Rav4 EV owner funded CHAdeMO's, SBA to SJC

[sbportech]

I still think that the city of SLO is your best bet. The city is on the cutting edge of "green" technology. If it was on the south end on SLO off of Los Osos valley road I think it would be a good distance from Goleta (SB Nissan), according to google maps its is 98 miles with only a few hills. The Nissan dealer may be into it also if it were right next door.
I also grew up in the SLO area so if there any questions about the area let me know.

 

[TonyWilliams]

[Who does that leave to fund this? The answer isn't obvious, and we may have to cast a pretty wide net to find out. It would be good to get some input from other EV industry people, trade groups, state agencies, and maybe others with a stake or influence in this game.

Does anybody know anything about the West Coast Green Highway association that provides info on the Washington / Oregon system? Could they help us? Is there a CHAdeMO industry group that could help us make connections?

I know the folks responsible for the West Coast Electric Highway... the Washington Department of Transportation was a major sponsor of BC2BC-2013 (that I organize). They have been helping us by trying to convince their counterparts in California to get on board.

The CHAdeMO Association is a $5000 annual membership and a fantastic place to rub shoulders. But, not a good place to find funding.

 

[user 340]

I know the folks responsible for the West Coast Electric Highway... the Washington Department of Transportation was a major sponsor of BC2BC-2013 (that I organize). They have been helping us by trying to convince their counterparts in California to get on board.

Good to know, and I should have known that Tony was already doing due diligence here!

Seems like this year's BC2BC rally would be a good opportunity to have some media stories re. the sorry state of long distance EV charging infrastructure in California despite the popularity of EVs here. It would be great if the San Diego, LA, and SF newspapers ran a story about the rally with comments from the organizers (maybe a certain TW!) about how great it is to drive through OR and WA but there is a charging desert outside of a few CA metro areas. The paper doing the story should contact CARB, Caltrans, or some other state agency asking them why CA is so messed up. Tony could also be quoted that we only need a few stations between SBA and SJC to realize a good part of a long distance network. Might be a stepping stone to get some wider attention from industry or municipalities even if the state continues to be deaf.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I know the folks responsible for the West Coast Electric Highway... the Washington Department of Transportation was a major sponsor of BC2BC-2013 (that I organize). They have been helping us by trying to convince their counterparts in California to get on board.

Good to know, and I should have known that Tony was already doing due diligence here!

Seems like this year's BC2BC rally would be a good opportunity to have some media stories re. the sorry state of long distance EV charging infrastructure in California despite the popularity of EVs here. It would be great if the San Diego, LA, and SF newspapers ran a story about the rally with comments from the organizers (maybe a certain TW!) about how great it is to drive through OR and WA but there is a charging desert outside of a few CA metro areas. The paper doing the story should contact CARB, Caltrans, or some other state agency asking them why CA is so messed up. Tony could also be quoted that we only need a few stations between SBA and SJC to realize a good part of a long distance network. Might be a stepping stone to get some wider attention from industry or municipalities even if the state continues to be deaf.

I've done all that...

 

[Larry_in_Seattle]

I think we should look into crowdfunding. The SolarRoadways people raised something like $2.5M in a very short time based entirely on the video they had made. I don't think we'll see anything other than a few "demo" systems totaling less than maybe a few miles of that very expensive setup anytime in our lifetimes. (I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't buy it.)

Crowdfunding taps into a nationwide audience, and even international folks who believe in the outcome. Here's a link to a list of the "top 10 crowdfunding sites" and their fee structures.

http://www.crowdfunding.com/

 

[user 340]

I have been corresponding with the California Energy Commission on this topic. I am likely jousting at the same windmills that Tony has, but I figure that they need input from people like us. There is some moderately good news in an email I received from them yesterday:

"In the next several months, the Energy Commission is planning to develop a statewide DC fast charger analysis to assess the gaps in interregional and interstate EV charging infrastructure and develop recommendations on how those gaps might be filled. Please feel free to participate by joining our list serve at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/transportation/, on the lower right hand corner."

I signed up for their email list, and I encourage others who want long-distance fast charging in California to do the same. They can ignore 1 or 2 of us, but I suspect that 100 - 200 of us might have some influence.

