Chevy Bolt at Supercharger

[SSonnentag]

While charging in El Centro, CA last night, a brand new Bolt pulled up to a charger and attempted to plug in. The guy kept looking at the charge port and back at the charge cable. I felt kind of bad for the guy, but can't comprehend spending over $40K on an EV without first investigating and understanding where you'll be able to charge. He gave up and left after about 5 minutes of searching for something on his phone.

 

[bro1999]

While charging in El Centro, CA last night, a brand new Bolt pulled up to a charger and attempted to plug in. The guy kept looking at the charge port and back at the charge cable. I felt kind of bad for the guy, but can't comprehend spending over $40K on an EV without first investigating and understanding where you'll be able to charge. He gave up and left after about 5 minutes of searching for something on his phone.

His sales rep probably said he could charge for free no problem at Superchargers.

 

[gavine]

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

While charging in El Centro, CA last night, a brand new Bolt pulled up to a charger and attempted to plug in. The guy kept looking at the charge port and back at the charge cable. I felt kind of bad for the guy, but can't comprehend spending over $40K on an EV without first investigating and understanding where you'll be able to charge. He gave up and left after about 5 minutes of searching for something on his phone.

Yes, feel bad. PlugShare shows it as a CCS and CHAdeMO desert. A few J1772s though, and some HPWCs, so maybe he has the Tesla adapter and ended up at the wrong place.

 

[ewoodrick]

So why don't you understand that a car that can charge at many different manufacturers EV charging locations can't charge at one. Tesla did go out into left field with their chargers, not compatible with anyone else. And in reality, this should be one of those areas in which you :just insert handle" like you would do any gas pump. But no, "We do it better" entered the situation and we now have about 4 charging standards in the US, and more worldwide.
One would think that we would learn from the multitude of AC plugs and voltages deployed. Alas, we haven't.

 

[Rocky_H]

And in reality, this should be one of those areas in which you :just insert handle" like you would do any gas pump.

Uh huh. Just like you grab any old handle and put it in your tank, regardless of whether your car takes diesel or gasoline, requires high octane or not,...?

 

[skitown]

So why don't you understand that a car that can charge at many different manufacturers EV charging locations can't charge at one. Tesla did go out into left field with their chargers, not compatible with anyone else. And in reality, this should be one of those areas in which you :just insert handle" like you would do any gas pump. But no, "We do it better" entered the situation and we now have about 4 charging standards in the US, and more worldwide.
One would think that we would learn from the multitude of AC plugs and voltages deployed. Alas, we haven't.

I would argue that only Tesla has created a simple charging solution that does exactly what you said "just insert handle". It's not Tesla's fault that traditional car manufacturers have been waiting around for years for a 3rd party or their governments to create charging solutions for their EVs that they are begrudgingly now manufacturing. Superchargers are a dream to use. I've never even used a different public solution because they are such a pain in the ass by comparison.

 

[mtndrew1]

So why don't you understand that a car that can charge at many different manufacturers EV charging locations can't charge at one. Tesla did go out into left field with their chargers, not compatible with anyone else. And in reality, this should be one of those areas in which you :just insert handle" like you would do any gas pump. But no, "We do it better" entered the situation and we now have about 4 charging standards in the US, and more worldwide.
One would think that we would learn from the multitude of AC plugs and voltages deployed. Alas, we haven't.

Tesla developed their inlet in 2011, long before anyone knew if chademo would take hold and before CCS even existed at all.

Hell J1772 was barely a thing. If you were an automaker in 2008-2011 trying to build an electric car with one inlet and have it be able to use the same port for AC and DC there was nothing to “do better.” Nothing existed.

 

[SSonnentag]

Tesla developed their inlet in 2011, long before anyone knew if chademo would take hold and before CCS even existed at all.

Hell J1772 was barely a thing. If you were an automaker in 2008-2011 trying to build an electric car with one inlet and have it be able to use the same port for AC and DC there was nothing to “do better.” Nothing existed.

Exactly! Tesla is not the one at fault here. They have made their connector available to all. It's the ICE manufacturers that have chosen to go another way. J1772 doesn't support DC, so it wasn't even an option and the others didn't yet exist. Tesla's plug is by far the most convenient of all options as well. It's small and simple and an open standard.

 

[CSFTN]

So why don't you understand that a car that can charge at many different manufacturers EV charging locations can't charge at one. Tesla did go out into left field with their chargers, not compatible with anyone else. And in reality, this should be one of those areas in which you :just insert handle" like you would do any gas pump. But no, "We do it better" entered the situation and we now have about 4 charging standards in the US, and more worldwide.
One would think that we would learn from the multitude of AC plugs and voltages deployed. Alas, we haven't.

