Jeep is now starting a charging network

[azbill]

Jeep is now setting up a new charging network at trailheads, in partnership with EA:

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/135

Sponsored

 

[Babbuino]

Jeep is now setting up a new charging network at trailheads, in partnership with EA:

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/135

That's good news. More chargers will benefit everyone

 

[DuckTruck]

That's good news. More chargers will benefit everyone

I agree, but hope we see more DCFC stations in addition to these Level 2 type of location stations. They're all helpful, but plentiful fast-charging will be needed to drive mass-acceptance and also to get folks to these L2 locales.

 

[DucRider]

So you park at the trailhead for 2 hours before heading out to regain your 20 miles of electric range?

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the effort, but not sure how many Jeep PHEV owners will be willing to do that. Not familiar enough with their PHEV system to know if there is a "use only ICE" mode to preserve your EV miles for later, but that would likely be the preferred method if you wanted the electric assist on the trail.

 

[MadMac]

I’ve just gotten rid of the second of my two, current generation Jeep Grand Cherokees (daily driving a Tesla Model 3). They’ve been good. I’d seriously consider one of the new, next gen ones if they were offering some form of electrification. Instead, I can get one of the two engines offered last time I bought them. That’s eight and ten years ago, respectively. So, I’m not sure Jeep’s innovation pace will tax whatever destination charging system they put in any time soon.

 

[Babbuino]

I'm concerned with the Jeep plug in. More complexity and Jeep's reliability has always been an issue

 

[ajdelange]

I'm concerned with the Jeep plug in. More complexity and Jeep's reliability has always been an issue

And EA's reliability?

Any port in a storm, I suppose, but Level 2 chargers are, IMO, pretty useless anywhere except at home or some other place where you want to spend several hours charging. This only gets worse when the vehicle in question sucks 400 - 500 wH/mi as these off road vehicles tend to do.

 

[U100]

Based on my experience with Chrysler products they need to set up a dense network of transmission exchange locations.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Based on my experience with Chrysler products they need to set up a dense network of transmission exchange locations.

Ever since FCA switched to the ZF8 transmissions, they've been pretty good. The problem with a modern FCA product is the body still rusts out, the electrical systems are garbage, and as you're working on them you are constantly cursing their hodge-podge engineering.

The TIPM is de facto evidence they have no business building electric vehicles.

 

[Gshenderson]

And EA's reliability?

Any port in a storm, I suppose, but Level 2 chargers are, IMO, pretty useless anywhere except at home or some other place where you want to spend several hours charging. This only gets worse when the vehicle in question sucks 400 - 500 wH/mi as these off road vehicles rtend to do.

Speak for yourself! Those level 2 chargers get you preferred parking at the mall, grocery store, etc. Useless? Yeah, maybe from an actual charging standpoint! ?

 

[ajdelange]

A level 2 charger can deliver at most 264 kWh in a day (a bit less actually because of efficiency limitations) but that requires 24 hours of charging. If 10 cars need service it means they will be plugged in 2.4 hrs each and some of them at inconvenient hours. The way to handle this is to install lots of battery, charge it at 11 kW but dispense it at 110 kW. The drivers get their loads in a quarter of an hour rather than 2.4 hr. For this to work, of course, there have to be 10 or fewer cars needing service in a 24 hr period. Quite a while ago I saw and add for an EVSE designed to fulfill exactly this need. Don't remember any of the particulars but it was clearly aimed at the country store market.

 

[Autolycus]

A level 2 charger can deliver at most 264 kWh in a day (a bit less actually because of efficiency limitations) but that requires 24 hours of charging. If 10 cars need service it means they will be plugged in 2.4 hrs each and some of them at inconvenient hours. The way to handle this is to install lots of battery, charge it at 11 kW but dispense it at 110 kW. The drivers get their loads in a quarter of an hour rather than 2.4 hr. For this to work, of course, there have to be 10 or fewer cars needing service in a 24 hr period. Quite a while ago I saw and add for an EVSE designed to fulfill exactly this need. Don't remember any of the particulars but it was clearly aimed at the country store market.

This reminds me of Elon's previous plans to have many of the superchargers (I think he may have said nearly all, but I'm too lazy to search for it) be solar setups that used batteries to function off grid. Unfortunately I don't think the math on it ever worked because there just won't ever realistically be enough solar capacity at a supercharger location to do that. Maybe at smaller charging sites it will soon become common, but Tesla's sites typically handle too many cars to be viable, I suspect.

I wonder if there's an interesting use case for EV battery modules that are past their vehicle life to be re-used as off grid (or at least demand shifting) medium-speed DCFC. Maybe you don't want to discharge them too fast anymore, but 50kW might still be perfectly within the batteries' usable safe range at that point. Stations like that at restaurants, shopping centers, visitor centers for parks, museums, etc. would give a good range boost for vacationers.

 

[ajdelange]

There definitely is a use case for "spent" batteries in non vehicle storage systems. Rivian generated a fair amount of publicity a year or so ago by donating batteries they had exhausted through testing to some guy who was going to green the deserts etc.

 

[Rad]

Bring on the Jeep Magneto. Hopefully sooner than later (or never).

 

[fastwheels]

Ever since FCA switched to the ZF8 transmissions, they've been pretty good. The problem with a modern FCA product is the body still rusts out, the electrical systems are garbage, and as you're working on them you are constantly cursing their hodge-podge engineering.

I've read lots of people bad-mouthing Chrysler products over the years, but between 1995 and 2010 we had 3 Dodge Grand Caravans - all on 3 year leases. Other than a bad wiper motor, I can't recall any problems we had with them. They hauled lots of kids and gear around to a lot of places. I also had a leased 2011 Charger R/T for 4 years. Should have bought it at the end of the lease. Great car with a feature set ahead of most of its peers of the time (like ACC). It put my neighbors BMW 5 Series to shame...

Sponsored