Global Crisis

This CCS DC Quick Charge station is located on my property at 148 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ

Back in August I posted an article that announced the opening of the first DC fast charger in the East Coast Express Charging Corridor. That station was installed in Hartford, Connecticut. The Express Charging Corridor when completed will connect Washington, DC to Boston, Massachusetts with CCS DC fast chargers, located no more than 50 miles apart, and is being funded by a joint venture between BMW, Volkswagen and ChargePoint.

About three weeks after the station in Hartford was installed, I installed one on my property in Montclair, NJ. It was the first public CCS station in the state that wasn't installed on BMW property. BMW has had a few CCS fast chargers at their North American headquarters for a few years now, as they have been testing CCS since 2012, when they were using a modified BMW ActiveE with CCS capability as a test mule for the then yet-to-be-released i3.

So far the DCQC station is getting plenty of use from i3 owners

CCS fast charge infrastructure had a slow start, frustrating many i3 owners. It was difficult to watch the Asian standard CHAdeMO stations and Tesla Superchargers continue to proliferate, while CCS stations were as rare as White Rhinos. However the pace of CCS deployment has really picked up, and with the East and West Coast Express Charging Corridors beginning to take shape, it's starting to look like CCS is finally getting some traction.

The station I installed is the smaller of the two that will be used in these corridors. I have the 24kW, CCS only DC fast charger but there is another unit that will also be deployed on many of the direct highway locations. That unit is a dual head, CCS and CHAdeMO station and is capable of delivering up to 50kW. Because of the location on my property (not situated on a highway), and the primary tenant is a restaurant where people typically spend an hour or more, the 24kW unit made more sense, and it costs a LOT less. The lower power draw will also help me to avoid or minimize demand charges from my electric provider.

The eGolf owners were very pleased when they realized the DCQC in my lot was close to the route they planned to take to Massachusetts. They only had to drive a few miles off of their route to stop by and Quick Charge

I installed the station a little over two months ago and it's definitely getting use. I've had at least a couple dozen different i3 owners stop by and use it, and I recently had an eGolf owner who was driving from Delaware to Massachusetts stop by to charge up. I was talking to them about the trip and how long it would take to stop and charge at level 2 stations and how happy there were when they saw my DCQC station pop up on the Plugshare map.

Fast charge infrastructure is monumentally important for the mass adoption of plug in cars. Tesla knew the success of the Model S, and probably even the entire company, would hinge on how quickly they could cover large swaths of the US and other key markets with Supercharger access. They have been installing them at an incredible rate, and have installed more than 500 worldwide in under 3 years.

Nissan has also done their fair share with regards to DC fast charge infrastructure and has subsidized much of the costs of hundreds of CHAdeMO installations. Personally, I'm hoping Volkswagen steps up and commits to installing even more infrastructure than the current plan in light of the current dieselgate scandal. Making a commitment to assisting the proliferation of cleaner electric cars would be a good first step in restoring public confidence at this point.

We are getting there. EV charging infrastructure, both level 2 and DC fast charge, is still really in its infancy, but we're definitely making progress in some areas of the country (mainly the coasts). I remember back to 2009 when I was driving my MINI-E and there wasn't a public charging station within a thousand miles of me. In fact, the closest one may have even been 3,000 miles away in California.  Now there are tens of thousands of them in the US. I can only imagine how things will look in another five or six years.

The Plugshare map on the left shows only CCS DC Fast charge stations on the East Coast. Just a year ago at this time there were none in this view. Within a couple of months, there will be dozens more of them as the Express Charging Corridor locations are finished. The large gap south of my restaurant (the blue dot) will hopefully be closed by year's end. The pace of CCS deployment is definitely picking up, and I believe will only continue to accelerate from here on.

The ChargePoint Home 25 EVSE is the latest addition to my EVSE collection

When most electric vehicle owners think of ChargePoint, they likely are thinking about public charging infrastructure. That's because for the past five years, ChargePoint's focus has been on installing and maintaining the largest network of public EVSEs in the US, with well over 20,000 locations currently in use.

