Chademo

[Roger Monk]

I am curious how many local owners have purchased the Chademo charging adapter, and if they find it worthwhile. There are a couple of charging stations around which will provide a fairly fast charge option while we wait for a potential Supercharger closer to the lower mainland. Toronto has a Supercharger close to downtown and Montreal have two.

Beat regards,

Roger

[Paul Carter]

Hi Roger,

I have the adapter myself and have had it since the early spring. I believe I’ve used it a total of 5 times to date, three of which were simply for opportunistic reasons. From that comment, you might think that I’d have to think twice about buying it again… but you’d be wrong! It’s not a cheap accessory, but if you find yourself needing it, the cost becomes much less material. I like knowing it’s in the back and ready for use should my route and schedule benefit from it. It certainly was useful on the day I *really* needed it.

I intend to take a few trips into areas that aren’t served well by Superchargers (so far anyway). I expect I’ll be using it more frequently on those journeys.

[pcarter]

I’ve used mine to go down the coast line of western USA. Now that they are putting in Supercharging along that route I may only use it on a rare occasion where destination charging may be an issue (or as a backup to it). I think its more of a comfort level for me now to have it.

Also you are able to get back on the road much quicker if you can’t charge overnight or don’t want to wait long at the Supercharging when going to a destination if you can do a 30 minute charge in the destination city.

BC Hydro is expanding DCFC around the province, so it may become more useful to get further around BC. So if you do travel lots in BC then it will become valuable in the medium term too.

[Dan Bowditch]

Hi Roger,

I’ve used mine on the Island, in Merritt and around the Lower Mainland (the latter just to try it out). I bought it for the US but haven’t made any trips down there yet. Many BC sites are now charging $.35/kwh but it is good insurance as Brock says and a nicer convenience than Level 2 when a CHAdeMO charger is available (and working .. the ones made by Eaton have that big red emergency button that requires a technician to get inside the locked cabinet to reset it after someone hits the button while walking by).

Hi Brock, congratulations on topping the Councillor ballet in the APEGBC election. Finally, I’ve had a vote that counted. Best of luck with the reform efforts.

[Paul Carter]

Hi Dan,

Thanks very much! I’m now scheduled to attend the AGM in Victoria, whether I planned to or not… LOL. It will be interesting to learn more about the association from the inside. My concern has always been that there isn’t enough input from the membership, so I hope to hear thoughts from anyone who wants to share them.

[Roger Monk]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for your input and advice. There has been some discussion that Tesla is working on a CC/SAE which could become the new standard DC charger format. That could take a very long time but we are in interesting times as there are more EV’s on the road and there is another preferred option to Chademo.

Regards to y’all

Roger

[Stan Valnicek]

Until the promised supercharger in Merritt is built (was on the Tesla map for 2016 but nothing happened), it is nice to be able to top up an MX in Merritt if going to Vancouver from the interior. There is 12,000′ of climbing between the okanagan and Vancouver and you cannot drive very fast if you only charge in Hope.

My Chademo has saved me twice, once in Merritt and once in Surrey when I had to detour to drop someone off on the way to downtown Vancouver from Kelowna.

I set up a Greenlots account for use with the chargers.

If you do buy one, watch the video online (youtube) as to how to use it since it took me 15 frustrating minutes to figure out the “locked” position so that the charger would work.

Cheers

[Paul Carter]

Hi Stan,

I believe the Merritt supercharger should be up and running very shortly. It was due to be sparked up a few weeks ago, but I understand BC Hydro had an issue with how something was installed and there was a delay.

Actually, hold on… Plugshare shows a checkin at Merritt today, so I guess it’s finally operational!!

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