Electrify America to install 30 standalone EV ARC™ (solar) 2020 stations to carefully selected areas in rural California

Billyk24

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Electrify America is sourcing the chargers from Envision Solar (Nasdaq: EVSI, EVSIW), a San Diego-based sustainable technology company. The EV ARC™ 2020 is a transportable, solar-powered electric vehicle-charging infrastructure product. Each standalone station is equipped with a 4.28-kilowatt (kW) sun-tracking solar array, 32kWh of on-board battery storage, and two Electrify America Level 2 EV chargers capable of charging speeds up to 6kW. This combination allows for two customers to charge their vehicles at the same time using 100 percent renewable electricity – regardless of weather or time of day.-----from this link: https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/91
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macchiaz-o

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That is some really slow charging. Hopefully this will be placed at some motels for overnight guest charging. Even then, its battery capacity is so small that it won't be possible to get even a half-charge fill up on MME.

We have to start somewhere, though... Here's to hoping for bigger captures of renewable energy and bigger batteries in the future. :)
 

mark360

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That has got to be the dumbest thing to be working on. How about put more EV DC fast charging stations in the country before you focus your energy on something like that ?‍♂
 

JamieGeek

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That has got to be the dumbest thing to be working on. How about put more EV DC fast charging stations in the country before you focus your energy on something like that ?‍♂
Given that EA has promised to install 800 DCFC's by the end of 2021 I think they can handle having more than a few balls in the air at the same time.
 


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The EV ARC™ 2020 is a transportable, solar-powered electric vehicle-charging infrastructure product.
Nice design, but limited utility.
You won't charge at it at a road trip, and most residential customers will charge at home.
Maybe just like a free energy for locals.
 

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These are primarily intended for the massive amount of PHEVs that are expected to be on the roads in the coming years. Like it or not, the expectation is PHEVs will outsell BEVs by a factor of 3 or 4 to 1.
 

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Looks like the most expensive way of getting the least amount of energy. I guess they are getting some taxpayers money from the state, they can't be that dumb after all.
 

Jimrpa

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These are primarily intended for the massive amount of PHEVs that are expected to be on the roads in the coming years. Like it or not, the expectation is PHEVs will outsell BEVs by a factor of 3 or 4 to 1.
Could someone please explain to me, in bunny rabbit English, the case for a PHEV? To me, they have always seemed like the stupidest thing ever, particularly the way they are implemented, with the internal combustion engine used in the traction drive train. If you must haul along an internal combustion engine, and all it’s complex bits and pieces, and maintenance requirements (which pretty much kills a lot of the case for owning an electric vehicle from a financial standpoint in my view), why not at least engineer the vehicle so that you use the internal combustion engine solely as a generator to maintain battery charge? That way you can optimize the internal combustion engine for power efficiency, fuel consumption and emissions output. I had zero interest in alternative fuel vehicles until BEVs with acceptable range came around and it looked like the charging infrastructure was beginning to grow. I always knew I wanted one for total cost of ownership and moving a lot of the environmental impact to larger, centralized facilities where it can be more economically managed (it’s easier to manage the impact of one nuclear power plant than millions of cars in various states of maintenance).
 

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Could someone please explain to me, in bunny rabbit English, the case for a PHEV? To me, they have always seemed like the stupidest thing ever, particularly the way they are implemented, with the internal combustion engine used in the traction drive train. If you must haul along an internal combustion engine, and all it’s complex bits and pieces, and maintenance requirements (which pretty much kills a lot of the case for owning an electric vehicle from a financial standpoint in my view), why not at least engineer the vehicle so that you use the internal combustion engine solely as a generator to maintain battery charge? That way you can optimize the internal combustion engine for power efficiency, fuel consumption and emissions output. I had zero interest in alternative fuel vehicles until BEVs with acceptable range came around and it looked like the charging infrastructure was beginning to grow. I always knew I wanted one for total cost of ownership and moving a lot of the environmental impact to larger, centralized facilities where it can be more economically managed (it’s easier to manage the impact of one nuclear power plant than millions of cars in various states of maintenance).
There really isn't a good case other than a manufacturer can make 5 PHEVs for the same battery allocation found in 1 BEV. And the consumer does have range and charging anxiety so a PHEV negates those things. A PHEV is a bad ICE vehicle and a bad Electric Vehicle.

Even so, people are buying them in increasing numbers and not considering BEV choices because there aren't any (unless you are willing to wait 6 or 18 months)
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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Could someone please explain to me, in bunny rabbit English, the case for a PHEV? To me, they have always seemed like the stupidest thing ever, particularly the way they are implemented, with the internal combustion engine used in the traction drive train. If you must haul along an internal combustion engine, and all it’s complex bits and pieces, and maintenance requirements (which pretty much kills a lot of the case for owning an electric vehicle from a financial standpoint in my view), why not at least engineer the vehicle so that you use the internal combustion engine solely as a generator to maintain battery charge? That way you can optimize the internal combustion engine for power efficiency, fuel consumption and emissions output. I had zero interest in alternative fuel vehicles until BEVs with acceptable range came around and it looked like the charging infrastructure was beginning to grow. I always knew I wanted one for total cost of ownership and moving a lot of the environmental impact to larger, centralized facilities where it can be more economically managed (it’s easier to manage the impact of one nuclear power plant than millions of cars in various states of maintenance).
My Fusion Energi let me drive on pure EV for well over 70% of its life with me, and I never once had any range anxiety. This was at a time when even a Tesla was a huge gamble with range and was way out of my price range (2013).

Today the argument would be similar for someone not prepared to deal with the BEV fast charge situation on trips but does a lot of local driving (and their PHEV lets them "lock" on EV). For many people, 20-30 miles of EV range will get them through a day or a substantial part of a day, especially in the "work from home" COVID-19 times, where driving is "to the local grocery store" or whatever.

As far as "use the gas engine as a generator" goes, that's exactly how the Volt worked (cf. Chevrolet Volt: Range-Extended Electric Car Ultimate Guide (greencarreports.com) ) and how the BMW i3 with Range Extender worked (cf. BMW i3 Range Extender Long-term Review | CAR Magazine ). Just a different design.

There really isn't a good case other than a manufacturer can make 5 PHEVs for the same battery allocation found in 1 BEV. And the consumer does have range and charging anxiety so a PHEV negates those things. A PHEV is a bad ICE vehicle and a bad Electric Vehicle.
this is simply not true for everyone. My Fusion was a wonderful ICE vehicle and a wonderful EV for my use case and my desired price point.

This has all been well hashed on other threads. The bottom line is just because you don't find a PHEV a good choice doesn't mean that's true for everyone, just like not everyone finds an F-350 Super Duty a good choice or a Chevy Spark a good choice.
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