West Michigan International - Kalamazoo

 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

Total Score (Max 44)	Score	Accessibility	Amenities	Usability
24	C	4	3	17

Questions or Comments:

dantheevman@gmail.com

Orland Square Mall - Orland Park, IL

 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

Total Score (Max 44)	Score	Accessibility	Amenities	Usability
22	C	4	5	13

Questions or Comments:

dantheevman@gmail.com

Jerky Outlet - Kawkawlin - Redo

 Introduction

Welcome to my Charging Site Reviews.  One of the main reasons I decided to start a blog was to share information with others about Electric Car Charging locations.

Business/Location Name	The Jerky Outlet
Address	825 E Beaver Rd, Kawkawlin, MI 48631
Network	ChargePoint
Station Details	2 Stations (62.5kW/125kW linked)
Cost	$0.35 per kWh (Was $0.20/min in 2021)

3 years after my first charging site review trip, I wanted to go back and see how each of the sites was doing.  I knew one of the first areas I wanted to focus on was the I-75 corridor, especially sites that will support electric car owners in the Detroit area that might do the weekend trip ‘up north’.  My research brought me to the ChargePoint location at the Jerky Outlet in Kawkawlin, MI (This site opened in November 2020)

Accessibility

This station is in the southeast corner of the gas station parking lot; directly off the highway if you are traveling southbound, and just west past the overpass if you are headed northbound.  The two ChargePoint chargers are easy to spot as you approach the gas station.  Since these chargers were placed in the corner of the parking lot closest to the road, it is very unlikely that a car that was not charging would park in these spaces.  However, since the parking is “nose in”, there’s no pull-through parking for anyone pulling a trailer.

Amenities

Dining options include: None

Shopping options include: Mobil Convenience Store

Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air):  Mobil gas station at this location.

Concentration

This is the baseline ChargePoint 2 charger site.  The parking is a pull/back into configuration. The current space available could add 2 more chargers, and possibly more on other parts of the parking lot.

Location

Overall, I do think this is a great location for a charging stop.  The 120 miles from downtown Detroit means that at peak travel times, this site would be about 2 hours into a trip up north.  On the return trip, it makes for a good location to increase the charge to ensure you have enough power to get home.  As I mentioned above, the gas station is directly off the highway and the chargers are easy to spot, yet still a quick walk to the restrooms and other facilities.

Speed

ChargePoint is offering a middle of the pack solution targeted for the early adoption phase.  These units can output 125kW or 200A.  When not paired, or when both are in use the current limit is 62.5kW or 150A.  For vehicles above 500V, the current limits change and they become 75A and 125A, thus making the maximum theoretical output to be 125kW (125A at 1000V).  While this does not match the most powerful units on the market, it will support reasonably fast charging for one vehicle.  

    

Summary

This site has held up reasonably well over the last 3 years.  There were only a couple of issues.  First, these are very early generations of these CPE250 units and the touchscreens never worked really well and the behavior is not getting better with time.  The scratches in the screen also continue to make it difficult to read the screen.  Second, the unit closest to the street continues months later to show offline.  So, even though I was able to charge successfully, none of the data from that session has been reported through the app.  Somehow, the preconditioning setting in the navigation had turned itself off, so I arrived at this location with a cold battery and thus experienced an extended charging session.  While I was happy to see this site has switched to the more fair per kWh charging, when I did the comparison to the previous trip, under the old method, I would have gotten more charge for less money.  3 years from now, will visit again and keep track.

Cost and Charging Details

Visit with 2019 Kia Niro EV on 3/21/2021

Total Cost: $7.32

Total kWh: 30.75kWh

Time: 37 Minutes

Average Charge Speed: 49.86 kWh (Calculated)

Cost per kWh: $.238 (Calculated)

Visit with 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 on 3/21/2024

Total Cost: $12.70

Total kWh: 36.283kWh

Time: 31 Minutes

Average Charge Speed:  70kW (Calculated)

Cost per kWh: $0.35

(Note Since this unit is listed as offline the charging session did not get uploaded to the cloud, am I am relying on the photo I took at the end of the session.)

Total Score (Max 44)	Score	Accessibility	Amenities	Usability
22	C	6	5	11

Questions/Comments:

DanTheEVMan@gmail.com