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[DonTom]

I’ll have lots of questions about charging batteries in the near future.  Seems like most everyplace around me is a Level 1 or a Tesla.

For your Livewire, when on the road you want CCS charging. Check Plugshare Here and set  it up to only show CCS. If an overnight stop, then check for J-1772 and outlets as well.


At home, your level one is fine. Normally you want to leave home with a full charge in the morning and use CCS chargers for your longer  rides. You want to get at least a ChargePoint Card, but also EV-Go, but a lot of this depends on where you ride to.


The charger at the HD dealer is Changepoint. So perhaps you already got that card with the bike. Most CCS chargers you can also activate with a Smartphone, so you should get busy downloading those apps, such as Electrify America (Wal*Mart chargers), EV-G0. GreenLots, EV-Connect. Check Plugshare to see what you need. Your charging is similar to my Energica and I am quite familiar  with the LW, so I can probably answer most of your questions WRT charging.




-Don-  Reno, NV

[DaveSki]

Thanks Don.  I got the ChargePoint card activated.  Looks like it will be a good thing. I was looking for CCS charging stations but from what I’ve read that’s a Level 2 charge which for my Livewire isn’t any faster than the 12 hours required for Level 1.  I see where the Harley chargepoint stations use CCS combo plugs to access the DC points to the battery.  Are there any other Fast DC Chargers besides the Harley shops?  Here in central Texas there’s not a lot of options outside the major cities so I’m still looking. 

Then I’ll want to know if anybody tried to charge anEV from a car with something akin to jumper cables with a step up transformer?  Bypass the on board charges and connect direct to the battery?  It would only be for emergencies so battery damage shouldn’t be an issue. 

Just wondering...

[DonTom]

Thanks Don.  I got the ChargePoint card activated.  Looks like it will be a good thing. I was looking for CCS charging stations but from what I’ve read that’s a Level 2 charge which for my Livewire isn’t any faster than the 12 hours required for Level 1.  I see where the Harley chargepoint stations use CCS combo plugs to access the DC points to the battery.  Are there any other Fast DC Chargers besides the Harley shops?  Here in central Texas there’s not a lot of options outside the major cities so I’m still looking. 

Then I’ll want to know if anybody tried to charge anEV from a car with something akin to jumper cables with a step up transformer?  Bypass the on board charges and connect direct to the battery?  It would only be for emergencies so battery damage shouldn’t be an issue. 

Just wondering...

CCS charging is level 3. It is DC direct to your battery. Your bike charger is not then used. Your Level one and Two charger is the same charge time on the LW. Around 1.5 KW with either 120 or 240 VAC. Yes, there are MANY CCS chargers away from the Harley shops. You can use those. If they are ChargePoint CCS you can use the ChargePoint card you use at the Harley shops. Others take credit cards are their own card, or need to use the app. etc. They do not all work the same way.


There are portable CCS chargers, but they are very expensive, large and  not commonly used. But I hear some tow trucks carry them to get some EVs to the next charge stations.


Look at Plugshare and try to set it to only show CCS for your area. It may take a little while to learn how to use it.   I keep every charge station I ride to on my GPS as a waypoint. I ride from one charge station to the next until I get to where I am going.


In Texas, there are probably many  places you cannot get to within  the range on your bike between charge stations.  But that is improving fast. Near or in the larger cities, there is usually no problem finding CCS chargers.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

This is the sort of discussion that baffles me as someone who has never used, or needed to use, a commercial charging station. Why do you need a special card, app or account to charge from a commercial L2 or L3 charging station?  Why can't they design their systems to use a standard credit card like you do at a gas station? Wouldn't that simplify life for their customers and especially for new owners of electric vehicles? Are these companies just trying to limit their customer base and enjoy seeing EV owners carrying around a big wallet of access cards and pin codes?  Am i missing something here?   

