Drive completed in 6 hours, 41 minutes on Nov. 11, 2015
Details: Crossing Maryland in Record Time with an Electric Vehicle
In July 2012, Jonathan Slade and Novia Campbell drove their Nissan Leaf from the town of Oakland in western Maryland to Ocean City to become the first people to drive a fully electric vehicle across Maryland. They used what little existing EV charging infrastructure existed at the time supplemented by “trickle charging” on 120v outlets at Bed and Breakfasts and towns along the way. The leisurely trip took them nearly a week.
When I watched their Emmy-winning PBS documentary, The Electric Road Trip Across Maryland, I noted that one of the people interviewed at the start said that it normally takes about six hours to drive from Oakland to Ocean City.
It’s been three years since Jonathan and Novia’s adventure and the electric vehicle charging infrastructure is still concentrated in the center of the state. There are still not many charging options in Maryland west of Hagerstown. And the Eastern Shore is still largely an EV charging desert.
Earlier this year, several properties in western Maryland took advantage of the Tesla Destination Charging program and installed Level 2 charging stations for their guests. One of these is Lake Pointe Inn in far western Maryland close to Oakland. Last week, the Holiday Inn Oceanfront switched on the first real charging stations at the Maryland beaches. Now it’s time to take another electric road trip across Maryland. This time, closer to six hours than six days.
At 8:00 AM tomorrow, @verastamps and I plan to leave from in front of the train station in Oakland after charging overnight at the Lake Pointe Inn. If all goes to plan, we may only stop once to charge in Hagerstown. Around 3:30 tomorrow afternoon, we should roll into Ocean City to complete our #Oakland2OC electric road trip. We’ll pick up some Fishers Popcorn on the boardwalk before heading up to the Touch of Italy restaurant at the Holiday Inn for a late lunch and plug in to the brand new charging stations there.
We will be using the Tesla Autopilot extensively on the 325 mile trip tomorrow. Autopilot takes the EV experience from one pedal driving to no pedal driving.
Visit PlugInSites.org Wednesday starting around 8:00 AM for a live tracking map of our progress. [Drive completed in 6 hours, 41 minutes. Details.]
@Lanny
