Building a Tesla Supercharger !

Very instructive video time lapse on the building of a Tesla SuperCharger station from ground up

Check this out !

"The Project Managers at Electric Conduit Construction were excited to learn that they were the successful bidder on a Tesla Supercharger station. The project was located in Goodland, Kansas and was one of a chain of stations being built across the country to make long distance travel by electric vehicle a reality"

Rail Expo 2013, Windmills, and a Solar Powered Train Station

Today, I went with the kids to Rail Expo 2013, one of the biggest European exhibition about models trains

Beautiful sets ...


Very realistic




Several sets had rotating windmills ... reflecting country side new landscape ...




Back home, at night, I realized that the station I built years ago, on which I added a Solar Panel, Batteries, and LED lighting, did not work anymore ...

Underneath is the battery pack, wires, ON/OFF switch and 2 LEDs bulbs, one for the inside, one for the passengers waiting on the platform outside


This is the LED pocket flashlight used from Nature & Decouvertes

Seven of eight years ago, after building this station model, I added solar on the roof for lighting using a LED flashing light components; I guess this was my very first solar experience:-)

I will probably have to replace these batteries ...

Evs26 - Battle over DC fast charging standards

At EVS26, a group of European car manufacturers & GM unveiled their new plug that is supposed to be handling all kinds of voltages / currents to charge electric vehicles;

This new plus on the right would replace the existing CHAdeMO one ? We will see...

The Japanese and their CHAdeMO are several years ahead and the DCFC (DC fast chargers) are already up and running and their expansion in progress at the moment all around the world 

A member of the San Francisco Bay LEAFs Facebook Group has gathered a lot of  information about charging standards and detailed all of it in this great article:

http://greentransportation.info/ev-fast-charging-whether-standardized-or-not 

Out of order charge station for electric cars and trucks in Paris 7e Invalides

Last saturday, I tried this charge station close to Le Bon Marché / Invalides, but no luck: the 2 EV only spots in front of the charge station were available BUT the station itself was out of order ! No power at all, evn after passing my RFid badge in front off several times and pushing all the buttons...

Oh well I did not need to charge so much, and I go to park for 2 hours for free at least :-) 

PS: The interesting thing a bout this charge station is that it has 2 outlet for electric cars and 1 big (32A ?) for electric trucks

No display, and no power even if a little white note says "The station is running"

Big outlet for electric trucks: 

Free parking at least, and the spots are not ICEd (the sign is usefull here I guess):

And an Autolib passes by...

NISSAN BIG TURN ON EVENT in EUROPE (Day 2 out of 100)

Nissan is launching a big event in Europe called  " The Big Turn On " to promote Electric Mobility with the LEAF and Quick Chargers

They will give out :
- a LEAF
- iPads (one/week)
- Nissan CHADEMO Quick Chargers to the city you live in

all this based on the number of votes and tweets, links, likes...

You can also borrow a LEAF for 24 hours to test drive it at your own pace, and see if it is suits your needs :-) Isn't this great ?

Please follow the link below to access my profile and click the start button " Je vote pour Christophe "
Thanks a lot in advance !

or Click here :
http://the-big-turn-on.fr/leaderboard/participant/christophe-hubert.html

Parked for free at La Defense @ an old EV charge station

Yesterday, I had to go to La Defense for some shoppign on my way back from work

Every time I have to go there, instead of looking for a spot or using one of these huge undergound pay parkings, I just go to this old charge station at the street level 

This must be an old charge station from the mid nineties (same period as the green ones I use in Paris), and is not used /useable anymore; On the screen a message says "Borne indisponible" and its plug is an old connector called Marechal, used in the nineties too (see pictures below)

In case I get a ticket I can contest showing that I am an electric vehicle parked on an EV only spot 

The Marechal connector used on a Citroen Electric Saxo:

Autolib Free Charge Test with the LEAF

As promised, I did the test of opening an Autolib lid, and using the J1772 connector, connected to the LEAF charge port, try see if it charges: No luck nothing will happen but the ussual beeping sound coming from the LEAF detecting a plug is connected, but that's it
The power is probably cut off before inside the charge station and the use of a proper RFid badge is mandatory ... (which seams normal)

Autolib station in Saint Ouen next to L'OREAL & Nokia is now up and running

During lunch break, I took some time to go see this new Autolib EV rental station:

It is now up and running, all 6 charging ports are locked with a green light on top, and the central booking unit is ON, its webcam, ID /License scanner, booking touch screen, and  a big blue light on top

Actually this blue light on top of this main unit is to signal that this station is accepting third party EVs for charging: Autolib has set up some stations with ports including an additional 220V regular outlet to plug in any EV (electric scooter, electric car with a trickle charge EVSE, etc); You have to pay 180 EUR for a year and you can charge, using an Autolib car spot, for up to 2 hours only though

=> I think this is great because it just that multiplies the overall number of charging stations in Paris + surrounding cities  :-)

PS: I will soon include a vidéo [here] as soon as I can get a WiFi connection (from home tonight I guess)

Waiting for the cars.....

100 years old charging station & electric car

Look at these Electric Cars from 100 years ago ... amazing pictures

Source: www.evtv.me

And a Detroit Electric Car Company ad