Google Maps Now Shows EV Charger Availability

A ton of new fast chargers just came online around washington, very popular at the mall.

Hate to say it, but this ease of access everywhere will be the death of gas stations eventually. Why have to go to a specific point to fuel when you can charge your EV while you shop.

What if you don't, like, shop? I can't remember the last time I was in a mall {shudder].

36 minutes ago, balthazar said:

What if you don't, like, shop? I can't remember the last time I was in a mall {shudder].

Going to the mall to charge is not a very cost efficient way of charging.  Charge at home, run your errands, go home and plug back in.  On something like a Chevy Bolt, it is unlikely that your daily errands are going to take 250 miles to complete.  I think I calculated that I could commute to work every day for a week and plug in only on weekends in a Bolt.

I do have charging stations in the parking facility next to my office and the charging station in the picture above is about a mile from my office.  It's not always located in a shopping area.

2 hours ago, balthazar said:

What if you don't, like, shop? I can't remember the last time I was in a mall {shudder].

Lots of Good Eats at the Malls here, Red Robin, Cheese Cake Factory, Keg Steak House, Claim Jumpers, Anthonies Seafood, etc. 

Charge while you eat.

I also don't eat in mall-typical food joints. Red Robin (once), Cheese Cake factory (once) - no thanks. Panera is across the street from me (Tesla chargers); eaten in a Panera once, maybe twice. Not a draw for me. I prefer to eat on the run, and have it done in 10 minutes, which is measured from shutting the vehicle off to restarting it. I'm a shark; have to keep moving. The black helicopters, you know.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it curious and dubious that 'fueling' your car is now commonly intertwined in other consumerism/ eating/ peeing. Just seems a strange, semi-mandated pairing. 

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Going to the mall to charge is not a very cost efficient way of charging.  Charge at home, run your errands, go home and plug back in.  On something like a Chevy Bolt, it is unlikely that your daily errands are going to take 250 miles to complete.  I think I calculated that I could commute to work every day for a week and plug in only on weekends in a Bolt.

I do have charging stations in the parking facility next to my office and the charging station in the picture above is about a mile from my office.  It's not always located in a shopping area.

Charging at the Mall here is more efficient than at home due to one thing and one thing only. In Washington state, most chargers are free. These fast DC chargers are Free to charge. Look on the dark side and you will see, Free charging.

48 minutes ago, balthazar said:

I also don't eat in mall-typical food joints. Red Robin (once), Cheese Cake factory (once) - no thanks. Panera is across the street from me (Tesla chargers); eaten in a Panera once, maybe twice. Not a draw for me. I prefer to eat on the run, and have it done in 10 minutes, which is measured from shutting the vehicle off to restarting it. I'm a shark; have to keep moving. The black helicopters, you know.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it curious and dubious that 'fueling' your car is now commonly intertwined in other consumerism/ eating/ peeing. Just seems a strange, semi-mandated pairing. 

Again, with home charging, you can start every day with a full tank. You may never need to charge while out and about in daily life if you're home charging.  There's no need to stop at all with an EV. Charge while you're home surfing Cheersandgears.com.

8 hours ago, dfelt said:

Free charging.

Bernie supporter doesn't realize that "free" does not mean what he thinks it means.  The cost is shifted but it is still there.

8 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

There's no need to stop at all with an EV

Of course.  Never take a weekend road trip again... on a route of your choosing.  Simply... CONFORM.  Do not be spontaneous.  We must keep an EYE on you!  You are part of the herd!

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Bernie supporter doesn't realize that "free" does not mean what he thinks it means.  The cost is shifted but it is still there.

Of course.  Never take a weekend road trip again... on a route of your choosing.  Simply... CONFORM.  Do not be spontaneous.  We must keep an EYE on you!  You are part of the herd!

370 miles on the new Tesla model S and it even charges 50% faster now.

But I specifically said, "in daily life" in reference to @balthazar not wanting to stop at a shopping mall.

I do get that living with the charging life of a Tesla or Bolt-ranged EV is not that difficult. Well, for most; there still are very real scenarios where that doesn't and won't work at home (street parking, most lot parking). Those scenarios are going to kinda force eating Panera "Clean Soup" for a half hour every weekend.

It's the buy-in price for EVs that's the major hurdle.

Looking at my reality, an EV with a home charger would work great for me...since I work from home, i don't drive much Mon-Fri.  On the weekends I rarely take a road trip over 250 miles.    Though I'm probably not the ideal customer. 

My commute is almost 100 miles per day plus some occasional errands in the evening, and still most of EVs would work for me just fine.  And if we take a very long weekend or vacation trip we could always take my wife's car.   So in general EV will work for me even with my long commute, it is just I don't think it will be cost effective at the moment buying EV vehicle and installing charging station at my home.  

16 hours ago, dfelt said:

A ton of new fast chargers just came online around washington, very popular at the mall.

Hate to say it, but this ease of access everywhere will be the death of gas stations eventually. Why have to go to a specific point to fuel when you can charge your EV while you shop.

