New California Corridor Fast Chargers Installed

[miimura]

The ChargePoint grant funded site in Castaic just off I-5 is also open. It looks like it came online earlier this month.

Plugshare - Castaic Town Center

 

[geo]

Looks like Camp Roberts on the 101 just went live. Seems to be the first of the CalTrans 30/30 sites.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/207880

 

[miimura]

Looks like Camp Roberts on the 101 just went live. Seems to be the first of the CalTrans 30/30 sites.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/207880

Yes, both Northbound and Southbound rest areas have one charger each. However, it's still not clear to me what happens when the batteries are drained after the sun has gone down. The listing seems to indicate that the system may not be available until it is recharged by the solar system.

 

[miimura]

The ChargePoint grant funded site in Anderson, CA is open. This is about 11 miles south of the other ChargePoint site at the Target store in Redding, CA.

Plugshare - Vittles Family Restaurant, Anderson, CA

I don't think it's been posted in this thread yet - the ChargePoint grant funded site in Grass Valley has been open since early August. It's at the BriarPatch Food Co-Op near Sierra College.

Plugshare - BriarPatch Food Co-Op, Grass Valley, CA

The Camp Roberts units are now showing up in the ChargePoint app, so they're active on the network. They should be free, according to the CalTrans terms.

 

[swogee]

Looks like Camp Roberts on the 101 just went live. Seems to be the first of the CalTrans 30/30 sites.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/207880

Yes, both Northbound and Southbound rest areas have one charger each. However, it's still not clear to me what happens when the batteries are drained after the sun has gone down. The listing seems to indicate that the system may not be available until it is recharged by the solar system.

It appears that each charger is only able to charge 4 to 6 vehicles according to the info I found at the Monterey APCD website.
https://www.mbard.org/files/055c754be/8wbod11-14.pdf

There currently is no connection to utility power. The Monterey APCD approved additional funding recently to add a PG&E power connection to the charger to enable the batteries to charge when there is little sun or at night.
https://www.mbard.org/files/d383fee41/10bod09182019.pdf

At this point it would be wise to use caution when planning to charge at either of the Camp Roberts L3 chargers since they are free (there is usually a long wait) or the batteries may be depleted due repeated usage (at least until the utility power connection is made).

 

[miimura]

It appears that each charger is only able to charge 4 to 6 vehicles according to the info I found at the Monterey APCD website.
https://www.mbard.org/files/055c754be/8wbod11-14.pdf

There currently is no connection to utility power. The Monterey APCD approved additional funding recently to add a PG&E power connection to the charger to enable the batteries to charge when there is little sun or at night.
https://www.mbard.org/files/d383fee41/10bod09182019.pdf

At this point it would be wise to use caution when planning to charge at either of the Camp Roberts L3 chargers since they are free (there is usually a long wait) or the batteries may be depleted due repeated usage (at least until the utility power connection is made).

That's good news. There are two rest areas, so it will require two new grid connections for a total of not more than $150,000. I wonder what level of grid connection they can get for less than $75,000. The Express 250 station they're using requires 80A 480VAC 3-phase power. That is 66.5kVA input for 62.5kW DC max output. I have to wonder if they're planning for expansion for more stations or just want a connection for a battery charger for the Envision system. If that's the case, a 200A 240V single phase connection would suffice to deliver 48kVA. 150A 208V 3-phase would be equivalent and may make the battery charger more efficient.

I am really curious how much these stations will be used. They are free, but the location dictates that only people passing by will likely use them. I can see that people in cars like a Chevy Bolt might choose to charge here when traveling this corridor just because it's free and they can charge less somewhere else where they have to pay. At the same time, I would probably plan to have enough battery to make it to another DCFC in case it's occupied or low on battery.

 

[miimura]

Well, that didn't take long. Both of the Camp Roberts DCFCs are down and "undergoing maintenance".
Several people did successfully charge, so that's good. I would like to see them have better uptime though. Having them both down for maintenance at the same time is a problem. At least if one was down you could loop around to the other one and not delay your trip by much.