[DonTom]

This is the sort of discussion that baffles me as someone who has never used, or needed to use, a commercial charging station. Why do you need a special card, app or account to charge from a commercial L2 or L3 charging station?  Why can't they design their systems to use a standard credit card like you do at a gas station? Wouldn't that simplify life for their customers and especially for new owners of electric vehicles? Are these companies just trying to limit their customer base and enjoy seeing EV owners carrying around a big wallet of access cards and pin codes?  Am i missing something here?   

Most DC fast chargers WILL accept a credit card. But I have yet to use one at a fast charger. But if you use their  own card, the info goes to your account and you can see how you're charging on a SmartPhone.  And probably costs less. I think there is a fee to use a CC, but not sure, as I have never used such. But it ends up to a linked credit card anyway, when you use their cards.


But many J-1772 stations do NOT accept credit cards, most are free, and then you must use their card or perhaps make a phone call to get the charger activated.


You also get E-mails showing the status of the charge and other such info. They look like this:



Dear Donald,

Thank you for using charging station at Raley's El Dorado Hills #424 - 3935 Park Dr, El Dorado Hills, CA. Your vehicle is now charging. We do appreciate your business.

For more information, please check your account on the EVgo App or in the driver portal.

Thank you for being an EVgo customer.

Sincerely,

EVgo Customer Support Team

[DonTom]

I forgot to mention that using their card makes it a lot easier. Just tap the card on the machine and start charging. There are no pin numbers involved.


But I do carry many cards. I have cards for:


ChargePoint
EV-GO
GreenLots
EV-Connect
Blink


Electrify-America and Tesla does NOT have their own charging cards. But E-A can use a credit card or a Smartphone to activate. Or a phone call to them. The phone numbers are always on the machines, along with a number of that machine.


Tesla SuperChargers do everything for you automatically. Just use the button on the charge plug to open your charge door via wireless, plug-in and walk away. The machine reads my VIN number and charges my Tesla account automatically. Tesla is the best of them all. They never give any hassles. But they are only good for Tesla.


Others, I often have to try two or three times to get the chargers working. Especially with Electrify-America (Wal*Mart fast chargers)  And unplug each time something goes wrong. Fast charging is sometimes a hassle. Too complicated. The chargers run a fancy program that has to communicate with the vehicle to activate.  They charge many different types of vehicles at many different current rates.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Crissa]

Cresit card processing is an expensive monopoly which exposes the machine to weather damage (stripe and chip readers) and requires a significantly more robust network interface.

Basically, it's cheaper to roll your own and depend upon your customers' network than your own.

-Crissa

[Squelch]

ChargePoint
EV-GO
GreenLots
EV-Connect
Blink

That seems like a lot of cards. I don't have my bike yet (I think the container was supposed to ship today) but I guess I need to start figuring out where all the charging stations are around me. 

[DonTom]

That seems like a lot of cards. I don't have my bike yet (I think the container was supposed to ship today) but I guess I need to start figuring out where all the charging stations are around me.

You need to check Plugshare to see what type of cards you will need for the CCS charge stations you will use.


I find my Blink card mainly only good for my RV trips the AZ. I have never used it around here.


Around here, I really only use three cards. EV-Go, Charge-Point and EV-Connect.


EV connect I have only used here in NV.  The other two I use in CA as well as NV.


HD shops use ChargePoint chargers everywhere, AFAIK. So do most of the free J-1772 stations around Reno. But even for the free Chargepoints, the card is needed, if you don't want to use the app or call them on a cell.


You can get the cards easily, but they usually coat around five bucks each. For ChargePoint, see here.


For EV-GO, see here.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

Those payment systems don't seem very intuitive to me as a 60-year gas station regular.  If we want the country to go all electric, someone needs to come up with a universal charging payment system. And that goes double (or triple) if Biden gets his way and builds 500K charging stations throughout the country. Having a bunch of different private companies that you need to deal with depending upon which charging station you want to use would really be a hassle.

Which brings up another thought: If the government does build 500K new charging stations, who would run and maintain them? And will they be L2 or L3? 

