Site Review Scores

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Public Parking – Rogers City

 Introduction

This is a site review from my trip to cover the lake shore route from the middle of the mitten northward.


Business/Location Name

Public Parking - Rogers City

Address

200 W Erie St, Rogers City 49779

Network

ChargePoint

Station Details

2 linked 62.5kW Stations or 125kW linked

Cost

$0.48/kWh (9am to 8pm), $0.42/kWh (8pm to 9am)


The fourth planned stop of this trip was in Rogers City, MI.  These chargers installed by the city are now run by the company Hion who operates several stations in the northern lower peninsula.  As this was an early installed station, the screens are cracked, and the touch function is very difficult to operate.

(This station opened in June 2021).  




Accessibility

This station is in the city parking lot 0.7 miles from the US-23 route that follows the coast.  The two ChargePoint chargers are placed close to intersection of Erie St and 4th St helping to make them visible.  The dedicated spots are very unlikely to be used by other vehicles.  Parking is “nose in”, there is no pull-through parking for anyone pulling a trailer.



Amenities

For a destination stop, and public parking site, the surrounding amenities are limited.


Dining options include: Tradewinds Bakery, Chee Peng Chinese, MI Northern Espresso

Shopping options include: Family Dollar

Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air):  None


Concentration

This is a baseline 2 charger site for ChargePoint.  This station is the pull/back into configuration, easy charging with Elektra’s front port location or when backing in with Voltron to charge.  This site could add a couple more if the volume of cars charging here would warrant the increase in the number of stalls.



Location

Having additional charging options along the coast route is good for the support of drivers taking a trip around the state.  This public parking lot offers lots of space and limited traffic while charging.  From here it is about 60 miles north to Mackinaw City, 75 miles southwest to Gaylord and 150 miles south to Bay City. 


50 Mile Radius:


150 to 200 Mile Range Estimate:


Speed

These ChargePoint shared power chargers represent a decent destination charging solution. 62.5kW single unit output pairs well as a destination solution, not so much for a road trip.  High voltage vehicles that can reach the paired 125kW power output can use these more for road trips.  The 125A and 200A current limits based on the operating mode will have most EVs charging slower than drivers might expect.  The 300kVA transformer here easily supports the power needs and could support a second set of CPE 250 units if needed in the future.

    

Summary

I arrived at this stop with 50% battery and 134 miles remaining on the GOM (guess o’ meter).  I had averaged 3.3 miles/kWh on the drive.  With temperatures in the mid 60’s, I was not really using HVAC, but there seemed to be a strong headwind from the NNE which managed to keep the efficiency numbers for this leg of the trip lower than expected.  In 14 minutes, I was back to 80% and ready to proceed to the next stop.  While charging, a nice guy stopped by and told me that I was only the second person that he had ever seen trying to use these units.  The charging is there, now we just need to get more cars and drivers out there to show how it works.



What I paid for this stop:

Total Cost: $12.77

Total kWh: 26.598 kWh

Time: 14 Minutes

Average Charge Speed: 114 kW (Calculated)

Cost per kWh: $0.48




Total Score (Max 44)

Score

Accessibility

Amenities

Usability

18

D

4

2

12


Questions or Comments:

dantheevman@gmail.com


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