Nice review Eric. One detail you may want to touch on when you’re talking about “amenities” would be restroom access specifically if it does or does not have 24 hour access. Charging at night with no place to “go” would deduct a POINT I’m sure.
Yes, that's true. I somewhat lump that all in with the squeegees, garbage cans, "travel" services, but it probably should be given its own point. No bathrooms, deduct a point.
I think it's a good move by Tesla as there system seems to always work. The reason we got the model 3 was because of the infrastructure. I really enjoy your channel . Thanks
Thanks Eric, always interesting to see what's around and hear your thoughts on accessibility. The one that we managed to charge at in the Ioniq 5 also had a strip mall but limited food options. It will be good to watch how Tesla moves into the next wave of public charging, whether they lean further into the retrofitted V3 sites with the inherent limitations, or if they hold off for V4 and rethink the whole experience for the wider community of EVs that are now on the road.
Thanks! I think V4 are going to need to be installed primarily at newer locations. Even if the Cybertruck is built with a driver side rear port, it's much too big for many of the V2/V3 sites, and those sites certainly don't support towing.
Hi Eric, The Placerville SC’s site has the charger placement / orientation to the side with room to pull slightly along side it. That does help getting plugged in with side mounted CCS ports compared to the centered ‘on-island’ SC Gen3’s. Looks a lot easier; you had slack in cable!! I’d like to have an input for expected reliability / uptime as part of a review, though, realistic rating on a site-by-site basis, clearly would be difficult at best. Thanks for the look at P’ville SC.
As usual a thoughful review. But I think you missed the elephant in the room. Reliability !! My wife has a Tesla Mod 3 and I have a 2021 Bolt. I like my Bolt more than the Tesla but I have had some bad experiences with the unreliability of chargers. Recently I was on my way to San Jose from Yuba City. I stopped at an EVgo site in Vacaville that the EVgo app said was available. It was not. I then went to a ChargePoint.. it would not connect. I then drove east 24 miles to Davis to successfully use an Electrify America site. I am sure Tesla has its problems but it is clearly much further down the path of maturity. I know reliability is not one of your site review parameters but maybe it should be..... keep up the good communications. Kent
Thanks! One thing to note is that much of Tesla's Supercharger reliability is due to Tesla controlling both sides of interoperability. I almost didn't get this charging session started due to an account/app/billing error, and some non-Tesla EVs have been having real issues getting CCS Superchargers to work. I expect Tesla to fix both of those snags over time, which is why I don't bring things like that up in site reviews.
@@newscoulomb3705 That is one thing I really don't like about most public charging and Tesla's makes it required to have the app, credit card on file etc. Charging locations you should just be able to pull in, pay, charge and go. Tesla will never be able to do that with the way they are setup today. Sadly many of the public CCS sites the card readers don't work or have issues. It is just a train wreck. You shouldn't need an account, membership, or any of that to charge. Hopefully this sort of thing will change. I wouldn't expect Tesla to change however.
Appreciate the review. Traveling this corridor before, I was in the Bolt and stopped in Placerville as the last stop before dropping down to the lake. I have a friend that moved to Carson City and this will be one of my stops to see him, so this review is helpful. Carson City is a bit of a CCS/Supercharger desert although I'll probably be at a hotel overnight and will use a destination charger for the return trip. As we've discussed before, infrastructure expansion is always appreciated and inclusion of CCS among the Tesla SC is nice. Orientation for the charge is slightly awkward but doable. Surprised up in the mountains that it lacks a canopy. Your grading, as always, is spot on and fair.
Thanks, Bruce! EV Range has also been doing good work up in the greater Tahoe area, so I'd keep an eye out for them, too. I think they have a four-charger site going up in Carson City soon, but I'm not sure whether it will be online by the next time you're up there.
I agree with all of your scores except for power. I understand that it can give 250 kW to a Tesla vehicle but to the public charging public it only provides 350 A and typical cars are 400 V so that would only be 140 kW. I don’t know what score that is for you, but I can’t imagine it being better than an 8 out of 10.
Yes, you are correct for CCS EVs, but I'll typically defer to the fastest potential charging speeds. Essentially, I don't want to blame the chargers if some vehicles can't maximize them. Right now, the fastest charging EVs are 350 kW, and the fastest chargers can provide that full power. So I'll give those 10/10. These V3 Superchargers can supply some EVs with 250 to 260 kW, so that ranks them higher than the 150 to 200 kW CCS units but lower than the 350 kW CCS units. For CCS EVs using the Magic Dock, though, you are correct. These would only be a 7 or 8 out of 10. The lower score would be due to the voltage that limits 800 V CCS EVs to less than 150 kW.
As a dog owner, I'm going to rant about the fence behind the chargers. When you're road tripping with a dog, you need patches of grass for the dog to sniff, poop, and pee while the car is charging. This is an extremely basic amenity that costs next to nothing to provide, and yet this site actively blocks the grass with a fence, leaving dogs with nowhere to go except for a few much smaller landscaped patches on the other side of a large parking lot. If I were grading, I would definitely be docking the site some points under the amenities column due to this fence.
It would appear to me that the fence is to prevent animal or people access to the highway for safety reasons. I see that there is slope on the right where the roadway and the grass elevation comes together. Too bad they couldn’t have included a grassy area for dogs and a trash can.
Having a place to walk the dog is something that is great to know. When your road tripping and looking for a place to stop for fuel I always look for a place to walk my dog. Once I find a site like that I keep going back when I travel that way again. Knowing if the location is pet friendly is a good point.
