Electrify America Opens 1000th Charging Station

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A few days in the past, Electrify America introduced the opening of its newest giant charging station. Whereas a brand new station with various stalls is welcome and information by itself, this station was much more particular as a result of it’s the corporate’s one thousandth location!

On this article, I’m going to speak concerning the station itself and look again at what it took to get to this milestone.

The Vogue Valley Charging Station

Not less than in the course of the day, a mall is likely one of the greatest locations you’ll be able to put a charging station for suburban use. Not solely do malls have quite a lot of facilities, however they’re additionally situated close to most of the locations EV drivers can be coming to and going from. For a fast cost, the mall isn’t going to be helpful, however for deeper expenses, having a rest room and meals close by, or presumably procuring, makes quite a lot of sense.

“Simon currently has more than 85 Electrify America charging stations at our properties across the U.S., providing a high-value amenity for our shoppers and the surrounding community to charge their electric vehicles,” mentioned Daniel Segal, VP of Enterprise Growth at Simon Property Group. “Having Electrify America’s Hyper-Fast chargers on-site, along with Fashion Valley’s premier shopping, dining, and entertainment options in the San Diego market creates a convenient all-in-one destination for our shared customers to shop, work, dine and play.”

One other benefit to siting a charging station at one in every of these malls is safety. The mall has safety personnel watching out for the stations and drivers 24/7, which is necessary as a result of the station is open 24/7.

The station has 20 “Hyper-Fast” as much as 350 kW stalls that use energy sharing to offer everybody essentially the most energy attainable. It’s situated within the P2 degree of the parking construction D. There are additionally 3 350 kW chargers out there on the north finish of the mall close to parking construction E, making for a complete of 23 stalls on the mall.

The Steps (& Missteps) That Led To 1,000

In comparison with a few of the stations we’re beginning to see Tesla open, with dozens and dozens of charging stalls, 20 stalls won’t look like a lot. Heck, I do know of 1 station in Quartzsite, Arizona with 84 stalls, and it’s solely half as massive as the most important one! However, once we have a look at the place Electrify America began, the corporate has been constructing as much as issues like this for a very long time.

“Our 1000th charging station marks a significant milestone for Electrify America and reinforces our commitment to convenient EV charging,” mentioned Robert Barrosa, CEO of Electrify America. “In just over six years, our team has rapidly built an open Hyper-Fast charging network across 47 states, the District of Columbia, and seven Canadian provinces to drive confidence in electric vehicles as the preferred choice for personal transportation.”

To essentially see what has occurred exterior of Tesla, I’ll return to a visit I took in 2019 in a 2018 Nissan LEAF. At the moment, driving 1200 miles in New Mexico and Arizona, CCS and CHAdeMO charging stations have been sparse. There was one station open in Deming, New Mexico, and I didn’t see one other one alongside I-10 till Tucson. To bridge the hole, I needed to plug in at a sketchy RV park in Lordsburg, New Mexico after which hypermiled my method to the subsequent park in Willcox, Arizona. I attempted to not spend too lengthy there, charging up there simply sufficient to make it to the primary station in Tucson simply as “turtle mode” appeared on the display.

At this level, issues obtained dangerous for the LEAF, with the Rapidgate charging slowdown occurring in Tucson and in Casa Grande, giving me abysmal 12 kW cost charges that have been principally DCSC (DC Gradual Charging). I had deliberate to go to an RV park and keep the night time in Cordes Junction, however was so delayed by the point we arrived within the Phoenix Metro that we ended up staying the night time there after which going to Cordes the subsequent night, the place we arrived with a badly overheated battery pack.

The following station after that was in Flagstaff, and our subsequent cease on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon didn’t have any DC quick charging, not even when one had a Tesla (the Tusayan Supercharger opened up months later). We charged L2 there, spent the afternoon taking shuttles, after which again to Flagstaff.

For the remainder of that journey, there wasn’t a single DC quick charger for our car. We spent a part of an evening at a state park close to Winslow, Arizona, then spent the night time at a motel close to the Petrified Forest with an extension wire operating below the door to cost the LEAF up. We used Stage 2 charging on the Petrified Forest and struggled to make it out to Lyman Lake State Park, the place a cabin had an RV pedestal we may use. From there, we charged in Alpine, Arizona at an RV park, then charged at a Stage 2 charger in Silver Metropolis, New Mexico, earlier than getting to a different quick charger in Deming.

As a result of there was no quick charging for large areas, we spent a bit of over every week driving that 1200 miles!

At present, issues are lots higher for everybody. The Dieselgate settlement led to quite a lot of charging stations being constructed, each by Electrify America and thru different corporations states chosen. At present, that journey can be lots simpler, as there are quick charging stations in lots of cities alongside the way in which that weren’t there earlier than. The little 3 and 4-stall stations Electrify America put in made an enormous distinction in opening up new territory to non-Tesla EVs.

Sadly, these small stations haven’t held up very properly in lots of circumstances. As visitors elevated, first in California and different EV-popular locations, after which later all over the place else, the first-generation Electrify America stations began having massive issues. In locations like Quartzsite, Arizona, solely having 4 stalls on a busy freeway between Phoenix and Los Angeles (plus a lot of the remainder of California) led to lengthy strains.

Now, the corporate is shifting from opening up new territory for low-volume visitors to having to serve bigger crowds the way in which Tesla does. Each corporations are having to open bigger and bigger stations to serve folks alongside the freeway and in cities, and with the Tesla community opening as much as extra manufacturers, the competitors is heating up!

Featured picture by Electrify America.