Charging infrastructure anecdote from AABC
29 January 2011
During his presentation on challenges for battery development for an extended range electric vehicle to the AABC event in Pasadena this past week, Roland Matthé, GM’s technical manager for the Voltec Battery System, as an aside touched on another challenge: finding an appropriate plug.
I noticed [a charging outlet] was quite hard for me to find for the Volt here in Pasadena, finally I found one in the Hilton Hotel. There was a Magna charge unit...with dust on...but was operational. The Magna charge unit is a...paddle for the EV1...and I found the DC connection, which Ford I think used in the 90s and the French vehicle used. And finally I found a normal US plug, and so luckily my car is charged every night.
If I wouldn’t have found it, it wouldn’t have mattered, I still have the range extender.
—Roland Matthé
Funny how the old systems designed to placate worry-warts (and probably drive up costs and restrict drivers to pre-defined routes and destinations) have become useless for the current generation of vehicles; now all we need is the standard outlet... and even those are hard to find.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 29 January 2011 at 09:18 PM
The next (GM made) major challenge may be a cover for the standard EV plug? Surprising to see how many road blocks can people make to delay the arrival of electrified vehicles.
Posted by: HarveyD | 30 January 2011 at 07:26 AM
Surprising there is not yet an iPhone/Android app to identify locations of 220VAC vehicle accessible outlets. Maybe OnStar should consider this as part of their mobile app.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 31 January 2011 at 06:27 PM
Reel$$,
The Nissan Leaf's on-board telematics show public charging stations within range.
Why bother with an app when there are web sites like http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php and http://electric.carstations.com/ ? Many smartphone apps are crutches for dummies who don't realize you can do "Goooggling" and "surfing" of the IntarWub-dot-Tubes on your phone as well as your computer.
Posted by: skierpage | 02 February 2011 at 02:40 AM