It’s been awhile since we got a review! Glad to finally see one for a Supercharger even if it’s just a beta test site. The more diversity in stations the more interesting it gets! Have you yet seen any new EA projects that are 6-charger stations? I’m somehow under the impression that they’ve abandoned the 4-chargers due to congestion concerns going forward.
I haven't seen any new six-charger EA sites, but I haven't really been looking. There are a number of them that have been in the works for a while, but that still haven't opened. The most notable recent EA site is the 10-charger site in Kettleman City. Their site in Primm hasn't opened yet (it was physically completed at least 6 months ago), but it will be a six-charger site.
A past GM Volt and Spark EV and now Tesla 3 SR+ owner here. Super glad to see the opening up. I think reliability would be an important metric (nothing worse than a charger that doesn't work when you roll up at 2%). That would be hard to test but I think a subjective reliability score perhaps based on recent plugshare activity would be helpful and hopefully reinforce the need to improve reliability at all chargers. Tesla isn't perfect either but I have yet myself to not get 100% full speed charging every time. I doubt the same could be said about many CCS chargers. That's worth a lot in my book and the main reason I bought a Tesla. I will look at the Equinox when it comes out as well but I'm hoping CCS reliability either picks up or Tesla opens up a bunch more. Reiliability IMO is the most important factor.
Hello. What adaptor are you using. I just bought one for the Canadian Tesla sites. Have not used it yet on my Bolt. Was there any issue's charging on thier sites? Thanks.
This isn't my adapter. it is built into the Tesla Supercharger, and it is part of their "Magic Dock" program. Currently, there are no Supercharger to CCS adapters available, and even if they were, they would only work on these specific locations that Tesla has unlocked. I have a couple of different Tesla AC to J1772 adapters that I'll review in a future video (probably the same type of adapter you have), but those do not work with Superchargers.
Hi Eric........have you done a review of the discontinuation of the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV? I would be curious to get your thoughts. I am thinking the Chevy equinox is actually the next version of the Bolt but GM has decided to move away from the Bolt name plate since the battery fire recall saga happened. The equinox will do nearly everything the bolt will but slightly improved and the price will be right in the range of the Bolts. The most important improvement will be the charge speed from the Bolts 54 kw to the Equinox 150 kw.....this is what will all wish the Bolt would do in terms of charging speed. So for me....the Bolt really is not being discontinued, it just has a new name.....its the 2024 Equinox EV.
Thanks! I haven't yet, but I need to. I mostly agree with your assessment, though. The Equinox EV is a very similar size and format to the EUV, so other than increasing the range and charging speed and adding options like AWD, the two cars are very similar. It's really that the Bolt is being replaced, not "ended" as some have claimed.
Except that the electric Equinox is supposed to be $5k more expensive than the Bolt is. That's a significant chunk of change for people on a budget, and leaves the new car market without a single EV offering priced under $30k. The Equinox is also bigger and heavier than a Bolt, which presumably means less maneuverable and less efficient. Yes, the Equinox does offer faster charging speeds for the extra $5k, but if you are able to home charge and don't road trip a lot, you probably don't need it. The EV market badly needs an economy car that is the all electric equivalent of a Corolla or Prius, but it seems nobody (at least for the US market) is willing to make it, so your only choices are to either to buy something bigger, pricier, and more bloated than you need, or to burn gas. The car market should be able to do better than this.
@@ab-tf5fl While I agree with most of what you said, I think the issue is that we are really talking about two different cars. The Bolt EV and the Bolt EUV. The Equinox EV is essentially a direct replacement for the EUV across all points (even pricing and size). The only difference is, the Equinox provides a number of additional features and options beyond what the EUV offered. So in that sense, the Equinox and EUV would be completely redundant. As for the Bolt EV, I agree. We do need a capable, compact EV on the market for under $30,000. The crazy thing is, GM still has a number of EV offerings that fit that bill. They just aren't sold in North America. My hope is that GM takes a step back and redesigns the Bolt EV as an Ultium platform using LFP cells, but given that they seem to be trending toward larger, more expensive cars, the Equinox EV might be the best we can do for a long time. Side note, I'd keep an eye out for the Equinox EV 1LT's curb weight. With a 70 kWh pack, it might be closer to the Bolt EV's 3,500 lbs than people expect.
i think your review is consistent with other site reviews that you've done. 42/50 is a fairly good score on the News Coulomb scale. I heard a blurb on another channel that, on a global basis, Tesla is opening one SC site every 13 hours on average. I assume they will start making more CCS capable sites when the V4 (with longer cord) chargers come out.
Thanks! I'm not sure where that pacing number comes from, but I would be surprised if that was a sustained number. Then again, EA and EVgo each have 100 to 200 sites that are "Coming Soon," so maybe 2 sites a day globally is accurate. Either way, the pace that Tesla is opening their sites appears to be working on a different timescale. The opened about a dozen initially, but there hasn't been much movement since. I'm seeing more Superchargers with "locked" icons appear on the "Charge a Non-Tesla" section of the app, so I can only assume that those sites now have Magic Dock and are only waiting to be opened.
@@newscoulomb3705 the lack of new public superchargers really surprised me. I had hoped we’d see more Magic Dock stations open up nationally after a few weeks. Perhaps they want more time to refine the Dock design or perhaps they’re now just waiting for V4s. Regardless, I’d love to see public Superchargers open this summer along some popular travel corridors. I checked the Tesla app but didn’t find any “locked” Superchargers that weren’t already open. Which ones did you find?
@@anthonyc8499 I saw a number of locked locations in Colorado, Southern California, and Texas. It shows as a greyed out lock rather than a red active symbol with a number.
