Introduction
Business/Location Name | Meijer - Royal Oak |
Address | 5111 Meijer Dr, Royal Oak, MI |
Network | EVgo |
Station Details | 4 Stations (2 x 350kW, 2 x 100kW) |
Cost | $0.35 per minute |
Accessibility
This location is 3 miles from I-75 at the Big Beaver Rd exit and 3.6 miles from the W 14 Mile Rd exit. It is also 1.5 miles from Woodward Ave (M-1). None of this makes this site particularly attractive as a quick stop on a road trip, but it does serve the local communities quite nicely. While most of the Meijer locations are placed out of the way or on the edge of the parking lot, this site has chosen to place the EVSE in the middle of the parking lot. The placement is also hurt by the spacing which seems tight. Poles at the end of each parking spot prevent pull thru parking. And the placement and spacing mean that you have to carefully consider whether to pull in or back in when parking and might mean that you need to make a lot of move to switch units because one is not working (given this is an EVgo location, that is more likely than not).
Amenities
Dining options include: None
Shopping options include: Meijer
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.
Location
This is not a travel stop and other than the Meijer doesn’t have much else, leaving this as a local support station. I don’t see this as somewhere that is going to be used to support commuters and there are much better options if you are traveling I-75.
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
This site scored only 17 points on my rating scale. This is outscored by all but the worst of the original sites that I reviewed last year. I am not sure what drove EVgo and GM to select this location, but based on my score it seems to be a very poor selection. In the early roll out phase, any new charging should be considered good charging, but if sites continue to be selected like this, they will end up with very limited usage, which will then mean no money is made and thus there will be no focus on maintenance and I worry that an already unreliable site will simply fall into disrepair. However, I have to say that this site is used more than I would have expected with a Rivian R1T finishing charging when I arrived and fairly regular PlugShare checkins, even if a large percentage are negative.
What I paid for this stop:
Nothing and none of the apps tracked any of my sessions.
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