BNL Employee Electric Vehicle Charging Program users group

["Van Buren, Gene" <gene AT bnl.gov>]

Hi, fellow EV users

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I'd like to make sure all of 
you are aware of the article in today's Monday Memo:
https://intranet.bnl.gov/memo/news.php?a=219158

...and the informative EV Charging website
https://wwwqa.bnl.gov/staffservices/evc-program.php

In particular, the new Level 2 charging on the south side of Chemistry (Bldg. 
555),  the north side of the ISB (Bldg. 734), and the southwest side of NSLS 
II (Bldg. 744) are now available for use via ChargePoint during the hours of 
7am-5pm, for a competitive rate which is in the $0.19 - $0.20 / kWh range 
(I'm not yet sure whether the stations prevent charging outside of these 
hours, or whether that will be regulated by observation as has been the case 
for improper Level 1 usage). Please also note that while there is another 
charging station at the DOE site office (Bldg. 464), it is not part of the 
EVCP - do not park & charge there. Also, keep in mind that government plug-in 
vehicles will have priority for station usage, and that it is in the Lab's 
plans to increase its plug-in vehicle fleet (though I cannot speak to whether 
the Lab will commensurately install additional charging stations with the 
fleet growth).

I believe the Level 2 charging stations offer 6.2 kW of power total, 
delivering up to 30 Amps at 208 V. My understanding is that this power is 
divided between the two charging ports that are available on each station. So 
if two vehicles are simultaneously charging, that may only be 3.1 kW (15 Amps 
at 208 V) to each vehicle. Most vehicles taper off their current draw when 
batteries are close to being fully charged, so it might be possible for the 
split not to be evenly divided between the two ports under some conditions. 
Regardless, the rates are per kWh, not per time spent charging, and that's 
still considerably better than the maximum delivered by Level 1 charging.

I do realize this is a finite additional charging capability, which may not 
see much competition while a large fraction of the BNL workforce is working 
remotely, but may show its limitations as the workforce returns to BNL 
eventually and people buy more plug-in vehicles. Remember, if you find you're 
competing with other users for the same charging service at the same time of 
day, please try to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement by contacting 
the other user(s), perhaps via this list or by asking me for help if you're 
unsure how to reach the person yourself. It remains worthwhile to show that 
we can behave respectfully and responsibly with a benefit that can be taken 
away if it creates issues between personnel.

Thanks,
-Gene