Its cool man. I say good site review. So i would call that a nacs connector, yeah? And my 2013 tesla model s has no problem charging at v3 superchargers.... So..... Still trying to figure out the "cant charge on nacs" going forward if you have an older tesla statement. Is it cuz the non tesla deployed chargers wont have to talk to the older Teslas? If so that makes more sense..... Hmmm.....
Eric - based on this being in CA and along a travel route, I’m surprised there weren’t more chargers in use (perhaps the rain?). I think your score for this location is fair, although having this quantity of chargers to cover Tesla AND CCS seems light. Do you think that Tesla will be updating to magic dock for all chargers at a location, or potentially ramping up from 1 or 2 per location as they see CCS demand? This way they could cover a large area quickly, if that is their intention. Looks like a great spot for a shopping day charge.
Yes, this was in the middle of an atmospheric river, so I think a lot of people were staying home. Highway 50 is a connecting route to South Lake Tahoe, which was closed to travelers at this point in time. Still, it's only a short stretch, so I'm not sure how many chargers are really needed along the route. As far as I know, Tesla is not doing any "partial" site openings. The sites that they've opened have had all the plugs upgraded with Magic Dock.
@@newscoulomb3705 - for the 12 or so sites they updated, changing all chargers to the magic dock makes sense. But beyond that point, at least initially, just having one of them at each SC site would be a huge confidence boost for CCS travelers this summer.
@@dennislyon5412 I think only converting a few plugs would be counterproductive. Right now, Tesla is setting it up for people to plan their trip around using the Superchargers, so only having a couple of CCS ports per site could be disastrous, especially if Tesla drivers could also use those same plugs. It's unlikely that CCS EVs would ever fill up a Supercharger, and given the (possibly purposefully) less than ideal CCS user experience, I only see a small population of CCS EV owners prioritizing Superchargers over other public fast charging options.
@@newscoulomb3705 - when most of the EA chargers are down, CCS users will be shopping around. The Kia/Hyundai owners plus other fast chargers will be seeking 100+ kw. Will they be willing to pay the SC price to avoid a trip delay? Here’s hoping that the CCS plugs at SC sites aren’t always occupied or blocked - by Teslas.
I thought your site review was spot-on your metrics are great the only thing I would like to have seen is where you connect the dispenser handle to your car and how long it takes to activate and how you start the activation process. Even though I did watch this with Kyle in out of spec he didn't have a bolt which is what I drive as well
A number of public chargers are located at gas stations and travel plazas, where squeegees, trash cans, and other travel amenities are readily available.
Yes. You have to download Tesla's app and open an account with Tesla. It will show which chargers have been unlocked (only about a dozen so far). I does appear that more chargers are listed as locked now, and I can only assume that those are the sites that have been converted to Magic Dock and Tesla is preparing to unlock.
That would require an entire redesign, and you could argue that it wouldn't even be the same car anymore. At that point, it might be redundant with the Equinox EV, which is a similar size and targeting the same segment.
@@newscoulomb3705 I agree with bangbangbowman, it would be great to have something that is the size of the Bolt with the new battery technology that would come with faster charging capability. Equinox EV is going to be approximately 2 ft longer than the Bolt and almost five and a half inches wider. The heights will be similar. Unless Chevy has a pretty impressive trick up their sleeve, the Equinox EV will be substantially less efficient. I almost wonder if one of the purposes of the Bolt EUV was to make the Equinox EV and the Blazer EV look less dramatically inefficient. In a rural setting the difference in their sizes might seem insignificant but in an urban/suburban setting the difference will be substantial. My wife and I both have Bolt EVs and they both fit easily in our garage with room to walk around them while carrying items. Unfortunately, there's no way we could do that with 2 Equinox EVs. The ability of our Bolt EVs to fit into some tight spaces when we make trips downtown has been a real plus and yet it was big enough to get a surprisingly large amount of stuff in when making the occasional Costco type run. We have a 2019 Premier and a 2020 loaded LT. We also have a 2017 LT that was pretty loaded with the Comfort package and the driver confidence package. The 2017 was least at allowed us to dip our toes in the water to see how much we liked it, I was suspecting that it would be too small but it more than passed the test for us. I think that Chevy has good reason to beleive that the Equinox will probably appeal to more people overall as a more mainstream car. Look to the people who will purchase it will be coming from an ice powered vehicle that is of comprable size and won't notice that it is not as efficient as a Bolt EV or get the chance to discover, as my wife and I did, that a car the size of the Bolt could work as well as it does. I also feel that the smaller and more efficient Bolt EV and the Bolt EUV had a lot of untapped potential for business applications where a small vehicle that is efficient can really pencil out and help the bottom line while helping to improve air quality and reduce needless noise and still remaining fun to drive. I just wish that Chevy could have found a way to give their current and future customers the choice to purchase something more like the Bolt going forward. They pretty much had that market to themselves domestically and could have really capitalized on it if they had really planned for true mass production and profitability in a relatively small vehicle that could be sold with or without any major subsidies at a truly affordable price. A sad but not completely surprising turn of events given much of the history of US car manufacturers.
@@chazsmith4351 While I agree that the overall size is a bit bigger (for whatever reason, the Equinox EV actually has virtually identical overall cargo capacity to the Bolt), I think you might be overselling the impact on efficiency. The Bolt EUV was about 5% less efficient than the Bolt EV, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Equinox EV is at least as efficient as the EUV. GM tends to be conservative on their initial range estimates, and they are currently stating 250 miles of range out of what looks to be a 70 kWh usable pack. If the EPA numbers come in higher, then that would represent nearly identical efficiency to the EUV.
