Michael asked me to relay that he would also like to thank the Technical Program Management team for making this site possible! Please let us know in the comments if you would like a charging hub like this in your city, and where you are located ⚡
We could use one in Reno, once you head east on I-80 there are no big urban cities until you reach Salt Lake. More importantly though I would like to see EA add more fast charging on the rural highways in any western States! Need more than just Tesla Superchargers on these highways.
Thanks Kyle. Can you arrange to spend a week with an EA servicing team, to show us all how they are tackling faulty chargers, servicing them and upgrading their networks? Thanks again.
Most EVs are only a few years old. Too new to already be leaking oil. Remember that EVs contain oil in the reduction gears, just the same as an ICE transmission, and they will eventually leak oil too.
I charge at this place all the time. It is never full; usually there are loads of spots empty, the most full I have seen is with just a couple stations free. One station was down yesterday and a couple techs were working on it. Glad to see it gets immediate attention!
If this is a sneak peek into the future of EV urban charging, I'm very pleased! 90% of the time I charge my vehicle at home, but these sites are imperative for apartment dwellers and road trippers. Thank you for the tour Kyle and Michael!
How much does it cost to charge there, and does EA make a profit? Few apartment dwellers drive an EV even in urban areas with many public charging stations because EVs and public charging are too expensive and public charging is inconvenient. The convenience and low cost of charging at home are the best things about owning an EV. Public charging is the worst thing. It's not as bad as EV haters suggest, but it's still the worst thing. A half-hour charging stop on a five hour road trip is no big deal, but waiting so long to charge weekly, even a few times a week, would be. If I couldn't charge at home, I wouldn't drive an EV at this point. A large charging station like this one in LA or Manhattan or along an interstate makes some sense, though at this point, it seems too large for my neck of the woods in the southeastern U.S. even along an interstate. I don't use public charging much, but I've only waited once to charge, at an EA station in Greenville, SC, and then I only waited a couple of minutes. A station like this one would be practically empty most of the time, and I wonder if EA can profit from it. Apparently, they don't make a profit now, and they're my least favorite network anyway. I've always had to call customer support to start charging at EA even with their app. Their money seems better invested in improving their existing network. EVGo is my favorite network because of plug and go. Their stations often have only two plugs, but I've never waited for one. They also often provide only 50 kW. I drive a Bolt, so this limitation is not a problem for me, but it may explain why other EVs avoid them. If this one is no easier to use than every other EA station I've used, I'd try it once and never be back. To be fair, EA says that they've fixed problems with their stations and app, but I haven't tested the claim yet.
I’d be Happy with Canopies covering sites and nearby Restroom’s. Something like those European sites that have modular lounges with Bathrooms and Vending machines. Walking a half a mile through a Walmart parking lot is not convenient.
I can't see how a site like this ever pays for itself nevermind profits. Especially with a 24 /7 security guard. This was built as a showpiece and as a case study.
NY desparately needs this! Our charge spot had all charge pods down; even the level 2! Brand new station with 4 spots was just activated at Safeway - 1/2 of them went inop. A trip from SF Bay area to Arizona regularly experience several pods down at charge locations. Lotta moaning and cursing among customers.
This is such a great idea for city's and larger communities. I really love the idea of doing the stress test on the network and getting views involved.
I live 35 miles from this site and can’t wait to try it out next time I’m in San Francisco. It’s a very convenient location. I’d love to do an Out of Spec meetup in San Francisco some day.
This is awesome. As happy as I am as a Mach-E owner to charge at Superchargers now, this is fantastic. Charged in Buffalo today at EA and had zero issues. Let's hope we really have turned the corner.
They could install screens in the lounges which show the drivers the SoC and the charging power of the cars. Audi has done that on their charging hub in Nuremberg, Germany.
Or the lights on the chargers (or add a separate light on top that's easily visible) can tell you. Red for an error or issue with the charger, green for charging is occurring, orange for when the charging session is over.
Absolutely would like one of these. Take a look at the I-95 corridor between Wilmington DE and Baltimore MD. There’s nothing north or south of I-95 so how about one of these off of I-95 on the DE/MD border.
It would be cool to see a video on a tech working on a broken station. What all is involved in diagnosing a broken station and why things inside break. How long it takes to fix it or make a full upgrade one.
