Plug-Side Chat: We Don’t Need Big Charging Sites

From News Coulomb. @KyleConner recently visited San Luis Obispo, California while traveling in a CCS EV, and he was concerned with the disparity in DC fast charging options between Tesla’s Superchargers and the public providers. I personally have a long history with charging in San Luis Obispo, and in fact, the EVgo charger that Kyle…

Plug-Side Chat: Why EV Trip Planners Suck

From News Coulomb. Tell us how you really feel, Eric. Well… I don’t personally use EV trip planners (route planners as they are sometimes called), and I think that in their current form, they are largely unnecessary. Most require the driver to know enough about their car and their route that the trip planner itself…

Plug-Side Chat: Should “Slow-Charging” EVs Exist?

From News Coulomb. I’ve been seeing more and more comments by auto journalists recently claiming that EVs need to charge as fast as they possibly can. They are essentially making the claim that slower charging EVs shouldn’t exist. In my opinion, this is wrong. All of the collected data we have shows that most Americans…

Plug-Side Chat: What Makes a Charging Site Compelling?

From News Coulomb. In a recent video, Kyle @OutofSpecReviews interviewed Arcady, CEO and Founder of Freewire, and I wanted to respond to a point that they made during the video. According to Arcady, Freewire’s business model is to install a single charger and expand in response to demand. The problem with that model, in my…

Driving the Chevy Volt: My Bolt EV Battery Died

From News Coulomb. So after six years, it finally happened. My Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery died. These batteries will typically last about three years, so this battery exceeded its lifespan by nearly double. Last year, I also replaced the 12 V AGM on my Chevrolet Volt, and it was a similar age. It’s possible that…

Site Review: Electrify America, Baker

From News Coulomb. On a recent trip, I was able to use the recently updated Electrify America site in Baker, California. This site ticks off all the boxes. It is located at a convenience store travel stop, and it has both full, pull-through parking and a complete solar canopy. The site features 12 BTC Power…

2017 Chevy Bolt EV: 500 Miles Using Only EVgo

From News Coulomb. For my trip down to the 2022 LA Auto Show, I decided to restrict my charging to only using the EVgo network. At this point, most EV owners and journalists covering EVs are hyperfocused on the Electrify America network; however, in terms of network size, charging speeds, and growth, EVgo is a…

Shame on You, Tesla: My Thoughts on NACS

From News Coulomb. Tesla recently announced on their blog that they are opening their proprietary plug standard to now be a public standard that they are referring to as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Couched in the wording of the blog post is a very disturbing message: Telsa doesn’t think that they should have…

So an Electric Truck Won’t Work For You… Cool

From News Coulomb. "I’m here to tell you, you don’t need an electric truck!" Sound familiar? Because I’ve been hearing it a lot recently. Sure, there have always been folks that say that if you aren’t using your truck for work, you don’t need to be driving a truck. Now, though, it appears to have…

New Public Charging Provider: EV Range

From News Coulomb. On my recent trip down to check out ChargeNet, I stopped by another new charging provider: EV Range. They were started by former Recargo employees, and they have a lot of experience designing and building public charging sites. They have already brought a couple of charging sites online, with several more in…

Site Review: EVgo, Antioch

From News Coulomb. *I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly on this trip.* On my recent trip down to Trajectory EV, I stopped by yet another EVgo "Ultium Ready" charging site that recently came online. This site features four 350 kW Delta DC fast chargers and two 100 kW…

ChargeNet, Taco Bell: Charging Site Opening and Tour

From News Coulomb. I stopped by the grand opening of ChargeNet’s firs charging site. This site is located at Taco Bell in South San Francisco, and it is designed to provide the maximum benefit to both the business site host and EV drivers. Overall, I think this is an excellent business model, and I’m looking…

Trajectory EV: Ford Ranger Electric Restorations and More!

From News Coulomb. *I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly.* I stopped by Trajectory EV to check out their workshop and interview Sean McCluskey. Trajectory EV is a full-service EV workshop, offering services from repairing factory EVs to building and fixing EV conversions. They specialize in the Ford Ranger…

Site Review: EVgo “Ultium Ready” at Fremont REI

From News Coulomb. *I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly.* Well, I decided to get back to my site reviews, and this site is one of the newer, more exciting public charging sites that are coming online. These are the more basic GM-funded, "Ultium Ready" EVgo sites, which appear…

Can the KIA EV6 Use a 460 V ChargePoint CPE100?