Thanks for the review. I'm actually quite interested in these Tesla sites as although I don't intend to tie up space there, it's nice to have a plan B/plan C for when I travel. I may never use them, just as a boat never uses it's life preservers or life boats; still good to have.
I agree that this is an important site, especially just before heading up us-50 on the way to Tahoe. We have yet to travel along with our EUV on us- 80 to Reno, but have checked out the caltrans site at one of the to rest areas along the way pass Auburn. Unfortunately the Gold Run rest area has been closed for several weeks and was not able to check out the level two charger there. I noticed a half a dozen or so superchargers going up in Dublin California, but they were covered up so I don't know if they'll have magic docks and longer cables. With only two sites in Northern California it would be nice if they were.
Glad to see Tesla is starting to open up. That is good news. These EV sites aren't great though. Funny what we are willing to accept. Your scoring seems pretty reasonable. The more light that is shined on the charging sites, what we like and don't like the better. We know the other charging network providers are listening. I don't know about Tesla. They are like Apple, closed, black box, and bad Not Invented Here syndrome. And new place to charge that is reliable is better than nothing! LOL I would prefer to see more CCS sites with direct access off the main roads, covered parking, and services. Too many of the charging sites are too far away from the travel corridors and not easy to get into and out of. I understand V4 Tesla chargers are going to address the cord length, but not sure how well that is going to work out. I guess time will tell. Tesla will need a lot of the V4's out there to support the Cybertruck so maybe they will be widely deployed. I am hoping to see EVgo and others start to ramp up their Travel Center build outs on the main travel corridors. I guess EVgo's plans were pushed off to 2024 for the Pilot/Flying J build. That was disappointing to hear. I appreciate what Tesla is doing, but it is really just a start. EV charging sites have a long ways to go. You are lucky in CA you have some impressive charging sites. We don't have anything remotely like that in the midwest. Your points are spot on regarding what we need and want. I just saw on Out of Spec they were talking to Chargepoint and they apparently know we want more of a gas station like model with covered charging and services etc. It sounded like they were working to possibly start doing some of that. It can't come soon enough. Dreaming of the days with L1 and L2 everywhere, and nice DCFC sites along the main travel corridors for road trips and longer distance travel. Dare to dream right? :) On the Now You Know channel those guys do a segment at the end of the show where they call out the new charging sites that have opened up, and they have a segment from people submitting their reviews of the charging sites checkins. I think that is great, but the charging sites are always Tesla. How about a segment that talks about the new CCS charging sites that are going online around the country and having people doing check ins giving their review of the site and services? Wouldn't it be great to know what is happening with the big charging operators and where new sites have gone online? Thanks!
Excellent video as usual. By the way, I got some potentially horrible news from my car salesman. He told me that my no option Bolt that I ordered in December will not be built. Apparently GM told the dealership that they wouldn't be able to fulfill my order. With Bolt production coming to an end. He told me that the dealership is contacting GM for further explanation. Even if I waited for the Equinox EV the first Equinox on sale will be the top of the line model. I could buy a new Bolt today, but I refuse to pay more than MSRP. For me this is a catastrophe lol. 🚙 🇺🇸 🔌
That sucks. I guess if they can only build 50,000 more units or so, they are going to focus on the highest margin models. I wonder whether it would be possible to order a 1LT from another dealership.
Don't worry. The Superchargers aren't all that great, anyway. There are only two sites that have any interest to me, and Tesla owners rarely travel there.
Sure, the new Bolt production is ending soon, but it's crazy to think that the Bolt EV is one of the best selling EVs of all time. I'm still driving my 6.5 year old Bolt EV around, so they'll be on the road for a long time.
@@skepticalmechanic Yup. By the time both models end production, there will be close to 1 million Bolts and LEAFs left on the road. I doubt the Ariya will match LEAF sales numbers, but the Equinox EV should surpass Bolt EV sales by a very wide margin.
@@newscoulomb3705 I’m A Tesla guy.. I have a Model 3 SR… and I’m coming from a Kona EV which is a good EV but it’s just to small for me… the model 3 was 31,500 after all incentives and no tax in NJ… just a fabulous car. Bought it on 3-29-23 brand new!
@@skepticalmechanic Congratulations. Yes, the Hyundai Kona EV is a bit small. That's really the only knock against it (it's about 50% smaller than the Bolt EV inside despite having a similar footprint). I'm not attached to any automaker or brand as far as EVs are concerned right now. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, but they can all be doing a lot better in my opinion (including Tesla).
These are Tesla adapters built into the charger as part of their "Magic Dock" solution. All Superchargers that are unlocked and available to the public include these Magic Dock CCS adapters.
Nice review Eric. One detail you may want to touch on when you’re talking about “amenities” would be restroom access specifically if it does or does not have 24 hour access.
Charging at night with no place to “go” would deduct a POINT I’m sure.
Yes, that's true. I somewhat lump that all in with the squeegees, garbage cans, "travel" services, but it probably should be given its own point. No bathrooms, deduct a point.
I think it's a good move by Tesla as there system seems to always work. The reason we got the model 3 was because of the infrastructure. I really enjoy your channel . Thanks
Thanks for the update Bill Burr! 😅
No problem! :-)
Thanks Eric, always interesting to see what's around and hear your thoughts on accessibility. The one that we managed to charge at in the Ioniq 5 also had a strip mall but limited food options. It will be good to watch how Tesla moves into the next wave of public charging, whether they lean further into the retrofitted V3 sites with the inherent limitations, or if they hold off for V4 and rethink the whole experience for the wider community of EVs that are now on the road.
