Category: Experiences

This note was left on an EV yesterday by a fellow plug-in driver who often shares a dual L1, L2 charging station in a downtown parking garage.

They were expressing their appreciation for the driver, who often arrives first, to voluntarily use their “plug” or Level 1 charging cord and leave the more convenient Level 2 connector available for the person who arrives later. Nice gestures from both of these drivers I think.

Thank you for reading Plug In Sites. I appreciate being able to share charging spots, news, ideas and photos with you over the past few months since starting this project. Stay charged, drive electric and have a happy and safe holiday!

@Lanny

When we were at the Harris Ranch, California Superchargers this summer on the @TeslaRoadTrip, there was a Model S charging in each of the six stalls. What would happen if everything suddenly quit working? Today we know.

There are reports on Reddit and elsewhere this morning that the Harris Ranch Superchargers are down and that Tesla is supplying flatbeds to carry cars to Tejon Ranch or Gilroy, the next closest Superchargers. Two important things to note here. First is that Tesla’s Superchargers have been extremely reliable.  It is very unusual to hear that all the stalls at one site are down. Apparently, “dirty power” in the lines from the electrical provider may have caused a component to fail and they are in the process of getting it repaired.

The second thing to note is how Tesla responded. They sent a technician right away and, here’s the extraordinary part, they’ve arranged to get their customers to the next Supercharger with minimal wait and inconvenience. Drivers are reporting that a flatbed truck is there within five or ten minutes. That is incredible customer service!

Tesla Supercharger sites probably have an uptime of 99.9% or better. And now we know that in the rare event that circumstances beyond their control temporarily wipes out an entire site, Tesla has a contingency plan in place to take care of their drivers.

I imagine that Tesla is probably working to eliminate even these rare downtime events. They’ve already installed a 400 kWh stationary storage battery at the Tejon Ranch Supercharger. Perhaps bigger versions can be employed to keep Superchargers operating even with a total failure of the outside power system.

@Lanny

“How far does it go on a charge?” It’s one of the first questions people ask about my THINK City electric car. I usually give them the short answer which is, “about 70 to 80 miles.”

The real answer though is, “it depends.” The maximum distance you can drive from full to empty depends on many factors. These include speed, hills, temperature, wind, tire pressure, driving style and the use of heat or AC. For example, during the Polar Vortex last winter when the temperature got down to the single digits, the range was only about 45 miles at highway speeds with the heater on. Still, that’s pretty good considering those extreme conditions.

On the other end of the spectrum, I drove it 106 miles when I first got the car under favorable conditions which meant I was driving at speeds between 30 and 40 MPH on relatively flat roads in warm temperatures. After 106 miles, the lights on the dash started blinking to warn that the car was about to turn itself off. I don’t know if 106 miles was a record, but not many people have driven a THINK City more than 100 miles on a single charge.

Over the past couple years, I’ve read stories about EV enthusiasts who have gone out for the sole purpose of attempting to squeeze the maximum number of miles out of a charge. It has become something of a challenge. When the Tesla Model S came out, Elon Musk even offered a prize to the first person to drive a Tesla 400 miles on one charge. In December, 2012, David Metcalf drove his Model S for 17 hours straight at an average speed of 25 MPH on flat Florida roads for 423.5 miles.

On Memorial Day, May 26, 2014, Ari Colin @PLUG1N_Volt pumped up the tires in his Chevy Volt to 60 PSI, and drove around and around the 0.7 mile loop at FedExField in Landover, MD at 23 MPH to go 81.3 miles in EV mode in his Volt.

The MyNissanLEAF forum keeps a tally of the “100 mile club” of people who have reported driving over 100 miles on a single charge. There is also a 200 km club (124.3 miles) with 16 members and the most miles reported on a single charge in the forum is 186.4 miles by LEAFfan on May 27, 2013.

To drive a Nissan LEAF above 100 miles on a charge, you have to really be focused on it. Prius hybrid drivers call it hypermiling and they make a game out of getting the most MPG. I’ve heard the term hyper-ranging applied to EV drivers who attempt to squeeze the most miles out of a single charge for bragging rights or just for a personal challenge.

I’ve been wondering how far I could go if I found a more optimal route with fewer stops, relatively flat terrain, and drove at 25 MPH rather that 35 MPH. I thought I could go maybe 120 miles this time which I thought would be incredible.

There is a 2 mile loop around an office park near my house which is in a 30-35 MPH speed limit area, has almost no traffic on Sunday, has two lanes in each direction to allow cars to pass while I could drive 25 MPH on the relatively flat road. (100 ft elevation difference in each 2 mile lap) I waited for a day with warm temperatures and light winds. On September 7, 2014 the temperature was in the upper 70’s and the wind was a bit breezy but not too bad so I decided to go for it. I pumped all four tires to the max. pressure indicated on the sidewall, 51 PSI. I loaded up some podcasts to listen to and at 4:03 PM, I unplugged the fully charged car and drove slowly over to the office park and began driving in circles.

