First SAE CCS Fast Charging station in MD

[mczajka]

Yes, soon we can hit the beach!

The original plans for Maryland had Fast Chargers going to the far west, but I guess that idea was scrapped when they awarded the grant money.

 

[mczajka]

We'll be at this event on Saturday. I'll be using the Royal Farms station at BWI on my way to GM's White Marsh plant.

http://www.meetup.com/MDVolt/events/224556557/

 

[Homer]

We did go up to Frederick and used the Royal Farms DCFC in Urbana-- worked out great! (esp. as we got an ice cream shake while we waited).

I am pretty sure we could have made it home without it, but it probably would have meant taking 355 the whole way and perhaps doubling the travel time.

 

[SparkevBlogspot]

Are you having trouble with DCFC? The video shows it failing, just like the problem I was having before I had the dealer file down the connector. See if connector on the charger is angled or 90 degrees. If it's angled, performing the mod might help.

http://sparkev.blogspot.com/2015/09/solution-problem-with-dc-fast-charge.html

 

[hamerhokie]

Are you having trouble with DCFC? The video shows it failing, just like the problem I was having before I had the dealer file down the connector. See if connector on the charger is angled or 90 degrees. If it's angled, performing the mod might help.

http://sparkev.blogspot.com/2015/09/solution-problem-with-dc-fast-charge.html

I used the one at the Royal Farms in Cockeysville, MD this afternoon and there were no issues.

Cockeysville, Urbana, Glen Burnie and Westminster are $0.29/kwh, $3.50 minimum. Arbutus is free, for some reason. And although they are on the Chargepoint network, not all of them are visible in the app.

 

[Nashco]

Make sure you update Plugshare when you visit these stations! Plugshare is by far the most helpful and easiest to use crowd-sourced information source for us EV adventurers. It only takes a minute after you start charging and you have a minute to spare. The price, status of the station, and the status of the particular plug you're using (CCS) is really helpful for others preparing to stretch their Spark EV's legs a bit (or others like BMW i3, VW eGolf, etc.) as these brand new chargers roll onto the scene.

Happy adventuring!

Bryce

 

[NORTON]

..... And although they are on the Chargepoint network, not all of them are visible in the app.

I use the Plugshare app. It has filters and I only look for free, but then I'm stuck with only the metro area I live in. No road trips for me....
On plugshare I have added a few public L2's that did not show up on the existing maps. Recently I found a new DCFC at one parking garage and a line of L2's in another, still under construction and not powered on yet.

Maybe you could add them yourself to the map? I know you can on plugshare.

 

[drsurd]

Did my first DC fast charge last week in Willow Grove Pa! Didn't need much juice. I just wanted to see if my DC FC port worked. It did! 7 kWh in about seven minutes.

 

[NORTON]

.... I just wanted to see if my DC FC port worked. It did! 7 kWh in about seven minutes.

Welcome to the Future !!

Was it free? Or was there fee?

The >14 DCFC units in my metro area, along with >1000 L2's, are all free "for the first 2 years". Although I've heard that it will be longer than that.

Who knows what the future holds for these DCFC networks.
With gas absurdly cheap right now, paying for electrons would hopefully be similar, or less, when it gets to that point.

 

[hamerhokie]

New DCFC station has opened at the Royal Farms store in White Marsh. This one was not in the original rollout plans.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/10740+Pulaski+Hwy,+White+Marsh,+MD+21162/@39.379941,-76.4308357,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x89c7e2f239ab262f:0x2b8ecbffa772be07?hl=en

 

[Homer]

I am impressed at how many DCFC have been installed in the last year. I think we've gone from almost none to quite a few. I noticed there is now one out at Front Royal, which might open up visits to that area or Shenandoah (esp. if the park gets around to installing a couple chargers).

 

[hamerhokie]

.... I just wanted to see if my DC FC port worked. It did! 7 kWh in about seven minutes.

Welcome to the Future !!

Was it free? Or was there fee?

The >14 DCFC units in my metro area, along with >1000 L2's, are all free "for the first 2 years". Although I've heard that it will be longer than that.

Who knows what the future holds for these DCFC networks.
With gas absurdly cheap right now, paying for electrons would hopefully be similar, or less, when it gets to that point.

Right now there are 14 DCFCs in the Baltimore metro area. Most are either on the Chargepoint network (at Royal Farms Stores) or EVgo network. The RFS chargers are $0.29/kwh, $3.50 minimum. The EVgo chargers are $10 per half hour, if you aren't on one of their plans.

I'm hoping that we get a greater diversity of providers here, to drive the costs down.

 

[NORTON]

.... The RFS chargers are $0.29/kwh, $3.50 minimum. The EVgo chargers are $10 per half hour, if you aren't on one of their plans. ...

Yikes! I hope the KC network will cost less when the Free period ends at the end of this year.

At that rate i'll have to burn that smelly gas to make my 'Airport Runs'.
Last Saturday I logged about 140 miles on the Spark EV using two DCFC stops, but of course this means I topped up (80%) at the one 5 miles from home as the last stop... Yes I'm cheap and I use this network for all it's worth ! :mrgreen: