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Aerovironment Pay Per Use

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Before the SuperCharger in The Dalles, OR, was commissioned, I used the Aeroviroment Hood River location. The 800 number is on the charger. I just gave them a credit card number and the charger started charging. I know rates are different between the J-1772 and the Chademo chargers. I don't recall the exact amounts, but it was very reasonable, and much cheaper than their subscription model.
 
The nice thing about the Oregon Green Highway AV stations is they all appear to be 240v/32amp stations (at least the ones I used when they were free). This gives you a 7.6kW charge while most other public stations give 200v/24-30amp charge (4.8-6kW). While still not anywhere near as fast as a HPWC or Supercharger, it's nice they at least made them well enough that we can get a quicker charge then normal.

Once we get the CHAdeMO adaptor, I might consider their $20 a month subscription for the summer season. Will be very handy for regular trips to the coast were there are no Superchargers!
 
I just tried the Aerovironment CHAdeMO charger in Cannon Beach, OR a few days ago. No go.

I have an Aerovironment fob from about 3 years ago, but I didn't see a need to use other CHAdeMO stations, so I didn't sign up for their $20/month all-you-can-eat plan. I just figured I'd call and activate the stations when I got there.

I called when I got there, asked them to activate the charge, and...nothing happened. I had tried my adapter at another station previously, so I know it works. I tried unplugging/plugging and pressing the Start button several times. The Aerovironment person on the phone was friendly and trying, but even when she tried a remote reboot nothing happened. The station kept showing the "Welcome" screen as if I had done nothing.

We changed our plans and ate dinner at the Wayfarer that night so we could charge at their HPWC while dining, so we made it home fine. But this was still pretty darn annoying given that I waited over 2 years to get the adapter...and when I try it, things don't work. Even worse, Aerovironment charged me $7.50 plus tax despite me not getting a charge. I just called and they said they would "try" to reverse it but I should check to make sure it really happens and call again when it doesn't.

Even if it did work, the whole process of calling, giving name and address and credit card number is really a pain. But it's the only way to do it on a one-off basis; otherwise you have to get their $20/month plan. Tesla really thought through the logistics and made the Superchargers reliable and easy to use.

Has anybody else successfully used an Aerovironment CHAdeMO charger? Were you on the monthly plan with the fob, or just you just activate when you arrived?

[EDIT: dirkh says in another thread that he knows somebody that has charged there successfully, so it likely was just a network issue at the time I was there]
 
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Has anybody else successfully used an Aerovironment CHAdeMO charger? Were you on the monthly plan with the fob, or just you just activate when you arrived?

I've charged in Newport before. I too had to call up and give them my info because I didn't opt for the monthly service subscription. Fortunately there weren't any issues and I was able to fully charge up. However I did notice in Cannon Beach the cell service there is really bad. It's possible the station as not able to establish a link that day. Good to know that that location is one to be avoided. At least their other stations appear to have good reliability.

As for the non-subscriber users, they really need to streamline the process. It's crazy in this day and age to expect people to call up and give their info over the phone to enable the charger. Even if the keys and authentication system they use can't handle a charge-back system, they could at least make a phone app or web site to allow for individual charge purposes. They can even do it with an automated phone system too and eliminate the hold times some people have experienced. But a part of me also thinks they want to make it as difficult as possible to push people towards the fixed monthly fee setup. Easier for them and probably more profitable too. :smile:
 
Blink network worked for me

If you want to use a fiasco charger try BLINK CHAdeMO.

Good luck and expensive.
FWIW, I recently had to find a charger south of Seattle, and the Blink charger at Tahoma Market turned out to be most convenient.
It worked for me, although I do agree that it is more expensive than than I had imagined.
I ended up paying a little over $10 to charge enough to get to the Centralia SC with lots to spare. ($0.59/KW).

For me, it is good to know that Lincoln City and Newport AV chargers can be operated without the AV fob.
 
As for the non-subscriber users, they really need to streamline the process. It's crazy in this day and age to expect people to call up and give their info over the phone to enable the charger. Even if the keys and authentication system they use can't handle a charge-back system, they could at least make a phone app or web site to allow for individual charge purposes.

Well, since this post they enabled Pay-per-use billing through the Plug Share app. I've used it coming back from Bend when I needed a bit of charge to make it to the Detroit Lake SC. Worked great and much better then calling them. I'm glad they finally enabled this. In just over a month I'll be going down to Gold Beach, OR and will have to use the AV network to get there and go back home. I'm so glad we have this network in Oregon. It's too bad it wasn't expanded into California as I'm stuck not going very far south from Gold Beach until the Tesla SCs are installed in Crescent City and Eureka.

FWIW, I recently had to find a charger south of Seattle, and the Blink charger at Tahoma Market turned out to be most convenient.
It worked for me, although I do agree that it is more expensive than than I had imagined.
I ended up paying a little over $10 to charge enough to get to the Centralia SC with lots to spare. ($0.59/KW).

I've used that Tahoma Market Blink station many times myself. My MS60 just can't make it from the Centralia SC to the Seattle area and back to Centralia on a single charge. So I stop there and add just enough to get me to Centralia with a little bit to spare ($3-$4 worth).
 
Yeah, the pay per use through Plugshare makes it a lot easier. I used the one in Tillamook, Oregon, and it was my first time using a for-pay public charging station. I mixed it up a little, though. They had a CHAdeMO and J1772 side by side. I saw the charger number in big font on the CHAdeMO, and I thought it was one ID number for that location. I didn’t have a CHAdeMO adapter, so I was trying to use the J1772, and I couldn’t get it to work. After a few minutes and some phone support, I found out that the J1772 had its own charger ID number in very tiny font on it, so then I was able to get it working.
 
In our last two vacations in Oregon, I've found the AV charge network very reliable. Last year I used the pay through Plugshare and it worked great. Very convenient

I found that the connection between the Chademo and the Tesla connector can be finicky to snap in. It has to be pushed in hard and then the lock engaged. I had some trouble at the Hood River charger at first. The heavy awkward connector head is difficult to manipulate. I'm a big guy and had trouble getting things to snap together.

Customer service is very good at AV.

We will be coming back to Oregon again this year.