Back in 2012, ChargePoint did release an EVSE for home charging, the CT500 made by Coulomb Technologies, but it was priced a bit above the market at $2,495. At the time, it was the only home EVSE that was networked, so that was a major advantage. However, the price was prohibitively high and competitive units were selling for half of that, so the CT500 never sold in any serious volume.

That won't be the case with ChargePoint Home, ChargePoint's new entry in the home EVSE market. I've had the opportunity to test this product for a month now, before the official launch and I've been really impressed.
Options

There are two power levels offered, a 16 amp unit (The ChargePoint Home 12) and one which can deliver up to 32 amps (The ChargePoint Home 25). If you're wondering why "12" and "25" are used in the product names it is because ChargePoint is advertising that the 16 amp unit is capable of adding 12 miles of range per hour to the typical EV, and 25 miles of range per hour for the 32 amp unit. I'm not particularly fond of using that method to name them, since every EV is capable of achieving different levels of efficiency. Plus, I think it may confuse some people who think the number is the amps the EVSE is capable delivering. However, this is only the name so it's not really a big consideration.

Since I'm discussing the power delivery, this brings me to one of the few criticism I have for the new ChargePoint Home. While 32 amps is above the maximum charging limit for any currently-offered electric vehicle that isn't a Tesla or that uses a Tesla onboard charger (Mercedes B-Class ED), some of the competition is now offering 40 amp and 50 amp home charging solutions. These would be attractive for Tesla owners, and perhaps someone who wanted to future-proof their garage. I suspect ChargePoint would be ready to offer a higher powered version in the future if there are any new electric vehicles offered that can accept more than 32 amps. However, considering the current electric vehicle offerings, 32 amps is fine.

I got the optional 25' cord

After selecting whether you want the 16 amp or 32 amp EVSE, you then have the option of choosing a hard wired unit or one that plugs in. The 16 amp plug-in version uses a NEMA 6-20 outlet and the 32 amp plug-in EVSE uses a NEMA 6-50 outlet. Once that is decided you can choose the length of cable you want, but that's only if you buy the 32 amp version. For some reason, the 16 amp version only comes with a 12' cord, you cannot order it with one longer. That could be a deal breaker for some people whose garage is set up in a way that twelve feet of cable won't reach their charge port. On the other hand, the 32 amp unit comes standard with an 18' cord, and has an optional 25' cord for an additional $50. It's a bit puzzling why the lower powered unit isn't available with a longer cord, and I believe this will steer many potential customers to the higher powered EVSE, even if they originally considered the lower powered unit (maybe that's the plan!).  I did reach out to ChargePoint about this and was told that a customer can order a replacement cord of either 18' or 25' length and replace the 12' standard cord that comes with the 16 amp EVSE. I didn't get the pricing, but I assume it will cost considerably more than the $50 up-charge when you upgrade from an 18' cord to the 25'cord on a ChargePoint Home 25 (32 amp). The rep also told me that if there is demand for longer cords on the 16 amp unit, then ChargePoint will consider offering it at a later date.

Installation

Drill bit & nut driver

If you choose to go with one of the plug-in versions, you'll need to have an electrician install the appropriate outlet in your garage. The 16 amp unit requires a 20 amp, 240v dedicated circuit with a  NEMA 6-20 outlet and the 32 amp EVSE requires a 40 amp circuit with a NEMA 6-50 outlet. I chose the 32 amp hard wired one, with a 25 foot cord. Since I was replacing one of my older EVSEs with the Home unit, it was an extremely simple process, and that wasn't by accident. ChargePoint made every effort to make installing the Home EVSE as easy as possible, especially if the owner was swapping out an older EVSE for the new Home unit. In that case, it's so easy to do that the average person can probably complete the installation in less than an hour. I had mine installed in about 30 minutes. A drill bit and nut driver for the supplied wall mounting screws are even included. One aspect of the installation I found curious is that all three mounting screws run down the center of the unit, as opposed to the four corners. This could possibly cause the EVSE to rock a bit from side to side if the wall it's mounted on isn't flat. I'd prefer if the mounting screws were in the four corners, which would provide for a more secure mount on uneven surfaces.