From News Coulomb. While I was reviewing the 2022 KIA EV6 RWD Wind, I decided to stop by a 500 V CCS charger. In this case, I chose a 24 kW ChargePoint CPE100, which is restricted to a maximum output voltage of 460 VDC. Because the Hyundai and KIA E-GMP batteries charge at much higher…

GM and Gotion Joint Venture Confirmed?

From News Coulomb. About a year and a half ago, a story broke that Gotion, a Chinese battery maker specializing in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for automotive and grid-tie use was partnering with a major, unnamed U.S. automaker. The plan was to provide 200 GWh of battery cells from 2023 to 2028, which that…

2022 Fully Charged LIVE! San Diego: Day Two Recap

From News Coulomb. This is a slightly different format than my Day One coverage. For Day Two of Fully Charged LIVE!, I was able to interact with more of the vendors and businesses. Aptera, Fisker, and Vinfast were all crowded and busy taking orders, so I didn’t spend much time with them; however I was…

Is the Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) Sustainable?

From News Coulomb. While returning home from Fully Charged LIVE in San Diego, I decided to stop by a Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) charging site on Highway 395 in Bishop, California. The site is basic, but well thought-out, and it includes six charging stalls that each provide up to 1000 V and 500 A. Currently,…

2017 Chevy Bolt EV: Rural Grocery Getter

From News Coulomb. I wanted to share a fairly common grocery shopping run in my Chevrolet Bolt EV to illustrate a point about how much EV range some people need in order to really benefit from transitioning to electric. Along the way, I visit some charging sites and illustrate how it would have been possible…

Ford Ranger EV: Changing the Cabin Air Filter

From News Coulomb. I thought I’d drop a PSA for Ford Ranger owners. I’ve seen a lot of comments regarding the Ranger not having a cabin air filter, and I’ve seen a number of other comments complaining about the Ranger’s cabin blower fan output. I can confirm that the Ranger EV has a cabin air…

Cracking Open a 1999 Ford Ranger EV NIMH Charger

From News Coulomb. In this video, I decided to take a peek inside the 1999 Ford Ranger Electric’s onboard Level 2 AC charger, which I am replacing with a 6.6 kW, Valeo Siemens unit. Despite originally connecting through an Avcon plug, this charger uses the same SAE standard that was eventually adopted by every other…

2017 Chevy Bolt EV Battery Degradation at 150,000 Miles

From News Coulomb. I decided to do a quick shopping trip and test out my nearly six year old Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery degradation after over 150,000 miles. I’ve provided two estimates in this video because after a software update early in its service life, my Bolt EV was reporting about 2 kWh less capacity…

EVgo vs Fuzzy Panda

From News Coulomb. The Fuzzy Panda recently released a scathing "report" about EVgo, which resulted in a massive devaluation of EVgo’s shares. In this video, I dive into a few of the particulars that Fuzzy Panda mentioned, and voice my concern about why the report omitted so many positives aspects of EVgo, including their assets,…

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV: Plug and Charge Update

From News Coulomb. GM just activated the option for Plug and Charge with their vehicles across the EVgo network, and this includes offering that functionality to the Chevrolet Bolt EV. My 2017 Chevy Bolt EV that is pushing 6 years old is now able to use plug and charge on EVgo. In order to make…

2022 KIA EV6 RWD Wind: Full Review

From News Coulomb. I recently had the opportunity to test out the new 2022 KIA EV6. This car is the "Wind" trim, which is the middle trim level between "Light" and "GT." Despite being a relatively expensive car (the version I reviewed had an MSRP of $48,710), the EV6 offers a lot of value for…

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV: Full Review

From News Coulomb. 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV production has resumed, and these cars are back on the menu. GM has also announced that 2023 production will be delayed until late July, so we’ll still see several more months of 2022 production. Overall, the 2022 Bolt EV is a solid offering that can easily replace an…

Ford Ranger EV: My Tape Collection

From News Coulomb. I want to start doing some videos with discussions and feedback about some of the methods and tools I’m using to complete my Ford Ranger EV restoration project. To start with, I want to discuss the various types of tape that I’m using to package cell groups and wrap busbars and connections.

2017 Bolt EV vs The Loop

From News Coulomb. Welcome to the Loop! As I prepare to receive my new Chevrolet Bolt EV battery and get ready to start reviewing a number of new EVs, I decided to come up with a testing routine that would enable me to test compatibility, functionality, and interoperability between various charging providers and EVs. In…