[DonTom]

Those payment systems don't seem very intuitive to me as a 60-year gas station regular.  If we want the country to go all electric, someone needs to come up with a universal charging payment system. And that goes double (or triple) if Biden gets his way and builds 500K charging stations throughout the country. Having a bunch of different private companies that you need to deal with depending upon which charging station you want to use would really be a hassle.

Which brings up another thought: If the government does build 500K new charging stations, who would run and maintain them? And will they be L2 or L3? 

I don't see the major difference. Most oil companies have their own credit card. You cannot use a Valero card at Chevron, etc. But they all take Visa but charge a little more (in most cases in CA). But Chevron has a Chevron/Texaco Visa (which I have) which can be used almost anywhere, even charge stations. But Arco only takes cash and debit. They do not take any credit cards.


So where is the big difference between Charge stations and gas stations?  One small difference is that Charge Station companies are now too small to have their own Visa cards. But there's little doubt that will soon change. And then some people will use a EV-Go Visa at a ChargePoint and such.


AFAIK, all charge stations that are NOT free we can pay for by credit card, such as your Visa or M/C. But I have yet to use a credit card at any charge station.  I have not yet seen any charge station that accepts cash. That's another difference. But perhaps there is a way to handle that as well, such as when a charge station is at a gas station or a restaurant. I never asked if that was possible. I rarely use cash for any transaction anywhere.


I hope the Biden charge stations would all be both, CCS as well as J-1772 (or even a 14-50R).  The nice thing about J-1772 (or even just the outlet), is every EV made can use it, regardless of make or model.


But I hope they can find some good places to put them instead of stacking them all close together as they do on I-80 in CA, but NOT on I-80 in Nevada. CA has too many close together and NV has too few and far apart on I-80.   


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

I only use a single Discover card for all of my charge purchases. 

[DonTom]

I only use a single Discover card for all of my charge purchases. 

I am a credit card millionaire. All my credit cards add up to around a million bucks in credit lines. But I pay them off every week. But I have just about every one that exists. Way too many to keep in my wallet.  I try to rotate through them to some degree, because I have had many cancelled or lack of use.

But I don't know if those charge machines will accept Discover or not. I will check the next charge machine to see what cards they accept. I always use their cards that I can simply tap on the machine, but they all link to a credit card anyway. The free ones will not show on my credit card, but will show on my EV-Go or ChargePoint, etc.,  account on line.

BTW, there is a FREE CCS charge station I used in Hawthone, NV last week. It's at the small rest stop just south of the SafeWay store. It is FREE to use for anybody. But I am not sure if it can be activated without the card. I don't think that one even accepts credit cards. IIRC, it was a ChagePoint paid for by the city of Hawthorne. I guess the casino there is doing very well.

-Don-  Cold Springs Valley, NV

[Richard230]

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a casino would have a free charging facility. No doubt they will get the cost for their power charges recouped from their EV driving visitor quickly.   

I may have mentioned this once before, but a friend of mine who just retired from working for the Cumulus radio stations (including KGO) in the SF Bay Area maintaining their antenna facilities, told me that the radio station asked that three L2 stations be installed in their parking garage in downtown SF. He told me that the personalities requested the charging facilities to be installed at the garage. However, they assumed they would be free to use. As it turned out they were owned and managed by a commercial company that charged a fee to use them. Once that word got around that it cost money to recharge their cars, the workers lost interest in using them and after a few years the company removed the stations. Last year the garage lease ran out and now the workers have to find somewhere else to park while working at the station. Apparently, they really didn't need to charge at work to get back and forth from home.

[DonTom]

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a casino would have a free charging facility. No doubt they will get the cost for their power charges recouped from their EV driving visitor quickly.     

This is at the rest stop, not the casino, but there is a casino in Hawthorne not far away.


There are many free J-1172 stations in Reno and even a few in CA. Many of the J-1772s are at the casinos, such as Western Village and the Tamarac.  But free CCS charging is rare.


-Don-  Cold Springs Valley, NV