Powered by EVgo, the 350 KW high speed charging network should improve reliability for long-distance EV travel across the US. Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – July 14, 2022 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV Just ahead of the Silverado EV release, a new high speed charging network set to charge it is announced. GM has just announced they will be increasing access to charging and improve the reliability of long-distance electric travel across the U.S. GM and Pilot (Pilot and Flying J) are collaborating on a national high speed DC fast charging network that will be installed, operated and maintained by EVgo through its eXtend offering. This project will connect urban and rural communities, the East and West Coasts and different metropolitan areas. This network of 2,000 charging stalls, co-branded “Pilot Flying J” and “Ultium Charge 360”, will be powered by EVgo eXtend and open to all EV brands at up to 500 Pilot and Flying J travel centers. GM customers will receive special benefits like exclusive reservations, discounts on charging, a streamlined charging process through Plug and Charge and integration into GM’s vehicle brand apps providing real-time charger availability and help with route planning. This collaboration is expected to enhance America’s EV driving experience. EVgo will continue scaling fast charging deployments for the program. The new EVgo sites all deploy cutting-edge power sharing technology, including high power fast chargers capable of delivering up to 350 kW. Sites can provide up to 150 miles of range in 8-12 minutes for new 350kW capable EV models coming to market shortly. The Pilot and Flying J travel centers plan to feature numerous 350 KW fast charging stalls provided by EVgo, which is also working with GM to add more than 3,250 fast chargers in American cities and suburbs by the end of 2025. Many of these sites will feature canopies to help protect customers from the elements while charging, as well as pull-through capability allowing convenient charging for electric pickup trucks and SUVs pulling trailers. Third-party research shows that widespread access to highway charging, particularly in underserved urban and rural areas, is a significant barrier to mass EV adoption2. This collaboration is targeting the installation of charging stalls at 50-mile intervals across the U.S. For GM, this development is one more step of its nearly $750 million investment in EV charging infrastructure, including: Enabling access to more than 100,000 charge points in the U.S. and Canada through its Ultium Charge 360 ecosystem Collaborating with EVgo to build out a network of 3,250 charging stalls in major metro areas by 2025 Installing up to 40,000 chargers in local dealer communities through GM’s Dealer Community Charging Program, focusing on underserved rural and urban areas This project builds on Pilot’s recently announced “New Horizons” initiative to invest $1 billion to fully upgrade its travel centers with more premium amenities and offerings that aren’t typically available at current EV charging locations. Guests will have access to free Wi-Fi at many locations, expanded seating and lounge areas, updated and modernized restrooms, on-site restaurants including Pilot’s signature fresh hot and cold deli, premium coffee, and shopping for travel essentials and souvenirs while their vehicles are charging. Pilot and Flying J travel centers are open 24/7, ensuring that team members are always onsite to provide consistently high service to guests.
Hi All: GM is moving quickly on the EVgo partnership/build out along with the Pilot/Flying J Truck Stop DCFC'ers that will begin being installed soon. EVgo and GM Open the 1,000th DCFC Stall 2023 Cadillac Lyriq Charging at EVgo's #1,000! EVgo and GM have now installed more than 1,000 DCFCers as part of their collaboration to expand the DCFCing infrastructure. First announced in 2020 and expanded upon in 2021, the collaboration will lead to the development and installation of 3,250 DC fast charging stalls in major metro markets. To date, EVgo and GM have opened DCFCers across 230+ locations in 39 markets covering 27 states, with the majority featuring high-power 350kW DCFCing. EVgo and GM are working together to broaden access to public charging where EV drivers already spend time including grocery stores, retail centers, and fuel stops while also serving the need for customers who are unable to charge at home or work. EVgo is one of GM’s preferred EV charge point operators within its Ultium Charge 360 initiative. Beyond collaborating to expand public charging access, EVgo and GM are working together to "IMPROVE" reliability and enhance customer experience through a comprehensive action plan, including continuous health checks across the network and customer education through GM’s dealer network to help new EV buyers navigate public charging for the first time. The companies also helped to launch Plug and Charge in 2022, a feature that allows drivers to start a session simply by plugging in, no additional payment authentication needed. A ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the 1,000th stall was held in Woodridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, at the recently completed charging station at the Woodgrove Festival Shopping Mall. The station is in a prime retail location within a short drive of Interstates 55 and 355. Wayne
Hi Edwin: From my limited experience with EVgo DCFCers, they are more reliable than the EAs I have used over the past couple of years. However, they are not without fault as the 23 MachE showed with a Connection Error at 27% SOC while charging from 5% on a DCFCer in San Diego last month. The unplug and restart created the same Connection Error upon reconnecting so that charge was done. 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E One of the faults that can take out a charging session. Wayne
I haven't been paying attention but several months ago, Ford & GM have adopted Tesla charger (NACS) standard for EV charging connections. I hope it'll still be easy to get CCS, 14-50 & 5-20 adapters. So if I can wait for the "new" Chevy Bolt to come out with the NACS, I should be able to charge at 6miles per hour on 120Volt AC with the Tesla architecture. Always liked 120Volt AC capable at 6miles per hour, unlike the Chevy Bolt 120Volt AC of only 4 miles per hour. Given 10 hours charging, I'll take 60miles of range over 40miles of range all the time.
litesong, you probably know all I'm about to say, but for the record... "Miles per hour" of charging is a very poor measure, especially when for the same setup, it depends on how efficiently you drive that BEV. kiloWatts power capability of the charging is more useful, and over time, kWh. The NACs connector would have no impact on charging speed, particularly at home at 110V. It's all dependent on your house wiring, circuit breaker, AC outlet type, and finally, the onboard AC to DC converter in the BEV itself which would be adequate for 110V charging on *any* EV. The typical 110V dedicated house circuit would be 15A, so you can charge at 12A continuously, or about 1.3 kW, and then knock off some percentage for charging losses. Or if you're lucky, you'd have a higher amperage circuit with appropriate wiring and outlet type, and then you can charge at your highest "miles per hour" on a 110V circuit.
