Introduction
For today’s review,
there will be a 2 for 1 review. I’ll be sharing information on two sites
within 10 miles of each other. Both have similar layouts and
features. Also, these sites show that the electric charging
infrastructure is being built up quickly. The first site has only been
open a couple of months, and the second site is less than two years old. (Google Street view images from 2019 show the
chargers were not there) Up first is:
Business/Location Name | Johnny's Markets |
Address | 104 Winston Dr Marshall, MI |
Network | ChargePoint |
Station Details | 2 linked 62.5kW Stations or 125 from one station |
Cost | $0.20/min |
This Johnny’s Markets
stop is at exit 36 of I-69, in Marshall, MI. This site serves the
northeast to southwest corridor from Port Huron, MI to Coldwater, MI.
This site is only 70 miles away from the site of my previous PS Food Mart
review. The basic layout here matches the standard layout with a couple
of chargers at a gas station with a convenience store. This time, we are
at a Shell gas station just off the highway. In fact, you can see the
entrance ramp sign in the site picture below.
Accessibility
This station is in the
northwest corner of the gas station parking lot. Taking Michigan Ave
(Business 69) east from the freeway exits, the gas station for this stop is
located on the southeast corner of the highway intersection. These
chargers are placed off to the right of the gas pump, and thus very unlikely
that a car that was not charging would park in these spaces. However,
since the parking is nose- in, there’s no pull through parking for anyone
pulling a trailer. We could tell this site was almost brand new as the
concrete had not been backfilled for landscaping as of yet. Nice for a
site like this was some tree cover, beneficial in the summer time for blocking
some sun.
Amenities
This stop offers much of
your standard gas station stop fare. Window washing, air for tires and
trash cans are all within the same parking lot. Right at the gas station
is a Subway sandwich shop. Other walkable fast food options
include: Taco Bell, and Wendy’s. There’s no covering for
the chargers, so they could easily become icy or blocked by snow in the winter-time. The direction of the chargers will make
completely clearing snow from the front of the chargers difficult in winter-time.
If you’re in the mood to do some shopping, be sure to check out what must be
one of the few remaining open K-Mart stores just north of the chargers
across Michigan Ave. This K-Mart is a shell of what it once was,
but still remains mostly a one-stop shop. They have a pharmacy,
refrigerators, groceries, clothes, luggage and various other items in
stock. There was no electronics section, and the Little Caesars pizza
shop inside the store was closed.
Concentration
Even for a secondary
site like this, two chargers aren’t enough for this site. On a secondary
route like I-69, there should be more chargers available. This site has
room to grow but it will take more to add to this site and currently, site is
not well used at all. If the ChargePoint app is to be believed, I
was the last person to use charger #1 at this site 2 weeks ago. It seems
like it charges about one car per day. For sites like this to make money,
they will need to get significantly more traffic.
Location
Overall, I think this is
a pretty good location for a charging stop. At about 70 miles from the
other charging stop along I-69, this site would serve any electric drivers that
are traveling this highway. This stop supports more highway miles to be
comfortably travelled without concern about charging options.
Speed
These ChargePoint
shared power chargers are a decent solution for now but will quickly become
taxed by the next round of electric vehicles. With more vehicles like the
ID.4 and Mach-E coming that can do 100kW+ charging by themselves,
combined 125kW stations like this will be strained by just one of these cars,
and if two try to charge at the same time, it will result in much slower speeds
than possible. Thus I score this stop as just adequate.
Summary
We enjoyed the quick
stop here and the chance to visit a K-Mart was something we don’t get to do
every day.
What I paid for this
stop:
Total Cost: $1.79
Total kWh: 8.23
Time: 9 minutes
Average Charge Speed:
54.87 kW (Calculated)
Cost per kWh: $0.217 (Calculated)
|
Total Score (Max 44) |
Score Percentage |
Accessibility Total |
Amenities Total |
Concentration |
Location |
Speed |
|
24 |
54.5 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
The second stop
Wait, haven’t I been
here before? Yes, this site was the last stop on my “bringing Elektra
home adventure”. If you haven’t read that blog post yet, it’s definitely
worth the read.
Business/Location Name | Johnny's Markets |
Address | 15423 US-27 Marshall, MI |
Network | ChargePoint |
Station Details | 2 linked 62.5kW Stations or 125 from one station |
Cost | $0.20/min |
This Johnny’s Markets
stop is at exit 110 of I-94, in Marshall, MI. This site serves the east
to west corridor from Detroit, MI to Chicago, IL. This site is about 100
miles away from Detroit and 160 miles from Port Huron, MI the eastern terminus
of I-94. The basic layout here matches the standard layout with a couple
of chargers at a gas station with a convenience store. They’re located at
a Shell gas station just off the highway. In fact, at night you can see
the lights on the top of the chargers from the eastbound exit ramp as noted in
my previous story.
Accessibility
This site is on the west
side of the gas station parking lot. You can find the Shell gas station
just North of I-94. These chargers are placed behind the gas station
convenience store, and thus very unlikely that a car that was not charging
would park in these spaces. The spacing here could allow for a vehicle
with a trailer to pull alongside the chargers, but that would likely block the
second charger. This is a great site for ease of use for a quick on/off
the highway charge.
Amenities
This stop offers much of
your standard gas station stop fare. Window washing, air for tires and
trash cans are all within the same parking lot. Right at the gas station
is a Subway sandwich shop. The only other food option here is the Free
Range Pancake House. There is no covering for the chargers, so they
could easily become icy or blocked by snow in the winter time, but the
positioning does allow for ease of snow removal. If you are in the mood
to do some shopping, you are out of luck at this stop - there isn’t anything
around.
Concentration
On a primary route, at a
site like this, two chargers is not enough. This site has room to grow
but it will take more to add to this site. I am excited to see Johnny’s
Market being an early supporter of electric cars. As the electric car
population grows, I hope that the usage of a site like this will support
expansion.
I also hope the electric
utilities continue to offer incentives to build up sites like this one. (https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/programs-and-services/electric-vehicles/dc-fast-charger-rebates)
Location
Overall, I think this is
a pretty good location for a charging stop. Right along the I-94 corridor, this
site would serve any electric drivers that are traveling this highway.
This stop supports more highway miles to be comfortably travelled without
concern about charging options. The location decision is also supported
by the fact that just across the highway at the Citgo gas station is a Tesla
SuperCharger station. A group could travel with a Tesla and non-Tesla and
stop to charge at basically the same location.
Speed
These ChargePoint shared
power chargers are a decent solution for now, but will quickly become taxed by
the next round of electric vehicles. With more vehicles like the ID.4
and Mach-E coming that can do 100kW+ charging by themselves, combined
125kW stations like this will be strained by just one of these cars, and if two
try to charge at the same time, it will result in much slower speeds.
Thus I score this stop as just adequate.
Summary
This has been a very
reliable stop location for me. While in the winter time, Elektra was
clearly coldgated, and we saw good speeds from the charger for the temperature
and state of charge of the battery at this stop. Combining the 2
locations within 4 miles of each other offering 4 chargers is a good number of
chargers for a relatively small area. I will likely use these stops on
future road trips.
What I paid for this
stop:
Total Cost: $1.05
Total kWh: 5.02
Time: 5 minutes
Average Charge Speed:
60.24 kW (Calculated)
Cost per kWh: $0.209
(Calculated)
|
Total Score (Max 44) |
Score Percentage |
Accessibility Total |
Amenities Total |
Concentration |
Location |
Speed |
|
24 |
54.5 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
No comments:
Post a Comment