Complete California North - South Travel SAE Combo Travel

As many of you, I observe plugshare SAE combo listing like a hawk. It looks like in the very near future, we will be able to take our Sparks almost exclusively from the Mexican boarder to the Oregon boarder on DC fast chargers. With the opening of the Redding combo charger:

http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/new-quick-charge-electric-car-station-in-redding/35972624

and the soon to be opened charger in Williams and Yreka, CA, interior Northern California travel will be almost completely possible by fast charging. The sections between Yreka and Redding and Redding and Williams is about 100 miles, so likely you'd have to stop at an RV park or other level two to make it, but only for a short stop.

The rest of the state is also starting to look good. Along the coast, a couple of new chargers have just opened to make travel from Northern to Southern California via fast chargers possible. The pivotal stops are the Kon Tiki Inn in San Luis Obispo: http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/56118 and King City: http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/73489

Southern California is now completely blanketed with SAE combo stations, so that you can almost not even have to think about where you're going to stop, and just figure it on the fly. Exciting times, looking forward to a completed West Coast Electric Highway!

fantastic news!


We just have a couple of gaps in Oregon and Washington that, if filled, would make Vancouver to San Diego possible.

Totally misplaced enthusiasm, if you ask me! Until you can take the I5 from LA to SF via CCS chargers, there is no "electric highway". A few chargers along Hwy101 is not nearly sufficient. I too watch PlugShare for new chargers, and have been disappointed for a long time that LA and SF are not linked.

Zoomit said:

Totally misplaced enthusiasm, if you ask me! Until you can take the I5 from LA to SF via CCS chargers, there is no "electric highway". A few chargers along Hwy101 is not nearly sufficient. I too watch PlugShare for new chargers, and have been disappointed for a long time that LA and SF are not linked.

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I agree that the roll-out hasn't been what I have wanted. Instead of jamming so many fast chargers in the city centers, they should have invested more on interstate travel. However, we only need two more chargers (one in Visala and one in Bakersfield) to take a central valley route. Also, the California energy commission is planning on putting up more DCFC in the near future, check out page 6 of this document:

http://www.energy.ca.gov/renewables/tracking_progress/documents/electric_vehicle.pdf

Last year it took me nine travel days to make it from So. Cal to Edmonton, Canada. With the current DCFC roll-out, I now think it could take me only 5 days; with a few more well placed chargers, I could make it in four. That's pretty significant progress in one year, IMHO.

I've been anxiously awaiting news on the I5 corridor fast chargers as well. Rumblings in certain circles indicate that ground is supposed to be broken on basically the entire committed I5 corridor chargers from Portland south with the BMW/VW/Chargepoint deal by the end of the year. Even if it takes a couple of months longer than that, that would be great progress. Having driven our Leaf to just about ever Chademo in the PNW a couple of years ago, it's been pretty disheartening how slow the CA chargers have been coming. However, I'm reserving some vacation time to take the round trip once a commoner (non-Tesla owner) can drive from Portland to SoCal with confirmed operational DC chargers, and I have a feeling that will be possible by late Spring.

Bryce

I'm curious why the coasts of NorCal and Oregon haven't been built up. Surely EV tourism would flourish at the coast.

Zoomit said:

Totally misplaced enthusiasm, if you ask me! Until you can take the I5 from LA to SF via CCS chargers, there is no "electric highway". A few chargers along Hwy101 is not nearly sufficient. I too watch PlugShare for new chargers, and have been disappointed for a long time that LA and SF are not linked.

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I was looking at the Hwy 101 route to LA from my home in Manteca, CA and there is a 91 mile gap between King City and Pismo Beach that would require an L2 charging stop somewhere in between to ensure you would be able to get to Pismo Beach. It does not look like there are any other charging distance gap problems from Pismo Beach to Los Angeles.

The mileage hit on I-5 going over the steep grade up the Grapevine from either side should be severe. I hope there is a DCFC at Frasier Park and / or Gorman in the works too.

Nashco said:

I've been anxiously awaiting news on the I5 corridor fast chargers as well. Rumblings in certain circles indicate that ground is supposed to be broken on basically the entire committed I5 corridor chargers from Portland south with the BMW/VW/Chargepoint deal by the end of the year. Even if it takes a couple of months longer than that, that would be great progress. Having driven our Leaf to just about ever Chademo in the PNW a couple of years ago, it's been pretty disheartening how slow the CA chargers have been coming. However, I'm reserving some vacation time to take the round trip once a commoner (non-Tesla owner) can drive from Portland to SoCal with confirmed operational DC chargers, and I have a feeling that will be possible by late Spring.

Bryce

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Doubt it. There are some big gaps south of Eugene, particularly between Cottage Grove and Roseburg and the Medford area and then again between Ashland and Redding. Remember: the state tends to forget that we exist down here in Southern Oregon and concentrates on the higher population areas in the Willamette Valley with the occasional nod out to Bend.

