more since my visit in January.

If I have time this weekend, I'll see if I can get better information.

 

[octp50]

I think the SkyPark Circle will be your best bet. I checked it out again Friday after work and after talking to tech support I figured out how to use the quirky thing. When you first get to the charger it asks you to select which charger by clicking the green start button if you want to charge a Leaf or clicking the RED STOP button to choose the combo fast charger. Maybe others reading this knew this already but not yours truly.

After that, just follow the prompts and you'll be good to go. When I asked the tech guy why it was set up this way, he said that originally the charger was set up to be a touchscreen but they ended up not installing a touchscreen.

Good luck and good charging!

 

[Darren Donovan]

I think the SkyPark Circle will be your best bet. I checked it out again Friday after work and after talking to tech support I figured out how to use the quirky thing. When you first get to the charger it asks you to select which charger by clicking the green start button if you want to charge a Leaf or clicking the RED STOP button to choose the combo fast charger. Maybe others reading this knew this already but not yours truly.

After that, just follow the prompts and you'll be good to go. When I asked the tech guy why it was set up this way, he said that originally the charger was set up to be a touchscreen but they ended up not installing a touchscreen.

Good luck and good charging!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for doing all that! For sure it'll help me when I arrive at 10 PM to not have to call tech support and wait on hold for who knows how long.