Volta public chargers

[Lump]

I was at the Northridge mall & noticed new public chargers by Volta, there were 2 technicians working on them so I went over & started chatting with one of them, turns out he was the owner, they started in Hawaii & have chargers in Arizona & California & growing rapidly, he said lots of chargers in the Bay Area & around 20 through out Los Angeles, they are free to charge & don't require any card or mmebership at 32A, advertisers on the charging stations cover the costs. Their web site & mobile app doesn't show most of thier locations but keep an eye out for them (owner said he owns a Roadster).

Volta

Volta Charging on the App Store on iTunes

 

[AEdennis]

Thanks for the information Lump, Transport Evolved, a very EV friendly news site, had an article on those same guys last week and I was wondering where they were in SoCal...

That being said, after moving to our Model S for my daily driver, I find myself using less J1772 public charging than before. However, if I need it in a pinch, it's good to see other models for public charging outside of the Blink and NRG EVgo models...

 

[AudubonB]

I wish them well. As I wrote in the SW forum, last week we charged at a Volta in Scottsdale AZ. No ads yet were up on these new columns, so for the company's sake I hope they arrive quickly. 32A = about 17mph, which is pretty slow, but they are free.....

Earlier this morning I had an hour-long meeting with the Director of Public Works in Wickenburg; he is the one in charge from the town's end for the emplacement of Tesla's SpC here (digging starts in a few weeks). I suggested he consider Volta as an alternative to Blink if the town wishes also to enable charging for non-Teslas - which they are. If Volta people are reading this, they may wish to contact the town authorities here...

 

[DieAbetic]

Sweet! @Lump I live close to Granada Hills/CSUN area. You ever go to food truck night on Fridays? Let's meet up!

 

[Lump]

PM sent.

 

[ZBB]

I wish them well. As I wrote in the SW forum, last week we charged at a Volta in Scottsdale AZ. No ads yet were up on these new columns, so for the company's sake I hope they arrive quickly. 32A = about 17mph, which is pretty slow, but they are free.....

Earlier this morning I had an hour-long meeting with the Director of Public Works in Wickenburg; he is the one in charge from the town's end for the emplacement of Tesla's SpC here (digging starts in a few weeks). I suggested he consider Volta as an alternative to Blink if the town wishes also to enable charging for non-Teslas - which they are. If Volta people are reading this, they may wish to contact the town authorities here...

Audie-
I've now tried 2 of the 4 Volta units at Scottsdale Quarter (one in each garage). They were delivering 20 rMPH, not 17. 32 Amp at 204-205V.

Much better than Blinks -- most of which are still derated to 17A and give 12 rMPH...

Also looks like Volta has at least 3 other sites in the Phoenix area...

 

[Lump]

I was pretty impressed & even asked about investing in the company, by placing the charging station at the main entrance of malls with large ads gets lots of attention for EV's & in this case the only advertisement prior to entering the mall. The mall allows charging in exchange for people to spend an hour or two shopping & eating so don't expect more then 32Amps for free.

 

[AudubonB]

Well, 20mph is cool, ZBB. I just re-checked the iPhone shot I took of my dashboard, to refresh my memory, and see that with my batteries at 99 miles rated charge, the Volta was giving me 31A out of 32A, and at 197V, translating to 16mph. If you were getting a different mph, could it be because you were closer to empty???? There was not another vehicle charging at the adjacent site (north garage), to rule out that as a factor. I think we were charging at about noon.

 

[stevezzzz]

Since Buckeye isn't open yet, I needed a charge in Phoenix last weekend to give me enough range to make Flagstaff. In researching charging spots I saw the Volta chargers in Arrowhead Crossing (Peoria, south side of Bell Rd, near Ulta and Chase Bank) on PlugShare, but the last few comments said they weren't working. So I sent a message to Volta and got a nice note back from the president of the company saying they were working on re-energizing those chargers, and when did I need a charge? To make a long story short, I showed up there at 11:00pm last Sunday to find a crew working on the chargers: tools and cables and access panels lying everywhere. They waved me to one of the spots and plugged me in; 32A goodness and a night's sleep at a nearby motel, and I was on my way, back on the Supercharger trail.

