Fastcharger - Elephant Butte - Elephant Butte Fast Stop

[fcibot]

This thread is for discussion of the Elephant Butte Fast Stop fast charger

Provider: FCN

Address: 106 Rock Canyon Rd,Elephant Butte,NM,87935

GPS: 33.197618,-107.226238

Stalls: 0

Hours:

 

[ArtiePenguin1]

I've flown my drone here twice. I got some new photos yesterday (March 31) and there were no additional signs of progress compared to 5 weeks ago. The ends of the trenches are still open.

To add to the confusion, it appears like unrelated construction is happening on the north side of the lot. They've graded the dirt in that area. I really hope the new (and currently unconnected) electrical disconnects are still for the Francis DC fast charger and not something else.

I seriously don't understand why everyone has such disregard for the I-25 corridor between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. It's a really tough stretch of Interstate to drive in a CCS EV (unless you have a Lucid).

 

[ArtiePenguin1]

I got some ground images one week ago (too rainy to fly the drone). Unfortunately, most of the construction looks to be unrelated to the DC fast charger. They are doing something else on the lot to the north of the convenience store. This is really confusing as I can't tell how far any construction progress for the Francis DC fast charger is.

I really don't know why Francis is not prioritizing the I-25 corridor and is instead choosing to do Roswell and Alamogordo before Elephant Butte.

 

[ArtiePenguin1]

Drone photos from last week (May 29). I'm not sure what construction is related to the DC fast charger and what is not related. There's a whole lot going on in the northern half of the lot.

I can't say that DC fast chargers will be coming in the next two months here, but surprises can happen. I was really hoping on this one beating the state's Socorro Plaza DCFC since the latter will likely be a cheap CPE-250 at only 62 kW. Francis here in Elephant Butte should be two 150 kW units.

 

[ArtiePenguin1]

July 23 update: Finally some actual charger construction!! They are pouring foundations for 2 chargers on the west side next to the drive through entrance. My dad only was able to get ground photos but it's about where the pavement ends in my last drone photo (from June 6th post).

 

[lpickup]

This site appears to be operational now

 

[ArtiePenguin1]

It should be noted that this site has major issues if you're in an 800-volt EV.

Both Power Electronics NB150SU (150 kW) units do not communicate or charge nicely. I've seen unstable power (like the "Signet surge" a la Kyle Conner's nickname) from 150 all the way down to 0 then back to 150 kW. It also doesn't hold >129 kW for more than 8 minutes. The charger then ramps me down to a fail-safe state of 30 kW.

It makes it almost unusable.

I contacted Francis Energy and they said it's a new issue and they're working with their supplier (Power Electronics). However, it doesn't seem to be a quick fix.

This is very concerning as all but one of Francis' network fleet in New Mexico are Power Electronics units.