Public Charging Station Experiences

[WVhybrid]

Does anyone have any experience using a public EV charging station? Apparently the first semi-public charge point in West Virginia just went in at a McDonald's in Huntington, WV this month. That's about 55 miles from my house, so we probably won't be using it much after our Volt comes in...

Has anyone tried the pay-per-use concept marketed by Coulomb Technologies? How did it work for you?

Also, I wondered if anyone knows of any plans afoot to develop a database of public charging stations. I've only found two sources to date, the database maintained by Coulomb Technologies, and a very out-of-date list of California stations.

Thanks,
WVhybrid

ps. I don't work for any EV charging company or a power company.

[honoreitiscom]

We're lucky here in the Madison, WI area. Our local utility Madison Gas and Electric is running a trial program that has placed 4 public charging stations around town, with plans to add 8 more in 2011. The best part is charging is free for the first three years while they study usage patterns!

[barry252]

We're lucky here in the Madison, WI area. Our local utility Madison Gas and Electric is running a trial program that has placed 4 public charging stations around town, with plans to add 8 more in 2011. The best part is charging is free for the first three years while they study usage patterns!

That's way cool! In Maryland, the state is putting in chargers at various Park and Rides. I live so close to work that I won't need them, but I'll definitely give them a try once they're installed.

[GBVolt]

I've used evchargermaps.com many times. It's mainly West Coast focused so far, but there are some EVSE's in other parts of the country there as well. Always room for more listings. Check it out if you have a chance.

[WVhybrid]

I have two additional lists of charging stations I can share.

Stations controlled by the Coulomb Technologies network can be found at:

http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php

Another list of public charging stations can be found at:

http://electric.carstations.com/

This list at Carstations.com allows any registered user to post information about charging stations. This site may become the most useful over time.

WVhybrid
status = 1102

[ChrisC]

Thanks WVhybrid, those two are good!

I've found the evchargermaps to be utterly useless since Day 1. It doesn't have any data of value outside of California, certainly not of the Southeast, where it just has a few very old (and dead) station listings. The two sites above show all of the J1772 sites that have started to popup in the southeast in the last couple months. The evchargermaps guy is a longtime EV enthusiast and often posts that improvements are coming, but I've tired of hearing it.

[WVhybrid]

The "carstations" site may become the most useful, because it can rely on the "wiki" method of user updates.

[WVhybrid]

Seems that the US Dept. of Energy also maintains a list of all types of alternative fuel stations, including electric stations. See:

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/locator/stations/

That gives a total of 4 different charging databases. None of them seem to be comprehensive. For instance, the Huntington, WV charging station is only shown on the "carstations" map. Another example, the USDOE map shows 4 charging stations in Madison, WI, the "carstations" map shows 3, and the Coloumb Technologies map shows 5 stations installed.....

In summary, looks like there is a bit of work to do to update (and keep updated) the databases/maps.

WVhybrid

[WopOnTour]

WVHybrid
Those are some great links! Thanks!!
Any status on your Volt yet?
Are you anywhere near Morgantown?

WopOnTour

[WVhybrid]

We live near Charleston.

Status is still 1102. Expect delivery in the spring.