Update: GM Energy, Pilot-EVgo 350 kW DCFC in Weed, CA

Exciting news, fellow EV travelers. It appears that GM Energy's first Pilot-EVgo charging site in California is almost completed and ready to be energized. The site is located in Weed, just off of Interstate 5. This site should be ready for summer travel through Northern California!
PlugShare: www.plugshare....

[@thenetworkarchitectchannel]

Looks terrific in what appears to be a spectacular area of the country for nature too. Thx for the video. I really enjoyed watching.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thank you, Walter!

[@paulgipe6684]

Thanks Eric. Good to see you out and about.

[@anthonyc8499]

Hey Eric, if you’re on the road again I fear that there was a change in your family situation. Please know I am thinking about you and your family, and that you have my deepest condolences.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thank you, Anthony. You are correct. Cancer sucks. 😞

[@qhoenix1]

😢​@@newscoulomb3705

[@robertlee7332]

That's great! I took delivery of my 2024 BZ4X last week. It comes with free unlimited EVGO charging for the first year. Hopefully, these charging stations will be up and running this summer. Thanks for sharing.

[@BensEcoAdvntr]

Great to see the progress, a number of these PFJ sites are under construction here in Ohio as well. I went to the first NEVI funded site shortly after it opened last year. Agree that more than four plugs are needed

[@Snickers4211]

Good to see you posting Eric 😄👍

[@GregHassler]

In Weed, California? The jokes just write themselves.

[@stevenbollinger9776]

You're right, the jokes DO write themselves when you're on Weed. I mean, when you're IN Weed. Don't Hassle us about Weed, man! Just joking.

[@hermancm]

There’s a store there called, you guessed it. The Weed Store… lol.

[@tpalmer3206]

Well done and informative video. Thanks.

[@patrick7228]

4 stalls continue to be disappointing though no? Almost seems like they are hedging their bets. Let's not put too many up in case this doesn't work out.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Yes, as I mentioned in the video, I do think these sites need at least two to four more powered stalls. These are higher power units, though, so it's the equivalent power output to 8 V3 Supercharger stalls. Still, that extra power means nothing if only 4 EVs can be charging at one time. For a location this size, I'd be fine with even just a couple 100 kW units off to the side.

[@siberx4]

Definitely glad to finally see some pull-through stalls going in, but as you say you really should have a mix of both pull-in and pull-through stalls at a given site. You can get much higher density with pull in, and generally only a small fraction of travelers will require the pull-through spaces so might as well optimize the footprint to match.

[@newscoulomb3705]

While I agree on a site level that there should probably be a split between pull-through and pull-in charging stalls. If we take a step back, there are almost no pull-through stalls currently installed by anyone, so these locations (as 100% pull-through) serve a very important need that isn't currently being addressed by other charging providers. In California, they know the demand is going to be much higher, so I'd like to see them install both banks from the beginning. Being able to charge 8 EVs at the same time is likely the bare minimum for a California Interstate charging station.

[@stevenjohnson9753]

Great location 👍

[@mewtwo255200]

I visited the one in Winslow, AZ. One of the units wasn’t working, go figure. I do love the location but it’s expensive at $0.62 KWH while EA down the road is $0.36 KWH (with membership).

[@newscoulomb3705]

Yeah, I need to get out to Winslow sometime. Unfortunately, with EVgo, they do seem to have trouble bringing their sites fully online initially, and given these are the bare minimum number of dispensers and stalls they should be installing, there's really no margin for error. They need to all be up and running, all the time.

[@boomerbits2297]

Ran across my first GM Ultium site at a Flying J in San Antonio Florida. Only two stalls, no canopy. Good see unfortunately not enough machines come on GM two charger!

[@newscoulomb3705]

Yes, it looks like a mixed bag of which sites are getting canopies. I can say that this one definitely needs it given the typical snowfall.

[@stevenjohnson9753]

I use to live in San Antonio Florida. 1994-1999 They put that truck stop in just before I left.

[@BillChandos]

Thanks for the update Eric. Were you able to see if the PowerNode site was under construction?

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thanks! No, I left too late and ran out of time with all the other things I needed to do. The V4 Supercharger was installed (also by Coil), but I didn't head up to that exit. The PowerNode would be a block or two up from the Valero where the Superchargers are located, but their site shows a June ETA.

[@BillChandos]

@newscoulomb3705 the dates seem to be slipping on all their so. Oregon and norcal builds - I've already updated once on Plugshare, and the Canyonville site is already out another week. If the V4 site is live by the end of May, I'll try to hit it on my trip and at least get a picture or comment on the Powernode site for Plugshare. This was the stretch of road that caused me to get a Tesla in the first place so it's nice to see all the other networks going in. I had an OK experience using EA on my CCS vehicle late last year, but since they seem to have gone AWOL, more stalls is better.

