Site Review Scores

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Meijer - Rochester Hills

 Introduction

A review from my road trip covering some of the Detroit area EVgo locations, recently opened in 2022.

Business/Location Name

Meijer - Rochester Hills

Address

3608 Marketplace Circle, Rochester Hills

Network

EVgo

Station Details

4 Stations (2 x 350kW, 2 x 100kW)

Cost

$0.35 per minute 


The Meijer Rochester Hills EVgo station was the 1st stop on my trip covering the recently opened locations in the metro Detroit area.  This stop is in the northern suburbs and can serve this fast-growing area and the relatively close Stellantis Technical Center.  (This station opened in April of 2022).


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Accessibility

This stop is 0.8 miles off M-59 at exit 42 (S Adams Rd).  The northern suburbs like Rochester Hills and Auburn Hills are served by this location.  The Meijer hosts these EVSEs, but has placed them out of the major traffic flow, ensuring EV drivers have easy access.  The units themselves are placed to the side of the garden center and don’t really stand out, so if you didn’t know these were here you would have some challenges finding them.


 


Amenities

Dining options include: Panera Bread, Five Guys, Asian Express, Grand Tavern, Kerby’s Koney Island 

Shopping options include: Meijer, Walmart, Tractor Supply Co.

Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air):  Meijer gas station nearby


Concentration

This is the new standard station layout for EVgo.  This station is the pull/back into configuration, which makes charging with Elektra’s front port location easy, but those with fender locations may need to stretch the cables to make the connections.  The two 350kW and two 100kW units are well sized to the current set of electric vehicles on the road today.


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Location

While this site is located on the heavy travel M-59, this is not a road trip route, but more of a commuter route.  I am scoring this more as a destination or local support charging location and not the more beneficial travel charging location.  Being 180 miles south of Grayling, this site could be useful when traveling to northern Michigan.  Mostly, this site is likely to be used by commuters and EV drivers in the local area without access to home charging capabilities.


Speed

EVgo has made a big step up from their original EVSE offerings.  By offering at least 2 units that support 350kW, and to my knowledge supporting up to 500A, they are now offering a competitive solution to the fastest options available in the market today.  EVgo is also balancing the need for many EVSE with the need for fast units by also offering two of the 100kW Delta units at this site.  These units are capable of 200A.  Both options outclass the 50kW 100/125A BTC units that were installed as part of the original installs.




Summary

After 6 months of anticipation, I was excited to finally be able to review all the new EVgo station locations.  The trip started very well with a well-functioning and laid out site.  While these new sites are not as powerful as a standard Electrify America site, they are much better than the 100A single units that I reviewed last year.  I was thrilled to see another electric vehicle at my first stop -- even if it was a Tesla.  Of all the locations I visited on this trip, this would be the one I would recommend to others.




What I paid for this stop:

Roaming Session from ChargePoint

Total Cost: $0.00

Total kWh: 1.61 kWh

Time: 3 minutes

Average Charge Speed: 32.2 kW (calculated, limited by battery state of charge)

Cost per kWh: $0.00


Roaming Sessions on Shell Recharge 

Total Cost: $0.00

Total kWh: ?? kWh

Time: ?? minutes

Average Charge Speed: ?? kW (calculated)

Cost per kWh: $0.00

>Roam sessions not recorded or billed


Total Score (Max 44)

Score

Accessibility

Amenities

Usability

26

C

4

5

17

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