Full lap of Michigan Electrify
America (EA) charging sites
On July 22, 2021, I traveled to all the
EA charging sites in Michigan.
I chose Electrify America because it
may be the best-known nationwide charging network, outside of the
Tesla Supercharging network. EA is
expanding their network to provide coast to coast coverage on major
highways and is introducing locations in more urban environments,
allowing charging sources to people who have no or limited access to
charge at home. EA was started in part from some of
the VW diesel scandal settlement money. EA
has installed sites with at least 4 chargers, thus ensuring that
there is always charger availability, even if one charger has an
issue. An additional area where EA is leading is the
support for the upcoming Plug and Charge technology that
promises to make a charging and paying for charging as simple as
Tesla. You just plug your car in and everything else
happens automatically in the background.
During my planning using the PlugShare
and EA apps, I located the addresses of all the EA
stations and made a high-level route plan. I would visit
Roseville, Bay City, Gaylord, Cadillac, Lansing, Portage, Ypsilanti,
and finally Novi. With the basic loop documented, I plugged all the
destinations into A Better Route Planner, a website/app
is designed for EV owners. Owners simply enter the details on their
EV and then A Better Route Planner will plan routes
that include charging stops with information estimating how long you
will need to charge at each stop, along with estimated arrival and
departure battery percentages.
I hit the road at 6:15am with 90%
charge. I headed to the first stop at a Meijer in
Roseville, MI. With such an early departure, there was minimal
traffic, so I made it to the first stop without any issues. The 4 EA
stations at this stop where easy to find and access, located only a
couple of stoplights off the freeway. I was here long enough for
quick top off and to check this site off my list. Also located at
this stop is an 8 station Tesla Supercharger, something
that would be common for the first stops of my journey. A quick
8-minute charge took me from 77% to 82% and I was already onto my
next stop before 7am.
The next stop was in Bay City, MI.
With I-75 under construction and major lane restrictions, I decided
to work my way up to M-59 and then back over to I-75 to avoid any
delays. With this route, it only took me an hour and forty minutes
to arrive at the Bay City stop. It was an easy to find location,
also only a couple of stoplights from the freeway. I arrived with
38% battery, better than the projected 27%. With the need to charge
up to 73%, I opted to take this time to stop into the close by Meijer
gas station and get myself a coffee and a donut for breakfast. As
with the previous stop, there is also a Tesla
Supercharger here and I saw a couple of Model 3s charging. After 26
minutes, I was charged to 77% and ready to start the next leg of my
journey.
The northern most stop on my journey
took me to Gaylord, MI. A couple of stoplights off the highway, I
drove past a 10-stall Tesla Supercharger location and
pulled up to one of the 4 EA stations. Arriving at 24% and only
needing to charge to 60%, I made a quick run into the Meijer
and almost got lost in the strangest layout of a Meijer store
I’ve ever seen. Back at Elektra, the 29-minute charge
brought the battery up to 67%. I headed south to my next stop in
Cadillac, MI.
Yet another Tesla
Supercharger greets me at the next stop. 8 Tesla stalls and 4 EA
stalls support this location. At the time of this stop, I was hungry
and ready for lunch. Based on my planning, there was a Culvers
about 100 yards away from where I was plugged in. I was able
to take my time to enjoy my lunch as I spent 26 minutes charging from
43% to 77%. Once lunch time was over, I headed South to my next
stop.
The first and only charger issue of the
trip happened when I arrived in Lansing. The first charger displayed
an error message on the screen. I asked the driver of the Chevy Bolt
charging at the next stall over if he had experienced an issue, and
he indicated that it was a known issue with this site. With this
information, I moved to the next station and was able to start
charging. Since I was doing so well against the projected charge
level needs, I cut this stop short. I charged for only 19 minutes,
going from 22% to 50%, a full 9% less than the planner had
recommended.
My stop in Portage, MI was one of the
two EA locations I have visited previously. I stopped
here when I was bringing Elektra home for the first time.
This site is not well located and is not an easy off, easy on stop.
Off the highway at least a couple of miles, you must go through what
feels like at least a dozen stop lights! This road seems to be
always busy. Of all the stops, this one is the hardest to find and
least convenient for travel. Once I was plugged in and charging, I
went to a nearby sandwich shop for a drink and restroom break. A
charging time of 24 minutes took Elektra from 25% to 60%.
From this stop, the battery had reached maximum temperature and I
found that the charging speed was slowing at times to allow the
cooling system to maintain the peak temperature limit for the
battery. Having matched the planned charging numbers, I was off to
my next stop.
Pulling into my next to last stop at
Roundtree Place in Ypsilanti, MI, I was doubly
surprised. The first surprise was to see another person charging.
