Introduction
Site review from my trip bringing Voltron home from west Illinois.
Business/Location Name | West Michigan International |
Address | 5380 International Dr, Kalamazoo, MI 49009 |
Network | None |
Station Details | 2 Stations (2 x 175kW – 350kW possible) |
Cost | $0.41 per kWh |
The West Michigan International station was the 2nd stop on my trip to bring Voltron home after buying him in west Illinois. (This station opened in October 2022).
Accessibility
The West Michigan International site is in the parking lot of this heavy-duty truck business. The site is 1 mile from I-94 at exit 72. North of the highway and in an office park, this site, compared to the nearest Electrify America location, is a quick on and off stop. The EVSE placement does not allow for pull-through parking, but a wide-open parking lot offers lots of space.
Amenities
Dining options include: McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway, Culvers, Dunkin’, Wendy’s (All towards the highway, stop first)
Shopping options include: None
Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air): None
Concentration
This is a basic 2 station site. The 2 stations are placed side to side and on this stop the right-hand side station was clearly marked as out of service. 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 supports I-94 and is close enough to potentially support US-131. At about 150 miles to Detroit and 150 miles to Chicago, this is about as mid-point between those 2 cities as you can get.
50 Mile Loop:
100 to 150 Mile Range Estimate:
Speed
This site is listed in PlugShare as a 350kW site and there are pictures of vehicles charging at close to these speeds, but I did not see this during my visit. From the labels on the power cabinets, there are 2 – 375A/175kW units here that could be paired to generate the 350kW maximum power output. The 165kW I averaged as shown below would equate to about 225A output limitation.
Summary
In planning for the trip, I was looking to break the drive up into 3 roughly equal length pieces. With the first stop around Chicago, I knew that the next stop would be around Kalamazoo. I have visited the Portage Electrify America site twice before and know that is not a great road trip site. Having found this site, I was surprised even with the equipment limitations the good charging speeds I received. The downside to this site is that there really isn’t anything to do, so for slower charging vehicles, this wouldn’t be a great stop.
What I paid for this stop:
Total Cost: $19.16
Total kWh: 46.733kWh
Time: 18 minutes
Average Charge Speed: 165kW
Cost per kWh: $0.41
Questions or Comments:
dantheevman@gmail.com
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