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VW Fallout: $2.0 Billion for ZEV Infrastructure Buildout

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msphor,
The article you linked to is about the VW buyback. The primary focus of this thread is about the $2 billion VW will be spending through its newly created Electrify America entity. They are supposed to produce quarterly reports on their progress. Lots of good information in this thread about the California build out of EV infrastructure by them if you might be interested in following the progress or lack thereof.

RT
Sorry that my post was somewhat off topic. I don't like to start new threads and this seemed the best place to put this news on VW diesel remedies.
 
I sent Electrify America an e-mail asking about the timing on their next quarterly release, here is the (non-)response:

From: RubberToe
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 11:13 AM
To: Electrify America Information <[email protected]>
Subject: 4th quarter 2017 quarterly report

Hello,
I see that you have not yet released the 4th quarter 2017 report yet. Any idea when that will be published on the website?

EA:
Hi RubberToe – we will post our next report as soon as it’s available. Thanks for your interest!

RT

P.S. Not feeling very pedantic today, so I didn't follow up with the obvious "so when will it become available"...
 
I sent Electrify America an e-mail asking about the timing on their next quarterly release, here is the (non-)response:

From: RubberToe
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 11:13 AM
To: Electrify America Information <[email protected]>
Subject: 4th quarter 2017 quarterly report

Hello,
I see that you have not yet released the 4th quarter 2017 report yet. Any idea when that will be published on the website?

EA:
Hi RubberToe – we will post our next report as soon as it’s available. Thanks for your interest!

RT

P.S. Not feeling very pedantic today, so I didn't follow up with the obvious "so when will it become available"...
Obviously they're too busy installing charge stations to spend time on mundane reports.
 
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The other funny thing is that they updated their website, and added downloads showing that they have selected 4 different suppliers for their DCFC equipment. Unclear to me why they did that. Seems like it could turn into a nightmare when it comes to servicing them. It's not like they are building 50,000 of them and need to have 4 suppliers to provide that large of a quantity. The roll out of these is going to be so slow that a single supplier could easily build as many as they need over time.

And yea, interesting that they are favoring CCS over CHAdeMO. That could turn out to be a bit controversial and lead to all kinds of interesting delays/litigation going forward.

Just another reason why Tesla built their own proprietary network. Elon must have woken up from a vivid nightmare of just this happening while trying to figure out how to proceed back in 2010 and signed off on the Tesla Supercharger network. Either that or he consulted a Psychic who could have also predicted this...

RT
 
Meanwhile, I imagine this may come up as a topic of discussion:

Electrify America supporting only 50 kW CHAdeMO

It seems to be more than just the power limit. It sounds like each station will have a single unit with one CHAdeMO connector and one CCS connector, but could have multiple other dual CCS connector units. So you might have a site with 1 CHAdeMO and 3 CCS ports.

At least that is how I read it:
All charging stations will offer a CHAdeMO (50kW) connector, plus additional dual-handle chargers with CCS (50 to 150kW or350 kW) connectors, ensuring that all fast charging capable cars will be able to use the Electrify America stations. Metropolitan charging stations will have three to six chargers with CCS connectors, while highway stations will offer four to ten.
 
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The other funny thing is that they updated their website, and added downloads showing that they have selected 4 different suppliers for their DCFC equipment. Unclear to me why they did that. Seems like it could turn into a nightmare when it comes to servicing them. It's not like they are building 50,000 of them and need to have 4 suppliers to provide that large of a quantity. The roll out of these is going to be so slow that a single supplier could easily build as many as they need over time.

Maybe they don't want to put all of their eggs in one basket? If they selected one and they turned out to all be crap that could be a nightmare. As far as maintenance, maybe the manufacturer will be responsible for the maintenance of the units that they produce? I wonder if they will use a single style per region, or if they will just be randomly distributed.
 
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Update: the 50 kW CHAdeMO power limit is temporary. I checked with Electrify America and got a response from them.

The chargers actually are certified for 100 kW CHAdeMO but they want to de-rate CHAdeMO to 50 kW via software initially until they are confident about no compatibility problems. Seems a bit odd to me but that’s their story.

I have updated the article.

Electrify America initially supporting only 50 kW CHAdeMO
 
It will be a bit of funny irony (and not too surprising) if the first car to take advantage of 100 kW ChaDemo is Tesla
Personally, I'm hoping that QCP can bump up the allowable amps on the JdeMO for the RAV4 EV and Roadster to take advantage of these higher power chargers. In the RAV4 EV, they probably need to figure out how to tell the Thermal Control ECU to cool the battery more aggressively though.
 
It will be a bit of funny irony (and not too surprising) if the first car to take advantage of 100 kW ChaDemo is Tesla
Tesla participated 100kW CHAdeMO charging test with other OEMs in Japan and demonstrated with an engneerengi version of CHAdeMO adapter, and successfully charged at 100kW. Tesla was the only cat that was capable of charging at 100kW.
 
You may be right.... the newly announced charger installations have apparently begun. :)

Electrify America construction underway

Very good find!

Looking forward to seeing one of these up and running and charging cars in a few months...

RT

P.S. So maybe scouring Plugshare is the preferred method of finding these? There was no announcement on the Electrify America website about this. They are sending out their annual report in 7 days, so maybe they will declare victory then by stating they have a single DCFC in operation.
 
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