They have also recently released an assessment of EV charging infrastructure in California:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2014publications/CEC-600-2014-003/CEC-600-2014-003.pdf

 

[4min]

That's a pretty extensive study. Not a lot of focus around i5 fast charging, but it is mentioned as a good thing. There are also challenges listed with this kind of charging infrastructure, but I think that overall recommendation from what I understood is positive that i5 needs to be equipped with charges at some point. Not sure how soon though.

 

[user 340]

The locations of L2 EVSE and DC fast chargers currently planned by the CA Energy Commission are listed in Chapter 1 (printed p. #3 - 18) of this document:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2014publications/CEC-600-2014-002/CEC-600-2014-002.pdf

You can search for "corridor" to find the ones that are intend to be part of long-distance networks. Looks like a good number are planned for areas extending between Palm Springs and Lake Tahoe including a good number on I5. Nothing that I could find on 101 between SBA and SJC though. We should keep the pressure on for those!

 

[miimura]

The locations of L2 EVSE and DC fast chargers currently planned by the CA Energy Commission are listed in Chapter 1 (printed p. #3 - 18) of this document:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2014publications/CEC-600-2014-002/CEC-600-2014-002.pdf

You can search for "corridor" to find the ones that are intend to be part of long-distance networks. Looks like a good number are planned for areas extending between Palm Springs and Lake Tahoe including a good number on I5. Nothing that I could find on 101 between SBA and SJC though. We should keep the pressure on for those!

The I-5 corridor proposed by the US Green Vehicle Council is pretty well placed. Starting from an existing CHAdeMO at a Walgreens near Downtown San Jose, here are the distances and locations:
72 miles to Santa Nella Villiage (near 152/I-5)
74 miles to Coalinga (@ 198/I-5)
56 miles to Lost Hills (@ 46/I-5)
61 miles to Wheeler Ridge (across I-5 from Tejon Ranch Tesla Supercharger)
48 miles to Valencia

Of course, a DCFC at Gilroy would make going over 152 easier too.

The highway 99 corridor in the same proposal looks good too with Stockton, Merced, Fresno, Tulare.

 

[sbportech]

Heard from a good source tonight that there is a grant in the works to put quick chargers in at Hancock collage in Santa Maria, Cal Poly SLO, and in paso Robles, he said that they should be in and ready to use in 6-7 months. What he could not answer is what plug they are going to use. Hope this information is true. I did explain that to make those work we would need chargers to the north all the way up to San Jose. Only time will tell.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Heard from a good source tonight that there is a grant in the works to put quick chargers in at Hancock collage in Santa Maria, Cal Poly SLO, and in paso Robles, he said that they should be in and ready to use in 6-7 months. What he could not answer is what plug they are going to use. Hope this information is true. I did explain that to make those work we would need chargers to the north all the way up to San Jose. Only time will tell.

The Frankenplug camp hasn't been very successful in captivating the state, except for the NRG deal. At a minimum, there will be CHAdeMO.

 

[swogee]

Here's a link to a press release regarding the charging stations at Cal Poly SLO.

http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2014/August/charging.html

No mention as to the type (level 2 or level 3), but I have heard from a Cal Poly employee that the cost will be $2 per hour which is rather steep. I might have a contact that is working on the actual install of the stations, but I need to check.

I also work for CALTRANS, but it seems the topic of EV's and charging is something CALTRANS has no clue on what to do. We recently got a RAV4 EV in our fleet of vehicles and it's going to be interesting on how it will be used and charged as the only EVSE is located at our district office in SLO. There will be no cards for network charging. It will likely be only in SLO county vehicle. I also tried to find out if there was some way an EVSE could be installed at our district office for public use like in D1 up in Arcata and I just got excuses and other such nonsense. It seems to be a political issue AFAIK.

Regarding the West Coast Electric Highway, CALTRANS director Will Kempton signed on to it, but no progress seems to have been made. He was director of CALTRANS 6 years ago.

 

[jimbo69ny]

I'm with Larry on the crowdfunding suggestion. You will get people from all over the world donating just to support the cause. I was going to suggest it too.

 

[Michael Bornstein]

I agree that having CHAdeMO chargers along US-101 would be a good thing, but lets not forget other ways of promoting the West Coast Electric Highway.

