Introduction
Site review from my trip bringing Voltron home from west Illinois.
Business/Location Name | Orland Square Mall |
Address | 288 Orland Square Dr, Orland Park, IL 60462 |
Network | Electrify America |
Station Details | 4 Stations (4 x 150kW) |
Cost | $0.48 per kWh ($0.36 member price) |
The Orland Square Mall Electrify America station was the 1st stop on my trip to bring Voltron home after buying him in west Illinois. (This station opened in January 2021).
Accessibility
The Orland Square Mall site is located at the edge of the parking lot. The mall is 5 miles north of I-80 close the intersection of US-45 and US-6. The units themselves are placed on the southern edge of the main parking lot. It is quite a walk (0.2 miles) to get into the mall. The 4 units are placed in a side-by-side layout with 4 available parking spots. The EVSE placement does not allow for pull-through parking.
Amenities
Dining options include: Dave & Buster’s, BJ’s Restaurant, Panera Bread, Raising Cane’s
Shopping options include: Many stores in the mall.
Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air): None
Concentration
This is a baseline 4 charger site for Electrify America. This station is the pull/back into configuration, which would make charging with Elektra’s front port location easy, but those with fender locations may need to stretch the cables to make the connections. I had to back into the spot due to the Voltron’s charging port location.
Location
This site on the eastbound side of the turnpike, to the west of Toledo. Positioned well to support neighborhood charging. This is not well positioned as a road trip stop. The location does provide charging coverage for the south side of Chicago.
50 Mile Loop:
150 to 200 Mile Range Estimate:
Speed
Electrify America has chargers that support the fastest speeds available today. This site only has 150kW stations. The power provided here is what I would expect from a neighborhood charging location. The made in May of 2020 Signet charging units may be rated at the higher 350kW speeds but the power cabinets feeding them are limited.
Summary
I should have opted to keep driving and go to the EA location in Indiana, but I was ready for a break and this site had reasonably good reviews to ensure that I would have a good charging session. What makes this a bad road trip stop is the distance from the highway; at 5 miles the round-trip delay is quite large. The real time status I was getting on the way to the site was that 3 of 4 stalls were in use, but on arrival only 2 were in use. I plugged in and quickly got 170kW from a 150kW rated stall, which I expected was possible. Checking the other 2 vehicles, a F-150 Lightening that had been fully charged for over 20 minutes and an EQE SUV that was just about to go into idle fees. In my 11-minute stop I didn’t see anyone come to attend to the vehicles. This seems like a reasonable neighborhood charging site, but the distance from any building entrance is off-putting. Not sure I would plan to charge here again in the future unless it was critical to my travel plans.
What I paid for this stop:
Total Cost: $12.48
Total kWh: 26.176kWh
Time: 11 minutes
Average Charge Speed: 143kW
Cost per kWh: $0.48
Questions or Comments:
dantheevman@gmail.com
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