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Phximiev

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
1,293
Location
Phoenix
One of the things that I like about this electric car movement is the more than occasional free charge. Tonight, I went to the Valeo apartments in Phoenix (see plugshare) which sports 5 free chargepoint chargers with a coffee bar next door, and treated the 'Miev to 5 free 'beers" while I did a workout at LA Fitness.

Can't beat it. Can't remember that I ever received a free drop of gasoline.

:D
 
It's certainly fun for now, but it's hard to imagine that it will be the pattern long-term, as EVs become more widespread. I dunno, maybe the incentives will continue to work out.
 
I think as the EV's come more and more main stream the chargers will become more $$.
Not a ton, but enough to make you pay something.
Then again, I think MOST EV'ers charge at home now anyway. They have to be smart enough that they KNOW they can't just stop and get a charge anywhere.
So EV is not for everyone.. like my son who will ONLY put in $20 of gas into the Yukon XL :roll: BUT an EV would be great for him as he can't remember to put OIL in when the light comes on.

As apartments start to put them in I hope that they are smart enough to have a restricted meter and the tenant will have to add $ to their rent.

I get to plug in at work... NOT because they allow it ( the higher-ups don't even know) but because I was able to CON the 24 y/o new boss of the parking garage. Plus there is only myself and one Dr that plug in and he works nights ;)

There is a free charge near my favorite Pizza place in Lexington MA. Nice to have it there and there are a ton of shops, restaurants and local touristy shopping around it. Nice for that time you want to sit and eat. BUT there are parking meters that are 25 cents for 15 min- or something like that.
 
I have a different take on 'free charging', as I actually welcome some nominal payment for charging. We had 'free' for a few years, and the stations seemed to always be taken by PHEVs (Volt, PIP, etc.). Now that most charging stations cost money (not much for L2, exorbitant for DCQC) I find them more accessible. That, plus the culture has changed as people realize that charging at home covers most of their needs and the new-owners' feeling that they need to keep the car 'full' dissipates. I have little red notes I put under windshield wipers when I see a fully-charged EV taking a charging spot or else an EV not even plugged in!

Incidentally, we also have an associated thread on Complimentary Charging:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1300
 
By de-selecting the payment option on plugshare, one can see the free stations. There are still quite a few in the Phoenix area and I imagine elsewhere.

The Nissan dealers here have always been both free and cooperative to my knowledge and certainly were yesterday when we went to a dealer for a free DCQC. All of their free Level 2 stations were occupied by Leafs and their owners were having a small but enthusiastic congregation in the service waiting area.

The other "free" charging stations, such a Valeo, have coffee shops, where I have occasionally bought something to eat to kill the time. Others are in shopping centers and bundling a free charge simply attracts customers who may not otherwise come to shop. For instance, the Blinks at Bookmans in Phoenix are free. Its all the more reason to go there for a charge, as we shop in that center frequently, including Bookmans.

Whilst it may not always be that way, I certainly do appreciate it now. And like I said above, I have never received a free drop a gas.
 
In the early days, I used to plug in just let let a new owner 'see' some traffic on their charging station (even though they may be run by ChargePoint, the stations are owned locally). With the proliferation of EVs, no need to do that any more. Also, when patronizing them, I make a point of telling the owners of nearby establishments how much I appreciate their nearby charging station. Probably the only use I have for the local in-town (not free) charging stations is the rare sip after a long trip before my five-mile climb home - I simply like to avoid taking my i-MiEV down below two bars. As far as free stations, if I recall, Volta's charging model is to let advertising pay for the station, and they have a few in our area http://voltacharging.com/map.
 
Free Volta Charging at Whole Foods:

fapeNFC.jpg


Between the free charging and the free samples, Whole Foods is hard to beat for short visits, in this case a cooked chicken!

During moderately warm days (like today only 95 degrees) and short stops, we use the Auto Expressions shade to protect against the sun rather than the Budge, see the Sun Shade topic also: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=413&p=28040#p28040 Between that and the Dashmat, the 'cooling' result is reasonable, see: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3146&p=27967#p27967

The front plate we obtained from the i-Miev Forum member, rgalvinmi: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3122&p=27772&hilit=front+license#p27772

As far as Chargepoint, the Valeo stations mentioned above are no longer free. :cry:

But Volta seems to have several new stations at Whole Foods locations. :D
 
The only public charging station within 50 miles of my house is at the Biloxi bus terminal - One L2 cord and it's free. I've never seen a car parked there charging. I've used it once - It's about 2 blocks from the baseball park and I got a free charge while watching the game

Don
 
Good reason to go enjoy a game.... but why so few in the Biloxi area? Good beach, it looks like, as well as highways galore, it should have a bunch of chargers.
 
