Public "Quick" Charge Station

[DaveinOlyWA]

During a low-key ceremony just over a week ago, the first public high-voltage charging station for electric vehicles was inaugurated at the Gateway Center in East Woodland California. Representatives from Tesla Motors were on hand to help demonstrate with six Tesla Roadsters. The power station is capable of charging an electric car in about one hour and is meant to set an example for future stations being planned in other states.

The station is a result of collaboration between developers and the city, and is located east of Interstate-5 off County Road 102 at the Gateway Center. It contains one Tesla, two AVcons, one small paddle inductive charger, plus two neighborhood electric vehicle standard outlets. Plug-in America estimates that some 200-300 EVs of various types are located within 100 miles of the site, which will accommodate all new EVs and PHEVs.

alternative energy: First Public Charging Station for Electric Cars

[daniel]

One hour to charge a 250-mile car may seem slow to someone who's used to filling up a stinker, but it makes it possible to drive 500 miles in a day, which for me is farther than I would want to drive in a day. With only one such station, few people would be able to make the 500-mile day range. But with one such station every 100 miles on major freeways, pretty much anyone would have at least a 400 mile range. Yes, an hour's rest stop is long. But you eat a sandwich, take a brief nap, have a cup of coffee, then maybe read a book for 15 minutes, and you are well-rested to continue. Less convenient than gas, but road trips become possible.

This is encouraging news.

[qbee42]

I read the title as Pubic "Quick" Charge Station. That would be an entirely different topic.

Tom

[darelldd]

Yikes. Plenty of innacuracies in the reporting, but the bulk of it is good. The title of the thing is what bugs me the most. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the claim "first public charging station" in the past year or so. This is the first public TESLA charging station, yes. Here is my page on it:
Woodland dedication

Recognize the shirt?

[DaveinOlyWA]

daniel; have to agree with you. having driven or taken long car trips SEVERAL times (way more than i care to admit OR repeat) i completely agree that an hour is doable. an hour to layover would be great. give the kids a chance to burn energy, stretch the legs, get a meal. plus a forced layover every 3-4 hours reduces driver fatigue and hard to believe that it would not impact the accident rates

but, these things would have to be all over the place just as plentiful as gas stations now. having one every 100 miles would require a massive complex, etc. they need to be networked in order to prevent someone from going from place to place to find a open charging spot etc... and a company like BP (better place of course!!) to organize it would be awesome. even reserving a spot like setting appointments thru an interface on the car would be an idea. (heck, just add another "finder" app for available charging spots to your GPS)

either way, i think the options are there, the technology hurdles not as tough as we would like to think, and the compromises not all that bad... the only thing that really holds us back is the money....

it took TRILLIONS to build the gas station network we have now... so why should its replacement be any cheaper??

i still say the benefits far far outweighs the cost of the investment

[darelldd]

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

it took TRILLIONS to build the gas station network we have now... so why should its replacement be any cheaper??

Fact of the matter is, it would be significantly cheaper to install a fast charging infrastructure than it would cost to install all the gas stations again today (including all the environmental issues, that's for certain!). And then compare it to the idea of an H2 infrastructure! Sigh.

[daniel]

Darell: On the page you linked, you comment that it's easy to get in and out of the Tesla. Sure it would be easy with the top off! I rode in one with the top on. It was not terribly difficult, but it was definitely awkward.

Dave: I'd prefer 15 minutes. Half an hour no problem. One hour is beyond convenient, but very possible. But as you say, it would require a whole network of them for there to be one where you need it. Though we would not need one at every corner and every mile along the highway, as we have with gas stations. In town they'd not be needed at all unless the town happened to be at the 100-mile point. And you raise a valid point about reservations, with such a long charge time. Hotels and motels could do overnight off-peak slow charging.

But this is possible. We probably could have done it for the cost of the Iraq war or the financial system bailout.

[efusco]

Originally Posted by darelldd

Fact of the matter is, it would be significantly cheaper to install a fast charging infrastructure than it would cost to install all the gas stations again today (including all the environmental issues, that's for certain!). And then compare it to the idea of an H2 infrastructure! Sigh.

I know there's already at least one company out there commercially trying to build some charging station infrastructure. And while it's nice that some communities are putting in these stations for free that cow's only gonna give milk for so long when it suddenly has several thousand EVs sucking on the same free nipple.

Commercial is clearly the way it needs to go. Plug in, swipe your credit card, pay a "ridiculous" $0.25/kWh or something and walk away. Company makes profit and has motivation to install charging stations at convenient spots. The community isn't up in arms that their tax dollars are being spent for a bunch of "tree huggers" to get free electricity, and everyone's happy.

[DaveinOlyWA]

that "ridiculous" rate is something that can pretty much only be currently achieved driving a Prius today AND only at todays depressed gas prices.

i dont have an issue with the independent station charging extra for the electricity since current gas stations do the same thing and im sure with these quick charge stations a lot of the money will be made with the 1500% markup on soda fountain drinks...

[daniel]

I agree that we should have to pay for our electricity. We also need to pay our share of road maintenance costs (presently built into gas tax). Exactly how this is to be done is a matter for discussion and planning.

A lot of Prius drivers believe they should get tax breaks and other benefits for driving a car with a smaller environmental footprint. I have always disagreed with this, in part because it creates hostility on the part of people who cannot afford to buy a Prius, and in part because a Prius is its own benefit.

Rather than providing freebies to EV drivers, I'd like to see the government remove the subsidies that petroleum presently gets. I'd also like to see a heavy carbon tax, which would apply to carbon-producing electric generating plants as well.