GM & Pilot to build 2000 EVgo charging stations at 500 locations along US highways

[Mathington]

This is great as the these Flying J locations are usually right off the highway and will make it useful for road trips. The stations are typically designed for large trucks so hopefully this means they will have pull through chargers to accommodate people who are towing.

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[DevSecOps]

From my understanding it’s just the older ones

We must have all the old ones in Cali then.

 

[Tampamike]

I’ve used EVGo’s a few times on the East coast - VA and FL. The 350 kw units near Jacksonville work great. I’ve used a couple in VA beach that also worked well. It’s just the really old ones that didn’t work for me. Use PlugShare and look at the pictures and you can tell which ones they are.

I like the idea of putting them at a truck stop. They’ll have trash cans and windshield washers and all kinds of gee-whiz gadgets of the future. Who knows, they might even be under a roof - gasp!

 

[Cm12]

Because truck stops are exactly where I want to charge...

Actually, for F-150Ls, this MAY be ideal.

They’re exactly where most people want to charge. Bathrooms, usually decently lit, food/drinks available…not sure why that would be a bad thing. It’s definitely better than some of the DCFC I’ve used where I can’t even go to the bathroom and thus have to make an extra stop.

 

[dmastro]

Because truck stops are exactly where I want to charge...

Agreed, truck stops are usually conveniently located right off major freeways and have a host of services and nearby food options. All the necessary infrastructure is in place to support road trips, much more efficient and quicker to co-locate rather than build in new locations.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Even if you don’t like EVGO or Pilot… this is still great news. It may set a trend for other places to add chargers.

 

[Logal727]

We must have all the old ones in Cali then.

I forget which article I read but there was an interview with Farley and he was talking about dealing with a DCFC company that had a bunch of legacy units that were not compatible with the MME, and their units were also not upgradeable OTA, so he threatened that he’d take them out of the Ford network if they didn’t go manually update each one. I have a suspicion this was EVGo.

 

[silverelan]

Here’s a map of the planned network with Pilot.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I have never heard of Pilot or Flying J on the east coast but I'm glad for expansion anywhere. Hopefully, this will boost EVGo as an organization.

First time I ever heard of Pilot/Flying J was when they sponsored a NASCAR Cup car. I assumed that they were Southern, but kind of got me paying attention a little more. I noticed that there were a few Pilot stations in the SF Bay Area and I have seen a few of their truck stops along the major interstates in CA. ?‍?

 

[nvabill]

I have never heard of Pilot or Flying J on the east coast but I'm glad for expansion anywhere. Hopefully, this will boost EVGo as an organization.

They are all along I-95 from Virginia to Florida, guess they aren’t prevalent in upper Northeast.

 

[ElectrifyCLT]

This is a great development. I'd much rather stop at Pilot over Wal Mart. I had issues with EVGo 50kw units until the 21P22 updates. Suddenly that raft of Module updates made it work on those old Boxy 50kw units.

Could've been something else and coincidental timing, but they're now usable for me as a backup option on road trips. NC has very few EVGo chargers today, so they're not in my routine.

 

[pacman7474]

Is it just EVgo or does other companies give names to their chargers? The ones closest to me are Garcia, Pigpen and Bob.

 

[mkhuffman]

They are all along I-95 from Virginia to Florida, guess they aren’t prevalent in upper Northeast.

Looking at the map it appears they are adding a bunch in Virginia. So that is excellent news.

 

[TGIF]

Now we need to develop signage so we can tell if a stop has EVSE level 3 charging capability. There are times I’m road tripping and I’d like to take a comfort break. I may not need more charge but if I can get 10-15 minutes of electrons while I empty my bladder it makes my EV that much better on a road trip.

 

[gpgrim]

Yeah I DCFC a lot ... probably close to 100-200kw of juice each week. EA stations are by far the most reliable and fastest with the MME. I really refuse to use anything else.

Last week I decided to give the Shell Recharge station (rated at 150) in Santa Nella a go again and again I just got 50kw delivered from it.

A lot of people bash on EA, but take it from someone who uses these things on the road all the time, stick with EA and you'll be much happier.

Every EA station I've used has given more than 100 kW of power (non-Chadmo) and I've yet to be stranded, though my DCFC count is only in the teens.

Have you developed a superstition/anecdotal evidence yet on reducing the likelihood of an initiation fault? On my last couple of runs I decided to leave the car on when I plugged in. No faults, but the sample size is still too small.

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