What to do while waiting for your i-MiEV to charge?

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RobertC

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2012
Messages
292
Location
Winter Garden, FL
This morning I drove to the second DC fast charger in New Jersey located at the Wyndham hotel in Mt. Laurel outside of Philadelphia. The total distance is 38.8 miles, and I used 11 bars to get here.
We'll, the DC fast charger is down, and the desk clerk couldn't help, and neither could the company that operates the charger, Greenlots. Greenlots app showed the charger as offline, but a Plugshare user had checked in and said it was working. Unfortunately, only the adjacent Level 2 EVSE is working.
So I'm stuck here for a couple hours (instead of 15 minutes) waiting to get enough charge to get back home.

Here's a few things I found that you can do while sitting in the car.
1. Heat the car.
It's about 40 degrees F out, but I brought my remote and after only 11 minutes of preheat the car was nice and warm. The seat heater also works during preheat.
2. Turn the key to Accessory.
The radio will work and so will the 12V accessory socket enabling you to charge your electronics. The seat heater does not work, but you can turn the key to On and the seat heater will come on. Charging is not interrupted when you turn the key.
3. Monitor the i-MiEV using Canion.
The battery temperature is slowly rising and is presently at 55 degrees F. The warmer battery will perform better for my return trip. I can also monitor my percent state of charge.
4. Compose long My i-MiEV Forum posts.
Waiting is much less boring with a smart phone.
 
It always suprises me about how many QC stations are "down". You would think that the fact that most of them are new would mean that they should be fairly reliable. It really creates another form of range anxiety---planning a trip that requires a EVSE in some remote place to be available (not ICED) and in operation. Pretty soon healthcare.gov will be more reliable then our charging infrastructure :lol: !
 
We have ZERO public charging stations of any kind within 50 miles of my house . . . . and I'm beginning to think that may be a blessing - Driving far enough from home that you cannot make it back without some sort of public charging appears to many times be a crapshoot and you could waste lots of time 'refueling' if you're lucky enough to get it done at all

I really don't mind taking one of the ICE's over the iMiEV on a 40 or 50 mile trip. Unfortunately, it's not happening often enough to keep their batteries charged and the gasoline in them is getting really stale - I do buy 100% gasoline for them or I think we'd have problems with them already

But . . . . some day we'll have a public L1 or L2 charger installed somewhere and I'll probably top off there just so my car can see what it's like refueling someplace other than at home :lol:

Don
 
I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but the only way public charging at any level will become reliable and omnipresent will be if it finds it's way into gas stations. If station owners can install the equipment and make even a small profit, it will support their business of selling coffee, cigarettes, beer, lotto tickets and Big Slurpees. And on a more serious note, if you could accomplish some of the families grocery shopping, think of the time and effort that might save. In my area, not a single store or mall has installed charging stations.

I know this sounds distasteful, but there is not enough profit in just selling a little electricity to make installing this equipment in isolated places, where people are not used to getting fuel, worth it. It would be especially good for station owners because they would have a captive audience for at least 20-30 minutes...and a nationwide network of electric fueling stations would be present across cities and the country. There would be no need to wait for a virtually profitless infrastructure to be built.
 
Karin and me are going long distance quite often. It is like flying an airplane. Telephone all the sockets and find out if they exist and weather they are working. No gas stations at all. They are afraid of electric cars.

Charging at a shopping mall for some four hours is part of the fun. Charging at a hotel over night may be fun too.

Charging at an RV park and together reading a book may be fun too but spending a night charging in a could car is no fun not even in summer. Some of us might get ideas but an i-MiEV is rather small and it has got really big windows although you can make them fogging very easily.

Cheers
Peter and Karin
 
When I spent a week charging at a Nissan dealer two hours everyday while my cord was being upgraded, I had the radio on while monitoring plug consumption with Canion (I've become a real stickler about monitoring usage) using a devised formula to accommodate charging losses, and playing a slew of card games on my phone. I repurposed my old Captivate as a dedicated Canion runner, complete with triggers that automatically unlock the phone and open the app when I start the car, and close the app and lock the phone when I shut the car off.

The good thing is that the Nissan dealer said I can use their charging station whenever I need to.
 
PV1 said:
The good thing is that the Nissan dealer said I can use their charging station whenever I need to.
You're lucky. Neither of the Nissan dealerships near me will allow anyone to charge. Both are listed as 'public charging stations' on PlugShare, but neither of them have any idea how they got listed there

Moral of the story - Don't believe (or ever count on) locations listed on PlugShare as being actual charging stations. It appears someone other than the owners of the location can add them to the list . . . . without even consulting with them

Don
 
I think this is true.

There are some entries on plugshare that are just 110V plugs that people see and add in there. It's nice to have this for a complete emergency but unless someone has checked in and verified that it's working and anyone can use it it's a long shot at best. I think you would have just as much luck just driving around and knocking on doors if you were really desperate.

As for Nissan there should be a corporate mandate handed down to dealers to let people charge for free to promote EV's. My local Nissan dealer has 2 chargers 7/24 for free. They are a role model as far as I'm concerned.