This was only the second non-Tesla vehicle I had seen
at a charger all day. The bigger surprise that it was another Kia
Niro EV. With my charging session started, I chatted with
the driver of the Kia. He was very familiar with the
fast chargers in the metro Detroit area and gave me some suggestions
on other sites to check out in the future. While we were talking, a
Nissan Leaf with a brand-new owner pulled up. We took
some time as well-practiced EV owners to share some guidance with
this new owner. We directed him to the one stall with the CHAdeMO
connector. (The Nissan Leaf is one of only a few cars
that use this charging standard connector.) I spent 24 minutes
charging, going from 18% to 55%.
The last stop of the day was in Novi,
MI. This is the second EA location I have been to
previously. I used this site for my 10% to 80% charging speed test.
This time, having spent longer than expected at the previous site, I
arrived with 43%. I would have stopped the trip after just a short
charge here, however, when I arrived, I was met by a couple of VW
ID.4s charging up. These drivers were a couple of VW
engineers who had just driven the vehicles up from the factory in
Chattanooga, TN. They had covered roughly the same number of miles I
had covered. They mentioned that I was the first other electric car
driver they had encountered charging during their travels. We spent
about 10 minutes chatting about the new car, then I was off.
Summary Stats:
Total Distance: 679.5 miles; Total
Driving Time: 11hrs 13min
Total Time Charging: 2hrs 40min; Total
kWh Charged: 173kWh
Total Cost: $52.24 (EA Membership rate
$0.31 per kWh)
What this trip in miles would have cost
me driving a gas car at 30 MPG: $72.48 (Current Gas Price $3.20
Gallon)
Did I have fun: Yes, especially talking
with all the other EV drivers.
Would I do it again: I would love to do
this loop in another EV like the ID.4 or the Mach-E;
to get a feel for how other EVs handle the trip.
What other networks providers am I
planning: I am looking to do EVgo next. They have a
limited network in the metro Detroit area, and I think I could visit
all the sites in a long afternoon.
All the Stats (green is actual):
|
Waypoint
|
Arrival
SoC
|
Depart
SoC
|
Cost
|
Charge
Time
|
Dist.
|
Drive
Time
|
Arrival
|
Departure
|
|
Point
on map
|
|
90%
|
|
|
34
mi
|
38
min
|
|
20:50
|
|
|
|
90%
|
|
|
33.5
|
0:41:00
|
|
6:15
|
|
Meijer
Roseville (Roseville, MI) [Electrify America]
|
75%
|
81%
|
$2
|
5
min
|
117
mi
|
1
h 48 min
|
21:28
|
21:33
|
|
30800
Little Mack Ave Roseville, MI
|
77%
|
82%
|
$0.99
|
8
min
|
108
|
1:48:00
|
6:51
|
6:59
|
|
Meijer
Bay City (Bay City, MI) [Electrify America]
|
27%
|
73%
|
$12
|
26
min
|
121
mi
|
1
h 44 min
|
23:22
|
23:48
|
|
2980
Wilder Rd Bay City, MI
|
38%
|
77%
|
$8.68
|
30
min
|
119
|
1:42:00
|
8:47
|
9:21
|
|
Meijer
Gaylord (Gaylord, MI) [Electrify America]
|
10%
|
56%
|
$12
|
24
min
|
76
mi
|
1
h 25 min
|
1:32
|
1:56
|
|
250
Meijer Dr Gaylord, MI
|
24%
|
67%
|
$10.52
|
29
min
|
71
|
1:23:00
|
11:03
|
11:39
|
|
Meijer
Cadillac (Cadillac, MI) [Electrify America]
|
25%
|
76%
|
$13
|
29
min
|
144
mi
|
2
h 21 min
|
3:22
|
3:51
|
|
8605
East 34 Road Cadillac, MI
|
43%
|
77%
|
$8.22
|
26
min
|
137
|
2:08:00
|
13:02
|
13:31
|
|
Walmart
2869 Lansing [Electrify America]
|
11%
|
59%
|
$12
|
25
min
|
72
mi
|
1
h 10 min
|
6:13
|
6:37
|
|
409
N Marketplace Blvd Lansing, MI
|
22%
|
50%
|
$6.90
|
19
min
|
70
|
1:16:00
|
15:39
|
16:02
|
|
Sams
Club 6661 - Portage, MI [Electrify America]
|
25%
|
60%
|
$9
|
18
min
|
108
mi
|
1
h 42 min
|
7:48
|
8:07
|
|
7021
Westnedge Portage, MI
|
25%
|
60%
|
$8.06
|
24
min
|
107
|
1:42:00
|
17:18
|
17:44
|
|
Roundtree
Place [Electrify America]
|
10%
|
25%
|
$4
|
8
min
|
33
mi
|
39
min
|
9:49
|
9:57
|
|
2539
Ellsworth Rd Ypsilanti, MI
|
18%
|
55%
|
$8.87
|
24
min
|
34
|
0:33:00
|
19:26
|
20:05
|
|
Walmart
5893 - Novi, MI [Electrify America]
|
10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
10:37
|
|
|
26090
Ingersol Dr Novi, MI
|
43%
|
58%
|
|
|
|
|
20:38
|
|