NACS is the Tesla charger, which can be set to 16Amps. Chevy Bolts(other EVs?) can only be set to 12Amps. Lots of homes have 5-20Amp circuits in the garage, at least. Therefore, Tesla cars (other EVs on NACS?) can charge at 6MPH on garage 5-20Amp circuits, whereas Chevy Bolts(other EVs?) can only charge at 4MPH on 5-15Amp AND 5-20Amp circuits. As far as accuracy of your "whatfors", MPH of charging for comparisons is OK. Yeah, Tesla outdid the other EVs, even on slow 120Volt circuits.
(Apologies for going off topic, but maybe useful info for home charging GM EVs) litesong, My house built in 2000 doesn't have a 15-20 outlet in the garage, so I have never experienced faster 120V charging. In fact, when I used those outlets to charge an older plug in Prius, I went so far as to throttle the charge setting to below 1 kW to keep things safe. Speed didn't matter for that miniscule battery anyway. I did some searching to confirm your statements and mostly concur as far as Chevy vs Tesla 120V charging speeds. I won't dissect the various pieces or wording used. I found the following post useful to see what some long time Tesla drivers had to say on the subject. By the way, I am not a member there. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/real-world-charging-speed-on-5-20-110v.204641/ One tidbit from the post worth checking/verifying is the conversion of a 5-20 outlet to a 6-20. Huge potential gain powerwise , but I don't know the electrical codes to know whether it is a good idea or safe/legal. Also, one of the last posts goes into the fixed overhead losses and the effect on the various charging rate efficiencies. One other piece of information I obtained elsewhere. If you're charging with a Tesla mobile charger since you mention plugging into 120V, please be aware that there are two versions, and the older one is in limited supply (discontinued) but is the more powerful of the two.
A Tesla charging faster on AC Level 1 is purely a factor of the car being more efficient when driven. A Bolt or other EV not being able to charge faster on 6-20 is likely because of the supplied EVSE being the limiter. Costs likely meant the car maker only gave out one that could do AC Level 1 only. The optional one for the Bolt EV, and standard for EUV, travel EVSE can support AC Level 2. I think Tesla no longer supplies one with the Model 3. If the manufacturer supplied one is limited, there are many third party ones available.
A worthwhile experiment for anyone who has a Bolt EV and a Tesla mobile charger. I don't or I would, but if anyone in central MA has a Bolt and would like to try, contact me. I have the Tesla mobile charger V2.
Tesla cars, from the instrument panel, can set a number of different amperages, one being 16Amps. Chevy Bolt (other EVs?) has settings for 8 & 12Amps (maybe lower?). At the Tesla instrument panel, if a driver set 12Amps, the 5-20Amp circuit would not charge any faster than the Chevy Bolt set at 12Amps, plus or minus the efficiency difference between Tesla & Bolt. I don't think Tesla is 30% more efficient than Bolt.
The Bolts have a 7.7kW charger. Plugged into a 240V outlet, it can draw up to 32amps. The dual level OEM EVSE only has a NEMA 5-15 and 14-50 plug. It can only plug into a 5-20 outlet by using the 5-15 plug, which will limit the EVSE to 12amps no matter what the outlet can supply. It can't plug into a 6-20, and using a 5-15 adapter could damage the EVSE. Use a third party EVSE, and Bolt will draw whatever amperage that 240V outlet can supply, up to 32amps. Tesla's mobile connector also only comes with a 5-15 and 14-50 adapter. In order to charge at 16amps, you need to buy the 5-20 and/or 6-20 adapter. Without that, the car is as limited as the Bolt when charging with OEM portable EVSE. The reason to be able to limit amperage draw below what the outlet is rated for in an EV is to avoid overloading the circuit. This is only a concern with shared circuits, and most homes in the US are wired at 5-15 for those. The Bolt loses out with a house that happens to be wired for 5-20. If charging on a 5-15 outlet isn't enough to meet daily needs, better to put in a dedicated 240V circuit of whatever amperage. Even just 6-20 is a big boost; it can do double what a Bolt could have gotten from 5-20 if it was able to.
For L2 charging the 2022 Chevy Bolt has an up-rated 11.5kW charger & will draw 48amps from an 11.5 kW EVSE. I'll love to spend 3 hours(more?) in lovely Washington state places & if the places have 11.5kW EVSE's, I'll return to my Bolt with an extra 100 to 150+ miles of range.
Hi All: While crossing the country for the 20th time this year, I came across an Ultium DCFC installation occurring at a Pilot/Flying J in Winslow, AZ. It appeared that it would be completed within another 3 to 6-weeks so this GM charging network is being readied for public use very, very soon. Wayne