After two hours, I had done 50 miles and still had 61% State of Charge (SOC) indicated on the analog battery gauge. When I hit 100 miles several hours later, I still had 19% SOC. I began to get confident that I could hit 120 miles before I had to stop. The needle on the battery gauge seems to fall slower near the bottom. The Low Battery Warning indicator light came on at 117 miles. That’s when I left the loop and headed closer to home to finish near where I could recharge.

Before long, I had 125 miles on the trip odometer with 3% remaining on the gauge. The needle points above 100% when full, at a position that I call 106%. And it went below 0 on the SOC meter when I drove 106 miles before. I kept going slowly until the Power Limit light started blinking at 130.0 miles. At this point I was keeping very close to the charging station and finally decided to stop at 132.0 miles. I probably could have gone farther but I didn’t want to push my luck.

A separate GPS unit that I had running indicated 131.7 miles, 24.1 MPH moving average, 5:27 moving time and 51:51 stopped time for stretch breaks and to eat. It took 8:06 hours to charge back to full with 20.57 kWh from the charging station. My car had 25,456 miles on the odometer when I began.

If you are crazy enough to want to attempt a similar max range challenge, pick out a good audiobook or podcast series because driving slowly in circles for hours can be very boring.

@Lanny

We just finished a 270 mile weekend road trip to Lancaster and Philadelphia to cap off 400 electric miles driven during National Drive Electric Week.

An electric road trip in our THINK City, which has a 70-80 mile range and recharges at about 10 miles per hour, requires a fair amount of preparation, a healthy sense of adventure and a bit of luck.

The Planning
We were happy that our friend @vdivanov joined us on our trip driving his Chevy Volt. The Volt has an electric range of between 40 and 50 miles which meant that we would space our charging stops within that range. Beginning in Columbia, MD, I mapped out a route that would take us to six charging sites. I made sure each stop had two or more charging stations so that we could stay together while traveling.

I called ahead to the Nissan dealer in Exton, PA to make sure their two units were working and that we had permission to use them on Sunday while they were closed. I also called the AAA office in Wayne, PA who had two Blink stations on their property to confirm that both were working and wouldn’t be blocked by ICE cars as we’ve seen before. I also took note of alternate charging stations near each site in case our first choices were broken or being used by someone else.

The Open Road
Early Saturday morning we headed north on I-95 after Vladi topped off his Volt in Columbia. We had about 100 miles to travel to Lancaster before late afternoon. We reached the first charging stop at the White Marsh Park and Ride after 36 miles. With five Level 2 charging stations at this MTA lot, I wasn’t worried about being able to charge here. There is an Ikea, White Marsh Mall, movie theaters and restaurants all within walking distance to entertain you while your car charges.
After topping off at White Marsh, we headed to another Park and Ride with two SemaConnect stations about 15 miles north at Belcamp, MD. These stations, operated by the State Highway Administration, are not reporting their status so we were unsure if they were available. We passed a red Nissan Leaf on the Interstate shortly before the exit. As we arrived at the charging stations, the Leaf was right behind us. They also wanted to charge. We happened to know the driver and it worked out because he was leaving his car there until evening and we agreed to plug in his car when we finished and he would be fully charged when he retrieved the car that night.

We ate lunch at Ruby Tuesday and headed north on full stomachs and full batteries.

Smell the Roses
The road we took between Belcamp and Lancaster was through scenic farmland and Amish country. We crossed the Susquehanna River at the Conowingo Hydroelectric Generating Station which produces 500 MW of emissions-free power. Due to careful driving and maybe a slight tailwind, Vladi was able to make the 49 mile leg to the hotel all-electric in his Volt. We plugged his car in and relaxed for an hour or two before we all got into the Volt (the THINK only holds two people) and headed into town for dinner.

We had arranged to meet Brandon who offers his home charging station on Plugshare. He rolled up in a 1968 SAAB EV conversion with lithium batteries and a range of 120 miles. We plugged in the Volt and walked to a nearby restaurant and dined al fresco, relaxing as the Volt charged. One aspect of long distance travel by EV is that it forces you to slow down and smell the roses. And in this case we met a fellow electric vehicle enthusiast who was so kind to let us use his charging station and explored the city of Lancaster.