                                  ChargePoint Home installation video

Another great feature is how compact, lightweight and portable the ChargePoint Home is. At only 11.2" by 7" it's stylish and not bulky. It has a back-lit connector holster which swivels up and down and that helps to make returning the connector to the base easy, even in the dark. If you choose the plug in version, you can easily take this EVSE with you for charging away from home. All you would need is the appropriate outlet at your destination. The ChargePoint Home is indoor and outdoor rated and is UL listed.




















The ChargePoint app displays useful charging information such as current and cumulative energy draw. You can also set a "Remind Me to Plug in" notification, so you never wake up to an uncharged EV.

Connected

Perhaps the best feature of ChargePoint Home is that it can be integrated with your ChargePoint account which allows the user access to information from the ChargePoint mobile app. This includes viewing information on the current charging session, remotely start and schedule charging, set notification reminders so you don't forget to plug in, review data on past charging sessions, and it even works with Nest thermostat products which can help save energy.

ChargePoint Home EVSE pricing starts at $499 for the Home 12 hard wired station and goes up to $749 for the Home 25 plug in station with a 25 foot cord. Full pricing details are below. ChargePoint Home has a three year warranty and is available through Amazon.

ChargePoint Home 12: 16A Hardwire station with 12' cord	$499
ChargePoint Home 12: 16A Plug station with 12' cord	$549
ChargePoint Home 25: 32A Hardwire station with 18' cord	$649
ChargePoint Home 25: 32A Plug station with 18' cord	$699
ChargePoint Home 25: 32A Hardwire station with 25' cord	$699
ChargePoint Home 25: 32A Plug station with 25' cord	$749

Slim, compact design

I've been using my ChargePoint Home 25 for a few weeks now and I really like it. ChargePoint has a winner with this EVSE, and I predict it will sell very well. I've been driving electric for over six years now, and I've seen the evolution of EVSE products. It's good to see the products continue to improve just as the prices continue to go down. The ChargePoint Home delivers on size, portability, quality and ease of installation. It's stylish, competitively priced, and best of all connected to the ChargePoint Network which allows the user mobile access to effective tools which can enhance their electric lifestyle. This all adds up to great news for EV owners.



Note: I received for free, one ChargePoint Home 25 EVSE from ChargePoint for testing, feedback and product review publication before the consumer launch. No other compensation was made.

An i3 sits next to a 24kW DC Fast Charge unit during the announcement of the BMW, VW & ChargePoint joint venture earlier this year.

It's been seven months since BMW, along with Volkswagen and ChargePoint announced a joint venture which would install roughly 100 DC fast charge units on the East and West coasts. While there's been a lot of work identifying potential locations and negotiating with site managers, there hasn't really been any tangible progress that electric vehicle owners could see.  

The plan is to create "Express Charging Corridors" on both coasts, with DC Fast Charge stations placed no more than 50 miles apart. The East Coast Corridor will connect Washington DC to Boston, Massachusetts and the West Coast Corridor would extend from San Diego, California to Portland, Oregon.  There would be two kinds of DC Fast Charge stations utilized. The stations placed directly on the highway locations of the corridors would be 50kW units, most of which will be dual head CCS & CHAdeMO stations. Then, on secondary locations slightly off the direct corridors, 24kW CCS-only units will be placed. While these 24kW units aren't necessarily quite fast enough to be convenient for long distance travel of hundreds of miles, they are very useful for intercity travel and charge at three to four times the speed of standard level 2 public charging.

ChargePoint's East and West Coast Express Charging Corridor Infographic

I applied, and was recently approved under the program guidelines to have one of the 24kW units installed on my commercial property in Montclair New Jersey.  I'm currently awaiting the permits to be approved and hope to have the station installed and working before my National Drive Electric Week event on September 12th. Always the competitor, I was also hoping to be the first East Coast public location in the program to get a station installed, but I'm actually happy to report that won't be the case. That's because a friend of mine and fellow BMW i3 owner, Bruce Redman Becker has beaten me to it. Bruce, and architect and developer, is responsible for 777 Main Street in Hartford Connecticut, a newly developed 285 unit apartment building with a 250 car parking garage. In describing the location to me, Bruce had this to say:

An i3 using the DC Fast Charger at 777 Main Street, Hartford Connecticut

The latest addition to my EVSE obsession collection is the JuiceBox Pro 40, seen here charging my i3

One of the first things many first time electric car owners ask once they've bought (or are about to buy) their new car is what home charging solution should they choose. Other than asking for advice on specific plug-in cars, it's the most popular question I get from readers here.