The "Outlets at Tejon Ranch" opened recently at the base of the Grapevine at the Laval Road exit of I-5. I visited it a week ago and went to the office to comment that they really needed to install some L3 chargers to attract EV drivers from LA. I pulled out PlugShare to show the poor lady behind the counter that the Central Valley was essentially devoid of public charging stations for at least 50 miles in both directions, and if you owned a Leaf in LA, you could drive to the outlets, but like the Roach Motel, you can get there but you can't get back.

OK, I stretched the point a little, but how many Leaf owners carry a portable EVSE that they can use at the ShorePower outlets at Flying J Frasier Park?

The nice lady replied that I was only the 2nd person to mention EV's since the place opened a few weeks earlier. (I was probably also the first having sent an e-mail as soon as the place opened, and possibly the third as I sent another e-mail when I got home.

Get the hint? What if we bombard them with e-mails saying that we would love to visit but our cars just can't make the round trip?

Here is a link to their comment form:

http://tejonoutlets.com/contact.php

You might mention that Elon loved the location so much that he placed one of his SuperChargers stations right across the freeway, but unfortunately you have to own an $85,000 TESLA to use it. The rest of us would just love to use one at your mall, and probably drop a few bucks in the stores.

There are many malls such as this in California, and a few are enlightened enough to have installed NRG evGO or Chargepoint chargers. The rest could use a few (hundred) letters. The point is that they are usually located with a few miles of major freeways.

 

[miimura]

There is a DCFC already funded by the California Energy Commission across the street from the Tejon Outlets. It will be at the Microtel Inn and Suites by Wyndham. See the PDF linked several posts up-thread. I referenced it as being in Wheeler Ridge in my list of I-5 chargers. I have no idea what the schedule will be, but the $500,000 grant made to the US Green Vehicle Council will connect LA to San Jose and Sacramento via I-5 and CA-99. These chargers will be very useful to those that elect to get the JdeMO.

Edit: Looking at the Commission agenda and transcripts, this particular award under PON-13-606 has not been put on the agenda for a business meeting yet. The next opportunity is the October 7th meeting. However, the Encinitas Charging Plaza got its final approval for funding at the August 27th meeting.

 

[Michael Bornstein]

It is true that the State is planning to place a DCFC unit near the TESLA SuperCharger, but personally, I wont be holding my breath. The Tejon Outlets could get one installed within a few months if they thought that it would be advantageous to them. If the State decides to finally place one on the other side of the freeway, then we will have two. Is that a bad outcome? If EV traffic rises and say there are 5 cars in line, would you rather cross the freeway (about 5 minutes) or wait in line for 2.5 hours.

The report you mentioned showed 10 chargers being placed about every 60 miles and that would be wonderful. Even better in a RAV with JdeMO where we could conceivably stop at every other. That day is however probably far in the future as our good governor is more enthralled with Hydrogen technology than EV's.

 

[user 340]

Looks like the CA Energy Commission is having a workshop in Sacramento next Friday Nov 7 on financing charging stations, with a focus on helping businesses install them with a new financial program:

http://www.energy.ca.gov/altfuels/notices/2014-11-07_workshop/2014-11-07_EVCS_Financing_Workshop_Notice.pdf

Anybody near Sacto interested in attending?

 

[fromport]

Looks like the CA Energy Commission is having a workshop in Sacramento next Friday Nov 7 on financing charging stations, with a focus on helping businesses install them with a new financial program:

http://www.energy.ca.gov/altfuels/notices/2014-11-07_workshop/2014-11-07_EVCS_Financing_Workshop_Notice.pdf

Anybody near Sacto interested in attending?

I wish I had a tesla and could drive there.
Or a Chademo port on my Rav4 of course ;-)

I am interested in going there.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Looks like the CA Energy Commission is having a workshop in Sacramento next Friday Nov 7 on financing charging stations, with a focus on helping businesses install them with a new financial program:

http://www.energy.ca.gov/altfuels/notices/2014-11-07_workshop/2014-11-07_EVCS_Financing_Workshop_Notice.pdf

Anybody near Sacto interested in attending?

Nov 7, 2014

https://energy.webex.com
and enter the unique meeting
number
492 717 065

password: meeting@9

 

[miimura]

People at the Gilroy Supercharger spotted more electrical work in the vicinity and talked to the workers. It is a going to be a NRG EVgo station with its own utility transformer in the same area of the outlet shops as the Superchargers. This at least gets us a little further down the 101 corridor from San Jose.