[kwsmith007]

I have been invited to participate in a meeting with some community leaders and merchants in the town where I live to make recommendations for public use and standardized merchant owned EVSE Hardware. I realize the obvious chose for most people is the Chargepoint/Coulomb solution. However, has anyone had any experience with other outdoor service public use chargers? GE WattStation for example? I believe I understand the technology well enough to advise community leaders, but I have no experience with these companies.

On a related topic... Anyone who has contact information for the decision makers at the companies that have made a commitment to charging infrastructure could you please post it here. Whole foods, Walgreen, Publix Supermarkets and the like. We have all these companies where I live but none have public chargers. I have spoken with the store managers, they are well meaning but have no idea whats going on. The most receptive has been Whole Foods but still no chargers.

Thanks.

 

[LonePalmBJ]

I have been invited to participate in a meeting with some community leaders and merchants in the town where I live to make recommendations for public use and standardized merchant owned EVSE Hardware. I realize the obvious chose for most people is the Chargepoint/Coulomb solution. However, has anyone had any experience with other outdoor service public use chargers? GE WattStation for example? I believe I understand the technology well enough to advise community leaders, but I have no experience with these companies.

There's a company near Atlanta called Metro Plug-in (http://www.metroplugin.com) that also installs commercial and municipal EVSEs, mostly in the southeast. Their website may have some useful information for you. They use ClipperCreek equipment. I've used their standalone charger they installed for the city of Woodstock, GA and just this weekend I used another I *think* they installed at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, which is a four-vehicle charging spot under a PV solar carport. Both are currently free to use.

I've attached a picture of the ClipperCreek unit from the weekend. Also, this video may be useful:

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anWyNkPI2YM[/video]

Brent

 

[Fabulist]

I have been invited to participate in a meeting with some community leaders and merchants in the town where I live to make recommendations for public use and standardized merchant owned EVSE Hardware. I realize the obvious chose for most people is the Chargepoint/Coulomb solution. However, has anyone had any experience with other outdoor service public use chargers? GE WattStation for example? I believe I understand the technology well enough to advise community leaders, but I have no experience with these companies.

On a related topic... Anyone who has contact information for the decision makers at the companies that have made a commitment to charging infrastructure could you please post it here. Whole foods, Walgreen, Publix Supermarkets and the like. We have all these companies where I live but none have public chargers. I have spoken with the store managers, they are well meaning but have no idea whats going on. The most receptive has been Whole Foods but still no chargers.

Thanks.

Ikea uses Blink! commercial hardware and are on their network.

 

[cottylowry]

On a recent trip to the Mayo Clinic in our Volt, I used my ChargePoint App to find the one and only Coulomb station in a public ramp near the clinic. As I plugged in, the parking lot attendant ran up and congratulated me on being the first person that had used the station since it was installed 2 years ago. He said with disdain he usually parks his big Chevy Avalanche truck there since no one has ever used the "thing" and wanted to take my picture to prove that someone had finally used it.

I assured him that he would see more EV's in the future.

After the photo op I tried to pay but found that the device only takes credit cards with micro chips that can be swiped over the surface of the charging station, even though it was in a sheltered parking garage. Certainly lots of Europeans have micro chip cards, but I don't know one American that does. Luckily the Avalanche guy brought me a 110V extension cord so I topped up on the city dime.

What a shame I thought. There must be a way to subscribe and call an 800 number or something, but I was already late for my appointment. Moral of the story, don't install charging stations that do not take standard US based credit cards.

 

[marswill]

On a recent trip to the Mayo Clinic in our Volt, I used my ChargePoint App to find the one and only Coulomb station in a public ramp near the clinic. As I plugged in, the parking lot attendant ran up and congratulated me on being the first person that had used the station since it was installed 2 years ago. He said with disdain he usually parks his big Chevy Avalanche truck there since no one has ever used the "thing" and wanted to take my picture to prove that someone had finally used it.

I assured him that he would see more EV's in the future.

After the photo op I tried to pay but found that the device only takes credit cards with micro chips that can be swiped over the surface of the charging station, even though it was in a sheltered parking garage. Certainly lots of Europeans have micro chip cards, but I don't know one American that does. Luckily the Avalanche guy brought me a 110V extension cord so I topped up on the city dime.

What a shame I thought. There must be a way to subscribe and call an 800 number or something, but I was already late for my appointment. Moral of the story, don't install charging stations that do not take standard US based credit cards.

You can get a ChargePoint Card for $4.95 that has the microchip and it can link to your charge card account. For more info go to www.chargepoint.net

 

[kwsmith007]

The first time I went to charge my car at a Chargepoint location I thought they took swipe cards also. No go, however, I called the 1-800 number and they enabled the charger for me by remote in a flash. The Chargepoint person also took my Credit Card info and sent me a Chargepoint RFID card for 5 bucks and I got in 4 days. The reason that Chargepoint has settled on the RFID card standard is they are much easier to totally seal up in the rain and snow than a magnetic card reader, and cheaper as well.

 

[Sigurd]

That's wonderful, but so far my Blink card has worked flawlessly and at no charge. I would encourage everybody to find a Blink network that works as well as it does for me. BTW, I live in the Dallas, Texas area. Hence my 409 mpg over the last 1K miles. Couldn't done it without the Blink chargers,

 

[kwsmith007]

I think their must be some regional component to Charger selection, as far as I can tell from Blink's Web site there is not one Blink public charging station anywhere in Florida. This is a shame to, I would love to look at and use one and compare it to the the Chargepoint equipment. I can't find any GE WattStations either, but I'm not sure if those are really out yet.

 

[Fabulist]

I think their must be some regional component to Charger selection, as far as I can tell from Blink's Web site there is not one Blink public charging station anywhere in Florida. This is a shame to, I would love to look at and use one and compare it to the the Chargepoint equipment. I can't find any GE WattStations either, but I'm not sure if those are really out yet.

I have used both, and I have the residential version of Blink installed in my home, and there is almost no difference between them beside aesthetics. It's actually a bit of a pain that you can't use the same network card to unlock both and I have to carry two different cards.

The Blink chargers got a lot of visibility in Northern California when Nissan started buying them for folks who bought Leafs. So if the program is still going on and they start selling a lot of Leafs in your area, you may start seeing more of them. Also, Ikea has them in their stores here in California but I am not sure if they are rolled out nation-wide.

 

[kwsmith007]

I may be mistaken about this but I pretty sure the only IKEA stores in Florida with chargers are in Orlando (Two things I hate, Orlando and IKEA) anyway I've been told that the IKEA stores up there have Chargepoint Coulomb equipment.