Ken Fields

Ken Fields Personal Website

Road Trip

Plugshare The Best Online Resource For Finding Ev Charging Locations

Pretty much every commercial manufacturer and installer of EV Charging stations has a map posted to their website of where their units are located, which should hardly come as any surprise, after all, you can’t make use of something you can’t find. However rather than trying to figure out which network has better availability in your neighborhood or whatever destination you may be planning to head off to, there are a handful of aggregate websites that include many, but probably not all EV Charging locations around the US.

The website that I have found to be the most useful is by far and away PlugShare.com. Plugshare has a super easy interface, it is literally just a map where you can easily zoom in and out to wherever you want to go, with pin drops for charging locations. If you’re using a laptop or desktop the menu is on the left hand side and you can toggle between, networks, types of plugs, minimum power ratings, etc, etc… Another incredibly handy feature is that it has an active user base of EV drivers who check in and leave comments as to whether or not any particular station is on the fritz or isn’t really charging at it’s highest capacity and any other relevant notes – ie. is there a good place to grab a cup of coffee and donut while you charge your car.

Lessons Learned From First Long EV Road Trip

Having successfully completed my first long distance road trip in an electric vehicle, here’s some of my thoughts and lessons learned.

First and foremost, it is 100% possible and doable to make long road trips in an EV, there is a reasonably good and functional network of fast charging stations available for all EV makes and model besides Tesla. The caveat to that statement is that the network still needs work, it needs more stations, especially off of major highways and state turnpikes. When you start getting in to rural areas finding a high speed charger is touch and go. Of course with the continued roll out of stations from Electrify America, and in particular their deal with Walmart, this problem should be mostly solved in the next year or two. There’s something like 4,700 Walmarts across the US, if Electrify America installs units at only half of all those locations then we’re good.

Not all electric vehicle charging stations are created equally, be mindful of what the power supply is, how many kilowatts the station can deliver. A 50 KW station is going to charge, from empty to full, a 100 KW battery in two hours. A 150 KW station will do it in 40 minutes. Considering that you’ll almost never pull in for a charging stop close to empty, a 150 kw station or better will probably get you where you need to go after a 20 minute charge.

Doing a little advanced research on your route is a good idea. Know where your EV charging stations are, and know where a backup station is incase your first choice doesn’t work for some reason, although to be honest both EVgo and Electrify America had great customer service and when I couldn’t get the station to engage and had to call in, the customer service representative did a manual start and got it going really fast with no problems.

If at all possible you need to avoid level 2 chargers on road trips, they cannot charge your battery fast enough, they’re good for topping up in a worst case scenario and obviously they’re good if you need to stop over night and charge.

 

First Long Road Trip In The Audi Etron

First long road trip in the Audi ETron, Washington DC to Salisbury Connecticut. It’s a 350 mile drive and the Etron has about a 220 mile range give or take depending upon weather and other conditions. Yesterday I planned out the trip checking out charging stations on Plugshare. Between DC and NYC there are ample stations along the New Jersey Turnpike, all in the EVgo network. Between the turnpike, just south of NYC and Northwest CT the number of available stations is pretty slim. I have two choices for getting up to CT, I can go through NYC on the George Washington Bridge, or I can cut off the Turnpike north before the GWB and head up through Jersey and on the west side of the Hudson, crossing at Newburgh. East of the Hudson through Westchester County NY, there are a few more fast charging stations available, but getting stuck in traffic on the GWB can be a nightmare especially at rush hour. Taking the other route through NJ and across the Hudson at Newburgh, there are fewer fast chargers, but usually much less traffic. On this trip I opted for west of the Hudson, with not the best results.

Getting from DC to the Turnpike was easy enough. Once on the turnpike, I have to admit I was a bit nervous going the whole way, I chickened out and stopped in Mt Laurel NJ at the Clarion Hotel EVgo 50 kw station for a 30 minute charge. I had this bad feeling, what if charging stations along the way didn’t work, or weren’t powered up or fully installed yet, was plug share website accurate, was my onboard computer accurate. Absolutely suffering from range anxiety for my first long distance trip. Half hour stop got me about 25 kw which was a little bit more than a quarter of a battery, I had traveled about 150 miles, so felt like I really needed that extra bit of charge to make sure I could make it to my next stop. I left with about half a battery.

Second stop was Joyce Kilmer service station on the Turnpike. I pulled in with about a quarter of a battery left. No problem plugging in, once again EVgo 50 kw station. I did have to call customer service for them to reset the machine, which took 2 minutes. I used the bathroom, got a drink and a bite to eat, checked my email on my phone, took the dog for a walk. I need about an hour of charge to get a half battery. I’m cutting it real close with about 160 miles still to go. An hour is a long time to stop.

Last leg of the journey, Turnpike, I turn off around Hackensack to get on the 80, to the 17 which is going to take me up Jersey and in to New York State. I’m getting close to Woodbury Commons having gone about 85 miles and again chicken out, I’ve got just enough battery to get me to Salisbury, but no room for error. I get off at Woodbury and stop for another charge, but this time there’s only a level 2 unit available. I’m thinking to myself, “Ok no problem, I really only need an extra ten miles or something like that.” Again go to the bathroom and take the dog for a walk.

I finally get to our house, its been an impossibly long day, at least an extra hour and half maybe two just for charging, which includes getting off the roads and finding the charging station. Honestly it’s a tough sell. Happy I made the trip, feels like I accomplished something, happy to be home, happy that our home EV charger is up and running. Have to experiment with other routes on the way back to DC.