Article: Because of charging stations, PHEV better

Wow, good point, even though there may be many charging stations overall, once you narrow it down according to various criteria like open to the public, the L1/L2 option you need, the correct type of plug, ect. you can be left with a lot less choices !

The Prime XLE we ordered uses the j1772 plug from what I read, but I saw many stations that don't have that plug connection as an option.

 

J1772 is the standard in the US for level 1 and 2 charging. The only car brand to not use it is Tesla, and they supply an adapter for it with each car.

Now, fast DC charging doesn't use J1772, and there are a couple different standards, but the Prime isn't DC charging capable in the US. The Outlander PHEV is the only one to have that ability in the US. Really, PHEVs have that gas engine to use for long trips, so fast DC charging is of little need.

 

Try 155 stations in Eugene: Eugene, Oregon EV Charging Stations | PlugShare

But with a PHEV it generally isn't worth it since the pay chargers are priced too high.
And free makes sense only if you are going to be there for an hour or two.

Mike

 

Okay, thanks I'm still learning and fine tuning my knowledge, I had noticed when I looked at the plug selection on the Google maps web page some locations had other selections, on my phone app it gave me these selections to choose from that is why I wondered why some charging stations had other plugs without also having the j1772 plug available.

Here is from a screenshot from my phone app -

 

I agree, with a PHEV there is no sense in regularly paying very excessive rates to charge when there are free ones out there, and like you said even the free ones don't make sense if you don't want to just sit and wait that long. That is why I have been trying to research what stores and restaurants might have free charging stations there or very close by so your car can charge while you shop and/or eat.

 

In 6 years, I have yet to charge the Volt at a public charging station. I charge at home and I charge at work.

 

J1772 is a SAE standard for AC sourcesthat was set before plug in cars came back. As I said, every plug in has it. AC Level 2 chargers are just ones that can supply more electricity than your typical 15 amp outlet. What limits how fast the car charges is the onboard charger. The EVSE is just a tiny computer that checks the connection is good, and tells the car how much energy can be supplied.

CCS is the SAE standard for DC charging. Unlike the EVSE for AC, the DC charger truly is the charger. Speed is limited by the charger output, and the battery's configuration, state of charge, and temperature. Slow DC chargers are a thing, but I don't know of any actually installed in the US, though there was a thread here about a company offering a home one.

The type/combo 2 are the SAE standard adapted for Europe's grid. Shouldn't find any here. There are others for Europe; three phase is much more common there, so their AC can support faster charging. Then China has their own standard for AC and DC.

CHAdeMO is Japan's DC charging standard. It was pushed by Nissan, so many can be found here. When CCS arrived, third party chargers started having both plugs on the charger. CHAdeMO is standard on Japanese Primes.

Tesla has their own plug because the only fast DC charging standard out at the time was CHAdeMO, and it wasn't fast enough for Tesla's goals. It handles both AC and DC charging. In addition to the J1772 adapter, cars come with one for 15 amp outlets and 50 amp RV outlets. There are adapters available for other standard outlet types, plus one for CHAdeMO.

 

Thanks for the detailed info !

As far as charging stations in the U.S. you would think with J1772 being the most common standard that all charging stations would include it as one of the options but I've seen a fair number of stations listed where the J1772 was not an included option.

 

Okay, thanks for the clarification, I'll just need to filter out everything but J1772 when I use an app to find charging station locations when we get our Prime delivered.