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 | Blain's Farm and Fleet |
Address | 210 US-31, Traverse City, MI 49685 |
Network | ChargePoint |
Station Details | One 62.5kW Station |
Cost | $0.20/minute |
The second planned stop of day two on this trip was in Traverse City, MI. This charger is installed at this general store. The store is on US-31 making it part of this north/south corridor.
(This station opened in January 2021).
Accessibility
This station is right along the US-31 route that follows the west coast. The ChargePoint charger is placed right in front of the building helping to make it visible. The spots are listed as shared usage, so they could be blocked by other cars. Parking is “nose in”, there is no pull-through parking for anyone pulling a trailer.
Amenities
This site doesn’t have many, probably better to use one of the other Traverse City options.
Dining options include: Culver’s, The Local’s Place
Shopping options include: Blain’s Farm and Fleet
Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air): None
Concentration
This is an odd single 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. Not much room for expansion, but there are other DCFC options around the city.
Location
Having additional charging options along the coast route is good for the support of drivers taking a trip around the state. Being right on US-31 provides easy access to anyone on this route headed north or south. From here it is about 110 miles northeast to Mackinaw City, 60 miles east to Grayling, and 135 miles south to Grand Rapids.
50 Mile Radius:
150 to 200 Mile Range Estimate:
Speed
This single 62.5kW ChargePoint unit barely works as a destination solution, not so much for a road trip. The 125A current limit makes this single unit not much better than the 50kW Tritium models installed elsewhere. I couldn’t fully check the transformer at this site to ensure the power supply capabilities.
Summary
I arrived at this stop with 68% battery and 199 miles remaining on the GOM (guess o’ meter). I had averaged 4.1 miles/kW on the drive. With temperatures in the upper 50’s I didn’t need the HVAC, and the road speeds were lower, resulting in great efficiency.
In a first in a long time, I did not successfully charge at this site. Starting up with my ChargePoint RFID, the unit seemed to successfully talk to the car and match the voltage, but never started delivering power. I called and they were able to reset the station, but that did not recover from the problem. I was a little nervous having my first planned charge of the day end in failure. Since my visit there have been multiple 800V architecture vehicles that failed to charge, but in the ChargePoint application, many other cars seem to be successfully charging. Maybe this single unit has an issue with providing 800V class vehicles power.
I did notice that I passed a Rivian Adventure Network site at the mall on my way to this site, and there are also a couple of Red E Charge units (taken over from Blink) located downtown. So, there are other options now and coming to provide fast charging in this area.
What I paid for this stop:
Total Cost: -
Total kWh: - kWh
Time: - Minutes
Average Charge Speed: - kW (Calculated)
Cost per kWh: -
I couldn’t charge at this site.
Questions or Comments:
dantheevman@gmail.com
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