Good start fixing the urban charge desert. Can they keep it up? There are lots of garages like that could be remodeled to provide similar setups. Hope it becomes a “thing” ! Good job EA, Thanks Kyle for spotlighting the good along with the bad
This is a great idea for large urban cities, especially those that don't have open parking lots to deploy at (looking at you Manhattan). EV's are also great for cities as the city driving range takes you farther (slower driving).
lol ah yes because cities that are so overpopulated that they don’t have parking space totally has room for an entire building dedicated to being a parking lot.
@@joemcdonough7509 the idea doesn’t suck, heralding it as some kind of savior to the woes of an overcrowded urban city like manhattan is the part that sucks and is moronic.
@@joemcdonough7509a great idea in the context of an overpopulated dense urban environment. Which again it is absolutely NOT a good idea in that context.
My experience with EA has been solid. I just wish they were more available. But with Walmart starting their own network, and Hyundai starting theirs, I'm optimistic.
They really need more stations in Las Vegas with all the tourists. It would be a great place to highlight a EA Flagship facility to people visiting from all over the World
I think this is cool for a flagship, but I think it is a bad priority for EA. Their priority really needs to be improving the experience at their _existing_ charging sites. Putting in a flagship site like this is nice for social media presence but it does basically nothing for the vast majority of EV drivers, especially in the huge areas of the US where EA improvements or new installations are sorely needed. It’s really disappointing to hear that their only plans for these sites are in California, which already has substantially better EV charging infrastructure than anywhere else in the country.
It's nice to see Aunt Francine spirit is rubbing off on Kyle :) Let's find solution for the charging problems. Also big shout out to Michael - he seems like a great guy that cares about what he is doing!!
It’s a cool idea. I’m surprised I didn’t see window cleaning stuff… it’s something I miss from when I pumped gas. I wonder if the security guards could get a tips-only side hustle by offering to clean windows? Really, they should just have some buckets and squeegees for the car owners.
@@j4k3br4k3 me too… but I’d rather not have to, and when even this type of location doesn’t have it, it makes me realize your setup is going to become the new normal. :/
My 14 year old son and I just took an impromptu, spur of the moment trip from DC to Boston, mid-Feb 2024, in a Thrifty rental Kia Niro. We avoided toll roads from DC to Albany, to boot! It was a marathon drive (no preconditioning), in temps down to 15 degrees. It was, as I promised him it would be, an adventure! (We live in Sacramento, California. I drive a Tesla Model 3 SR+.) So many stories. So many chargers. So many bizarre, and a couple scary, encounters. Nearly all at EA. And we lived to tell our story!
Next Sunday I will drive from Minneapolis to Ft Collins Colorado. Thirteen hours, 920 miles, two fill ups. No drama. No adventure. ICE for the win but I’m grateful for all of you early adopters who are part of the learning process.
Hi Kyle, that looks like such a great location and you're right security is key. It's also clean and comfortable. Another thing I like is that the charging spots are not so tight, there appears to be plenty of room. So glad he has a Chademo spot, not just for Nissan, but for my Mitsubishi brothers and sisters too. If I lived in that urban environment I would be bringing mine in constantly because I want to use gas as little as possible with it. I hope Ubisoft San Francisco adds this to the Watch Dogs 2 map it would be so cool. Congrats to EA and I hope they put something like this in Tampa.
Amazing location and some great amenities. Please bring this to large cities throughout North America not just USA (Toronto could use some EA upgrades).
Is this place, the first EV tourist site. I plan to visit it and I don't have an EV yet. It was like an EV car show in there during your visit. The EV transition takes another big step along the this new EV development regime. Two thumbs up to EA for this important addition to EV acceptance .
This is great! I’d love to see something like this in Ann Arbor! Lots of apartments, lots of EVs, not great fast charging infrastructure. I’d visit it. Heck, I’d apply to work there!
I would appreciate them a lot more as a customer if they put these in the downtowns of a lot of the major US cities especially Chicago, Nashville, and Atlanta. Those would all be particularly useful to me.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Kyle has to be the hardest working RU-vidr out there and yet another informative video. There has to be a ton of EVers that don't know about Kyle and OoS because he'd have well over a million subscribers. Keep up the great work Kyle and crew!
I love this! I hope to see more of these and I can't wait to see how these evolve. It is nice enough to charge on a lunch break, but not too nice to encourage excessive loitering. Please bring this to El Paso, ABQ, and Santa Fe.
This place looks amazing and for sure gives the urban EV drivers a sense of security. Was wondering if they have a back should there be some sort of power failure in the area?
This looks perfect they need these everywhere. No idiots bothering you while you charge. Chargers that work great with no cut charging cables. Great video.
