NRG eVgo

[loganss]

loganss

This article says there's an eVgo station being installed at Bowie Town Center.

Charge 'Er Up: Bowie Electric Car Owners Get New Station - Business - Bowie, MD Patch

Thanks for the link. I wonder why they only listed the L2 a-la cart costs. The pricing listed in the link is hard to determine what the actual cost would be though.

These stations around the DC area wouldn't really get much use if any by me given that I charge at home and the Model S has such a large range. I would imagine that the evGo target audience would primarily be the Nissan Leaf. It would make travel around DMV Much easier for the Leaf.

 

[fryfrye]

Some good news from eVgo:

A response back on Twitter related to this thread:

NRG eVgo ‏@nrgevgo13 Jan
@fryfrye Have some great news: we’re now launching the Flex plan. No monthly fee. DC fast charging: $4.95 per session plus $0.20 per minute.

AND


NRG eVgo ‏@nrgevgo13 Jan
@fryfrye (continuation) Level 2 charging: $1.50 per hour. You will be able to purchase it online by the end of January.

They continued to say that you can call to sign up for the plans today. Great to see a company respond quickly to consumer demands.

 

[Blaze]

I found a L2 station at the Outlets in Orange, CA. EVGO website charges 4.95 to get a card plus $1.50 per hour. I do like to charge at the public station to get decent parking as an added benefit.

 

[David99]

Chargepoint, Blink, Semacharge, EvGo, ... It's just silly that current EV drivers have to sign up memberships with all these companies and keep their specific cards in the car at all times. Imagine we would have to sign up for a membership with every gas station company and have special cards to be able to fill up. How backwards is that! And even with these different charging networks, you don't know how much power you will get or how much you will pay as it varies with location.

 

[SteveH]

I honestly don't mind signing up and carrying the cards for Blink and chargepoint since there's no monthly fee. Just not a big deal to me. But eVgo's monthly fee makes it a crazy choice for Tesla owners in Texas. There are always better options.

 

[mibaro2]

Chargepoint, Blink, Semacharge, EvGo, ... It's just silly that current EV drivers have to sign up memberships with all these companies and keep their specific cards in the car at all times. Imagine we would have to sign up for a membership with every gas station company and have special cards to be able to fill up. How backwards is that! And even with these different charging networks, you don't know how much power you will get or how much you will pay as it varies with location.

Back in the old days, every gas station only accepted their specifc gas station credit card. Over the course of time, that has changed.
I expect the same will happen with the charging stations. We will probably see a "universal" charging card come out that is good at most charging companies.

 

[RandyS]

You mean something like the EZ-Charge access card?

Press Releases - ChargePoint
Nissan EZ Charge Card To Let Leafs Recharge On Four Networks

Although ChargePoint has since expressed dissatisfaction over eVgo's management of the system and customer data...

EZ-Charge Program Not So Easy As ChargePoint Exits Nissan Plan

Progress takes time....

 

[miimura]

I honestly don't mind signing up and carrying the cards for Blink and chargepoint since there's no monthly fee. Just not a big deal to me. But eVgo's monthly fee makes it a crazy choice for Tesla owners in Texas. There are always better options.

NRG finally updated their website for the San Francisco area. They now show the "Flex" plan that has no monthly fee. DCFC is $4.95 + $0.20/min while L2 is $1.50/hr and one-time setup fee is $4.95.

When I signed up for Blink and ChargePoint I put a balance on the account so that I could use paid stations without any additional effort and so the setup fee was waived.

 

[NeedToDrive]

Has anyone been using eVgo stations recently? Although 99.9% of my charges are at home, I came across a station that would be very useful on my trips from LA to San Diego to visit family 2-3 times a year.
I went to thier web site to get information about requesting a card but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that on line. I plan to call but wanted to get feedback on recent experiences here.

 

[Dave EV]

Yeah, you just have to call them up to get a card. No way to sign up online.

 

[miimura]

Look here: Los Angeles Basin Plan - NRG eVgo
There is a "Sign Up Now" button next to each plan.

 

[NeedToDrive]

Thanks. I did find the signup when I got home. Apparently the mobile web page didn't include it.

 

[ZBB]

So now that the CHAdeMO adapter is shipping, the EVGO units will be great for destination charging.

But... In in AZ and NRG's signup page is Byzantine... Why do they make the signup based on your location? Do they still think DC charging is for commuters only? Anyone used one out of region?

 

[liuping]

So now that the CHAdeMO adapter is shipping, the EVGO units will be great for destination charging.

But... In in AZ and NRG's signup page is Byzantine... Why do they make the signup based on your location? Do they still think DC charging is for commuters only? Anyone used one out of region?

The whole location thing seems strange. Maybe it's based on Electricity costs?

I have the "Flex" plan, but I have not tried it out of San Diego County. My CHAdeMO adapter gets here Monday, so I'll try to test it LA sometime in the next few weeks.

 

[TexasEV]

The whole location thing seems strange. Maybe it's based on Electricity costs?

I have the "Flex" plan, but I have not tried it out of San Diego County. My CHAdeMO adapter gets here Monday, so I'll try to test it LA sometime in the next few weeks.

The plans were designed for Leafs, and Leafs can't get from one market to another easily. I wonder if NRG even knows that Teslas with battery sizes several times that of a Leaf are about to try to use the charging stations.

 

[BobbyM5]

The whole location thing seems strange. Maybe it's based on Electricity costs?

I have the "Flex" plan, but I have not tried it out of San Diego County. My CHAdeMO adapter gets here Monday, so I'll try to test it LA sometime in the next few weeks.

How did you order the CHAdeMO adapter? It still shows coming soon on the web site.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

How did you order the CHAdeMO adapter? It still shows coming soon on the web site.

There's a waitlist that you can get on by contacting Tesla. It's quite deep now and only the earliest ones on the waitlist from October 2013 are getting their adapters now.

 

[BobbyM5]

There's a waitlist that you can get on by contacting Tesla. It's quite deep now and only the earliest ones on the waitlist from October 2013 are getting their adapters now.

Thanks for the reply, I am on the wait list as of May 2014 so I guess I just need to be patient.

 

[xray]

Thanks for the reply, I am on the wait list as of May 2014 so I guess I just need to be patient.

Just received mine today (waitlisted from October 13, 2013). Got the invitation to order late last week.

Trying to research the NRG Evgo and other CHAdeMO chargers available in my area so I can test them out.

 

[liuping]

I tried out the eVgo charger at the Carlsbad Outlet Mall today. The RFID reader on the dual (CHAdeMO/CSS) charger did not work, so I had to call to activate. The second CHAdeMO only charger's RFID reader worked, but I did not want to start another session, since they charge $4.95 each.

I average 37kW during the 20+ minute charge. I started at 45%.

It's pretty close to 2x the charge rate of a HPWC, and will open up some locations for charging I did not have before, so I'm happy.

Strangely, there is another eVgo CHADdeMo charger just a block away at a 7/11. It had 2 Leafs parked there, so I'm glad I tried the outlet mall, I was the only one charging the whole time