I do most grocery shopping at Trader Joes or Whole Foods and would go out of my way to go to one that had a charging station. I can find the stores, and I can find charging stations, but I don't know how to look for a store I want that also has a charging station. Any ideas?
if you know where the stores are you're good to go. Just look for any of those spots on plugshare.com and see if they line up. The thing is the merchants usually advertise the fact when they decide to install chargers. Neither mothers - trader joes or whole foods have committed to EVSE infrastructure. SGH-I717R ? 2
I found 1 Whole Foods with a charger, the one in Santa Monica. It's a Blink though so $2 per hour. One alternative is to search in the location on chargepoint, car share, or similar. I park in the Bev Hills City lot on Cresent where I can use the Chargepoint charger while I shop at Rite-aid and Whole Foods.
None of the stores I frequent seem to have a charger or proper charger Nothing at Costco or HomeDepot/Lowe's. Frys' have chargers, but they are the old style for EV1. They don't plan to upgrade the last time I asked. When I was in SF financial district, I parked at Moscone Parking Garage hoping to charge my car, but all the charging spots were taken. There was a spot open with the old style charger. I could have parked there, but I left the spot open in case if someone with that charger could use it. The only places I charge are my home & work.
Fifth and mission garage has a large number of chargers and they are right by the entrance. I know that the Whole Foods in Lafayette has an EV charger. one of the cool features of entune is the charging station map which shows all of the chargers by type that are close to you. you can then use the nav system to get to them.
We also have a LEAF, since you are in OC this should help you. My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Orange County, CA, List of Public Charging stations (J1772)
I see that list is primarily Wallgreens Pharmacy EVSE's. $2.00 minimum. $2 for apx 3kWh's?? They've gotta be kidding. The cost that they charge for 1 hr of juice compared to the equivalent cost of $2 of gasoline range in a PiP - it's way less to just buy gas - considering how far down the road you'll get. They must think plugin drivers are stupid. SGH-I717R ? 2
Plug-in drivers are not their target demographic. They are looking for the EV-only driver who's battery is low and HAS to get a charge, regardless of the price.
Or at least a vehicle with onboard charger that isn't cripled to something like 3.3kw. The Telsa will gulp down 10kw with a single onboard charger.
Sorry that rationale doesn't wash. - it would be cheaper for me to call the auto club to get home on a flatbed - and faster, too. And that's why Walgreens pharmacy pricing for charging is a joke. And that's why you will never see anyone using their charger stalls ... until they pull their heads.( regarding charge fees) out of you their know whats. SGH-I717R ? 2
I went to Santa Monica Place this lunch time figuring I would grab a charge while I was getting Lunch but the area around the Mall was so gridlocked that I gave up and went to Marina Del Rey. They used to have the old legacy chargers at Fisherman's village in the Marina at one time but they removed them about 5 years ago.
Maybe it didn't occur to them that someone would rather have their car towed (for free) than pay $2 to charge their car. I know it would not have occurred to me, and I am an auto club member. (No sarcasm intended.) Or maybe they got some tax break or such to install them, and they now are looking for an excuse to get rid of them ("nobody was using them").
My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Public charge station lists has links to a lot of charging station lists. Unfortunately, I don't believe there's one unified list/database that integrates all sources.