This looks great. It also looks like it is at a location within the parking garage that isn't taking up any parking spaces, wasted space. Good locations like this are key to all parties. 

Like @Drew Dowdell has pointed out, I don't drive enough to even need to charge daily. I'd say a good 90% of my driving is trips under 10 miles round trip. I wouldn't need to charge out and about. It would cost more and wouldn't be necessary. My only issue is decreased winter range and visiting family 5.5 hours away. 

55 minutes ago, balthazar said:

It's the buy-in price for EVs that's the major hurdle.

Yup. For the size of vehicle you're getting, they're priced way up there. Once they are comparably priced to their ICE siblings, things will change rapidly. 

2 hours ago, ccap41 said:

Like @Drew Dowdell has pointed out, I don't drive enough to even need to charge daily. I'd say a good 90% of my driving is trips under 10 miles round trip. I wouldn't need to charge out and about. It would cost more and wouldn't be necessary. My only issue is decreased winter range and visiting family 5.5 hours away. 

Yup. For the size of vehicle you're getting, they're priced way up there. Once they are comparably priced to their ICE siblings, things will change rapidly. 

Eventually Electrify America and other will probably put a fast charger station in where you can top up another 150 miles in 15 minutes.  The next generation of EVs would probably get you there no issue.  Or a Model S as of yesterday's announcement. 

34 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Eventually Electrify America and other will probably put a fast charger station in where you can top up another 150 miles in 15 minutes.  The next generation of EVs would probably get you there no issue.  Or a Model S as of yesterday's announcement. 

That would be perfect and then when I get there I'd have to figure out a charging situation as well, which would likely be awkward. I just looked and it's 340 miles, my trip to visit my sister and brother. 

Also, isn't Electrify America the company formed by VW that is required to build charging stations from their emissions fck up? 

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

That would be perfect and then when I get there I'd have to figure out a charging situation as well, which would likely be awkward. I just looked and it's 340 miles, my trip to visit my sister and brother. 

Also, isn't Electrify America the company formed by VW that is required to build charging stations from their emissions fck up? 

Yup, that's exactly who they are.

8 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Bernie supporter doesn't realize that "free" does not mean what he thinks it means.  The cost is shifted but it is still there.

Of course.  Never take a weekend road trip again... on a route of your choosing.  Simply... CONFORM.  Do not be spontaneous.  We must keep an EYE on you!  You are part of the herd!

Hate Bernie, old guy needs to retire and stop his socialist craziness.

Yes free is never free, but a cost some place else. Probably higher rent to the tenants at the mall, ending up higher prices to the consumer. Yet, people see free and in their short sightedness, the free charger especially if they live in an apartment is a good thing. Plus they are at the mall and might buy something.

Winner Winner Winier dinner!  

5 hours ago, ccap41 said:

This looks great. It also looks like it is at a location within the parking garage that isn't taking up any parking spaces, wasted space. Good locations like this are key to all parties. 

Yup, at least here in Washington, I noticed all the parking spots next to weird space in garages that a parking spot could not be put in have been used to install chargers improving  the over all use of space.

23 hours ago, balthazar said:

I also don't eat in mall-typical food joints. Red Robin (once), Cheese Cake factory (once) - no thanks. Panera is across the street from me (Tesla chargers); eaten in a Panera once, maybe twice. Not a draw for me. I prefer to eat on the run, and have it done in 10 minutes, which is measured from shutting the vehicle off to restarting it. I'm a shark; have to keep moving. The black helicopters, you know.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it curious and dubious that 'fueling' your car is now commonly intertwined in other consumerism/ eating/ peeing. Just seems a strange, semi-mandated pairing. 

Most people drive precisely because of “consermerism” whether they realize it or not. 

Personally, I drive to provide consumerism (sole proprietor business).

On 4/24/2019 at 10:05 PM, dfelt said:

Charging at the Mall here is more efficient than at home due to one thing and one thing only. In Washington state, most chargers are free. These fast DC chargers are Free to charge. Look on the dark side and you will see, Free charging.

While I still like to fill up, free chargers could be the push I need to get a Bolt.  250 miles would get me about a week’s charge as well. Even with a bit a shopping, it makes it a nice deal. 

Plus, I can still hear the roar of an engine with the cost savings on the charging....

Apparently Rivian wants to put chargers in "active lifestyle" locations.... so parking for trail heads, ski resorts, stuff like that.   Places where you go and stay a while anyway so you don't mind if your vehicle is nursing on the grid while you head down a black diamond. 

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Apparently Rivian wants to put chargers in "active lifestyle" locations.... so parking for trail heads, ski resorts, stuff like that.   Places where you go and stay a while anyway so you don't mind if your vehicle is nursing on the grid while you head down a black diamond. 

So home charging, office garage charging and mall charging makes more sense for those of us that prefer an 'inactive lifestyle'

3 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

So home charging, office garage charging and mall charging makes more sense for those of us that prefer an 'inactive lifestyle'

Recliner charging?

On 4/30/2019 at 1:50 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

Recliner charging?

Looks like a hockey puck, but we gave away Dell Technology Branded Wireless high speed chargers this year st DTW 2019.