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  • Drew Dowdell
    Drew Dowdell

    By Drew Dowdell •

    GM Teaming with Bechtel To Deploy Widespread Fast-Charging Station Network

      ...two forming a new company for EV charging station infrastructure...

    General Motors and Bechtel are teaming up to form a new company to deploy a widespread fast-charging network. Neither company plans to put any money into the project, outside investors are being solicited.  The network will help General Motors, which plans to introduce 20 new EVs by 2023.  It will also help other manufacturers of EVs. 

    General Motors will provide data to help decide where to locate the EV charging stations and Bechtel will use its own experts for the engineering and building of the stations. Much of the data will come from GM's OnStar system to help learn where people tend to park.  Data from both electric and gasoline powered vehicles will be used.

    Additional fast-charging infrastructure is seen as a requirement to increasing electric vehicle sales. According to a survey by AAA, one of the biggest concerns Americans have about EVs is having enough locations to charge them.  

    The network built by Bechtel and GM will not be limited to interstate highways where most fast charging stations have been located so far.  The company will also locate chargers in urban areas targeting apartments and condos where drivers cannot have a home charger of their own. 

    The new venture joins major initiatives from Electrify America, a Volkswagen funded EV station program, and Tesla with Supercharging, to build out a nationwide network of charging stations. 

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    surreal1272
    6 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

    In '97, I drove from Ann Arbor, MI to Colorado Springs, CO after I left grad school and heading out to my first corporate job in a new city and state.   I drove in my '87 Mustang GT stuffed full of clothes, computers, misc stuff.  Did stay in the Chicago suburbs a couple days visiting friends then spent one night outside Omaha.

    The Denver to Phoenix and back trips were all in my '00 Grand Cherokee,  and the 2017 Phoenix to Cleveland drive was in my '14 Grand Cherokee, had only had it a couple months and it only had 25k miles at the time.  It is great on long drives..smooth and comfortable.   But tight inside w/ two people, luggage and dog crates.  Good thing the 6 dogs all weigh between 6lbs and 15lbs. 

    My ONE cat weighed as much as those two dogs lol. The things we do for our animals. 

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    Drew Dowdell
    15 hours ago, balthazar said:

    Observation : if most EV owner's simply charge at home overnight, Teslas give a minimum of -what- 250 miles range AND the average driver drives only 30 miles per day, what are all the Teslas I see at Superchargers at 10AM or 3PM?? They can't all be interstate travelers; are 250-300 miles range Tesla owners still feeling range anxiety??

    Supercharging is free.  There is a subset of Tesla drivers who believe that they should never have to pay to fill up their vehicles and for that reason, they only charge at Superchargers.  This has become an issue in some California cities where people will park their Tesla at a supercharger station all day.  Tesla was taking measures against certain high use owners for hogging the superchargers.

    My friends who have a Volt said their electric bill went up by $30 a month and they rarely ever use the gas engine... they go 3 months without filling up the gas.  But these Tesla owners are being cheapwads and won't charge at home. 

    Supercharging was always intended to be a system to fight range anxiety, not a primary fuel source.  Of course, people start abusing the system. 

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    oldshurst442
    3 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

    Supercharging is free.  There is a subset of Tesla drivers who believe that they should never have to pay to fill up their vehicles and for that reason, they only charge at Superchargers.  This has become an issue in some California cities where people will park their Tesla at a supercharger station all day.  Tesla was taking measures against certain high use owners for hogging the superchargers.

    My friends who have a Volt said their electric bill went up by $30 a month and they rarely ever use the gas engine... they go 3 months without filling up the gas.  But these Tesla owners are being cheapwads and won't charge at home. 

    Supercharging was always intended to be a system to fight range anxiety, not a primary fuel source.  Of course, people start abusing the system. 

    I could see that happening... I just wished Id seen it sooner and for myself as I serve many of these types of cheapwads in my restaurant. 

