On a current journey throughout Texas, I discovered myself needing to get a cost in Houston. I remembered a earlier article about Phillips 66 installing their first DC fast charging station at their flagship retailer … which simply occurs to be in Houston. Plus, I haven’t charged at a Freewire station earlier than, so it appeared like an awesome factor to check out.
What Makes These Stations Particular
On the floor, and primarily based on the place it was put in, the factor that makes these stations one thing new and thrilling is a sticker and a reputation. An organization with a protracted historical past within the oil trade (going again to the Phillips Petroleum Firm within the Twenties), Phillips beginning a brand new journey away from fossil fuels is a giant deal. So, it’s actually greater than only a sticker. However, these stations have one thing extra particular contained in the field.
Like all Freewire Increase stations, they don’t simply serve energy from the grid into your EV’s battery pack. The gear at these charging stations is way bigger than at Supercharger stations, however all the things is organized into one cupboard. For instance, there’s the charging gear, 160 kWh of battery storage (which might assist 2–4 costs normally), and all of the digital parts.
This concept of power storage at charging stations is just not unique, however one key distinction units it aside. Different firms, like Electrify America and Tesla, use battery storage to do one thing comparable. Nonetheless, this methodology nonetheless requires quite a few hours for set up as a result of it necessitates wiring complexities and a separate place to retailer the batteries. They do their greatest to stash the battery packs away, however it’s harder to get all the things authorised due to this. FreeWire sends a self-contained field that may be put in in just some hours in comparison with ready months for set up.
To not point out: you don’t even want 3-phase energy if it’s not accessible. This makes the set up course of way more seamless. In different phrases, these can exchange a Stage 2 charging station with ease — little to no additional wiring or new companies from the electrical firm and with out including demand costs companies’ energy invoice. The tip result’s an reasonably priced system that also supplies 100–200 kW of constant charging energy for drivers with out straining the grid.
You’ll need to pay for electrical energy to energy your charging station, however the associated fee out of your electrical firm shall be increased than you may anticipate. The fees embody one thing known as demand costs, that are levied per kilowatt quite than per kilowatt-hour.
Your energy firm payments you primarily based on how a lot electrical energy you utilize at your highest level of consumption through the month. They don’t care as a lot about how a lot power you’ve consumed total, however quite how massive of a “pipe” was wanted to assist your peak utilization. The bigger the wires need to be to deal with your most load, the upper they’ll cost you for utilizing their service. Evaluating this billing methodology to water utilization, electrical energy could be like gallons used whereas energy would seek advice from the dimensions of pipe required.
If in case you have a 50kW station, this charge shall be tons of of {dollars} month-to-month. If in case you have a number of 150–250 kW stations and so they all get used on the identical time, you’ll find yourself paying 1000’s of {dollars} each month — it’s tremendous costly. When you don’t have preexisting infrastructure in place, you’ll have to pay for the supplies and building wanted to get energy operating to your required location. Not solely that, however you’ll be charged a excessive month-to-month fee to maintain the lights on and keep stated infrastructure.
Maybe even higher, in the event you needed to energy these stations from solar energy, it will be quite a bit simpler. The station can draw a couple of tens of kilowatts all day, and save that energy up for a driver to get a full 160 kW of charging after they arrive.
What It Was Like Utilizing A Phillips 66 Freewire Station
Whereas the technical particulars are attention-grabbing, EV charging is one thing we don’t wish to actually be that attention-grabbing. Ideally, you plug the automobile into the station, begin the cost, and let the charger and the automobile do their factor to provide the vary you want. If it’s any extra attention-grabbing than that, one thing in all probability went flawed.
I’m completely happy to report that the expertise right here was largely boring. I plugged the automobile in, held my ChargePoint card as much as the station, and it began placing energy into my Bolt EUV’s battery.
In relation to the station, there was one actually cool element from a customer-facing perspective: a giant, stunning touchscreen. The photographs of Freewire stations don’t actually do it justice. They give the impression of being completely superior in individual. Like a TV, greater screens are all the time good, however in addition they assist the large field of batteries and charging gear look much more proportional, too.
After I was carried out beginning the cost, some great benefits of Phillips 66’s flagship retailer began to grow to be obvious. Not solely did the OnCue station have a broad number of snacks, drinks, and precise meals, but it surely additionally had massive, clear loos. Generally, an EV charging station doesn’t have a toilet close by in any respect, however this was one of many cleaner public restrooms I’ve seen. We wanted to get some money from an ATM, and so they had that, too. Plus, the ATM had a really affordable charge for my out-of-network card. They even had my favourite soda.
In different phrases, it was nearly one of the best comfort retailer and fueling station I’ve ever been to, so the “flagship” was actually earned and never simply advertising and marketing and PR fluff.
So, all in all, I’d need to say that this was a wonderful charging station to go to. The charging went nicely, the services have been wonderful, and all the things was fairly priced. The stations have been placing a minimal pressure on the native electrical grid, which is best for the power transition. There was actually nothing unhealthy to say concerning the expertise.
I’m hoping to see Phillips 66 unfold this flagship expertise out to different shops round america. If everybody may have an awesome expertise charging like this, it is going to actually assist the EV transition go much more easily.
Wish to test it out your self? Head over to 10612 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77042.
Featured picture by Jennifer Sensiba.
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