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| The recently released ChargePoint Ct 4021 will very likely be the most desirable public charging station on the market |
Since I still haven't gotten a replacement for my ActiveE (stay tuned because that will change soon!), I thought it would be a good time to do a post about the new line of charging equipment from ChargePoint. I frequently have people reach out to me for advice on charging equipment for home and for public charging and I am a big fan of
ChargePoint and
ClipperCreek for that matter. However ChargePoint has recently unveiled their new family of CT4000 public chargers and they are worth checking out. According to
their website, ChargePoint is the largest of electric vehicle charging locations worldwide. They have over 13,200 charging stations deployed and have completed nearly 3,000,000 electric vehicle charging sessions. I personally account for about 1,500 of those charging sessions as I have a ChargePoint CT500 EVSE at my home and a CT 2100 public charger at
my restaurant in Montclair, NJ.
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| The CT2100 at my restaurant |
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| The holster broken off |
I have been very pleased with both units, and neither has had a single problem in the year and a half I have had them. The only thing I could really complain about was how the CT2100 holster for the connector was attached to the side of the unit. The holster cap was plastic and if a 'curious' passerby decided they really wanted to grab the connector and pull it hard while it was locked in the holster, they could break the plastic holster off the side of the unit. I know this from personal experience as I had some curious teenagers do just that and it cost me $300 to replace the holster. So I was pretty happy when I saw the new design which eliminated the side holster. When not in use, the connectors now plug into the center of the unit. I believe this is a much better, more robust design.
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| A Volt charging on Nauna's CT2100 |
However the improvements don't end there. The units now have
customizable video and branding options with a 5.7-inch color LCD screen that allows station owners to run their own video content. They also feature built-in signage that is easily replaceable with custom branding. This is very important. Public charging stations need ancillary support outside of the revenue stream of charging for the electric in order to be a profitable venture. By allowing the station manager to advertise on the stations, they can attract additional revenue and subsidize the expense of buying, installing and maintaining the stations. Electricity is inexpensive and electric vehicle drivers won't pay much more for it at a public station than they do at home. Sure they'll agree to pay a little more for the convenience of charging in public, but if the rates are too high people simply won't use the station. By offering the station manager an additional revenue stream, they can charge lower rates for charging and still recoup their investment.over time.
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| A new CT4021 in the wild! |
The new stations also have what ChargePoint calls
Clean Cord Technology. It's maintenance-free, light-weight, self-retracting cords come standard on all models. This keeps the cable from being left on the ground by an inconsiderate EV driver after they've used it. It's unfortunate, but I can tell you that happens a lot and I have to walk out to the parking lot and coil up the cable myself after someone left it lying on the pavement. Another feature the new stations have is that they have the ability to share power between the two connectors if needed. That means the station owner can use a single 40amp feed to power the station and it can still charge two cars on 240/208v. The previous versions like I have could not do that; you would need to run two 40amp feeds to charge two cars on 240v or 208v at the same time. The only downside to this is if you do use one feed to charge two cars then they will charge at a slower rate since they are sharing power. Station managers need to have proper signage if they have a single feed powering two connectors so the EV driver knows they may get reduced power if someone plugs in while they are charging. This will not effect most PHEV vehicles like the Chevy Volt or Ford C-Max since they charge at 3.3kWs and even if they were power sharing on a CT 4021 they would both get the maximum 3.3kWs they can charge at. I would still recommend new installations to use two 40amp feeds and allow both connectors to charge at the higher rate, but if the feed is already there, and the owner doesn't want to incur the expense of trenching, and running a second cable then this is a good way to allow more cars to plug in without adding much cost.
All this adds up to a much improved EVSE, which is the best option available for networked public charging today in my opinion. Add that to the great service ChargePoint has always provided and it's easy to see why ChargePoint seems to be pulling ahead of the others in the relatively new world of electric vehicle charging.