Major kudos to the Volta folks; I do hope their business model is sound.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Well, 20mph is cool, ZBB. I just re-checked the iPhone shot I took of my dashboard, to refresh my memory, and see that with my batteries at 99 miles rated charge, the Volta was giving me 31A out of 32A, and at 197V, translating to 16mph. If you were getting a different mph, could it be because you were closer to empty???? There was not another vehicle charging at the adjacent site (north garage), to rule out that as a factor. I think we were charging at about noon.

@AudubonB, AC charging (as opposed to DC/Supercharging) should always give you the same charging rate and the current stays constant till you are almost full at which time it quickly tapers down (within a couple of minutes).

You may have been a victim of the voltage sag - 197V vs ZBB's 204-205V - and, at some point, the car firmware may have throttled back the amperage as well given the voltage sag/fluctuations. After 5.8.4, I've seen my car cut back from 30A to 22A at one of the charging stations at my work place where the voltage has been known to fluctuate from 208V all the way down to 192V.

Regarding Volta, I hope their business model works out. I see only 3 stations in the Bay Area thus far (and we have Chargepoints and Blinks everywhere) but, I'm sure that's going to improve.

 

[ZBB]

Well, 20mph is cool, ZBB. I just re-checked the iPhone shot I took of my dashboard, to refresh my memory, and see that with my batteries at 99 miles rated charge, the Volta was giving me 31A out of 32A, and at 197V, translating to 16mph. If you were getting a different mph, could it be because you were closer to empty???? There was not another vehicle charging at the adjacent site (north garage), to rule out that as a factor. I think we were charging at about noon.

Audie -
We were at Scottsdale Quarter Friday night and charged while we had dinner. Charged at 20 rMPH again. 32A and right about 200 Amps... This was in the North garage, the charger on the left as you go up the ramp...

- - - Updated - - -

Regarding Volta, I hope their business model works out. I see only 3 stations in the Bay Area thus far (and we have Chargepoints and Blinks everywhere) but, I'm sure that's going to improve.

GG -
I don't think Volta is doing a very good job updating their map... The map of the Phoenix area also only shows 3 locations. But the Scottsdale Quarter location Audie and I are talking about does not show up...

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I see. Thanks, ZBB.

 

[AudubonB]

We'll be back there some time this week and I'll try again. And that North ramp, left charger is the one I used, too! Will report my results. Maybe I'll have to trade cars with ZBB

 

[earcandy]

I've charged at the Quarter south garage, and got 32A/199V=19mph.

A couple other Volta's I've tried in the valley are Shea/Tatum by Einstein Bagels (32A/204V=20mph),
and Ahwatukee Foothills Towne Center... I-10/Ray Rd (31A/235V=21mph) [pic attached of this one]

There's also one at Arrowhead Crossing that I haven't tried yet, but has recently come online.

I hope the business model works out for these guys. Aside from the 'free' aspect, they seem to work better than Blinks units (and longer cords)

 

[jomo25]

Seems most of the activity in this thread is related to the PHX area stations. Just noticed its in the CA forum.

Anyways, is there a reliable site that has the Volta stations mapped? Voltas own site seems to be missing a few last I checked. Are they in Plugshare or Recargo?

 

[Lump]

I posted in the CA section because the owner told me there are 20 charging locations in Los Angeles & stations in the Bay area & wanted to bring attention to owners, he mentioned their app & web site needs serious updating.

 

[JPP]

Just had my first opportunity to charge at a Volta EV charging pedestal at a local strip mall in Walnut Creek. Works for me--nice to see further expansion of EVSE especially without the need for a ChargePoint, Sema or Blink card/account.

 

[freeewilly]

There are 2 new Volta chargers in Brea Market Place on Birch, although these chargers are not on Volta's own website map.
I hope their business become very successful and install more charging stations.

 

[PRSIST]

Just stumbled across this thread:

Ran into one of the Volta stations today outside the Ulta store, close to the 5-Guys around 7600 W Bell Road in Peoria, AZ. I don't have a Model 3 yet and I probably won't ever use this station, but I am excited to see somebody put in a FREE charging station. I hope that their business model succeeds because EV drivers can benefit.