Most of the L2 plugs in my area are pretty accurate on plugshare but I have to wonder how many of the private L2 plugs get used by people running low ?

Has anyone ever called up someone on their plugshare listed phone and contacted them to charge ?

I have had my charger on plugshare for more then a year and not a single call. I have never called someone to charge on their plug either.

I do like the idea of Plugshare, in a couple of years it would be great to see a validated personal L2 plug every few blocks that you would be able to use just in case...

Don....
 
DonDakin, you've addressed a number of different points -

Any dealership with an L2 EVSE should welcome other vehicles (as long as this courtesy is not abused) - after all, while we're charging would it not be in their interest to have us wander their showrooms?

PlugShare is great for showing emergency charging spots. They usually give phone numbers so one can check ahead of time. I've been on PlugShare for almost two years and have never had anyone call, nor have I had to call any private EVSE. It'll be interesting to see how RV Parks deal with EVs in the future...

Back on topic, smartphones and iPads/tablets have sure made waiting for something like charging less painful and replaces carrying books around. I typically pre-plan my off-site charging to coincide with a meal.
 
Still grinding through the convoluted process of having a charging circuit installed in my condo parking space, I have used free public charging stations exclusively. But having recently bought an apartment in an area with only a single public charging station that's not so convenient, my car was dangerously low on charge after having made an unplanned trip into Honolulu. So I contacted a kind lady who had listed her L2 EVSE as available on PlugShare. She told me that I was welcome to use her EVSE whenever she was at work. So I threw my foldable bike in the back of my car, drove about a mile to her home, connected her charger, road my bike home, and returned in about 6 hours to a fully-charged car.

It's nice to know that I have a backup should I be unable to maintain a safe charge level using public chargers.
 
I dunno... if you owned an ice and ran out of gas, would you just expect to show up on people's doorstep and ask for a gallon of gasoline? No, you would go to a gas station.
 
fjpod said:
I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but the only way public charging at any level will become reliable and omnipresent will be if it finds it's way into gas stations. If station owners can install the equipment and make even a small profit, it will support their business of selling coffee, cigarettes, beer, lotto tickets and Big Slurpees.
I agree with your thinking

Unless public charging stations are manned so that a discourteous user cannot plug in, leave the scene and return many hours later (whenever it's convenient for THEM) then such stations are never going to be reliable enough to count on. If the charge points are free and unmanned, someone will abuse the privilege and many times it will turn out to be a Volt or PIP owner who doesn't actually NEED to charge

For now, I think the ideal solution would be something like what alohart has going on - Find yourself an independent party near where you usually need a charge and work out something with them - Pay a reasonable fee for the use of their juice and have something you can depend on . . . . at least until he/she finds out they can make a few extra bucks leasing out their space to 10 or 15 different EV owners :lol:

Don
 
fjpod said:
I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but the only way public charging at any level will become reliable and omnipresent will be if it finds it's way into gas stations. If station owners can install the equipment and make even a small profit, it will support their business of selling coffee, cigarettes, beer, lotto tickets and Big Slurpees.

Since they make almost no money off of the gasoline, installing Quick Chargers at gas stations makes the most sense. Gasoline pumps are hugely expensive, adding two or three Quick Chargers would be almost the price of one gas pump. It would be another way for them to escort traffic into their Quick-E marts. Since the gas station would be invested in keeping them up and running, they would be more reliable than some of the open public QC that some people reported problems with.
 
Don said:
...someone will abuse the privilege and many times it will turn out to be a Volt...
Got one of these in my area. A Giant Eagle installed a public charging station (not just on PlugShare, it has signs for public use on the EVSE itself), but it's only for the store manager's Volt.

Someone on Plugshare said that the desk told them to just unplug it, but doesn't the Volt's alarm go off if it gets unplugged?
 
MLucas said:
Since they make almost no money off of the gasoline, installing Quick Chargers at gas stations makes the most sense.

Is that right? I always assumed gas station owners/managers were making a killing on gas.

I'm not so sure gas stations will ever be the best place for charging stations. Unlike gas pumps which come with all kinds of infrastructure and environmental issues and expenses, charging stations can be installed anywhere for very little money. So gas stations would be competing against strip malls, diners, food courts, etc. There's a local gym in the Albany, NY area that just put charging stations at all four of its locations. These things are gradually popping up everywhere. Unless charging times are reduced to well below 15 minutes, who would prefer to spend that charging time at a gas station instead of a place where you can do some shopping, have some food choices, get a quick tan, etc.? And of course there's the smell of gas at gas stations. Do you as an electric car owner really want to smell gasoline while you're charging your car? I don't.
 
tonymil said:
MLucas said:
Since they make almost no money off of the gasoline, installing Quick Chargers at gas stations makes the most sense.

Is that right? I always assumed gas station owners/managers were making a killing on gas.