Thanks! I think V4 are going to need to be installed primarily at newer locations. Even if the Cybertruck is built with a driver side rear port, it's much too big for many of the V2/V3 sites, and those sites certainly don't support towing.
Hi Eric,
The Placerville SC’s site has the charger placement / orientation to the side with room to pull slightly along side it. That does help getting plugged in with side mounted CCS ports compared to the centered ‘on-island’ SC Gen3’s. Looks a lot easier; you had slack in cable!! I’d like to have an input for expected reliability / uptime as part of a review, though, realistic rating on a site-by-site basis, clearly would be difficult at best.
Thanks for the look at P’ville SC.
Thanks agaIn!
As usual a thoughful review. But I think you missed the elephant in the room. Reliability !! My wife has a Tesla Mod 3 and I have a 2021 Bolt. I like my Bolt more than the Tesla but I have had some bad experiences with the unreliability of chargers. Recently I was on my way to San Jose from Yuba City. I stopped at an EVgo site in Vacaville that the EVgo app said was available. It was not. I then went to a ChargePoint.. it would not connect. I then drove east 24 miles to Davis to successfully use an Electrify America site. I am sure Tesla has its problems but it is clearly much further down the path of maturity. I know reliability is not one of your site review parameters but maybe it should be..... keep up the good communications. Kent
Thanks! One thing to note is that much of Tesla's Supercharger reliability is due to Tesla controlling both sides of interoperability. I almost didn't get this charging session started due to an account/app/billing error, and some non-Tesla EVs have been having real issues getting CCS Superchargers to work. I expect Tesla to fix both of those snags over time, which is why I don't bring things like that up in site reviews.
@@newscoulomb3705 That is one thing I really don't like about most public charging and Tesla's makes it required to have the app, credit card on file etc. Charging locations you should just be able to pull in, pay, charge and go. Tesla will never be able to do that with the way they are setup today. Sadly many of the public CCS sites the card readers don't work or have issues. It is just a train wreck. You shouldn't need an account, membership, or any of that to charge. Hopefully this sort of thing will change. I wouldn't expect Tesla to change however.
thanks!
Yes, covered chargers would really be a plus. Making the awning(s) from solar panels would be the best.
Appreciate the review. Traveling this corridor before, I was in the Bolt and stopped in Placerville as the last stop before dropping down to the lake. I have a friend that moved to Carson City and this will be one of my stops to see him, so this review is helpful. Carson City is a bit of a CCS/Supercharger desert although I'll probably be at a hotel overnight and will use a destination charger for the return trip.
As we've discussed before, infrastructure expansion is always appreciated and inclusion of CCS among the Tesla SC is nice. Orientation for the charge is slightly awkward but doable. Surprised up in the mountains that it lacks a canopy. Your grading, as always, is spot on and fair.
Thanks, Bruce! EV Range has also been doing good work up in the greater Tahoe area, so I'd keep an eye out for them, too. I think they have a four-charger site going up in Carson City soon, but I'm not sure whether it will be online by the next time you're up there.
I agree with all of your scores except for power. I understand that it can give 250 kW to a Tesla vehicle but to the public charging public it only provides 350 A and typical cars are 400 V so that would only be 140 kW. I don’t know what score that is for you, but I can’t imagine it being better than an 8 out of 10.
Yes, you are correct for CCS EVs, but I'll typically defer to the fastest potential charging speeds. Essentially, I don't want to blame the chargers if some vehicles can't maximize them. Right now, the fastest charging EVs are 350 kW, and the fastest chargers can provide that full power. So I'll give those 10/10. These V3 Superchargers can supply some EVs with 250 to 260 kW, so that ranks them higher than the 150 to 200 kW CCS units but lower than the 350 kW CCS units.
For CCS EVs using the Magic Dock, though, you are correct. These would only be a 7 or 8 out of 10. The lower score would be due to the voltage that limits 800 V CCS EVs to less than 150 kW.
As a dog owner, I'm going to rant about the fence behind the chargers. When you're road tripping with a dog, you need patches of grass for the dog to sniff, poop, and pee while the car is charging. This is an extremely basic amenity that costs next to nothing to provide, and yet this site actively blocks the grass with a fence, leaving dogs with nowhere to go except for a few much smaller landscaped patches on the other side of a large parking lot. If I were grading, I would definitely be docking the site some points under the amenities column due to this fence.
It would appear to me that the fence is to prevent animal or people access to the highway for safety reasons. I see that there is slope on the right where the roadway and the grass elevation comes together. Too bad they couldn’t have included a grassy area for dogs and a trash can.
Having a place to walk the dog is something that is great to know. When your road tripping and looking for a place to stop for fuel I always look for a place to walk my dog. Once I find a site like that I keep going back when I travel that way again. Knowing if the location is pet friendly is a good point.
It’s been awhile since we got a review! Glad to finally see one for a Supercharger even if it’s just a beta test site. The more diversity in stations the more interesting it gets!
Have you yet seen any new EA projects that are 6-charger stations? I’m somehow under the impression that they’ve abandoned the 4-chargers due to congestion concerns going forward.
I haven't seen any new six-charger EA sites, but I haven't really been looking. There are a number of them that have been in the works for a while, but that still haven't opened. The most notable recent EA site is the 10-charger site in Kettleman City. Their site in Primm hasn't opened yet (it was physically completed at least 6 months ago), but it will be a six-charger site.
Still hoping for Tesla to open Superchargers in West Virginia. From my home in Ohio, it’s a bit dicey getting to the Carolinas on CCS right now.
