I was out running errands yesterday, and I stopped at a ChargePoint Express 250.
First as a note, it uses a REMA CCS connector that I've seen on other lower power chargers, and the smaller charger that Sparkcharge used to make (which never worked on my car).
Second, I've been thinking about potential causes of failed connections to chargers. I was reading through the thread from around 2020 and 2021 about issues with Electrify America chargers. An odd thing that I noted back then was that my car kept connecting to my phone's Bluetooth while it was failing to connect to a charger. I had a theory that the car was trying to turn on mid-initialization. I never really followed up that theory because eventually EA updated the Efacac chargers and they started working. But it has me thinking about the car being "on" or "off". I've always pulled up to a charger, turned the car off, and plugged in. But most modern EVs do the thing I hate (I'm rapidly becoming old) where they're never really "on" or "off", just in various states of readiness. I generally connect with the car off, then turn it on to see the actual power coming in and get the radio/HVAC going.
So anyway, I tried to connect to the charger with the car still on and key in the center console, and it tried to connect for awhile, then decided it was done charging. I turned the car off and tried again, and it connected without issue. I was short on time, so I didn't do any further experiments, but what if the issue is that the car tries to turn itself on mid-handshake? I need to try a few other things, mostly getting a solid idea of if NO chargers work while the car is on. Then if the car definitely won't connect while on, I can try previously not working chargers but with the key set far away or in a faraday bag.
The last time I went to an EA charger in My 2015 Spark EV, I went from Charger to charger before I had to call AAA to take me and my gf home, they said there was something wrong with my car, the chargers there would not start to charge, yet the previous time there I had been able to charge there, after getting home I put my spark on my EVSE cord and the battery started charging just fine, I'm wondering if EA has decided that Spark EV's are not worth the time to charge and have like Tesla and Chevy just written US off as not worth their time and money.
When I bought my EV, it had 185/55r15 up front and 195/55r15 (all 4 were V rated tires) in the back with only 6" rims up front and 6.5" rims in back and the dealer showed
64 miles of range in a pic, yet the dealer put on cheap crap tires, one of their cheap tires developed a bubble in the sidewall, I was never able to get past 3.0miles/kwh and 60 miles of range, I got tired of this and put on four Goodyear Integrity 185/55r15 82T on four 6" wide stock rims and discarded the 6.5" rims, I am now getting
3.1 miles/kwh and this week the range first went to
63 miles on Sunday, then
64 miles on Tuesday, on Wednesday the range went to
65 miles, while at
3.0 miles/kwh the max was
62 miles/kwh and that happened twice.
I live in a hot desert where temps had gone as high as 117F for 4 days in July 2024, in Dec 2023 my range dropped to 43 miles cause night temps under my carport were at or below freezing, in 2008 this area had 6" of SNOW & I had no EV then, I'd need the parks permission to erect walls and two or three doors w/a proper foundation and get a building permit, I don't have the money for that, my home is paid for and has no mortgage, I own the carport and my home and in Dec I get to pay the property taxes on my home. I'm still charging at 120v since I have no 240v available, yet, in November or in December I get to pay $251 or so to the CA DMV, my property tax bill has shown up, but not the DMV or my ballot but then I have to drive 2.5 miles to see if I have any mail at the Post Office.
I still need to get two toilets installed and a 120v 8 gallon water heater, my 20yr old gas water heater died in late November 2023 just after I was approved to buy my car, plus I need to do floor repairs to part of my kitchen(rust stains under my old long gone Whirlpool fridge, a free Frigidaire fridge replaced it, that was from a Capsbc weatherization program), under my clothes washer and in front of said washer, and to a small area in front of my rear bathroom's vanity, water dissolved the fiberboard floor under the linoleum.
But first the DMV, unless my lender is paying for that thru the loan, then pay down 2 credit cards, then save up for the floor repairs, electrical, and plumbing work, right now I can't get an estimate for the plumbing since the local plumber has only 2 plumbers, I do have a reliable contractor if needed, he charged $440 to install a vanity and to relocate an electrical outlet, everything works, what was left of the old falling apart vanity(the front was gone and just a sidewall was there along with the top which was propped up by a board on one side so I could have a working sink) were hauled away too.
My homes gas furnace pilot is out and there is no one here to light it anymore thanks to the rent increases, I've tried and failed to light it, in Jan 2024 my gas bill was $107.98 and $102.90 in February 2024.
Since then the gas bill ranged from $21.61 to as low as $14.89. and of course the water and trash went from $30.00 and $15.00 to $40.00 and $28.62 respectively and the space rent went from $390 a month to $420 while next year the rent will be $450 with rents going up indefinitely according to the park.
The park is embargoed by the state government on new hookups of any homes until the buried antique and obsolete infrastructure is brought up to date, the park shoves out 60 amps to each space max and can't get new compatible parts as the ones they want are not made anymore, after that the park designated the empty spaces as guest parking and only digs if there is a gas or sewer or water leak in the OLD buried pipes. Out of 88 spaces here only 28 have homes and only 26 are occupied, the rest of the spaces are now empty as the last two owners sold off homes to other parks, rather than refurbish them before the embargo happened. The park did install some solar powered lights to lower their electric bill. And Frontier wants to install Fiber in the park, as the park has been red flagged and painted about 3 months ago, the park could be holding that up, I'd have to ask Frontier and they've only said soon so far.
