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[DonTom]

Any recommendations on good routes around Phoenix? I'll be around that area the next couple of weeks. Anything up/around the hills/mountains there?

I make sure I never get close to Phoenix. There are many ways to avoid it at the cost of some miles, but you will save time. It depends on where you're coming from.

From Payson, I took the highway to  Roosevelt Lake to get to Casa Grande to avoid Phoenix. I am headed to Auburn,  CA, (from Reno via AZ) but staying south. Organ Pipe Cactus Nat'l Monument next and then Yuma. Then Salton Sea Park.

I hear you also want to avoid Indian Springs. That is already too close to Phoenix these days.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

-Don-  Tucson, AZ (RV)

[dukecola]

Sadly, Harley got it all wrong by not having true L2 capability. L2's are everywhere, DCFC's are not and those that are out there are way too expensive  They lost a sale from me because of this.

H-D would have it right if the US infrastructure supported it. As such their bike is either designed by an idealist or an idiot. Probably a little from column A, a little from column B. A major problem is their DC Fast charging is EXTREMELY throttled. An owner reported back that it charged as high as 21kW.. but only from like 0-30%. Then it scaled back to 1C. Then at like 60% it scaled down to .5C. In the end, at stations that bill you by the minute, it can cost as much as $15 to charge a LiveWire in an hour. That's no way to do things.

As the great 1999 film, Mystery Men, put it, "The Blue Raja : All I'm saying is, when we split the cheque three ways the steak-eater picks the pocket of the salad-man."

In the same way that stations that bill by the minute pick the pocket of the smaller-batteried motorcycle. It makes infinitely more sense to charge at stations that bill by the kWh. However we're not necessarily spoiled for choice at the moment so we take what we can get.

[shayan]

@Don no worries on the thread hijack. I shouldn't have asked the question on riding in Phoenix in the first place.
 I guess Harley was trying to rely on their dealers installing DCFC stations and a growing network if these through things like electricity America or so. So it might not look like a good option now but could be eventually good. Just playing devil's advocate here. At that price tag I guess they dont intend to sell much anyway.

[DonTom]

@Don no worries on the thread hijack. I shouldn't have asked the question on riding in Phoenix in the first place.
 I guess Harley was trying to rely on their dealers installing DCFC stations and a growing network if these through things like electricity America or so. So it might not look like a good option now but could be eventually good. Just playing devil's advocate here. At that price tag I guess they dont intend to sell much anyway.

IMO, Harley should have the CCS at all HD shops regardless if they sell the LW. With the number of HD dealers around a LW could go almost anywhere if all their shops had the CCS.

And so could my Energica.

-Don-  Tucson, AZ (RV)

[dukecola]

@Don no worries on the thread hijack. I shouldn't have asked the question on riding in Phoenix in the first place.
 I guess Harley was trying to rely on their dealers installing DCFC stations and a growing network if these through things like electricity America or so. So it might not look like a good option now but could be eventually good. Just playing devil's advocate here. At that price tag I guess they dont intend to sell much anyway.

IMO, Harley should have the CCS at all HD shops regardless if they sell the LW. With the number of HD dealers around a LW could go almost anywhere if all their shops had the CCS.

And so could my Energica.

There are 4 dealers in Northern New England.  If you look at the harley dealer map, you'll see all are in the south, leaving vast portions of NH, VT and maine with no dealers.

-Don-  Tucson, AZ (RV)

[DonTom]

@Don I'm assuming that bike is your 2017 Orange Zero DS ZF 6.5

Today, I used my Blink card for the first time  ever. I ordered the card after my last trip down here last year at the same time.

I went to a different Blink charger today and got an entire 0.29 cents worth of a charge!

Look at the bike (and date of the check-in) here.

-Don-  Tucson, AZ (RV)

[shayan]

Oh yeah for Blink members its just 0.29/kWh! But it only seems to charge at 5kW max.

[DonTom]

Oh yeah for Blink members its just 0.29/kWh! But it only seems to charge at 5kW max.

The most I will ever draw from Blink around here is around 3.4 KW (as I was doing yesterday).  But I didn't know the rather large machine only did 5KW (only 21 amps at 240 VAC).

But that 29 cents seems expensive to me when I compare to Reno, NV  or Auburn, CA where every J-1772 I have seen are free for anybody to use and are good to 7KW or so. But they do charge to charge between the two places such as in Truckee, CA which is a tourist trap area. But there, it is cheaper to charge than it is to park  where they have no charging!

-Don- Tucson, AZ (RV)

[Crissa]

That twenty-nine cents is cheap compared to the coin-op charger near me that's 25¢ per 15min.

[DonTom]

That twenty-nine cents is cheap compared to the coin-op charger near me that's 25¢ per 15min.

I have never seen a coin operated charger before. What brand is it and what's its location?  I would like to look it up on Plugshare.

BTW, most often CCS charging is more expensive than gasoline on motorcycles. That's often 30 cents per minute, but the charge rate is usually close to 25KW.  So that is around a 30 minute charge on my Energica or around $9.00 for around 60 miles on the freeway (at best,  the charge rate will drop near the end).

My Triumph Trophy SE can go that far on around a gallon of gasoline. It has gotten 61 MPG before and the norm is above 50 MPG.

OTOH, when I charge the Energica at home in Reno, it only costs  11.7 cents per KWH to charge the 11.7 KWH <true "nominal" capacity> battery. so that's a full charge from empty to full  for around $1.40. The two "11.7" is just a  coincidence.

-Don-  Tucson, AZ (RV)

[Crissa]

The coin-op charger is up Zayante at the store, but I've seen them in photos elsewhere so it must be a thing.

-Crissa

[shayan]

@Don
Somehow Blink price went up 10 cents, or was i dreaming about the 29 cents per kWh?

-Shayan

[DonTom]

@Don
Somehow Blink price went up 10 cents, or was i dreaming about the 29 cents per kWh?

-Shayan

IIRC, they also charge "parking time" not only KWHs used. I used less than a KWH, but I will not go broke over the 29 cents.

 Hello Donald,
 
Your charging session at Eckstron-Columbus Branch Library, has ended after a duration of 00:16:09.

You have received 0.76 kWh. Additionally you had an idle occupancy time of 00:00:01 charged at $0.02 per 30 sec..
 
Your total combined cost for this charging session is $0.29.

 
Thank you for charging with Blink!

[shayan]

Interesting. So if u had charged upto (consumed actually) 1kWh you would've been charged 30 cents?
https://www.blinkcharging.com/ev-charging-fee

-Shayan

[DonTom]

Interesting. So if u had charged upto (consumed actually) 1kWh you would've been charged 30 cents?
https://www.blinkcharging.com/ev-charging-fee

-Shayan

You would get a much better idea if you check plugshare:

"Blink Members: $0.39 per kwh
Blink Guests: $0.49 per kwh
Parking Rate: $0.02 per 30 seconds
Parking Rate Cap: N/A

So add 4 cents per minute just to be using it. Also, the higher rate than what Blink themselves charges. IOW, some of the cash goes to the owners who installed the thing. But I am not at all concerned about the few extra pennies I am charged.

-Don-  OPCNM, AZ