 

[miimura]

The CEC funded EVgo site in Williams appears to be online, at least according to Plugshare. It's not showing up in the EVgo app yet.

Plugshare - Shop N' Save - Williams, CA

 

[miimura]

ChargePoint sites in Placerville and Colfax have appeared in the ChargePoint app, but do not show status yet and don't show successful charges in Plugshare yet. The Colfax site has not been added to Plugshare yet.

The ChargePoint Dunnigan site is open, with a single 50kW unit across the street from the Electrify America site.
Plugshare - Chevron, Dunnigan, CA

 

[miimura]

The ChargePoint site in Red Bluff has been installed for a really long time, probably July or earlier. Now it is finally showing all three stations as active in the ChargePoint app.

Plugshare - Best Western Antelope Inn, Red Bluff, CA

 

[geo]

Looks like Chiriaco Summit went live. This really helps out for Joshua Tree and on I-10 going towards Blythe/Phoenix.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/214054

Once the EA chargers in Quartzsite go live, Phoenix should be fairly easy, even in a RAV4.

 

[TonyWilliams]

We are driving a Rav4 EV from SoCal to Phoenix soon. It’s about 120 miles from Blythe to Buckeye, so will probably just drive that leg at 60mph.

 

[geo]

We are driving a Rav4 EV from SoCal to Phoenix soon. It’s about 120 miles from Blythe to Buckeye, so will probably just drive that leg at 60mph.

Let us know how it goes. I'm taking the RAV4 to Vegas in about a week. Shouldn't be too bad LA > Victor Valley > Baker > Vegas.

 

[TonyWilliams]

We are driving a Rav4 EV from SoCal to Phoenix soon. It’s about 120 miles from Blythe to Buckeye, so will probably just drive that leg at 60mph.

Let us know how it goes. I'm taking the RAV4 to Vegas in about a week. Shouldn't be too bad LA > Victor Valley > Baker > Vegas.

Vegas is easy, now. The longest leg is about 94 miles.

 

[n3ckf]

does anyone here use abetterrouteplanner.com?
I used it for my trip (in the Tesla) to Texas and Iowa and back and it was awesome. VERY accurate.
You will have to figure out your battery degradation to use it correctly though.

 

[miimura]

does anyone here use abetterrouteplanner.com?
I used it for my trip (in the Tesla) to Texas and Iowa and back and it was awesome. VERY accurate.
You will have to figure out your battery degradation to use it correctly though.

Yes, ABRP is awesome for Tesla trip planning.
Just for kicks, I did an ABRP trip plan for the RAV using a 40kWh Leaf. It gave a trip plan that looked totally doable in the RAV4 EV with JdeMO.

 

[miimura]

The CEC funded EVgo site in Williams appears to be online, at least according to Plugshare. It's not showing up in the EVgo app yet.

Plugshare - Shop N' Save - Williams, CA

The site is now active in the EVgo app. The longest stretch without a working DCFC between the Bay Area and the Oregon border along I-5 is now 73 miles. That distance will be cut down to 54 miles when the EA site in Willows opens. At that point, the longest stretch will be between Redding and Dunsmuir. That segment will be cut about in half by a ChargePoint site in Lakehead-Lakeshore. After all these sites are open, there will be DCFC at less than 50 mile spacing along the whole corridor.

 

[miimura]

A DCFC in King City is finally under construction. Permits say 560 Canal St. but the person who took this picture said "behind AutoZone" which is 510 Canal St, same shopping center just off 101.

 

[geo]

Not CEC, but the EA site in Bridgeport just went live. First step towards opening up the Eastern Sierras. It's now possible to get from Tahoe to Mammoth / Yosemite via 395.

Two more EA sites along 395 need to go live and Los Angeles will be within reach.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/191333

 

[miimura]

Not CEC, but the EA site in Bridgeport just went live. First step towards opening up the Eastern Sierras. It's now possible to get from Tahoe to Mammoth / Yosemite via 395.

Two more EA sites along 395 need to go live and Los Angeles will be within reach.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/191333

EA and CalTrans are the only ones with plans I know of for US-395. It's another important corridor that needs fast charging infrastructure.