As great as the car reviews are THIS type of content is the most helpful. After all, after one, has chosen the car they want that will be it for a couple of years, but charging infrastructure and its problems are critical even if you have a home charger. More like this please. Incidentally, I would love to see long distance infrastructure videos along the west coast, not just across the country.
Yeah, a more positive discussion and what is working and improving. We got into EVs just because of you and your original Motoring channel, so would like to see the good about charging on long trips. We all know Tesla is the best, channels like Mach-e vlog make it a point to tell views they have not been stranded and have always gotten to where they are going, maybe with a delay. This was a great positive video, more of this.
Honestly one of the best videos I've seen from Out of Spec - and that's saying a lot. It's so nice to see these innovative sites come on line. Michael is a good guy as well. Thanks for doing this Kyle!
Great video and a great EA charging site. I hope that EA and other charging networks are able to partner with food vendors that are local to their site locations. Featuring local food vendors. Such as small chain coffee shops, regional food etc. Sort of copying the models of gas station, but with an emphasis on small local businesses. A win-win-win for EV owners, small business and the charging networks.
I think this is a brilliant idea. Not only do people feel safer indoors but, if it's raining or snowing, they wouldn't have any issue plugging in or anything. I have a Tesla and honestly, I kinda wish this is how Tesla was doing things with their sites.
I am really impressed, looking forward to the improvements coming our way from EA, glad the EA staff are so enthusiastic! Great video KYLE, certainly worth your trip out to San Fran!
You do a Great Job of not only growing your self but being aware of that things need to be brought to the growth of this new adventure! Thanks to your out of Spec team!
I think this is my favorite Out of Spec video ever! Only possible improvement would be if we got to see more of the behind the scenes equipment. I hope to visit SF in June and see this station, maybe also visit the Magic Dock station in Scott’s Valley. I live in Los Angeles so I an super excited to hear about the plans for Santa Barbara and San Diego, I’ll definitely be using both of those stations. There’s probably enough demand here in the Los Angeles area for 2 or 3 (or 4) of these flagship stations, though I have home charging so not important for me personally. Hmm, Las Vegas needs this also, the EA stations there are always full.
Really important that ev drivers are in a position at Electrify America to make a difference. Thank you Kyle for being positive and working towards solutions. Chargepoint and EA seem to be getting it right.
Nicely done. I only wish Electrify America would fix the major reliability issues all over the country. Just experienced it first hand in Las Vegas in a rental Polestar 2: 1/4 chargers out of order. One worked at 50-ish kWh. Two had 6-7 cars queued up. Decided to return the rental uncharged and eat the $25 fee Hertz charges for that. Been driving a Taycan since 2021 and Electrify America has gotten so much worse over time. One of the reasons I am now considering trading the Taycan in for a Tesla.
Just looking at the layout off this, repurposing older ICE service centers in this way would be a pretty clean conversion. As the need for those drop with EVs increasing, I could see a reasonably cost effective Charger install. Not sure what EA started with in this site, but overall it reminds me a lot of a Auto service center that you'd see in older shopping malls and stuff. As a rural owner, I'd just like to see more investment in 4-8 stall locations on major hwy routes to support road tripping. In cities its manageable, but rural is still a big inconvenience.
Amazing! We live not far from this site, in Sacramento. My wife drives a 2021 VW ID.4 PRO, and I showed her this, she was floored! (I drive a 2021 Model 3 SR+) Damn. I’m taking my Tesla here next time in SF! Great video, great interview, great charging site!
I believe EV skeptics and naysayers are just making noise about slow EV adoption, but stuff like this gives me hope that the future of EVs are bright. I’m in the power industry and deal with 13.8kv and 34.5kv transformers and I can easily relate to this.
I did a couple of trips up to Lake Tahoe and San Luis Obispo last summer, and I found EA chargers to be the reliable ones I saw. It was the EVGo and Chargepoint ones that were broken, wouldn't charge at high rate. One vote for a hub in Santa Cruz. A lot of EV drivers out here on the coast
Probably need more of these in several key big-city downtown locations. We are 10-15 years away from having minimum local charging for everyone. Car prices aside, nobody will buy BEV until they see charging everywhere they go to park.
This would be a fantastic idea for here in Chicago! There's a lot of vacant lots and buildings around in the city and having a site with 20+ stalls would help with the demand for fast charging around Chicago! Hope EA or even Tesla would build an urban indoor charging site.