If I had to rely on public charging stations, I would never have bought an EV for use in Southern Oregon.

As far as I know (and PlugShare agrees) there are CCS/SAE DC fast charge stations in Salem and then the next one to the south is in Redding, CA, about 380 miles. There are L2 J1772 stations along the way, although given the hilly terrain and the fact that many of the stations are 1 plug only which may or may not be working, it can be dicey.

ReddyKilowatt said:

Nashco said:

I've been anxiously awaiting news on the I5 corridor fast chargers as well. Rumblings in certain circles indicate that ground is supposed to be broken on basically the entire committed I5 corridor chargers from Portland south with the BMW/VW/Chargepoint deal by the end of the year. Even if it takes a couple of months longer than that, that would be great progress. Having driven our Leaf to just about ever Chademo in the PNW a couple of years ago, it's been pretty disheartening how slow the CA chargers have been coming. However, I'm reserving some vacation time to take the round trip once a commoner (non-Tesla owner) can drive from Portland to SoCal with confirmed operational DC chargers, and I have a feeling that will be possible by late Spring.

Bryce

Click to expand...

Doubt it. There are some big gaps south of Eugene, particularly between Cottage Grove and Roseburg and the Medford area and then again between Ashland and Redding. Remember: the state tends to forget that we exist down here in Southern Oregon and concentrates on the higher population areas in the Willamette Valley with the occasional nod out to Bend.

If I had to rely on public charging stations, I would never have bought an EV for use in Southern Oregon.

As far as I know (and PlugShare agrees) there are CCS/SAE DC fast charge stations in Salem and then the next one to the south is in Redding, CA, about 380 miles. There are L2 J1772 stations along the way, although given the hilly terrain and the fact that many of the stations are 1 plug only which may or may not be working, it can be dicey.

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When I went through Southern Oregon last year, and I thought the infrastructure was quite good. Even though I couldn't use the DCFC, I never we really nervous about charger spacing. The craziest places were Eastern Washington (which has already gotten substantially better because of the Ritzville charger), and some parts of Canada. Relying on RV parks can get dicey for sure.

ReddyKilowatt said:

Nashco said:

I've been anxiously awaiting news on the I5 corridor fast chargers as well. Rumblings in certain circles indicate that ground is supposed to be broken on basically the entire committed I5 corridor chargers from Portland south with the BMW/VW/Chargepoint deal by the end of the year. Even if it takes a couple of months longer than that, that would be great progress. Having driven our Leaf to just about ever Chademo in the PNW a couple of years ago, it's been pretty disheartening how slow the CA chargers have been coming. However, I'm reserving some vacation time to take the round trip once a commoner (non-Tesla owner) can drive from Portland to SoCal with confirmed operational DC chargers, and I have a feeling that will be possible by late Spring.

Bryce

Click to expand...

Doubt it. There are some big gaps south of Eugene, particularly between Cottage Grove and Roseburg and the Medford area and then again between Ashland and Redding. Remember: the state tends to forget that we exist down here in Southern Oregon and concentrates on the higher population areas in the Willamette Valley with the occasional nod out to Bend.

If I had to rely on public charging stations, I would never have bought an EV for use in Southern Oregon.

As far as I know (and PlugShare agrees) there are CCS/SAE DC fast charge stations in Salem and then the next one to the south is in Redding, CA, about 380 miles. There are L2 J1772 stations along the way, although given the hilly terrain and the fact that many of the stations are 1 plug only which may or may not be working, it can be dicey.

Click to expand...

<warning: political content>
Not sure why you are talking about "the state". I can't think of a single publicly funded charger in the state of Oregon. The Transportation Bill that died in the legislature this year (over squabbling over the so-called Clean Fuels Bill) would have provided funds for chargers. But no, we had to pursue the dream of "clean" fuels, which offer at best marginal benefits.
</warning>


I believe there is a DCFC scheduled for Yreka, is there not? And Chico. And if VW dealers come through with DCFC's, we'd be in business. We need Ashland, Eugene, and maybe Roseburg to complete I5 in Oregon. And one in the middle of I5 Washington (Centralia?) to get the entire WCEH built. It's really asking for too much for Chevy dealers to have DCFC's, isn't it.

Because a lot of it is being handled by ODOT, as far as what type of charging station and the location of charging station, even if a lot of the funding is coming from elsewhere.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/OIPP/Pages/inn_ev_sites.aspx

I had no idea...thanks!

There are certainly charging stations being put in on the private dollar, but a lot of them are done via grants, which ODOT helps write. I actually called to talk to ODOT about charger station standards (SAE vs ChaDeMo) and they are aware that more and more vehicles use the SAE (DCFC and J1772) standard and are trying to take that into account in new installations - a plus for Spark, Volt, Focus, etc cars.