DC SAE not working

[fferro09]

I went to a "freedom station" last night in Virginia from Nrg evgo and I couldn't fit the plug into the car's two ports. The plug was just a single round plug, and not two... Is there an adapter I could get? They never told me about this at the dealership... They said I could DC fast charge it around the area.

 

[WoodlandHills]

That's because you were not at a DC station, but were using a 240v AC Level 2 charger. Most likely, your salesman confused the faster 240v Level 2 charging with the really, really fast DC charging. Many of our less than qualified sales staff think that the 110v Occasional Use charging cord is the main charging method and that the Level 2 chargers are "fast chargers". There are, in fact, three charging methods: the OU cord, the level 2 chargers and the DC chargers, all use different voltage and all charge at different rates. The DC chargers are the fastest, but there are only a handful in NA. Probably less than a dozen although they are building a network in California since the company was convicted of criminal fraud there and has to make compensation for past criminal actions(Enron).

 

[wraithnot]

I went to a "freedom station" last night in Virginia from Nrg evgo and I couldn't fit the plug into the car's two ports. The plug was just a single round plug, and not two... Is there an adapter I could get? They never told me about this at the dealership... They said I could DC fast charge it around the area.

The BMW i3 needs an SAE combo (aka CCS) charger for fast DC charging. Pictures of the different types of plugs can be seen near the bottom right of this article: http://insideevs.com/chademo-association-again-responds-to-european-union-idea-of-transition-from-chademo-to-combo-2/

A plugshare search with only the SAE combo option will show you if any of these are in your area. They're still pretty rare in many parts of the US, although they are installing them pretty rapidly in parts of California.

Edit- NRG freedom stations don't necessarily have SAE combo chargers- many of them have CHAdeMO fast chargers that are compatible with the Nissan LEAF. The way the charger and the car communicate (required to keep the charger from destroying your battery) are very different between SAE combo and CHAdeMO chargers and as far as I am aware, no one has built an adapter to allow an i3 to charge from a CHAdeMO station.

 

[BMW4Me]

Edit- NRG freedom stations don't necessarily have SAE combo chargers- many of them have CHAdeMO fast chargers that are compatible with the Nissan Leaf

To further expand on this, as I too am in the DC Metro area, and the local NRG rep explained to me that all of the current Freedom stations in this area currently only have the CHAdeMO connector for the DCFC. However, the stations are setup to allow for a second connector and the plan is to equip existing stations with SAE Combo 1 (CCS) connectors. Unfortunately, despite contacting him every few months, he cannot tell me when they will have these and has directed me to their website for updates and announcements. Go to: http://www.nrgevgo.com/bmw-chargenow-dc-fast-program/ and enter your details at the bottom of the page so that you get notified.

Let's hope we'll start seeing some of these sooner than later!

 

[user 1096]

FWIW, several of us here in upstate are harping on the NYS Thruway for installation of these DC units at Thruway FUEL Stops. They say they are "studying and planning" them, but nothing even on paper yet. I think we should all hit on our regional TOLL ROADS authorities to get them move....heck they can MAKE MONEY!