Luckily, there are some really good choices on the market now, and the prices for home EVSEs are considerably less than they were when I first started driving electric in 2009. Back then, the only level 2 home EVSEs that I would recommend were from Clipper Creek. Clipper Creek still makes very good products, and I still recommend them, but the competition is getting better all of the time, and one company in particular, eMotorWerks has been gaining momentum in this competitive market.

Before I get into the review, I'd first like to explain some basic EV charging levels and terminology. This applies to charging in North America, as electric supply is different for most European countries.

EVSE: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment. These are quite often called "chargers" or "charging stations." That really isn't the correct terminology though,  because they don't actually charge the car. They really just safely supply the electricity from the power source to the vehicle. The actual charging equipment is built into the electric cars. Some EVSEs are portable, while others are hard wired and permanently installed.

Level 1: Every electric car sold or leased in the US that isn't a Tesla comes with a Level 1 portable EVSE. Some manufacturers, like BMW, call it an "occasional use charger." Level 1 EVSEs can be plugged into a simple 120 volt household outlet and typically charge at 6, 8 or 12 amps. Tesla doesn't bother with Level 1, 120 volt EVSEs because their vehicles have such large batteries that they would take very long to slow charge on 120 volts. For that reason, every Tesla comes standard with a portable 240 volt EVSE for more robust charging at home or on the road.

Level 2: Level 2 EVSEs charge at 240 volts and most of the time are permanently installed in a garage or public parking lot. However, recently some manufacturers have been selling portable 240 volt EVSEs, allowing the owner the flexibility of using the equipment at home as well as on the road, provided they can find a 240 volt outlet that they can plug into. The JuiceBox Pro 40 which I'll be reviewing here today is one of those newer units, and comes with a NEMA 14-50 plug instead of requiring the owner to hard wire it to their home.

DCQC / DCFC: DC Quick Charge or DC Fast Charge. DC fast charge allows rapid charging of electric vehicles, enabling long distance travel with little inconvenience. DC Quick Charge stations can charge many EVs up to 80% full in about 30 minutes, but are not something an individual would buy for home use because of the cost and required 480 volt electric supply. These units are very expensive and are only just beginning to really proliferate. Unlike Level 1 and 2 charging, there are multiple connectors used by different manufacturers, as a single standard hasn't been established yet.

Some people live fine with their EV, charging solely with the supplied 120 volt portable EVSE. However most owners will prefer using a 240 volt EVSE, so that they can charge much faster, enabling the vehicle to be driven more miles if needed. For example, a basic 120 volt EVSE will replenish about 4 to 5 miles of range per hour, while a standard, 30 amp 240 volt unit will add 20 to 30 miles of range per hour to the typical EV. That can make the difference of being able to use the car or not on some days.

JuiceBox Pro 40 EVSE

I think I've charged my EVs on every brand of EVSE on the market today, and I have a host of EVSEs in the garage at my house which I use for various testing and when I have visitors that also have cars that plug in. I had been reading a lot about how eMotorWerks has been expanding lately, and how they recently sold their 3,500th JuiceBox EVSE. So when the opportunity came for me to test out the latest offering from eMotorWerks, the JuiceBox Pro 40, I happily accepted. I want to make it clear I did receive the EVSE free of charge, however I wasn't paid to do the review, and there were no conditions or promises on what I would write. In other words, if I didn't like it, I would say so, or perhaps not even write a review.


