Will not take more than 150kW. Is something wrong with the battery?

[Hirschaj]

I maxed out at 267kW at EA in Denton TX yesterday. Battery preheated itself to 114F. The charge rate stayed in the 260s until 45%.

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[Jonathan S.]

So after all that I just stopped to charge at a EA 350kw charger in Lee, MA - the battery was pre heated to 116.F thanks to the planner and right of the bat I got 264kw sustained from 20% to about 35%. [...]

Wow!
I'm tempted to come up with some reason to drive there (maybe our teenage daughter wants to go to the outlet stores yet again...) just to experience that kind of rate -- given that the site is brand new, I probably don't have too many months left before it falls into the typical EA cycle out here of degenerating until all the chargers (six instead of four for a change!) are either broken or derated, then a repair makes them okay for a while, until they all degenerate again, and ...

 

[Tooney]

Wow!
I'm tempted to come up with some reason to drive there (maybe our teenage daughter wants to go to the outlet stores yet again...) just to experience that kind of rate -- given that the site is brand new, I probably don't have too many months left before it falls into the typical EA cycle out here of degenerating until all the chargers (six instead of four for a change!) are either broken or derated, then a repair makes them okay for a while, until they all degenerate again, and ...

@Jonathan S.
See these replies about charging?
Porsche/VW executives have no problems roadtripping their Taycans in continental Europe.
What is your problem?

 

[Jonathan S.]

@Jonathan S.
See these replies about charging?
Porsche/VW executives have no problems roadtripping their Taycans in continental Europe.
What is your problem?

Picture below is exactly where I was when I read your post.
Fortunately the 50kW charger wasn’t a problem since I wanted just enough charge so that I could L1 charge in my ski house garage during this trip and not have to DCFC on the eventual trip home.
Plus this Chevrolet dealer (Littleton NH) is within walking distance of an excellent Shaw’s supermarket where I was buying over $250 of groceries to stock my fridge/freezer.

Rate was an amusing $0.91/kW but didn’t have to wait, charger started right away, and was delivering its rated 50kW.
(I had a backup plan at another adjacent car dealer with a single 50kW, and then a nearby food coop with a L2. West Lebanon NH EA has two broken chargers with waits of up to half an hour for the two working chargers, which require up to four tries to actually work. Bradford VT has an ancient 50kW at a decent supermarket plus two nearby 50kW that are brand new and built using state funding allocated in 2019 and 2020.)

 

[Tooney]

@Jonathan S. New England to become the second coal-free region in the US
Does this adversely affect public charging in NE?
What replaces the lost generation capacity?

 

[Jonathan S.]

@Jonathan S. New England to become the second coal-free region in the US
Does this adversely affect public charging in NE?
What replaces the lost generation capacity?

[Whew, big relief, was worrying that your mention of me was yet another taunt about a European or West Coast charging station that actually works!]

Short answer is that coal generation currently accounts for only 0.18% in New England:
https://www.iso-ne.com/about/key-stats/resource-mix/
That's right, 0.18%, not 18% or even 1.8%.

Longer answer is that I testified against one of the plants on behalf of plaIntiffs Sierra Club and Conservation Law Foundation in federal district court.
(Specifically, Concord NH, which in addition to being an easy daytrip from Western Mass, with dinner at my nearby in-law's afterwards, the federal courthouse is so laid back that instead of having a parking lot, you can just park for free in a residential neighborhood a couple blocks away -- definitely a more relaxed job for the federal marshals guarding the place as opposed to the typical urban setting for U.S. District Court!)

Not the usual Clean Air Act case in which I testify, like this one:
https://elpc.org/blog/shutting-down-the-edwards-coal-plant/
... since the Merrimack plant only rarely runs:
https://www.atholdailynews.com/merrimack-station-bow-nh-28840181
... but rather Clean Water Act, since when the system operator instructs it to run (a condition of the many millions of capacity payments it receives it year) such operations are often on hot days (obviously) and the discharges create a thermal plume that kills aquatic life (not so obviously, and hence the trial).

My analysis as an economist was the financial gain from operating during those periods when complying with the Clean Water Act (according to plaintiffs) would have been feasible only by not following the instructions of the system operator (which raised the issue of how often a plant can get away with saying, "sorry, not today, too hot!" without jeopardizing its millions of dollars in capacity payments and perhaps even triggering an investigation by the FERC).