    Not necessarily cheapwad Tesla owners, but just cheapwad human disgraces in general.  

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    balthazar

    balthazar 15,107

    Posted (edited)

    1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

    Supercharging is free.  There is a subset of Tesla drivers who believe that they should never have to pay to fill up their vehicles…
    ...Tesla owners are being cheapwads and won't charge at home. 
    ...Of course, people start abusing the system. 

    Ah- that explanation makes sense. Doesn't work any other way- if they charged overnight, they wouldn't even be down 10% by 9:30 in the morning. I just read Tesla was going to limit Supercharging to a max of 80% to hurry people along. Tesla needs to charge everyone to use them, at least something.

    One time I filled my tank when it was about a 3rd full, because I was heading for an interstate with no rest stops & I have a diesel. Other than that, I fill it to the brim, and run it to 'E' every time. I just last year learned Chevy gives the DuraMax a FIFTEEN GALLON buffer, so when it reads 'E' it's got like 15 gals in it. I've driven 2 days locally on the 'low fuel light' a few times.

    Edited by balthazar
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    oldshurst442
    3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

    Something else funny:  olds posted his diesel powered party boat to put me in my place.  Nice boat!

    That wasnt to put you in your place.

    I figured, I bitched at you long enough two weeks ago or so....so...that "diesel|" party boat was just that...a party boat...meant for us to have fun posting in here.

    I figured, why be bitter? 

    We might as well all have fun in here...

    Related image

    Now that we've  done finished  with throwing around all these nice pleasantries...

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      Yes and ummmmm...no.  Yes.   Metal fatigue is a very real thing in aviation.  Its more about how many times the sheet metal has expanded and contracted  under stress rather than the age of the airplane itself.  10 years is somewhat too young for an airplane to be retired as airplanes are engineered fly double and even triple that age.  Unless of course the airplane in question has taken off, flown and landed enough times that would equal its maximum lifespan in 10 years.   This latest accident, UPS had a 34 year old McDonnel-Douglas MD-11 flying around.  Now...at 34 years of age, this airplane should been of concern... yes.   Like I said, airplanes' lifespans reach 30 years.  Sometimes more than that if maintenance is done properly and rigorously.   Using google and Wikipedia, if fact, 2 months prior, the airplane in question HAD been grounded for 6 weeks because cracks were found in the fuel tanks. Corrosion was also found in the structural beams in its fuselage. Repairs were made.  However, with airplanes, age is not a criteria for maintenance. But hours of flight and "cycles".   A cycle is 1 take-off and 1 landing sequence.  The airplane had logged 21000 and change cycles and the maintenance threshold for what had ultimately failed in the airplane was not due until 28 000 and 29 000 cycles.  Now...at 34 years old, maybe more vigilance was needed... This is how the airplane safety industry works. It takes an accident to amend and/or instate new safety regulations.  Maybe with this accident, NTSB will implement an age criteria too alongside flight hours and cycles.  At age 30 and a more rigorous inspection is to happen and not rely solely on cycles and flight hours.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_2976 The aircraft, N259UP, was a 34-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-11F with manufacturer serial number 48417. The aircraft was first delivered to Thai Airways International in 1991 with the registration HS-TME,[7] after which it was converted to a cargo aircraft and delivered to UPS Airlines in 2006. It had flown 21,043 cycles and for about 92,992 hours,[8] and was equipped with three General Electric CF6-80C2D1F engines.[9][10][11] The last visual inspections of the left pylon aft mount were performed in October 2021. More rigorous "Special Detailed Inspections" for the mount lugs and wing clevis were not yet due, as the aircraft's 21,043 accumulated cycles were well below the 28,000 and 29,200 cycle thresholds required for those checks. Two months before the crash, it had been grounded for six weeks to repair a cracked fuel tank, and corrosion was later found along two structural beams in the fuselage. The aircraft re-entered service a few weeks before the crash.[12]    

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