Jolt EV charging network

[Quickst]

5 minutes

Ok thank
I suppose if an EV with no reservation arrives at the charging bay and finds out the Charger has been reserved and is being a D**kh**d, all it takes is to run down the clock until the charger is available. 5 minutes is hardly anytime. Is it possible to reserve for longer?

 

[Sir Surfalot]

5 minutes is hardly anytime. Is it possible to reserve for longer?

I’m pretty sure 5 minutes (twice a day) is all I can reserve with the $10/month level I pay for. Maybe people who pay more can reserve for longer, I don’t know.

I vaguely remember it being a longer reservation period when it was initially available to all users. I agree with you that 5 minutes reservation is next to useless, but personally I am ok with that because I don’t like the feature anyway. I would rather the simplicity of if I don’t see a car at the charger then it is available (and I can drive into the carpark or do a U-turn to it or whatever), without having to worry that it _looks_ like it is free so I drive in, park, open the app and attempt to start the session THEN find out that the unoccupied charger is in fact reserved to someone else who hasn’t shown up yet. Not sure how the interaction would go between the first-arriver and the reserver either when the reserver person did turn up, and not sure I want to find out, even at a relatively friendly and polite place like Palm Beach.

 

[Quickst]

how the interaction would go

Sounds like the "reserve a charger" is more or less a marketing gimmick..

 

[dronus]

Sounds like the "reserve a charger" is more or less a marketing gimmick..

It would start street fights here.. say a car is charging, and the clock says 10 mins to go so you park next to them and wait.
They finish, you plug in but in the mean time it’s been reserved by someone else who is enroute… what happens then

Or can you only reserve chargers that are not in use?

 

[Sir Surfalot]

Or can you only reserve chargers that are not in use?

I don’t know, will try it if I can. Against all probability, there IS another EV the last few days arriving and wanting to charge at the Palm Beach Jolt charger around when I have been (white model 3 with roof bike racks - Hi! if you are on here). Two out of my last 3 charging sessions it has been parked in the next bay to the charger when I have finished my coffee and walked back, and the other time they “beat” me to the charger so I just kept driving down to the coffee shop and parked there. Next time they beat me to the charger, assuming the arrival pattern continues, I will see what happens if I try to reserve the charger. Just for academic interest really, charger reservations are not my thing as I said above, I think they just overcomplicate the experience. I DO like that Jolt shows the estimated minutes until an in-use charger should free up, so I can decide if it’s worth waiting for (to which my usual answer for a 25kW Jolt charger would be NO), but I don’t like the idea that a charger can look free when I drive up to it, only to find it has been locked out for someone else who is NOT at the charger yet.

 

[Vostok]

When EVX initially launched their PoleChargers they said there would be a facility to reserve a charger for 10 minutes (IIRC), but it seems that feature has never been implemented in their App. At least not for the EVX chargers I have used.

 

[moa999]

I'd be more OK with reservations if there was some external notification.

But with Jolt (mostly single chargers) someone has likely driven up to the charger, parked in the spot, plugged in.. and then fired up the app only to see it says reserved and they can't charge

 

[Vostok]

I'd be more OK with reservations if there was some external notification.

But with Jolt (mostly single chargers) someone has likely driven up to the charger, parked in the spot, plugged in.. and then fired up the app only to see it says reserved and they can't charge

EVX Polechargers have an Amber LED on the side to indicate if it has been reserved - if the feature is ever implemented. Is that what you mean? Green is available, Blue is charging and Red is fault.

I suspect though anyone plugging into one would either not see the LED or know what it means. Presumably the EVX App would indicate if a port is reserved though, warning a prospective user that they can’t charge there (yet).

Reserving chargers is problematic though. It does reduce throughput hence revenue. Or the person who reserved might change their mind and not cancel the reservation. Or there could be fraudulent/malicious reservations if there is no reservation fee.

And what’s to stop someone parking at the spot, plugging in, and counting down the clock until the reservation expires, as they are glared upon by the person who made the reservation? I mean - what can they do apart from get very angry and abuse the person? Possession of the space is nine-tenths of the law, as they say.

 

[dronus]

I'd be more OK with reservations if there was some external notification.

