Charging network decay

While we see a push to increase the size of the network of charging stations. I have also seen a wide spread lack of support of existing stations by owners. Broken and malfunctioning stations not being repaired. Customers that try to use these station are disappointed when they encounter a non functional station. After a while customers just give up trying to use the station. I have noticed this problem with Charge Point, and Blink. Installers get government money to install the stations. But if the station owner see a low usage he may elect not to do the pairs. This is bad for EV owners, because it reduces the use fullness the vehicle. I think it's important to support the charging station network. I will some times use a charging station even though I don't have to. What has been your experience with broken charging stations.


This is a broken latch I found on a ChargePoint charging station.

Where are you at in WI? Here in SoCal, it varies a great deal by location. Some areas have a lot of charging opportunities, others are very thin. Some have a good amount of well-maintained free chargers (Rancho Cucamonga and Palm Springs are two I think are outstanding) and others only have commercially based pay-per-session chargers. Most of them seem to work--I don't see too many broken chargers. The Clipper Creek (I call them Clunker Creek) units that look like WW2 leftovers seem to be the most bullet-proof of the lot--and they were all installed many, many years ago.

I one factor in attitudes is, as you say, usage--or the perception of usage. Many of these chargers were installed a few years ago and then went largely unused. My wife works at a campus that installed chargers 5 years ago, as well as adopting electric NEV and utility vehicles for all of their operations. She was plugging the FFE in yesterday and one of the maintenance guys saw her and was all excited that someone was actually using one of the chargers--apparently they were pretty much dormant until now.

I think it is going to be tough to expand the network unless the stations are at home, employer provided, installed as part of building code requirements or funded by government programs. It just isn't cost effective for a commercial entity to spend $10K installing station that has a potential ROI of $8-10 a day.

brogult said:

My wife works at a campus that installed chargers 5 years ago, as well as adopting electric NEV and utility vehicles for all of their operations. She was plugging the FFE in yesterday and one of the maintenance guys saw her and was all excited that someone was actually using one of the chargers--apparently they were pretty much dormant until now.

Click to expand...

I'd sure like to know what campus in SoCal has chargers that don't get used. All of the Cal State campuses around here provide pretty limited charging opportunities. CSUF is particularly difficult. The only campus I know that has available charging locations is UCI, and that's because the idiots charge $2.50 an hour. No kidding. (For a UC campus that takes pride in its environmental credentials.)

unplugged said:

I'd sure like to know what campus in SoCal has chargers that don't get used. All of the Cal State campuses around here provide pretty limited charging opportunities. CSUF is particularly difficult. The only campus I know that has available charging locations is UCI, and that's because the idiots charge $2.50 an hour. No kidding. (For a UC campus that takes pride in its environmental credentials.)

Click to expand...

Plugshare shows seven different EVSE sites across the CSUN campus - one Chargepoint, the rest are Clipper Creek units. All are free, but a parking permit is required. The Chargepoint EVSE always had a free charge port whenever I visited the campus, but the CC closest to the admin bldg was always occupied. Never tried to use any of the other CCs (I think they're new).

v_traveller said:

Plugshare shows seven different EVSE sites across the CSUN campus - one Chargepoint, the rest are Clipper Creek units. All are free, but a parking permit is required. The Chargepoint EVSE always had a free charge port whenever I visited the campus, but the CC closest to the admin bldg was always occupied. Never tried to use any of the other CCs (I think they're new).

Click to expand...

I had a little run-in with the CSUF parking and security the last time I visited the campus for a day. There was free charging unit with two ChargePoints in the maintenance area across from parking enforcement. The parking sign states "4 Hour Parking Only." There was a fully charged Volt in one space and a Leaf in the other in the morning. I came back at noon and the Leaf had been replaced with a Fiat, but the Volt was still there, fully charged. I saw that there was room beside the Volt and parked there and left a note on his windshield that let the owner know the Volt was fully charged and I needed to use the charging unit. I got a text message 5 minutes later that my car had been disconnected. When I came back, I had a $45 parking ticket on my car. "Parking outside of a marked parking stall."

I marched over to the parking enforcement office and made a formal complaint. The Volt had a staff parking permit, while I had a visitor permit. The Volt was not ticketed for parking in excess of 4 hours, but I was ticketed for parking outside the lines. I suggested that favoritism played a part in parking enforcement and that the Volt owner was not only unlawfully parked, but rude to other EV owners. I just happened to notice later that the Chief of Campus Police was giving a talk in one of the conference rooms, so I waiting until after and talked to her. I introduced myself as getting a parking ticket in the EV area, and she immediately said, "Oh, so you're the one who made the complaint." We talked and she said she would tear up the ticket and my complaint. And she said that she knew the Volt owner and would insist to him that he abide by the 4-hour parking limit.

So...long story, but your mention of the admin space always being used at CSUN brought back memories....

Going back to the original post, my understanding is also that most of the charging stations were built with government money. It also seems that the companies that operate the network are different than the companies that originally installed them. The companies that operate them charge what I consider to be an absurd rate (45 cents per kwh when I would think the industrial cost would be under 10 cents). Where I live (the DC area) it appears that folks don't use the stations that charge, my guess would be it is because of the high prices. If they were used, I would think that that would just cause the prices to go even higher. If these stations charged a reasonable amount (under 15 cents per kwh) I would certainly consider using them and they might be able to generate more profits.

I think the comment that the charging stations aren't being repaired because they aren't being used gives more credit to the companies that run them than I would think justified. My first guess would be that the these companies are going to try to get government funding for fixing the machines by making the case that the devices the government paid for were poor quality. I certainly couldn't blame them for doing that