Tag Archives: L2 Charging

EV Charging at Epcot

August 21, 2014 Space Coast EV Drivers Team

After hearing that Epcot installed two dual Level 2 EV charging stations the SCEV Drivers, being a short hour and twenty minute drive away, decided we needed to head over and check them out.

So last Sunday afternoon we loaded up and took the Chevy Volt over to Orlando, FL to Disney’s Epcot center to test the brand new chargers. Over the past few months there has been a growing number of people contacting WDW pushing for the installation of chargers. Josh and Brenna had tweeted and e-mailed on a few occasions letting them know that they needed to catch up with their California counterpart and get some charging stations installed. We mentioned we were not going to visit the happiest place on earth until they installed some charging stations. Being people of our word as soon as we plugged up we headed over to the guest services counter and purchased two seasonal passes. We let them know that the reason we purchased them was a direct result of the installation of these chargers. This serves as a very good example on how installing charging stations can attract new business.

Details about the charging stations:
They are installed at the very front of the Epcot center parking lot near the monorail station located near the handicapped rows. Unfortunately you still have to pay the $17 to park like normal (unless you have annual passes) in addition to the cost to charge. When headed in they will try to direct you down a row before you get to the spaces. You will have to tell the parking attendant that you drive an EV and need to use the charging station and they will let you pass them. You have to turn down the row before the station and take it all the way up and around to get to the stations due to the one way set up. Once you arrive you will see two, dual J1772 level 2 stations from ChargePoint serving the first four parking spaces with 4 total J1772 plugs.

Charge Point price details on Epcot 1 — Price Details on Epcot 1

They charge 35 cents per kWh with a minimum of $1.50 but there’s no limit to how long you can park there. We parked, plugged in, and swiped the ChargePoint card and were on our way. We arrived at 5:30 pm and left after the park closed. It is nice to be able to park there, take a bus or monorail to all the other parks and come back to a fully charged EV.

A full charge on the Volt will cost about $4.50 making it a bit expensive but worth it for the up front parking and not having to use as much gasoline as it would without the charge. Disney World is about 80 miles from home so we were able to go 40 miles there on electric power from home, then use about a gallon of gas to get there. We left with a full battery so we got 40 miles back on electric power from Disney then another gallon of gas to get home. So we spent about $5.75 on electricity and only 2 gallons of gas for the whole trip.

Thanks for the charge, Disney!

EV News

Install of EV Home Charging Station

July 12, 2014 SpaceCoast

EVLink Charging station — Install of new EVLink at home charging station

After a short wait we are happy to say that our new EV home charging station is installed! The cost was around $350, the same cost as running a new dryer plug, wire, and breaker.

It took a good two hours to install but most of that time was spent running a new wire up and over the garage ceiling to get it to the side we wanted it on. It took about 20 seconds to actually connect the three wires inside the EVLink charging station and tighten down the set screws. While we didn’t want a portable Level 2 charger at home we did verify that if we were to ever move we could take this with us by turning off the breaker, unscrewing those three set screws, removing the wires, and capping them off with wire nuts and electrical tape.

The difference in charging speed between a 110v outlet at 12 amps vs. a 240v outlet at 30 amps is night and day! The 110v outlet would put back between 4 and 5 miles of range into our electric vehicle every hour it was plugged in. This new 240v “Level 2” charger gives a charge of 10-12 miles every hour! The difference is amazing for at home charging of EVs.

This is extremely helpful for those days when you take the car out for work/errands then come home for an hour or so and head out again. Only now with a Level 2 home charger there will be lots of extra EV only miles to play with. In the short time we have had the Level 2 charger at home it has made a world of difference. If you are considering buying an EV home charging station we have to say it is totally worth it. It took a while for us to decide we wanted an EV home charging station and you can read an earlier post regarding our decision to finally purchase a Level 2 home charger here. For now there will be a lot more “sport mode” going on without worrying too much about running out of EV only miles and using the gasoline backup because while we have the option, we hate to use it if we don’t have to.

Local EV Event

June’s Monthly EV Meet Up Recap

Gallery June 3, 2014 Space Coast EV Drivers Team

Space Coast Electric Vehicle Club members and their cars — SCEV Drivers and their cars

The Space Coast Electric Vehicle (SCEV) Drivers want to thank everyone who made it out to the second meeting on June 1st at Squid Lips in Melbourne, FL. As you can see in the photo above we had six EVs come to this months meet up which is double the number from May’s event. We had three Nissan Leafs, two Chevy Volts and one Toyota RAV4EV just shipped in from California! Can you say awesome!? Not many groups can say they have the RAV4EV so of course we were thrilled to have one in our group so we could check it out. Here are some photos.

RAV4EV

One of the coolest things about this group is the diversity of the drivers. At this month’s event we had drivers who have had their EVs since 2011, drivers who just purchased their car a week ago as well as everything in between. It is great to be able to share stories with potential buyers, new drivers, and the seasoned EV drivers.

Now for the real reason you are here the “what did I miss” recap. Twelve attendees braved the scattered thunderstorms and descended upon Squid Lips in Melbourne from 2-4 PM. Our group took over a good chunk of the parking spaces surrounding the L2 charging station located at the Eau Gallie Library in the parking lot adjacent to Squid Lips where we enjoyed a late lunch, drinks, and good conversation.

Due to an unfortunate mix up two of the twelve were not actually able to find our group and ended up meeting a few interesting characters in their search “We did however meet Jack, Jose and Bud(lite). lol” We are so sorry about that and we have added a phone number to the Facebook page so anyone who has trouble in the future can get in contact with us. Hopefully it won’t happen again.

During the two hours we discussed all things electric vehicle, shared how wonderful the PlugShare app is to our newest EV drivers and talked with a potential EV driver who shared his story of how the local Ford dealers do not have the car he wanted to test drive and the ones they do keep on the lot are not even charged! We discussed Septembers upcoming event for National Drive Electric Week, how our “outreach” aka leaving one of the SCEV business cards on every EV we see while we are out and about is going and more.

The highlight of the event had to be when we asked the manager to come to our table to let him know we chose to meet there because they are so close to the charging stations and he admitted “I have no idea what you are talking about.” We explained that we all drive electric vehicles and the “thing at the end of the library parking lot” is a level 2 charging station. We explained further that it is for our cars, because they do not use gas and he laughed and said to us “that is crazy, I always assumed that was an air pump for all the people who ride bikes around here.” Of course that comment was met with laughter as none of us had ever heard that one before. It was a fun meeting! Check out this short clip from around the table at the event http://youtu.be/dUsSuBD6HlY

Be sure to check the Facebook page and the website for July’s event. Due to the first Sunday being very close to the holiday weekend we are planning to move the event to the second Sunday in July, the 13th. We will meet at the Kohl’s charger in Palm bay 205 Palm Bay Rd NE Melbourne, FL 32904 and walk over to Panera Bread for coffee, snacks, and or good conversation with fellow EV drivers.

Thanks,

Josh and Brenna

It's Electric!