First, I'd like to point out the JuiceBox Pro 40 can deliver up to 40 amps of power. The vast majority of Level 2 EVSEs currently on the market are limited to delivering 30 amps of power. There are a few other companies like Clipper Creek for instance, that do offer a 40 amp EVSE, but for the most part, the industry norm is 30 amps and even less in many cases. When buying any EVSE, make sure you find out what the maximum power the unit can deliver before purchasing it. I know more than one EV owner who bought an EVSE and didn't know it could only deliver 16 or 20 amps until they installed it. Why does 40 amps matter as compared to 30 amps? Well, for most EVs today, it doesn't. Only Tesla makes on board charging equipment that can accept more than 30 amps from a level 2 source, however that is going to change. I like to recommend future-proofing your garage, and if you're investing in a home charging solution which you may be using for ten or more years, why limit the charging supply to today's norm when home charging will only get faster as EV adoption increases? If your home has the capacity to add a dedicated 50 amp circuit (a 50 amp circuit is required for a continuous 40 amp load), then I say pay the few extra dollars today so you don't have to go back and upgrade in the future.

Voltage, amperage and kW draw displayed

Switch between Amperage or kW draw screens

The feature I love the most about the JuiceBox Pro 40 is that is has built in WiFi and connects to eMotorWerks servers. This allows for real time charging monitoring which includes voltage and current measurement accurate to 0.2%. This is the only EVSE I know of currently available which allows you to monitor this kind of charging data. I know a lot of EV owners, and one of the things that keeps coming up is people asking how they can find out what the car is drawing during charging. ChargePoint allows the current measurement to be viewed on their app if you are charging on one of their networked EVSEs, and they used to offer a home EVSE (CT-500) which allowed the same, but that has been discontinued. Having the ability to monitor your vehicle's electric draw is particularly useful to BMW i3 owners like myself. The original i3s shipped with faulty onboard chargers, causing many of them to fail. This resulted in the car charging at half the speed than it was supposed to (15 amps instead of 30 amps). To make matters worse, while BMW engineered a new onboard charger, the dealers were instructed to de-rate the i3's current charging capabilities to about 24 amps, in an effort to keep the charger from failing. Many i3 owners didn't know if their car was de-rated, if their charger had failed or if they were charging at the full 30 amp rate. Without a way to really measure the energy the car was accepting, many were left in the dark for a few months while BMW built and installed the new, modified onboard chargers. If they had an EVSE that had the capability of displaying the rate the car was charging at, they would never have to wonder what the car was capable of drawing since they could simply look at the app when they plugged in.

The connector has a cover

As mentioned above, the JuiceBox Pro 40 doesn't need to be hardwired. Instead, it comes with a NEMA 14-50 connector. This allows the owner to take the EVSE with them, all they need to do is find a NEMA 14-50 receptacle and they can plug in. The 14-50 outlet is commonly used by RVs and thousands of RV parks across the country have 14-50 receptacles where you can plug in on the road if needed. But in my opinion, the real beauty of having a portable, plug-in EVSE is you can install 14-50 receptacles in places like your parents or friends home, or even work, and take the EVSE with you and charge at your destination. This is much less expensive than installing EVSEs in locations you may need to occasionally charge at. The JuiceBox is small and light enough to take with you when needed. You can see this on the photo above compared to the other EVSEs I have mounted on my garage wall. The connector also has a rubber cap if you do mount or use it outdoors.

The app is very easy to set up, and should take you less than ten minutes to complete. There is also a web portal which you can log into for past history charging info (it stores data from your last 20 charging sessions) and soon you'll be able to set up notifications from the site. eMotorWerks also offers 60 amp, as well as 30 amp EVSEs, with and without WiFi connectivity. The JuiceBox Pro 40 with WiFi currently costs $599.00 which is $100 more than the basic JuiceBox 40. Personally, the WiFi feature is well worth the upcharge and I highly recommend getting it. You'll really appreciate the ability to look at your past charging sessions and energy consumption and it definitely helps you to see exactly how much energy your EV car uses because you'll have a true "wall to wheels" measurement, which includes charging losses. The in-car energy use calculators don't include charging losses or the energy used from battery or cabin preconditioning while charging, but this does. The difference can be significant, especially during the winter months when the battery may needs to be warmed while charging. The JuiceBox Pro 40 comes with a 24 foot cable which is a little longer than most standard EVSE cables. The extra few feet of cable can make the difference of having to back into your garage or pull straight in, and possibly allow you to park on either side of the garage in any position and still have enough cable to plug in.  