You're a newbie apparently. Tesla started designing the S in 2009, tried to goad all the car manufacturers to get together and make a high power/high speed standard connector, and everyone else refused. So Tesla did it themselves, offered it up as a new standard, and everyone else refused, and later begat the huge, clumsy CCS. But they only did it because they didn't want to be schooled by a small start up like Tesla.

 

[ai4px]

Which begs the question.... Tesla SC’s identify the car by VIN over a comm link. When you use the Chademo adapter on your Tesla does it pass your VIN into the EVSE equipment?

 

[TexasEV]

Which begs the question.... Tesla SC’s identify the car by VIN over a comm link. When you use the Chademo adapter on your Tesla does it pass your VIN into the EVSE equipment?

No, as there’s no reason to. With CHAdeMO, the payment system is in the charging equipment, it doesn’t care what it’s connected to as long as the user enters the account info. With Tesla supercharging the payment info is verified between the car and Tesla. The charging equipment is dumb in this regard.

 

[Candleflame]

I would argue that only Tesla has created a simple charging solution that does exactly what you said "just insert handle". It's not Tesla's fault that traditional car manufacturers have been waiting around for years for a 3rd party or their governments to create charging solutions for their EVs that they are begrudgingly now manufacturing. Superchargers are a dream to use. I've never even used a different public solution because they are such a pain in the ass by comparison.

exactly this. even 2-3min of fumbeling just time wasted when we want to quickly charge. Just watching one of Bjorns videos where he is using a public charger makes me cringe. And that was even worse 5 years ago.

 

[skitown]

exactly this. even 2-3min of fumbeling just time wasted when we want to quickly charge. Just watching one of Bjorns videos where he is using a public charger makes me cringe. And that was even worse 5 years ago.

Exactly, all these "other" charging systems require me to sign up for something, carry something or learn something. It's hardly a low barrier of entry. It reminds me of going to a foreign country and trying to figure out how to acquire a SIM card for my phone. Super fun. /s

Let's take this thought experiment a step further. Maybe all these 3rd party charging systems are the ones that need to get their acts together to figure out one unified approach, that begins to rival the ease of Tesla's solution. Collaborate and allow me to install a single app on my phone that works everywhere. Make it as simple as something like Apple or Google Pay. Even that is a pain in the ass compared to Supercharging, but at least it's a known quantity and universal.

 

[gavine]

Let's take this thought experiment a step further. Maybe all these 3rd party charging systems are the ones that need to get their acts together to figure out one unified approach, that begins to rival the ease of Tesla's solution. Collaborate and allow me to install a single app on my phone that works everywhere. Make it as simple as something like Apple or Google Pay. Even that is a pain in the ass compared to Supercharging, but at least it's a known quantity and universal.

Why not just accept a credit card like a gas pump does? That said, I don't charge outside of my house much so I don't mind the way it is now, however, I do have a problem wit the LCD screen on Blink chargers. They are illegible when the sun is shining.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Why not just accept a credit card like a gas pump does? That said, I don't charge outside of my house much so I don't mind the way it is now, however, I do have a problem wit the LCD screen on Blink chargers. They are illegible when the sun is shining.

Because due to slow charging, the volume and economics suck, which makes PAYG credit cards' high transaction fees something to avoid.

(California says that public chargers must have credit card payment, at least as an alternative, but there'll be a higher price or "convenience" fee or something.)

 

[Big Dog]

Why not just accept a credit card like a gas pump does?

You'd be surprised, but those credit card readers are a high maintenance item when they are outside in the elements. Blowing dust frequently clogs the reader, requiring that they be cleaned.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I don't care who ya are... that's funny right there.

 

[rhumbliner]

While charging in El Centro, CA last night, a brand new Bolt pulled up to a charger and attempted to plug in.

Did you use that opportunity to educate him? This happened to me once at the old Las Vegas SC location. It was the wife of a Leaf owner and since I owned a Leaf for a few years I felt sorry for her. The Nissan sales personnel had told her she could charge “anywhere” so she unfortunately thought Tesla was like a gas station for EV’s. I had to explain what a J-1772 connector was and how there are a variety of connectors in the wild. She had no idea.

A little naive, I suppose, but at least her heart was in the right place. She and her husband wanted to help the environment.

 

[jelloslug]

His sales rep probably said he could charge for free no problem at Superchargers.

That's what you get when you farm out the most important part of the customer interaction.