But with Jolt (mostly single chargers) someone has likely driven up to the charger, parked in the spot, plugged in.. and then fired up the app only to see it says reserved and they can't charge

And then leave a bad review on PlugShare most likely. The small 25kw ones we have wouldn’t have anything to indicate reservation and if the bay is vacant you’d head there, can’t look at the app while driving.
If I had diverted off the main road to get to it I wouldn’t be impressed if it was vacant but unusable, but understand why and would get over it

 

[dronus]

EVX Polechargers have an Amber LED on the side to indicate if it has been reserved - if the feature is ever implemented. Is that what you mean? Green is available, Blue is charging and Red is fault.

I suspect though anyone plugging into one would either not see the LED or know what it means. Presumably the EVX App would indicate if a port is reserved though, warning a prospective user that they can’t charge there (yet).

Reserving chargers is problematic though. It does reduce throughput hence revenue. Or the person who reserved might change their mind and not cancel the reservation. Or there could be fraudulent/malicious reservations if there is no reservation fee.

And what’s to stop someone parking at the spot, plugging in, and counting down the clock until the reservation expires, as they are glared upon by the person who made the reservation? I mean - what can they do apart from get very angry and abuse the person? Possession of the space is nine-tenths of the law, as they say.

Yeah they would just park there and wait, I’m pretty sure. If someone turned up and said they reserved it I doubt the person would move, let them in to charge and then be nice about it. Tesla drivers might but those rapscallians in BYD/MG/LEAF wouldnt

 

[moa999]

Only occasionally use Jolt but with some changes to my regular charger might have to a bit more in the future.

So been watching their countdowns here and there on my closest charger, given their FAQ doesn't say much.

For many cars, it seems to simply set a 20min clock (basically 7kWh) which is understandable given that's the free period.. but if you go over that it just sets another 20min. Worse it actually shows the site as available for a short period before resetting

But then I've also seen a site to from In Use to Reserved (for 5min) within 30secs.. presumably someone on a plan waiting closeby.

But then also seen this, which suggests maybe a plan subscriber charging from a low point.

 

[dronus]

Only occasionally use Jolt but with some changes to my regular charger might have to a bit more in the future.

So been watching their countdowns here and there on my closest charger, given their FAQ doesn't say much.

For many cars, it seems to simply set a 20min clock (basically 7kWh) which is understandable given that's the free period.. but if you go over that it just sets another 20min. Worse it actually shows the site as available for a short period before resetting

But then I've also seen a site to from In Use to Reserved (for 5min) within 30secs.. presumably someone on a plan waiting closeby.

But then also seen this, which suggests maybe a plan subscriber charging from a low point.
View attachment 1046699

Interesting.
At one stage I wondered how it knew how much you were planning to charge and then give that availability timeframe in the app.

Surely it doesn’t chat to the car that much to be given your charge level and cars estimated time to get there.

Then I realised it doesn’t as I’m at say 60% and playing jolt roulette for 7kw but have my charge limit at 100% it would mess it up.
Then again you can’t see the availability for the charger that you are using? It just goes grey. I can understand why.

Your 20min suggestion makes sense.

 

[Quickst]

But then also seen this, which suggests maybe a plan subscriber charging from a low point.

Is the Ev's set charging limit or "time to charging limit" visible to Jolt?

 

[Vostok]

Is the Ev's set charging limit or "time to charging limit" visible to Jolt?

In a CCS2 session, the vehicle’s current SoC and target SoC are reported to the DCFC and this visible to the network operator via the management interface, otherwise they would not be able to estimate time to completion.

Every vehicle’s charge profile is different, of course, which is why any such calculation is an estimate. Also people could unplug before they reach the target SoC, or not unplug after they have. No way to predict that.

 

[dronus]

Interesting to see these 50kw jolts on port road today.

 

[moa999]

And you could guess that some people would take Jolts new feature the wrong way.

(The he also... Is .. "spit on my car" (sic))
Disgusting behaviour.

I wonder if Jolt would be better moving to a Chargefox system.. of car at xx% charging for yy minutes.

This is at Five Dock

Spencer St & Regatta Rd Parking | Five Dock, NSW | EV Station

25kW DC charger with CCS2 and CHAdeMO plugs. Cable has a secondary extension from the hanging point of extra reach is needed. Street parking spot in conversion of Ausgrid substation by Jolt. www.jolt.com.au/start

www.plugshare.com