CHARGING AN EV IS FASTER THAN YOU THINK!
PWP recently installed a Direct Current Fast Charger for electric vehicles, also known as a Fast Charger, at the Del Mar Boulevard parking structure (260 S. Raymond Avenue), conveniently located next to the Del Mar Gold Line Metro Station.
As the first Fast Charger in Pasadena, drivers can fully charge their electric vehicles in nearly 30 minutes and it’s absolutely free of charge! Traditional chargers generally take 3-6 hours but with the Fast Charger, a commuter can be back on the road in a matter of minutes. Most newer electric vehicles are equipped with the fast charging technology. Installation of the Fast Charger was partially funded by a grant PWP received from the California Energy Commission.
Word is that the free charging will be for one year.
The position of the charger would be ideal to allow one car to charge and another car to wait. It could be a little awkward if more than two cars are waiting to charge. In some regards this is like a fueling station, but the flow of cars should be streamlined. The 30 min charging limit seems a little long and should be reduced to 15 minutes, especially if others are waiting to charge. Perhaps a ticketing system which encourages sharing of the charger.
Two charger connectors are available at this station: CHAdeMO and SAE Combo.
The charger station is operated by GreenLots
It will be interesting to see where this charger is and how the signage is setup for it. As fast chargers do not require much time, hopefully people will not come and start charging and leave.
The other issue is that DC Fast Chargers seem to fail more frequently than Level 2 chargers so it will be interesting to see how often this charger is working or not. The other chargers in this parking structure are level 2 and they seem to be working for the most part.
Also Whole Foods around the corner/tracks has several level 2 chargers available for free charging.
Very please to see an EV DC fast charger in Pasadena. The signage could be better. I drove around the lot looking and asked the parking attendant who directed me. There where four EVs waiting to charge. At 30 minutes that is a long wait It would be great to see a 15 min limit. In addition better signage would be helpful for those waiting. The way it is now there are spaces for PPD and one EV. No other parking is available. Where do those waiting to charge park? Perhaps there should be 2-3 spaces there for EVS. There are two connectors on the charger and only one space? That doesn’t seem to make sense.
Interesting that of the four EVs waiting to charge, three are Nissan LEAF’s. Basically either because of the poor range and battery capacity loss of the LEAF.