Don said:
The only public charging station within 50 miles of my house is at the Biloxi bus terminal - One L2 cord and it's free. I've never seen a car parked there charging.
It doesn't seem to be on Plugshare. Maybe you should add it? :)

It looks to me like there are a couple of other stations listed within 50 miles of Biloxi, but only just.
 
I get free CHAdeMO charging about 1 mile from my house on the outskirts of London on the nearest highway services to me going north - thats a great bonus, and my weekend often involves visiting that point after doing some shopping on the way home. Im normally at about 15 miles at that point, so the fast DC to 80% takes 17 minutes.

Activated by an RFID card, which was also free! Cant say fairer than that.

Then I top up at home using my level 2 home AC charger in about 2.5 hours. That was also 75% rebated by a government scheme at the moment, so that installation cost me £300, rather than about £900. I also have a meter that tells me the KWh consumption, which also has a SIM card in that transmits the data to the government to gauge average usage and typical weekly electricity demand.

I have a further 2 RFID cards:

- one for the London-wide AC network, which is also free to use, and comprises of 13Ah 240v domestic plug posts, and faster level 2 AC at the same rate as my home charger (the card costs a huge £5 per year).

-the other card I have is for the rest of the UK, which normally charges, but i almost never use this, and was the most expensive card at £20 a year.

So the network for me is essentially free at the moment, and cards divided as follows: London non-highway, UK-wide highway, and rest of UK non-highway.

The beauty of these cards is that there are several providers now, all using different cards, but many of the points take multiple cards, just charging you for the electricity used at the point of use - i.e. the infrastructure is not particular to the RFID card provider.

In the last 4 weeks, i've only used 20 KWh of electricity at home, rest was all opportunistic free charging on various journeys.
 
phb10186 said:
The beauty of these cards is that there are several providers now, all using different cards, but many of the points take multiple cards, just charging you for the electricity used at the point of use - i.e. the infrastructure is not particular to the RFID card provider.
That's how it should be! I wonder how inter-operable the half dozen networks in the U.S. are. I guess I can try my ChargePoint card at an NRG station and see if it works.

In the last 4 weeks, i've only used 20 KWh of electricity at home, rest was all opportunistic free charging on various journeys.
Can't beat that.
 
Phximiev said:
Good reason to go enjoy a game.... but why so few in the Biloxi area? Good beach, it looks like, as well as highways galore, it should have a bunch of chargers.
Well, as I mentioned, you never see anybody using it - Why? because there might be only 4 or 5 EV's anywhere near here . . . . and I own two of them

Don
 
it's really hard to say no to free DCQC, especially during cool weather. I am so looking forward to when the highways connecting San Jose and Los Angeles are lined with these chargers.
 
I agree, I did the AutoNation Nissan dealer in Tempe, again. It was dandy! Put 'em everywhere. :idea:

Note our 'Miev :arrow: http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/1621
 
Don said:
Phximiev said:
Good reason to go enjoy a game.... but why so few in the Biloxi area? Good beach, it looks like, as well as highways galore, it should have a bunch of chargers.
Well, as I mentioned, you never see anybody using it - Why? because there might be only 4 or 5 EV's anywhere near here . . . . and I own two of them
Don

Plus it'll be a long term self-reinforcing problem on the gulf coast with the slow cultural penetration and corrosive hot salty air, plus if that doesn't get 'em, hurricanes will mandate EVSE replacement within 10 years or so. In the temperate and polite Pacific NW, EVSE installations look like they'll last till they're outmoded (if a reliable machine). There are EVen a bunch of empty phone booths still hanging around locally without the metal being stolen! Some have made efforts to convert those old payphone sites into EV charging stations, but the pedestals with pre-run conduit tend to be at convenience stores and gas stations that need DCFC, not L2.
 
Free EV charging in California is disappearing, being replaced by nominal fees which keep freeloaders (especially PHEVs and Teslas :roll: ) from hogging the stations. Sadly, the fee structure for nrgEVgo DCQC makes it usable only if one is desperate.

I'm impressed that the rest of the country seems to have lots of free charging - I especially appreciated the L2 in Charleston SC while we touristed.

On a more disconcerting note, I had two different Southern right-leaning friends grumble about the government's subsidizing my Tesla's free charging - not realizing that the SuperCharger network is funded by Tesla, and that Tesla has paid back their government loan years ago!
 
Free EVGo charging during the Electric Drive Week: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1106011_free-charging-for-electric-car-owners-at-evgo-network-for-national-drive-electric-week?utm_content=buffer1d8ad&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
 
:x Knew I should've gotten an EVGo card. Oh well, I don't really use their units anyway.

Charge on, my friends!
 
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