A past GM Volt and Spark EV and now Tesla 3 SR+ owner here. Super glad to see the opening up. I think reliability would be an important metric (nothing worse than a charger that doesn't work when you roll up at 2%). That would be hard to test but I think a subjective reliability score perhaps based on recent plugshare activity would be helpful and hopefully reinforce the need to improve reliability at all chargers. Tesla isn't perfect either but I have yet myself to not get 100% full speed charging every time. I doubt the same could be said about many CCS chargers. That's worth a lot in my book and the main reason I bought a Tesla. I will look at the Equinox when it comes out as well but I'm hoping CCS reliability either picks up or Tesla opens up a bunch more. Reiliability IMO is the most important factor.
Hello. What adaptor are you using. I just bought one for the Canadian Tesla sites. Have not used it yet on my Bolt. Was there any issue's charging on thier sites? Thanks.
This isn't my adapter. it is built into the Tesla Supercharger, and it is part of their "Magic Dock" program. Currently, there are no Supercharger to CCS adapters available, and even if they were, they would only work on these specific locations that Tesla has unlocked.
I have a couple of different Tesla AC to J1772 adapters that I'll review in a future video (probably the same type of adapter you have), but those do not work with Superchargers.
Hi Eric........have you done a review of the discontinuation of the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV? I would be curious to get your thoughts. I am thinking the Chevy equinox is actually the next version of the Bolt but GM has decided to move away from the Bolt name plate since the battery fire recall saga happened. The equinox will do nearly everything the bolt will but slightly improved and the price will be right in the range of the Bolts. The most important improvement will be the charge speed from the Bolts 54 kw to the Equinox 150 kw.....this is what will all wish the Bolt would do in terms of charging speed. So for me....the Bolt really is not being discontinued, it just has a new name.....its the 2024 Equinox EV.
Thanks! I haven't yet, but I need to. I mostly agree with your assessment, though. The Equinox EV is a very similar size and format to the EUV, so other than increasing the range and charging speed and adding options like AWD, the two cars are very similar. It's really that the Bolt is being replaced, not "ended" as some have claimed.
Except that the electric Equinox is supposed to be $5k more expensive than the Bolt is. That's a significant chunk of change for people on a budget, and leaves the new car market without a single EV offering priced under $30k. The Equinox is also bigger and heavier than a Bolt, which presumably means less maneuverable and less efficient.
Yes, the Equinox does offer faster charging speeds for the extra $5k, but if you are able to home charge and don't road trip a lot, you probably don't need it. The EV market badly needs an economy car that is the all electric equivalent of a Corolla or Prius, but it seems nobody (at least for the US market) is willing to make it, so your only choices are to either to buy something bigger, pricier, and more bloated than you need, or to burn gas. The car market should be able to do better than this.
@@ab-tf5fl While I agree with most of what you said, I think the issue is that we are really talking about two different cars. The Bolt EV and the Bolt EUV. The Equinox EV is essentially a direct replacement for the EUV across all points (even pricing and size). The only difference is, the Equinox provides a number of additional features and options beyond what the EUV offered. So in that sense, the Equinox and EUV would be completely redundant.
As for the Bolt EV, I agree. We do need a capable, compact EV on the market for under $30,000. The crazy thing is, GM still has a number of EV offerings that fit that bill. They just aren't sold in North America. My hope is that GM takes a step back and redesigns the Bolt EV as an Ultium platform using LFP cells, but given that they seem to be trending toward larger, more expensive cars, the Equinox EV might be the best we can do for a long time.
Side note, I'd keep an eye out for the Equinox EV 1LT's curb weight. With a 70 kWh pack, it might be closer to the Bolt EV's 3,500 lbs than people expect.
i think your review is consistent with other site reviews that you've done. 42/50 is a fairly good score on the News Coulomb scale.
I heard a blurb on another channel that, on a global basis, Tesla is opening one SC site every 13 hours on average. I assume they will start making more CCS capable sites when the V4 (with longer cord) chargers come out.
Thanks! I'm not sure where that pacing number comes from, but I would be surprised if that was a sustained number. Then again, EA and EVgo each have 100 to 200 sites that are "Coming Soon," so maybe 2 sites a day globally is accurate.
Either way, the pace that Tesla is opening their sites appears to be working on a different timescale. The opened about a dozen initially, but there hasn't been much movement since. I'm seeing more Superchargers with "locked" icons appear on the "Charge a Non-Tesla" section of the app, so I can only assume that those sites now have Magic Dock and are only waiting to be opened.
@@newscoulomb3705 the lack of new public superchargers really surprised me. I had hoped we’d see more Magic Dock stations open up nationally after a few weeks. Perhaps they want more time to refine the Dock design or perhaps they’re now just waiting for V4s. Regardless, I’d love to see public Superchargers open this summer along some popular travel corridors.
I checked the Tesla app but didn’t find any “locked” Superchargers that weren’t already open. Which ones did you find?
@@anthonyc8499 I saw a number of locked locations in Colorado, Southern California, and Texas. It shows as a greyed out lock rather than a red active symbol with a number.
Its cool man. I say good site review. So i would call that a nacs connector, yeah? And my 2013 tesla model s has no problem charging at v3 superchargers.... So..... Still trying to figure out the "cant charge on nacs" going forward if you have an older tesla statement. Is it cuz the non tesla deployed chargers wont have to talk to the older Teslas? If so that makes more sense..... Hmmm.....
when the whole network is open, plus the FHA sites, there will be very few places where you couldnt charge.
