An unusual charger layout at Miami Aquatic Centre
We charged up at Miami Aquatic Centre. The charger is between the parking spots, in a layout I haven’t seen before. I guess it’s more flexible to plug into front or rear car chargers without turning the car around.
The display seemed to indicate 75kW, but I only got 37kW out of it, even though I was the only one connected.
I checked in on PlugShare, so I could be alerted if anyone was waiting, while I charged up to 100%. If anyone else was waiting, I would disconnect after 95%, when the charge rate slows.
However, there was a guy waiting in an MG. He hadn’t checked in using PlugShare and the Chargefox app doesn’t facilitate waiting, so I didn’t know he was waiting. I happened to look sideways at one point to see him parked in the other EV bay, which he’s not supposed to do, since it blocks others who might want to use the Chademo connector. But if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have noticed.
He is an Uber driver and this was his second time charging that day. He said he is waiting on a wall charger or cable for home, since MG is currently out of stock in Australia. He’s annoyed that all of the solar power from his roof can’t currently be used in his car.
I unplugged and moved, so he could connect to CCS2. At the same time, another EV arrived to connect to the Chademo plug. They were debating whether the charging rate would be shared between them, but I didn’t stay long enough to find out . It seems I got there at just the right time.
My conclusion in all of this is that we need a better queuing mechanism.
We spent thirty minutes charging, using the time in the car to catch up on emails, blog etc. But we would have preferred to charge when we were shopping earlier at the nearby Robina Town Centre. We were there to grab a few clothes and a feed in the food court. It would have been perfect to just plug into a destination charger, while there anyway for a couple of hours. I am surprised and disappointed that a shopping centre that big doesn’t include EV chargers. I found web news articles that talked about government initiatives to install some there, back in 2020! What happened Mark Bailey MP and Annastacia Palaszczuk MP?
If EVs sell more cars the forementioned will only worsen for you.
Typically, at home, I never had to worry about charging. It took just 10 seconds to plug the car in when I got home and another 10 seconds to unplug when I left. I always had a full “tank” (from solar) and never to had to visit a charging station or petrol station.
Our previous ICE vehicles would take about 5 to 10 minutes to refuel and pay etc at a petrol station, every few days.
But we didn’t choose an EV to get the minimum seconds for refuelling. We bought an EV because I’m sick of burning fossil fuels and I want to not keep making the world worse for my kids. My usage is a drop in the ocean, but I am responsible for that drop. If I can encourage some others to consider EVs along the way, or the powers that be to improve the infrastructure, then that affects more drops 😉.
After looking into buying an EV, there were other benefits that I didn’t expect, including:
1. No routine servicing. I was worried that my local mechanic wouldn’t be able to service my Tesla. But it turns out, to my surprise, that there’s no regular servicing required. There’s no oil charge, because there’s no engine oil. There’s no fan belt, carburettor, gear box, muffler, pistons… well, you get the idea. There’s a battery and an electric motor.
2. No fumes. Nothing burns. It doesn’t fill the garage and porch with smell and toxins when I arrive or leave.
3. It’s so quiet. Just, like, wow.
4. It’s so fast (acceleration). Did I mention wow?
5. I can leave the air con running without leaving an engine on.
6. There’s no heat, since nothing is burning under the hood.
7. The overall cost of ownership is reduced.
8. I am not supporting or dependant upon foreign oil and regimes.
I can only suggest that you take an EV (or a few) for a test drive. I’d be more than happy to take you for a spin, if I’m passing through where you live.
On a road trip at a charging station, however, you are right. It takes longer to “refuel” than in an ICE car. I have made a point in this blog of highlighting the places where there is a shortfall in this process. For the most part, it’s pretty straightforward, but those posts would be somewhat boring. For example, when I posted about plugging in overnight at a caravan park, someone commented to the effect of “Man plugs in EV into a powerpoint. Big deal!”. And that’s kind of true (though a bit harsh 😉). The regular and best usage of an EV is to just plug it in routinely when you park, either at home, work, overnight accommodation (2kW to 22kW) or “destination charging” (such as a restaurant or attraction, 7kW to 22kW). The next best is at a super charger (150kW to 350kW). The Tesla chargers are a breeze. You just plug in, go to the toilet or get a snack, and it’s generally ready to go. No credit card, app, queuing or drama. And next is a fast charger (50kW to 350kW). You just need to tap a card or a button in an app, but the wait can be 30 to 60 minutes, so you want to have lunch or a walk or catch up on correspondence while doing it. We need more than one of these chargers at each site and for them to be reliably maintained.
I’ll aim to post more of the routine charging experiences, no matter how boring, to try to balance it out. But I will still highlight the sub par experiences, such as those in FNQ, so hopefully Mark Bailey MP, RACQ, Trititium, Yurika and Chargefox can raise their game to make it a simple reliable process, like it is elsewhere. I also hope that destinations, such as overnight accommodation, get more on board, so that EV owners can just plug in wherever they park, and never have to think about charging stations.
For example, one of my points in this particular post was that if Robina Town Centre had some chargers on site, then we could have just charged while parked there.
Battery storage and EV’s aren’t really compatible yet unless you have at least 3 Powerwalls ($40k+ worth) which doesn’t make sense. My return trip to work each day is 180km+-