When we arrived back at the hotel, our THINK City was still charging on the ChargePoint station in the rear of the hotel and a Signature Red Tesla Model S with Virginia plates was parked next to it. I had placed an EV charging “courtesy card” on my dash with my cell phone number but nobody had called. I didn’t see any notes on either my car or the Model S seeking to be contacted when I was finished. We asked at the hotel front desk if the Tesla owner had spoken to them about using the charging station and they said no.

We had topped off the Volt at another nearby station. Since I was almost full, I unplugged my car and moved it to show that I was finished and that the station was available for the Tesla if the driver wanted to use it.

National Drive Electric Week in Devon, PA
The next morning we left the hotel around 6:30 a.m. to get an early start on the 170 mile drive home including a stop at the National Drive Electric Week event at the Tesla store in Devon, PA. We drove through fog on the old Lincoln Highway seeing some Amish horse and buggies along the road.

We were relieved to find the two charging stations at Exton Nissan available and we plugged in and walked almost a mile to a Panera Bread for breakfast. Vladi was met by a friend who lives in the area and we probably talked his ear off about electric cars.

We arrived at the NDEW event as it was getting started. We ran into some friends we know from the EV community including some of the guys we went across the country with in the @TeslaRoadTrip Supercharging Across America drive this summer.

We left there and plugged in at the two Blink stations at AAA in Wayne, NJ. It cost $2.50 an hour to charge on Blink, so we only stayed connected until we had just enough to get to the next stop which was the Delaware Welcome Center.

There are two high-amp Level 2 charging stations that were recently installed in the truck parking area about 100 yards from the Tesla Superchargers at this rest stop in Newark, DE. We plugged in and our friend @delanman drove us in his red Model S P85+ to a restaurant at the next exit. His car had no trouble merging at the on ramp. What a rocket!

Midnight Charging
The next leg was 49 miles to White Marsh, to top off enough to get back to Columbia. We charged there until shortly after midnight waiting outside in the soft breeze on an unusually warm night for the end of September. By the end, we had driven 270 miles in our THINK in two days. Vladi had driven over 360 electric miles in his Volt since his round trip began and ended in Virginia.

Your Turn
Taking a road trip in an electric vehicle, other than a Tesla, using the public charging infrastructure is a fun challenge. There are enough charging stations in place now to hop up I-95 to Philadelphia and back. It still requires planning and you risk coming upon a broken station or ones that are already in use. But the adventure and reward of making the journey on electricity is worth it.

Now it is your turn. Where will you go on your electric road trip? Tweet me – @Lanny

UMD Eliminates Free Parking at EV Charging Stations

The University of Maryland implemented some changes in their electric vehicle parking and charging policies. Starting September 15, 2014, parking at EV charging stations on campus is no longer free. It will continue to be free to use the charging stations themselves but you must have a parking pass or use one of the charging stations at a metered spot.

The other policy change is that the parking pass discount for electric vehicles went from 50% down to 20%, which is the same discount rate that regular hybrids and other low-emissions vehicles receive under the Green Permit program.

Some electric vehicle owners are not happy about the changes. One plug-in vehicle driver expressed his opinion in the University of Maryland’s independent student newspaper asking “How green can DOTS be if they take away the benefits of electric car commuters?” The writer pointed out that some commuters may have based their decision to purchase an electric vehicle on the assumption that the 50% parking discount would continue.

I spoke with David Allen, Director, Department of Transportation Services at UMD to get the story on the policy changes. David, who is a Nissan LEAF owner, explained that the decision to cut back on the EV incentives was made by the Campus Transportation Advisory Committee. When the first charging stations were installed four years ago, there were few electric cars to use them. Now, the stations are in such high demand that they recently added six more in the Regents Garage. He explained to me that the committee considered the adjustment a social justice issue. Generally, EV owners are in an upper income bracket and providing a financial break to people who statistically make over $100,000 per year was one of the motivations for the policy change.

A letter placed on the windshields of vehicles at charging stations announcing the changes said that the University of Maryland had more EV charging spaces than any other university in the country with 28. However, a recent press release from ChargePoint claims that the University of California at Davis is number one with 38 stations. Towson University in Maryland has 36 according to ChargePoint.

Regardless of who claims to have the most charging stations or the reaction to reeling back the perks that used to go with owning an EV, it is good to see a rise in the number of on-campus EV charging stations, especially in Maryland.

@Lanny

Beginning today, a new pricing policy will be introduced on EV charging stations owned and operated by the Blink Network in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

CarCharging Group will implement a per-kWh pricing model on their Blink EV charging stations in states where such pricing models are permitted. Those states include Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. The per-kWh price model has already been in place at many of the CarCharging Group owned charging stations in the DMV area including Walgreens stores.

The announcement said that Blink Network fees will range from $0.39 to $0.79 per kWh. Fees for the Blink DC Fast Chargers will range from $0.49 to $0.69 per kWh.

@Lanny