Don't let the plain, metal box look fool you. This is a seriously good EVSE

The EVSE market is getting better all the time. The products available today are more powerful, lighter,  some are portable and overall less expensive than the products available only a few years ago, and this is welcome news to EV owners. eMotor Werks is a relative new comer to the field of EVSE manufacturers, which is mostly dominated by larger, well established companies. However, the people there seem to understand what the EV owner is looking for in an EVSE, and they have delivered it with the JuiceBox Pro 40, which is why I recommend it. The price is right, the size is right, it's powerful and portable. About the only thing you can criticize is the plain-looking metal case which houses the electronics. If that really bothers you, you can always paint it, or apply a vinyl wrap or sticker to add some pizzazz. :)

Kris charging up at an NRG Fast Charge station

One of the many things that Tesla Motors understands as well as anybody is how a robust Fast Charge network will liberate their customers from being on an "Electric Leash." Ubiquitous DC fast charging stations are, in my opinion, just as important as longer range electric vehicles. In fact, they may even be more important.

BMW apparently shares that opinion and has recently announced that they are getting into the DC fast charge game with a partnership that includes Volkswagen and ChargePoint, and will be installing fast chargers at 50 mile intervals on the East and West coasts to create "Express Charging Corridors." However it won't end with there. BMW is going to continue to invest in DC fast charge infrastructure here in the US, as they realize that they need to participate in creating the foundation for BMW i to succeed.

As with most things EV-related, California is ahead of most of the US when it comes to DC fast charge infrastructure. While the SAE Combo (CCS) fast charge units are only beginning to be installed, there are some already in the ground there, and they are allowing people to take their i3s further in a shorter period of time than they could if they were relying on 240v Level 2 public charging.

Kris & I at a recent i3 meet

Which brings me to the story below that I found interesting.  My friend Kris Kluzak, a former ActiveE Electronaut, offered to write a guest post for this blog detailing a day when she drove her i3 312 miles using public charging infrastructure.  It shows that even a medium-range EV, like the i3, can easily cover hundreds of miles in a day if the appropriate infrastructure is in place.

Here's how it went down, in Kris's words:
 



A 312 mile, all electric day in a BMW i3 REx:

On November 11th, 2014 I was scheduled for a research study for my car in Sherman Oaks, California. From my house in East San Diego County, it is about 160-mile trip one-way.

On any given day this “normal” trip would take approximately 3-4+ hours in any vehicle with an engine (ICE) as the main power source. Those of us living in Southern California know the different routes to take to avoid traffic blunders, and are often looking for the carpool lane when it’s an option.

In order to arrive on time for my 2pm appointment, my husband and I had to build in a few charge/food stops; this set us to leave right after 8am. First, we stopped 39 miles away at the Carlsbad Premium Outlets to charge and grab coffee at Starbucks. *We charged for 30 minutes knowing we had enough range to reach our next stop in Santa Ana. 
 

Like me, Kris's previous electric car was a BMW ActiveE

We found that the local KIA dealership claimed to have an ABB charger, which is the same unit that NRG eVgo uses (yes, CHAdeMO and SAE Combo). We called to see if - 1) the charger exists, which it does, and 2) to see if we could charge, which we were told yes, to come on by.  It was a few miles from the Sherman Oaks location, so off we went.  The charger was blocked, but they immediately moved a car and allowed us to charge.  Unfortunately, the charger was so new, that it hadn’t been provisioned yet, and did not work.  At this point I had 22 miles of range, and 27 miles to the next, known Freedom Station in Hermosa Beach.  So we set off, knowing my range extender would probably kick in.

With some luck, and HEAVY Los Angeles traffic on the 405, we managed to get to Hermosa Beach with 6 miles to spare, and no REx usage.  I drove **83.3 miles on that one charge from Crevier. Once at Hermosa Beach, we managed to find the charger, a nearby bar offering Taco Tuesday, and managed to do all of this while just getting a 30 minute charge. Next stop, the Westminster Shopping Mall ***27 miles away.  We arrived at the mall with no range issues, and were able to charge again for just 30 minutes.  FroYo and a potty stop…and away to Carlsbad for the last stop.

