update on I-19 and green cactus highway charging

[Josh Landess]

Hi Rob Bowers,

Please feel free to summarize whatever seems appropriate to a TEVA meeting:

There have been some developments worth knowing about for those who
travel along the I-19 corridor:

- Apparently some DCFC stations have opened up in the last few weeks in
Sahuarita at exit 69 (in the parking lot of the same complex that has
the Sprout's grocery shopping).  It is too new for me to have some good
information on it, but so far it looks like 2 L2 plugs (NACS) and 4 CCS1
DCFC plugs ?  Someone please correct me if you know I'm wrong.  I'm just
going by the initial comments and description on plugshare, and we all
know from experience that the reliability and other information may not
turn out to be what we hoped.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/771901
The Crossing at Sahuarita Shopping Center (2)

If the CCS ports do turn out to be reliable and reasonably fast, then I
think this would be a nice upgrade over the slow and not-super-inviting
Chargepoint CCS stations at the Ford/Hyundai dealer and the L2 stations
that are here and there in Green Valley.  Not that I'm ungrateful for
them, but it would/will be good to have improved speed DCFC in the area.

- There is still a bit of a charging desert between exit 63 and exit
12.  The Tubac Level 2 station at exit 34 did conk out on us a few weeks
ago (heavy use over 13 years) but it is being replaced and tested as I
write.  New L2 hardware has been installed, but they are still working
some things out.  As far as I know, the power levels will remain roughly
the same (5 or 6 kw?), so this will not be a fast station.  The terms
will remain the same ($10 per charge, on an honor system for payment, to
keep things simple).  If you do ever use this charging station, please
continue to use good etiquette toward the store and fellow drivers, and
remember that we are on a budget, and so it is a bit dangerous to plan
it in as your only charging solution.  There is no network monitoring to
tell us if the station is down, and we cannot control if unfortunately
some of the Tubac festivals may close down access to the station.  Best
to keep in mind possibly also using the stations at exit 63-69, or at
exit 12, or in Nogales.
- The EVgo stations at the Pilot truck stop at exit 12 are a big hit in
my opinion (reliable, four connectors, reasonably fast) though they are
quite expensive.  I think once this location got up and running, this
contributed to significantly unlocking EV travel around here, though
there is still much more progress that needs to be made.
- The Love's truck stop at exit 12 has not shown any signs of breaking
ground on the stations that were supposedly going in there.  We'll see. 
It doesn't matter a huge amount though since the Pilot station across
the street is working so well for now (aside from the expense).
- I haven't checked on the CCS station at Cropper's Chevrolet (exit 8 or
4) in a long time.  If you really want CCS, then I suggest the exit 12
Pilot/EVgo stations, though for some narrow purposes, it is not out of
the question that the Cropper's station could come in handy.
- I wish there was an indication that Walmart is going to install
something in Nogales, but so far I have not heard anything about this.
- The L2 at Americana Hotel is still functioning as far as I know, but
that is for guests.
- going by plugshare, there has been some buildout of stations to the
East, in Patagonia, Elgin, Sierra Vista, etc., but I don't have any
comment or recent experience beyond what I have read on plugshare.
- I don't know much about traveling south of the border, but going by
plugshare the Elba stations are still reliable and still key to
traveling between Nogales and Hermosillo.
- Hermosillo appears to have an increasing number of public stations,
but here again I do not have any recent personal experience.  I'm also
not sure of which hotels or other destinations at San Carlos or others
on the coast might offer charging.
- Note that I never comment on travel directly between Nogales and Rocky
Point because that area is so dangerous (see the US State Department
website for more information about this).  I do not know of any locals
who travel directly on the Mexican route between Nogales and Rocky
Point.  The path we go is up to Tucson and then over the reservation
(route 86) to the crossing at Lukeville, and then straight south to
Rocky Point.  I did talk recently with a local EV driver who traveled
that route, and they said that they would not be doing it again in their
EV because they almost ran out of charge.  However, travelers from
Phoenix can get a full charge at Gila Bend (either Rivian or Tesla), and
travelers from Nogales or Tucson coming over from the east can either
try to make use of one of the Level 2s that are sort of along this
route, or perhaps take the long detour up to Gila Bend if they are
totally not ok with sitting at an L2.
- I don't have a list of condos or hotels or the like that are EV
friendly once a person reaches Rocky Point, though plugshare may give
some idea.  I stayed in an Airbnb once in Rocky Point and so if I took
an EV there, I guess I would just want to charge for a couple of days at
L1, if I had access.  But I'm also wary of driving in Mexico in general,
especially as I am not a good driver.

[Bruce Plenk]

Thanks for info!!

Bruce Plenk

Solar Possibilities Consulting

GoElectricAZ Electrification Coach

Tucson, AZ 

520 909-1389

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[Josh Landess]

de nada Bruce,

other thoughts here:

- I didn't think of it at first, but it might be worth mentioning as to where Uber and Lyft (or other sharing services I know less about) stand around here.  I have in the past not really been able to take them here (there just don't seem to be a lot of drivers, if any) but then again, I haven't tried in many years.  Now, I just fired up my phone and there were nominally one or two cars available within 20 minutes of me.  That's not a lot, but if they did turn out to be valid (and I don't know if they are) then it shows at least something.  My point is that if we look at installations like the Pilot CCS and the near-Sprouts CCS, and maybe some CCS in Sierra Vista, then this could form the limited framework for someone to attempt to provide BEV ride-sharing service in this general region.  I don't know.  You would still need to be quite careful not to run out of charge, or have customers who would get upset with significant delays of stopping for charging.  The distances and winding roads and hills can make a BEV run out of energy sooner than one sometimes thinks.

Maybe others who know more about operating uber or lyft where the distances are so great could comment.  I'm thinking that the high gas prices may make it somewhat more logical for Uber/Lyft/other drivers to considering driving BEVS or PHEVS?  Or maybe it's just gasoline all the way.

- Is there an actually effective way for us to express to Walmart that we hope they come here soon with their fast charging?  This would be of use at the Nogales, AZ Walmart, the Sahuarita Walmart.  However, I don't know how to determine if it would be cost-effective for Walmart to do this.  I'm not claiming there are a lot of BEVs around Nogales/Rio Rico.  I think relative to other cities, there are not, though they are increasing a bit.  As to BEVS that come to the area from far away, I can't say what the numbers are as to how much that has increased.  Probably the Pilot and the Americana and a few other stops have helped them to feel more  comfortable.  I ask about "effective" ways because I don't want to come at Walmart with a bad attitude and turn them off to installing something here, and I don't know what's best for them, but it would seem to be a logical place to locate a robust set of DCFC stations for travelers along the routes of Guyamas, San Carlos, Hermosillo, Tucson, Phoenix, Patagonia, Sierra Vista, Tombstone, Bisbee, etc.

- I'm disappointed in the Nogales hotel operators, other than the Americana (which took too long to install something, but at least they finally did it).  How expensive can it be for some of those hotels to do what they do in other parts of the country and have a small number of Level 2 stations for guest use?  Or have the stations be networked and pay-per-use for all comers?  I think there's a nice hotel in downtown Tucson which offers good charging, and IIRC, ownership is related to one of the exit 4 Nogales hotels, but still no hotel charging is offered in Nogales except at the Americana (at least, no other hotels are showing up on plugshare).

Josh