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TEPCO/CHAdeMO Level III "quick" charging station/connector
- Thread starter doug
- Start date
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
There are other LEAFs routinely parked in the same parking lot, and plenty more in the area interested in using it, so I expect someone will have success (and report it) soon. Maybe there is an issue with my LEAF, either a fault, or just having 1+ year old firmware. I am getting the firmware updated tomorrow, and will try again after.
Whatever the cause (car or charger), the way it showed the problem on the screen seemed less than ideal. (for instance saying that car stated 0% SOC, not an error right then... Also reporting that it completed charge to 0% just seems wrong.)
Edit... report from MNL:
My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - San Francisco Bay Area Quick Chargers Getting them sooner
Whatever the cause (car or charger), the way it showed the problem on the screen seemed less than ideal. (for instance saying that car stated 0% SOC, not an error right then... Also reporting that it completed charge to 0% just seems wrong.)
Edit... report from MNL:
My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - San Francisco Bay Area Quick Chargers Getting them sooner
I was surprised as heck to find this in the parking lot when a friend and I went to lunch in San Diego a few days ago. It was outside SDG&E's Innovation Center. Too bad I can't test it with the Roadster, but there was a blue light glowing on it and it appeared to be available to the public.
I can't find it on any charger maps and only found a press release from JFE mentioning it: http://www.jfe-eng.co.jp/en/en_release/news_e11041e.html
I've added it to Recargo to ask if a Leaf owner can test it out.
I can't find it on any charger maps and only found a press release from JFE mentioning it: http://www.jfe-eng.co.jp/en/en_release/news_e11041e.html
I've added it to Recargo to ask if a Leaf owner can test it out.
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The Rapidas system is pretty cool. Instead of using three-phase 480 volt AC like most DC Quick Chargers, this connects to standard single-phase 240 volt AC. To do the quick charging, it has an internal battery system that charges up so that when a vehicle pulls in it can dump current in.
I don't know if the specs are any different from the one installed here in Portland, but we were told that it can DC Quick Charge three Nissan Leafs from 0-100% before it has to slow down its charging rate.
Certainly sounds more pricey and less energy efficient. Would only make sense to use that if your site is unable to handle the instantaneous load.
Which makes it great when EVs are rare and the system is lightly used, but when they become popular the system turns to crap.
If you are the 4th vehicle, you charge at 20kW - not 50kW. So now instead of worrying if you have to wait for the plug to be free when you get there - you have to worry that it was busy just before you arrived. If you get to the charge station and you see that someone is already charging, you drive on because it is very likely you will have to charge at 20kW.
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The charger (as you can barely tell in my picture) is under a large solar array. (Actually solar "trees" that move with the sun.) I suppose a benefit of the battery solution is more of the power can come solely from the solar power rather than from the grid. On a related point, maybe ironically, SDG&E, the host of this charger, has proposed charging solar array owners for putting power into the grid as well as taking it out. A battery system like this or the Tesla/Solar City one would help avoid these costs.
Actually one of the things scaring sites away from installing QC is the power "demand charges" for short term bursts of high power usage.
A battery buffer could allow it to "trickle charge" at cheaper energy rates, then provide the burst to the car without incurring the utility demand charges.
That was part of the point I was already making. Also an off grid solar application is an example of needing to reduce the instantaneous load. Still seems like a niche application, though it's nice that someone makes a product for it.
So since the product actually exists, someone should be able to do a cost and energy efficiency comparison of using this versus getting your power from the grid.
So since the product actually exists, someone should be able to do a cost and energy efficiency comparison of using this versus getting your power from the grid.
Some people really want to buy and use "green power".
I recall hearing of an application where they charged battery banks on a barge using windmills, then drove the full barge to a charging station that was otherwise offgrid...
A quick search finds this document describing something similar:
http://web.mit.edu/press/images/researchers/slocum.pdf
I recall hearing of an application where they charged battery banks on a barge using windmills, then drove the full barge to a charging station that was otherwise offgrid...
A quick search finds this document describing something similar:
http://web.mit.edu/press/images/researchers/slocum.pdf
This station isn't for public use. It is for internal SDG&E use only.
This station supposedly cost $1M to install and consists of a large battery pack along with the PV array. It only draws a maximum of 20kW from the grid at any time, although it can charge your CHAdeMO equipped car at up to 50kW or so.
That a shame. It's certainly displayed very publicly. Did you talk to SDG&E or something? I should have gone in and asked but wasn't on the ball enough.
I wonder at SDG&E's logic in creating a highly visible 'Innovation Center' and putting a $1 million charger in a pubic lot, but declaring it off limits. I clearly had a profound lack of imagination for not considering the possibility that this would be unavailable to the public.
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Norbert
TSLA will win
If the objective is to avoid demand charges for a 50 kW connection, then what about this: The parking lot in the photo seems more than large enough for solar panels generating 50 kW. Unless there is a car charging, all the 50 kW, during the day, would go into the grid, which would take care of the demand charges since this is now in favor of providing a service to the utility. And it would pay for the solar panels.
When a car is charging, during the day, it will redirect the solar energy into the car, and during the night, the existing grid connection is used in the other direction, from the grid. The investment for the solar panels should be paid for by the power generated, within a few years. Plus, it results in a parking lot that has nice shadows.
When a car is charging, during the day, it will redirect the solar energy into the car, and during the night, the existing grid connection is used in the other direction, from the grid. The investment for the solar panels should be paid for by the power generated, within a few years. Plus, it results in a parking lot that has nice shadows.
it's quite a large solar installation already. My guess is it already generates 50kw, at least when it's nice and sunny. (I'm just judging relative sq ft to my roof which generates 10kw.)
I wonder, too. But utilities are not allowed to sell (or give away) electricity to the public.
Give away, I can see. But SDG&E's business model is to sell electricity to the public, so why couldn't they sell power? Probably would need to get a tariff amendment, but that shouldn't be an issue.
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