BMW and VW team to build electric vehicle charging network

[geo]

They're building an SAE based fast charging network along both coasts. San Diego to Portland and Boston to DC.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-bmw-vw-electric-charging-network-20150120-story.html

Any chance Tony can do SAE as well?

 

[TonyWilliams]

They're building an SAE based fast charging network along both coasts. San Diego to Portland and Boston to DC.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-bmw-vw-electric-charging-network-20150120-story.html

Any chance Tony can do SAE as well?

Not seriously planning on it... they are using Efacec chargers that will have CHAdeMO also.

 

[Michael Bornstein]

Not seriously planning on it... they are using Efacec chargers that will have CHAdeMO also.

I hope you are correct. In the article it lists only SAE cars for the L3 capability and lists the Leaf for the L2 capability.

 

[fooljoe]

Surprising that GM's not in on it as well - as their forthcoming 200-mile EV will make the most use of this.

 

[miimura]

According to Tom Moloughney's BMWi3 Blog, the main corridors will be 50kW dual head CCS & CHAdeMO.

On the East coast, there will be locations approximately every 50 miles between Washington DC and Boston, and on the West coast the new "CCS Highway" will span from San Diego, CA all the way to Portland OR. All of these locations will feature 50kW dual-head Fast Charge stations, including CHAdeMO charging capabilities as well as CCS. In addition, these locations will have multiple Level 2 ChargePoint EVSE's, allowing the user to "top off" once the vehicle reaches 80% state of charge from the DC fast charger.

In addition to the "CCS Highway" locations, BMW is also going to install a network of their 24kW DC Fast Chargers at secondary locations which are somewhat off of the main arteries.

This sounds really great because it may be the only set of corridor chargers covering the entire north-south length of California. Jdemo is sounding more likely for me every day. I was thinking about giving up my spot for someone who didn't get in on the first round deposits.

 

[smkettner]

I will be curious on pricing as in what discount do BMW & VW vehicles get.
It will end up like ATM pricing if you are in network or out.

 

[geo]

The Wired article on this says it will be SAE and Chademo.

Very nice.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Not seriously planning on it... they are using Efacec chargers that will have CHAdeMO also.

I hope you are correct. In the article it lists only SAE cars for the L3 capability and lists the Leaf for the L2 capability.

Obviously, a press release from VW and BMW will not even mention CHAdeMO. Likewise, neither did the press release from Nissan advertise the competition when they announced the same day (a repeat announcement from December) that USA CHAdeMO stations to go up to 1100-1500 this year. Nissan is absolutely NOT installing CCS-Combo1 anywhere.

I suspect that ChargePoint would only enter into the deal when they could actually sell services to the 95% of the EV market that can use CHAdeMO (both Tesla with adaptor, Nissan LEAF, and soon to be us!). CHAdeMO commands the public market, CCS is chasing the tail.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Surprising that GM's not in on it as well - as their forthcoming 200-mile EV will make the most use of this.

I think they were seriously considering it. The rumors last summer were all three manufacturers with Chargepoint.

 

[TonyWilliams]

The Wired article on this says it will be SAE and Chademo.

Very nice.

http://www.efacecusa.com/product-services/electric-mobility/ev-chargers

 

[miimura]

One of those Efacec units has been installed at the VW facility in Belmont, CA for some time. Plugshare shows people regularly having problems with it. Fortunately, they seem to get it straightened out in a reasonable amount of time. There was an older Efacec CHAdeMO-only unit at Stanford shopping center that was so bad that Car Charging Group replaced it with a Nissan unit after the 350Green acquisition was complete.

Tony, have you tested the Jdemo with one of these Efacec units yet?

 

[TonyWilliams]

One of those Efacec units has been installed at the VW facility in Belmont, CA for some time. Plugshare shows people regularly having problems with it. Fortunately, they seem to get it straightened out in a reasonable amount of time. There was an older Efacec CHAdeMO-only unit at Stanford shopping center that was so bad that Car Charging Group replaced it with a Nissan unit after the 350Green acquisition was complete.

Tony, have you tested the Jdemo with one of these Efacec units yet?

Yes, Greenlots uses them at the Kia dealers. Works great. We even got Blink to work when Tesla couldn't :mrgreen:

 

[miimura]

ChargePoint seems to have completed a workable CCS 24kW network from Davis/Sacramento to the Oregon border on I-5. This is allegedly the BMW/VW charging network. I am thoroughly disappointed that ALL of these stations are CCS-only and only 24kW instead of the promised 50kW Dual-Standard chargers for primary corridors.

Starting at NRG, Whole Foods, Davis, CA:
54 miles to Carl's Jr., Willams, CA
55 miles to the Olive Pit, Corning, CA
47 miles to Carl's Jr., Reading, CA
54 miles to Yak's, Dunsmuir, CA
43 miles to Carl's Jr., Yreka, CA
52 miles to Fred Meyer, Medford, OR

Plugshare.com filtered to SAE-Combo only.

 

[bdunst]

Not sure about the others but last time I was at Whole foods in Davis - it had both CHademo and CCS chargers plus level 2 as well.
I checked because it will be one of my stops when I get JDEMO installed.

 

[user 340]

ChargePoint seems to have completed a workable CCS 24kW network from Davis/Sacramento to the Oregon border on I-5. This is allegedly the BMW/VW charging network. I am thoroughly disappointed that ALL of these stations are CCS-only and only 24kW instead of the promised 50kW Dual-Standard chargers for primary corridors.

Man, what a ghetto solution - 24 kW? Better than nothing, but hardly fast.

Some other news: The California Energy Commission recently posted a notice or proposed awards for deploying DC fast chargers along major North - South highways in California: http://www.energy.ca.gov/contracts/GFO-15-601_NOPA.pdf

The good: Nearly $10M of funding for DCFCs along 9 popular transportation corridors. At least 1 CHAdeMO,1 CCS, and 1 J1772 are required at each site.

The bad: The CEC is s l o w. The solicitation was released last July, awards won't me made for months, and completion is not required until March 2020

Potential redemption: The proposed awardees are ChargePoint, NRG, EV Connect, and Recargo, all with experience in installing charging stations. Hopefully they will complete installations as quickly as possible given the state bureaucracy.

 

[miimura]

Not sure about the others but last time I was at Whole foods in Davis - it had both CHademo and CCS chargers plus level 2 as well.
I checked because it will be one of my stops when I get JDEMO installed.

I just quoted that NRG station in Davis as a mileage reference. Of course, that station is not the same as the rest in the list.