We arrived in Carlsbad, once again hit the Starbucks and charged for only 20 minutes, enough charge to get home.  We were there about 30 minutes, but the charger faulted and stopped early.  We arrived home at just before 10pm.  312 total miles driven, all electric, no REx used, and all charges were free.  We spent a few dollars at Starbucks and for the dinner, but overall, did the whole trip for less than $50, all-inclusive.



Some key points to this trip:

I did not use any climate control until the last leg, there was no need for heating or cooling, but I had to run the defrosters a few times for the last 30 miles.

I ran the entire trip in Eco Pro driving mode.

I preconditioned the car that morning prior to leaving, hoping to warm the batteries before the trip for maximum range.

I purposely did not use the carpool lane. While this might have been necessary in another situation where time was an issue, I preferred to stay in the traffic in order to get maximum range. 

The total time spent portal to portal was 14 hours. I was at the research facility for almost 3 hours, and then we spent almost another 45 minutes to an hour at the Kia dealership talking to the manager about the charger, and looking at their Soul EVs.

Charging added 3 hours, which by using the DC quick charging options, made this a very reasonable trip.  If we had stopped in an ICE for breakfast and dinner, and potty stops, the total stoppage time would have been less, but not significantly, maybe an hour less, overall.

Kris and her "Storm Trooper" Capparis White i3. She's wearing a limited edition i3 Super Bowl jersey that BMW made for this year's game to go along with the i3 commercial that aired during the first quarter.

My Personal Records:

312 all electric miles in one day (previously 187 in my Active E, which did not have L3 charging)

83.3 all electric miles in one charge (previously 80 miles, in the summer, while hypermiling and drafting behind a truck for 20+ miles)

Cheapest day EVER to drive 312 miles, food and energy included.

*These outlets have two NRG eVgo charging options: level 2 and level 3. The level 2 option has one universal J1772 plug, and the level 3 option has a CHAdeMO (for Nissan Leaf’s, Kia Soul’s, and other Asian brand EVs) as well as a SAE combo (CCS) (for BMW’s, VW eGolf, etc.). This Freedom Station powered by NRG eVgo is part of free fast charging offered by BMW. 

**This car will definitely do better on range with slower speeds, ie: bumper-to-bumper traffic, and city stop-and-go vs full, freeway speeds.

***The mileage between Hermosa Beach and Carlsbad is 87.1 miles.  While we could have easily avoided a stop and used the REx, I would have been forced to charge longer at Hermosa to get a bigger charge, thus not saving any time AND using gasoline.

A BMW i3 and a Volkswagen e-Golf charge on DC fast chargers side by side at BMW Headquarters in Woodcliff Lake NJ.

I wrote this article for Green Car Reports, where it was published a few days ago. The proliferation of a robust DC fast charge network is vital to electric vehicle adoption, and I wanted to give this story as wide an audience as possible, which is way I let GCR publish it first. Now that they had it for a while, I'd like to share it with the readers here.

I was invited up to BMW NA headquarters by BMW product manager Jose Guerrero to try out the new DC fast chargers installed there. There are three of them, along with four Level 2 EVSEs, all of which are open to the public 24/7.

A couple weeks ago at the DC Auto Show, BMW, Volkswagen, and ChargePoint jointly announced they would install about 100 DC fast chargers for electric cars. Their goal is to create “Express Charging Corridors,” on both the East and West coasts, by the end of this year. The most intriguing news, however, was that the hardware will--in most cases--offer fast charging for electric cars using two different standards: CCS (used by BMW and VW) and CHAdeMO, used by Japanese and Korean automakers.

The three DC fast chargers at BMW NA HQ are CCS only. The reason being is these are not directly included in the Express Charging Corridors, but secondary locations which are more likely to support local driving, not long distance traveling.

I say “most cases” because not every single location will have a dual-standard fast charger that provides CHAdeMO, although most will. Today, CHAdeMO stations are far more widely installed in certain areas--totaling several hundred in the U.S.--than CCS stations, of which only a few dozen exist today. The "Express Charging Corridor" project will determine whether a desired location is close to an existing CHAdeMO station. If so, that location will provide only CCS cables.