[@newscoulomb3705]

@@BillChandos Yeah, it's a footrace now between this Pilot site and the V4 site. They'll probably both go online within a week of each other. I thought I saw the PowerNode unit when I was in Mt. Shasta, but I wasn't able to turn around to check it out. EA really did the bare minimum in Northern California, and for the most part, a 250-mile EV would need to hit almost every EA site on I-5 from Sacramento heading north.

[@anthonyc8499]

I'm really curious about the Powernode station installation. It's really interesting hardware with a bigger battery buffer than Freewire and ideally more resilient software for both users and owners.

[@newscoulomb3705]

@@anthonyc8499 Yes, I'm definitely going to check those out my next trip up.

[@tkmedia3866]

I didn’t have a electric car when I was down there but you should really check out the massive WattEV bakersfield. 5MW of solar power with 3MWh of batteries powering 15 240kW chargers and 3 MCS chargers. There is also 16 gridtied 360kW chargers.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thanks. I couldn't see much construction when I passed the WattEV site in Sacramento, but it should also be similar. I should be traveling again soon.

[@tkmedia3866]

@@newscoulomb3705if you do go to a closer spot maybe just do EA San Francisco, while you’re down there maybe go to the former SF evgo flagship site, commenting on it transforming into dedicated car sharing charging? There is also another newer evgo 3 streets away. Maybe chargenet rohnert park? I dunno some ideas.

[@tkmedia3866]

@@newscoulomb3705​​⁠difficult to say. That area around the airport has many projects going on with airport expansion, interstate updates, some parts of the various nearby land is even being proposed from Sacramento County to City of Sacramento incorporation. There were some fires there because of the recent 110F heat.

[@shredmas]

Did you notice that the Charge Point charger at the Yreka Truck Stop is only .25 per kwh. That's half the price of their their other charge stations?

[@newscoulomb3705]

No, I didn't go that far north. This was a bit of a last-minute trip, but next time, I need to explore more of Weed and head up to Yreka. Hopefully, this site is up and running by the time I make that trip.

[@shredmas]

@@newscoulomb3705 Cool, I still can't believe there's no CCS in Susanville. I just did that trip again from Medford, OR to Reno via Hwy 89. Had to charge on a L2 there

[@newscoulomb3705]

@@shredmas Yeah, that's a real problem. Both Alturas and Susanville need at least one DCFC station each, and I've been after EA and others to install stations there for years now. Clearly, that had no impact. Next comes public ridicule and shaming.

[@chrisw443]

Awesome to see!

[@hermancm]

The gas price said $5.199 I think it was, it is $3.199 here in NW Wisconsin now. I’ll be in Sacramento in a week to see high gas prices for myself again.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Yes. Sacramento is likely even higher than this, but you can sometimes find cheaper prices in the city.

[@hermancm]

@@newscoulomb3705 It’s no wonder why EV’s are popular there, my sister in Sac has SMUD power and her off peak rate isn’t too bad and about what we pay here all the time but I charge at night anyways to help the grid.

[@Supernaut2000]

Hey, where's your cute dog? Ah, at 5:18...cute!

[@Roddy451]

Quite interesting...

[@Bfranklyn731]

Hows Cali? Michigan is ok! Nice video!

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thanks! NorCal is doing okay. I should have a chance to start exploring more of the State soon.

[@Bfranklyn731]

@@newscoulomb3705 sounds fun, waiting on a new equinox or new style bolt with the better batteries then I will explore the usa in a chevrolet!

[@jenesuispasbavard]

Finally a charging station with a roof lol.

[@Supernaut2000]

ChaDemo?

[@newscoulomb3705]

No CHAdeMO, which makes sense because GM never made any EVs that use the standard. I would like to see it, of course, especially in California. I'm not opposed to a couple of stalls off to the side featuring a couple of Delta 100 kW units with both CCS1 and CHAdeMO. That supports some of the older cars, and they are also usable by newer EVs whose owners plan to spend a little longer at the location. A 100 kW charger is fine for most EVs stopping for a long stretch and sit-down meal.

[@firstbigbarney]

Why are my comments deleted???

[@newscoulomb3705]

I'm not sure. I don't see any of your comments held for review, and I certainly don't delete any comments.

[@firstbigbarney]

@@newscoulomb3705 I posted a comment with a link to a news story about Tritiums bankruptcy,and it was deleted twice. Are we not allowed to add a link in the comments?

[@newscoulomb3705]

@@firstbigbarney I think KZbin automatically flags/deletes any comments with links. It's probably their attempt at limiting spam comments.

[@larryjanson4011]

and how many homes are going to lose power because of this?

[@newscoulomb3705]

None? We lose power in Northern California plenty because of our utility company, but charging electric vehicles doesn't cause outages.

[@bonedust68]

When they start charging the 150 million personal vehicles, 3 million plus commercial Trucks, Trains and boats...maybe grab a rope and pull the sun in closer and build a dyson sphere there 😂.. Using Tesla tech we could zap the earth with just enough volts..maybe 🤔