Eric - based on this being in CA and along a travel route, I’m surprised there weren’t more chargers in use (perhaps the rain?). I think your score for this location is fair, although having this quantity of chargers to cover Tesla AND CCS seems light. Do you think that Tesla will be updating to magic dock for all chargers at a location, or potentially ramping up from 1 or 2 per location as they see CCS demand? This way they could cover a large area quickly, if that is their intention. Looks like a great spot for a shopping day charge.
Yes, this was in the middle of an atmospheric river, so I think a lot of people were staying home. Highway 50 is a connecting route to South Lake Tahoe, which was closed to travelers at this point in time. Still, it's only a short stretch, so I'm not sure how many chargers are really needed along the route.
As far as I know, Tesla is not doing any "partial" site openings. The sites that they've opened have had all the plugs upgraded with Magic Dock.
@@newscoulomb3705 - for the 12 or so sites they updated, changing all chargers to the magic dock makes sense. But beyond that point, at least initially, just having one of them at each SC site would be a huge confidence boost for CCS travelers this summer.
@@dennislyon5412 I think only converting a few plugs would be counterproductive. Right now, Tesla is setting it up for people to plan their trip around using the Superchargers, so only having a couple of CCS ports per site could be disastrous, especially if Tesla drivers could also use those same plugs.
It's unlikely that CCS EVs would ever fill up a Supercharger, and given the (possibly purposefully) less than ideal CCS user experience, I only see a small population of CCS EV owners prioritizing Superchargers over other public fast charging options.
@@newscoulomb3705 - when most of the EA chargers are down, CCS users will be shopping around. The Kia/Hyundai owners plus other fast chargers will be seeking 100+ kw. Will they be willing to pay the SC price to avoid a trip delay? Here’s hoping that the CCS plugs at SC sites aren’t always occupied or blocked - by Teslas.
I thought your site review was spot-on your metrics are great the only thing I would like to have seen is where you connect the dispenser handle to your car and how long it takes to activate and how you start the activation process. Even though I did watch this with Kyle in out of spec he didn't have a bolt which is what I drive as well
EUV upgrade?
No, just a press car. I still need to publish my final review and thoughts.
Where the heck have anyone seen a window squeegee..??
A number of public chargers are located at gas stations and travel plazas, where squeegees, trash cans, and other travel amenities are readily available.
@@newscoulomb3705 very few around me
What did you think about the actual plug-in, payment, and activation experience?
is there a way to tell if a super charger site is open to non teslas?
Yes. You have to download Tesla's app and open an account with Tesla. It will show which chargers have been unlocked (only about a dozen so far). I does appear that more chargers are listed as locked now, and I can only assume that those are the sites that have been converted to Magic Dock and Tesla is preparing to unlock.
Bolt got killed I see. I dont understand why they didn't adapt it to the Ultium platform
That would require an entire redesign, and you could argue that it wouldn't even be the same car anymore. At that point, it might be redundant with the Equinox EV, which is a similar size and targeting the same segment.
@@newscoulomb3705 I agree with bangbangbowman, it would be great to have something that is the size of the Bolt with the new battery technology that would come with faster charging capability. Equinox EV is going to be approximately 2 ft longer than the Bolt and almost five and a half inches wider. The heights will be similar. Unless Chevy has a pretty impressive trick up their sleeve, the Equinox EV will be substantially less efficient. I almost wonder if one of the purposes of the Bolt EUV was to make the Equinox EV and the Blazer EV look less dramatically inefficient. In a rural setting the difference
in their sizes might seem insignificant but in an urban/suburban setting the difference will be substantial. My wife and I both have Bolt EVs and they both fit easily in our garage with room to walk around them while carrying items. Unfortunately, there's no way we could do that with 2 Equinox EVs. The ability of our Bolt EVs to fit into some tight spaces when we make trips downtown has been a real plus and yet it was big enough to get a surprisingly large amount of stuff in when making the occasional Costco type run. We have a 2019 Premier and a 2020 loaded LT. We also have a 2017 LT that was pretty loaded with the Comfort package and the driver confidence package. The 2017 was least at allowed us to dip our toes in the water to see how much we liked it, I was suspecting that it would be too small but it more than passed the test for us. I think that Chevy has good reason to beleive that the Equinox will probably appeal to more people overall as a more mainstream car. Look to the people who will purchase it will be coming from an ice powered vehicle that is of comprable size and won't notice that it is not as efficient as a Bolt EV or get the chance to discover, as my wife and I did, that a car the size of the Bolt could work as well as it does. I also feel that the smaller and more efficient Bolt EV and the Bolt EUV had a lot of untapped potential for business applications where a small vehicle that is efficient can really pencil out and help the bottom line while helping to improve air quality and reduce needless noise and still remaining fun to drive. I just wish that Chevy could have found a way to give their current and future customers the choice to purchase something more like the Bolt going forward. They pretty much had that market to themselves domestically and could have really capitalized on it if they had really planned for true mass production and profitability in a relatively small vehicle that could be sold with or without any major subsidies at a truly affordable price. A sad but not completely surprising turn of events given much of the history of US car manufacturers.
@@chazsmith4351 While I agree that the overall size is a bit bigger (for whatever reason, the Equinox EV actually has virtually identical overall cargo capacity to the Bolt), I think you might be overselling the impact on efficiency. The Bolt EUV was about 5% less efficient than the Bolt EV, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Equinox EV is at least as efficient as the EUV.
GM tends to be conservative on their initial range estimates, and they are currently stating 250 miles of range out of what looks to be a 70 kWh usable pack. If the EPA numbers come in higher, then that would represent nearly identical efficiency to the EUV.