I suspect this may only happen in a few locations, largely on the West Coast, since the East Coast has very few operational CHAdeMO stations to date. The East Coast corridor will connect Boston to Washington, D.C., while the West Coast corridor will extend from Portland to San Diego. Both corridors will have DC fast chargers installed at intervals of less than 50 miles, making it possible--if tedious--to do long-distance trips in electric cars with ranges of 75 to 90 miles, including the BMW i3 and the Volkswagen e-Golf.

Then, less than a week after the DC Auto Show, Kansas City Power & Light announced that it had partnered with Nissan and ChargePoint to install 1,000 electric-vehicle charging stations throughout the greater Kansas City region.


That in itself is fantastic news. But if you drill down into the press release, you will find that only 15 of the stations will be DC fast charge stations--a little disappointing. However, these 15 stations “will charge any model of electric vehicle on the market,” meaning they too will support both CHAdeMO and CCS. So BMW and Volkswagen’s project will provide CHAdeMO charging, and Nissan’s endeavor will include CCS support.

These Efacec units will be installed along the new "Express Charging Corridors" by ChargePoint and support both CHAdeMO and CCS

What just happened here?

Did the automakers all quietly agree to support both standards, so every electric-car driver can benefit? I interviewed BMW’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Manager, Robert Healey, on the morning of the DC Auto Show. He told me BMW has no problem with supporting dual-standard stations, because the main goal is to advance the proliferation of charging infrastructure for plug-in cars as rapidly as possible.

CHAdeMO and CCS connector side by side comparison.

He went on to say that in these early stages of adoption, “a rising tide raises all boats”--and this kind of cooperation among competitors is in everyone’s best interest. While he couldn’t elaborate or speculate on the future, Healey said he would be open to similar partnerships with other automakers, should the opportunity arise.

So it's looking more and more as though the DC fast-charge standards war that everyone was predicting may be over, really before the first shot was even fired. I hope so, because if this trend continues, everybody indeed wins. Especially electric-car drivers--not only today's, but the many more to come.

It seems BMW has been busy developing new ways to charge your i3 or i8 lately. A few months ago I posted information on BMWs new low cost DC Fast charger and I just got word from an i3 owner in California that the first one is already up and will soon be ready for use at Crevier BMW in Santa Ana, California.

A member of the i3 Facebook group posted this picture from Crevier BMW. BMW's new DC fast charge station has just recently been installed there.

The latest news out of Munich is BMW's "Light the Charge" program. BMW has developed LED streetlights that also have built in charging stations. They already have a couple of them in place outside their Munich headquarters, and will soon begin installing them around the city of Munich for a pilot program. The units will be networked and allow the customer to pay with a credit card or by swiping an RFID card from a partner charging network provider. In the US, BMW's charging partner for ChargeNow is ChargePoint.

The European version of BMW's light pole charging station. In Europe, the EV driver carries the cable that plugs into their car as well as the EVSE. Here in the US, the cable is permanently tethered to the EVSE.

The obvious issue with adding charging stations to light poles is available capacity. Will the utilities have to pull new wires to accommodate the added demand or are they already over sized and can handle the additional load? In Europe the standard electrical supply is 230v so there is already more available power than we have here in the US where the basic household supply is 120v. I'd imagine most light poles here are typically 120v, but I'm not 100% certain about that. Pulling new wires and upgrading the lights could prove very costly, more so than even installing stand along charging stations, but I could see how using these on new light pole installations would work.

Charging stations on all these light poles would be great for workplace charging, airports and shopping malls.

Besides street side parking, I could also see how this approach would work well for large parking lots. Instead of having the charging stations all located in one place, which typically is a desirable location close to the buildings, they could be scattered all over the parking area, and each light pole could service the four parking spaces surrounding it.

Whether this idea comes to fruition and becomes a reality beyond the pilot program is unknown at this time, but I like that BMW is really giving thought to how they can improve public charging for their customers. The maturation of the public charging infrastructure is crucial for mass electric vehicle adoption, and I hope BMW continues to explore new ways to help make it ubiquitous.