The answer -- after collecting data from many different sources for many different elements of my calculations, leading to a spreadsheet with, let's see here, sixteen tabs, although could have been many times that if I weren't so into condensing the presentation -- was ...
... not much!

Which wasn't all that surprising since the entire strategy of the private equity owners has been to collect the capacity payments and hope that the plant is hardly ever instructed to operate.

So, a victory for those waging the so-called War on Coal, though rather small in impact.

(Also, clarification for any paralegal or associate at some point in the future sifting through my social media posts in an attempt to find something to try to use against me in a future deposition: I am a consultant providing my expert opinion on financial economic factors in such litigation, not an advocate, and I have no position on the general net merits of coal as one of many possible resources for generation mix, although one of my favorite courses while in graduate school at Harvard was over at MIT -- oddly enough in the nuclear engineering department! -- on energy analysis, spending much of our time assessing the pros and cons of different sources of generation capacity, which I often think back to when EV advocates act like electricity comes from magic fairy dust.)

 

[daveo4EV]

which I often think back to when EV advocates act like electricity comes from magic fairy dust.)

this is ridiculous on the face of it…

every one know electricity comes from rainbow powered unicorn tears turned in hydro power

magic fairy dust - that’s just stupid

 

[Jonathan S.]

this is ridiculous on the face of it…

every one know electricity comes from rainbow powered unicorn tears turned in hydro power

magic fairy dust - that’s just stupid

And the unicorns are free-range plus organically fed!
Or are those the specs for the eggs that my wife has me buy at Whole Foods?
(Maybe one of those days I'll got to the ordinary supermarket near us and buy myself some normal plain-old eggs just for nostalgia...)

Meanwhile, in the CCS1 Good News Department, new Magic Dock station in Boston metro area:
https://www.plugshare.com/location/584300
... conveniently located for visiting my aunt at whichever hospital or nursing home I might be visiting her next (or perhaps even at her house for a change of scenery).

Let's assess some of the competition along the way:


https://www.plugshare.com/location/366930

Typical ChargePoint two-charger configuration, can get into the 80s if the other one isn't in use, but after meeting a forum member there once, every other time I've visited the situation has been hopeless with ride share Bolts ahead of me.
Sightly offset by easy access to return to the highway.
But exacerbated by the insult of the adjacent eight Tesla (and Tesla-only) chargers.


https://www.plugshare.com/location/262763

The Burlington Mall Lego store Pick a Brick wall has a display for the bin contents *AND* add'l pieces available in back upon request, along with staff that appreciate hobbyists so much that the most lax definition of "fit" is applied to your overflowing box especially with the trees your daughter wants.
(Text response to my picture of the tree type: YESSS / RIGHT NOW / I BEG U / BEST ONES OMGGGG)

Wait, what, you want to charge your EV?
Yes, a dozen chargers at speeds up to 250kW!
Oh, you don't have a Tesla, Ford, or Rivian ... in that case:

EA with only three CCS1 chargers (yes, three, not the usual four!) plus one J1772, but only three parking spaces for those four chargers, so sometimes one of three CCS1 chargers is blocked by a driver at the J1772.

Nearby EVgo has two 50kW chargers.


https://www.plugshare.com/location/358915

I arrived second in line yet still waited half-an-hour to charge (at speeds in the double-digits of course), given that half of the four chargers were ride share Bolts.


https://www.plugshare.com/location/372529

EV Connect conveniently located at a supermarket yet hasn't worked since June.


https://www.plugshare.com/location/186838

EA with only three chargers, and don't bother if you're southbound, since the extra driving time to get onto Route 1 north and then back south again took about half-an-hour with traffic.

 

[d00d]

Meanwhile, in the CCS1 Good News Department, new Magic Dock station in Boston metro area:
https://www.plugshare.com/location/584300
... conveniently located for visiting my aunt at whichever hospital or nursing home I might be visiting her next (or perhaps even at her house for a change of scenery).

New and only, been waiting for a Magic Dock station to appear on my commute, thanks for pointing this out.
It's even half way, unlike the EA that's closer to one end.
From I-95 S looks like I have to go 1 S and make a U turn at Walnut Street, or the other way take the Walnut Street exit from I-95 N.

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