I'm behind the curve on these changes. How many of those chargers have CCS connectors?
All eight. As far as I understand it, when Tesla opens a site with CCS1, they are opening the entire site.
@@newscoulomb3705 Ia the CCS just an adapter that fits on the Tesla plug, or are there two separate plugs?
@@slydog7131 It's just a CCS adapter fixed on the end of the Tesla plug.
W hat type connector and which port on the Bolt did it attach to???
Thanks for the review. I'm actually quite interested in these Tesla sites as although I don't intend to tie up space there, it's nice to have a plan B/plan C for when I travel. I may never use them, just as a boat never uses it's life preservers or life boats; still good to have.
I agree that this is an important site, especially just before heading up us-50 on the way to Tahoe. We have yet to travel along with our EUV on us- 80 to Reno, but have checked out the caltrans site at one of the to rest areas along the way pass Auburn. Unfortunately the Gold Run rest area has been closed for several weeks and was not able to check out the level two charger there. I noticed a half a dozen or so superchargers going up in Dublin California, but they were covered up so I don't know if they'll have magic docks and longer cables. With only two sites in Northern California it would be nice if they were.
Glad to see Tesla is starting to open up. That is good news. These EV sites aren't great though. Funny what we are willing to accept. Your scoring seems pretty reasonable. The more light that is shined on the charging sites, what we like and don't like the better. We know the other charging network providers are listening. I don't know about Tesla. They are like Apple, closed, black box, and bad Not Invented Here syndrome. And new place to charge that is reliable is better than nothing! LOL
I would prefer to see more CCS sites with direct access off the main roads, covered parking, and services. Too many of the charging sites are too far away from the travel corridors and not easy to get into and out of. I understand V4 Tesla chargers are going to address the cord length, but not sure how well that is going to work out. I guess time will tell. Tesla will need a lot of the V4's out there to support the Cybertruck so maybe they will be widely deployed.
I am hoping to see EVgo and others start to ramp up their Travel Center build outs on the main travel corridors. I guess EVgo's plans were pushed off to 2024 for the Pilot/Flying J build. That was disappointing to hear.
I appreciate what Tesla is doing, but it is really just a start. EV charging sites have a long ways to go. You are lucky in CA you have some impressive charging sites. We don't have anything remotely like that in the midwest. Your points are spot on regarding what we need and want. I just saw on Out of Spec they were talking to Chargepoint and they apparently know we want more of a gas station like model with covered charging and services etc. It sounded like they were working to possibly start doing some of that. It can't come soon enough.
Dreaming of the days with L1 and L2 everywhere, and nice DCFC sites along the main travel corridors for road trips and longer distance travel. Dare to dream right? :)
On the Now You Know channel those guys do a segment at the end of the show where they call out the new charging sites that have opened up, and they have a segment from people submitting their reviews of the charging sites checkins. I think that is great, but the charging sites are always Tesla. How about a segment that talks about the new CCS charging sites that are going online around the country and having people doing check ins giving their review of the site and services? Wouldn't it be great to know what is happening with the big charging operators and where new sites have gone online? Thanks!
Excellent video as usual. By the way, I got some potentially horrible news from my car salesman. He told me that my no option Bolt that I ordered in December will not be built. Apparently GM told the dealership that they wouldn't be able to fulfill my order. With Bolt production coming to an end. He told me that the dealership is contacting GM for further explanation. Even if I waited for the Equinox EV the first Equinox on sale will be the top of the line model. I could buy a new Bolt today, but I refuse to pay more than MSRP. For me this is a catastrophe lol. 🚙 🇺🇸 🔌
That sucks. I guess if they can only build 50,000 more units or so, they are going to focus on the highest margin models. I wonder whether it would be possible to order a 1LT from another dealership.
Stop hogging supercharger with slow charging car
Don't worry. The Superchargers aren't all that great, anyway. There are only two sites that have any interest to me, and Tesla owners rarely travel there.
@@newscoulomb3705 okay fine
I gotta admire your patience traveling w a bolt though!
@@rosmarin2438 If you have things to do with your time when traveling, the opportunity cost of charging is zero.
Why are your tires so small....smaller than the stock tires?
This is a press car, so the tires are stock size. Perhaps they appear smaller because of the blacked out rims
I hope you realize your driving an endangered species… 😢
Sure, the new Bolt production is ending soon, but it's crazy to think that the Bolt EV is one of the best selling EVs of all time. I'm still driving my 6.5 year old Bolt EV around, so they'll be on the road for a long time.
@@newscoulomb3705 then there is the leaf which was grounded breaking…
@@skepticalmechanic Yup. By the time both models end production, there will be close to 1 million Bolts and LEAFs left on the road. I doubt the Ariya will match LEAF sales numbers, but the Equinox EV should surpass Bolt EV sales by a very wide margin.
@@newscoulomb3705 I’m A Tesla guy.. I have a Model 3 SR… and I’m coming from a Kona EV which is a good EV but it’s just to small for me… the model 3 was 31,500 after all incentives and no tax in NJ… just a fabulous car. Bought it on 3-29-23 brand new!
@@skepticalmechanic Congratulations. Yes, the Hyundai Kona EV is a bit small. That's really the only knock against it (it's about 50% smaller than the Bolt EV inside despite having a similar footprint). I'm not attached to any automaker or brand as far as EVs are concerned right now. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, but they can all be doing a lot better in my opinion (including Tesla).
what adapter are you using?will it work on a 2022 bolt EUV?
These are Tesla adapters built into the charger as part of their "Magic Dock" solution. All Superchargers that are unlocked and available to the public include these Magic Dock CCS adapters.