I'm not so sure gas stations will ever be the best place for charging stations. Unlike gas pumps which come with all kinds of infrastructure and environmental issues and expenses, charging stations can be installed anywhere for very little money. So gas stations would be competing against strip malls, diners, food courts, etc. There's a local gym in the Albany, NY area that just put charging stations at all four of its locations. These things are gradually popping up everywhere. Unless charging times are reduced to well below 15 minutes, who would prefer to spend that charging time at a gas station instead of a place where you can do some shopping, have some food choices, get a quick tan, etc.? And of course there's the smell of gas at gas stations. Do you as an electric car owner really want to smell gasoline while you're charging your car? I don't.

A close friend of mine owned an Esso franchise and eventually got out of it because Imperial Oil was squeezing the profits out of the business. The majority of their profits come from the Mini-Mart. They make pennies on a gallon of gas. Personally, I've never liked those Mini-Marts - most are very seedy places stocked full of food and drinks that I don't consume at all. I'm just thinking if these places want to stay in business, they are going to have to start looking towards the future. There are a lot of EV drivers that do like a cup of coffee and a bag of chips, not me - but there are those that do. If gas stations want to continue selling that stuff, then they are going to have to do something different. Last year the oil industry sold 9 billion less gallons of gas last year. That means a lot less opportunity for sales because that is how a mini-mart works - its convenient.

Frankly, I don't give a rip where they install the QC's - as long as they start installing them soon. :p I'd prefer near restaurants, shopping centers and entertainment venues. But, so far we are not as fortunate as Albany and there is very little charging infrastructure of any kind in the entire Niagara region on both sides of the border.
 
I get all misty when I hear of places outside of NYC that are installing public chargers. Make no mistake about it. There is none of that here. There are some in pay parking garages and who wants to go there. There are precious few at Nissan and Mitsubishi dealers, but they always have 30 cars parked in front of them.

Not that I would do it often, but I would love to be able to pull into a gas station and get a DC quick charge once in a while.

And as someone else already mentioned, a DC charger would be simple to install compared to gasoline pumps attached to tanks underground. When new EPA tank guidelines came into effect 10 or so years ago, MANY small independent retailers went out of business because of the prohibitive costs to dig up and replace their old tanks. Not to mention the expensive leak detection systems they needed to install. Installing a few DC chargers would be a no brainer.

And if the gasoline profits to the retailer are as small as some are saying, I would think they would relish the opportunity to sell electricity (and Lotto tickets) at a fantastic markup.

Makes me want to buy a gas station with a Quickmart....
 
MLucas said:
Frankly, I don't give a rip where they install the QC's - as long as they start installing them soon. :p I'd prefer near restaurants, shopping centers and entertainment venues. But, so far we are not as fortunate as Albany and there is very little charging infrastructure of any kind in the entire Niagara region on both sides of the border.
Gas station chargers would have a pretty captive user base - Nowhere else to go while charging, so the owner is more likely to hang around and actually unplug it as soon as he's done

Chargers near restaurants and shopping places wouldn't work as well - When the car finishes charging, the owner is ordering dessert and a third cup of coffee . . . . and he's likely to go next door and do some shopping when he's done eating, so why go out and move the car? Other frustrated users would be standing around waiting

Chargers need to be linked to the Internet. Sign up for the service, give them a credit card to bill it to, get your own personal PIN to use with any charger (so the network knows who you are, where and how much you charge) and then 15 minutes before the car finishes, the network buzzes your cel phone to warn you to come unplug and move your car. If they don't move it quickly when it finishes, the network knows who is abusing the privilege. That way, those who don't follow the rules are quickly identified and their PIN is invalidated so they can't charge at any of the network stations . . . . no more hogging the spaces keeping others from using them

Don
 
As for quick charging I think gas stations could work but any place where there is something to do for 30 minutes would be fine.

I can't see QC working well if owners wander off and come back well after the charger stops charging the car. If the charger should be set up to service 2 or 3 ev parking spots so the charger can be unplugged and moved to the next car by the next owner that would be best. I would have no problem with someone unplugging my car from a quick charger if it finished and I was not back in time. I can't really see busy quick chargers working any other way. I think cell phone connectivity is good and I agree most people with an new ev probably have a cell phone but I see it simpler as just having the next guy plug in and charge when it done. It leaves a nice buffer if there is a queue.

I sent an email to one of the charging provider here in Quebec awhile back asking when we would get quick chargers in this area. They sent me a survey and the first question was should quick chargers be put in the city or deployed along the highway to connect cities. My answer was both but on the highways first as a connecter and then in the cities as a convenience.

I think that the plan for quebec is to populate the montreal-Quebec City corridor with QC first then deploy in the cities. Which I think is a good way to go.


Don......
 
You guys make a good point about the need to unplug so the next car can charge. Maybe charging stations need express lanes and slow lanes, the express lane for those who will stay with the car and leave as soon as its charged, and a slow lane - with an attendant - where you drop off the car and keys and go eat, shop, etc. until you get a text that you're ready. Maybe they can even wash and vacuum the car. Wouldn't that be retro!
 
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