Introduction
A review from my last big road trip of 2022 where I drove north and then west.
Business/Location Name | Public Parking - Grayling |
Address | 405 Cedar St. Grayling, MI |
Network | Red E Charging |
Station Details | 3 Stations (50kW) |
Cost | $0.45 kWh (Per PlugShare) |
The Public Parking - Grayling Red E Charging station was the 3rd stop on my trip heading up north. (This station opened in September of 2021)
Accessibility
The Red E location in Grayling is 1.2 miles from I-75 exit 254 if youre approaching from the south, and 1.5 miles from I-75 exit 256 if you're approaching from the north. T'he EVSEs are on the edge of the parking lot and visible from the main road. The side-by-side diagonal pull in parking does not allow for easy access with a trailer.
Amenities
Dining options include: Grayling Restaurant, Paddle Hard Brewing, 989 BBQ, Bear’s Den Pizzeria, Two River Deli and more
Shopping options include: Multiple small and large shops within the downtown Grayling area.
Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air): None
Concentration
The 3 DC Fast Chargers are barely sufficient for this site. Those traveling and using this site will likely not face any problems finding an available charger. I would have liked to see more units here, but given current utilization rates, this seems like a reasonable initial installation.
Location
On the I-75 corridor in downtown Grayling, this site is positioned as a road trip rest stop. Additionally, it can serve as a local visit stop charge-up location. Distances from major travel locations include: 205 miles from Detroit, 150 miles from Lansing, 160 miles from Grand Rapids, 55 miles to Traverse City, 90 miles to Mackinaw City. This would serve as a centralized location for northern Michigan travel, if only it was closer to the highway. I can see this site as very useful for those local to the location while shopping and a good jumping off point for those coming to and from the Grayling area.
Speed
These Tritium DC fast charging units can do up to 50kW charging. They have a max 500V output and max 125A current output. This is good for the existing Bolt EV and other older EVs that have smaller battery packs and slower charge rates. Newer EVs all have faster charging and larger batteries. I am interested to see what these units do when they are charging some of the higher voltage vehicles like Ioniq 5, or Lucid Air.
Summary
No one can be mad about a free charging session unless the site becomes full and people are just sitting and waiting to fully charge. These EVSE have some supplementary antennas attached, so this likely indicates that there's challenges in the area connecting to wireless network resources, and processing payments. One negative is that this site is in a public parking lot. With no business or other entity to ‘own’ the site, I worry about long term maintenance and support. As always, I was surprised to see another car charging as this tends to be a rare occurrence on my trips.
What I paid for this stop:
Total Cost: $0.00
Total kWh: Unknown
Time: 9 minutes
Average Charge Speed: Unknown
Cost per kWh: $0.00
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