EV charging from a driver's perspective.
The DC Fast Charger at the Royal Farms store at 1818 Baltimore Blvd, Finksburg, MD, southeast of Westminster, is now online.
This dual port, SAE Combo and CHAdeMO station is part of the Maryland EVIP grant program which includes 15 Royal Farms locations in the state of Maryland.
The station shows up on the ChargePoint map and is listed as free. The free period is probably temporary and then it will cost $0.39 per kWh with $2.00 minimum.
Follow @PlugInSites for updates.
November 11, 2015, my wife Vera and I took our 100% electric car across the state of Maryland as fast as we possibly could without breaking the speed limit. The goal was to see if we could do the drive in a time reasonably close to doing it in a gasoline car. Six hours is the normal benchmark.
I got the inspiration from watching “The Electric Road Trip,” a PBS documentary made by Jonathan Slade and Novia Campbell. The husband and wife team filmed their 2012 trek across the state in a Nissan LEAF. Their goal was to demonstrate the viability of an EV for everyday use. If they could drive an all-electric car from Oakland in western Maryland all the way to Ocean City, then viewers may realize that an electric car could easily serve as their daily commuter.
In the film, the couple stop at a store near the beginning of their trip and ask the shopkeeper if she has ever driven from there to Ocean City. The woman said, “Yes I have, it’s normally a six-hour drive from one end of the state to the other.” Novia laughed and said, ”It’s probably going to take us six days.” Indeed, the couple took five days to reach the shore.
Three years ago, when they took their trip, Maryland was an EV charging infrastructure desert on the Eastern Shore and a wilderness west of Frederick. There were very few EV charging stations when venturing beyond the suburbs of Baltimore and DC. Often, the couple had to resort to “trickle charging” on a 120 volt outlet which slowed their pace and gave them time to explore and meet interesting people in the small towns where they stopped to charge.
Vera and I have taken similar slow charging trips in our THINK City EV and it really does allow plenty of time to smell the roses. That slow pace makes for a nice vacation road trip. But what if a family wants to spend their vacation lounging at the beach, not driving to it. Has the charging infrastructure and EV technology advanced enough to drive an EV from Deep Creek Lake to the OC Boardwalk in a reasonable amount of time?
There have been several advancements since the summer of 2012 to help bring forth a quicker electric journey across the state. The first is that Tesla started delivering their Model S with a range of over 250 miles on a charge. In January, 2014, Tesla opened a Supercharger station in Hagerstown, MD that can recharge the batteries on a Model S in under an hour. Another Supercharger opened in Salisbury last November. This summer, several Tesla “destination charging” stations popped up in western Maryland including at the Lake Pointe Inn in McHenry.
When the Holiday Inn Oceanfront in Ocean City switched on the power to their charging stations on November 3rd, the stage was finally set for a fast electric crossing. I figured the trip could be done with a Tesla 70D by charging up overnight at the Lake Pointe Inn, driving to Hagerstown for a quick boost and if the wind and temperature were right, go non-stop to Ocean City, bypassing the Salisbury Supercharger. I was ready and so was Vera.
The night of November 10th, Vera and I drove from our home in the DC-Baltimore area out to the Lake Pointe Inn. It rained most of the way out but the forecast was for partly sunny with a high in the upper 60’s for the following day. Importantly, a steady breeze was forecast to blow from the W and NW for the entire day – a perfect tailwind. It would also be a federal holiday, Veterans Day, and I expected lighter than normal traffic.
We awoke to a fully charged car and headed to the historic Oakland train station, 14 miles away. This is where Jonathan and Novia began their trip. On our way into town, we were astonished to see a white Nissan LEAF coming the other way. I flashed the lights and waved. Electric cars are showing up everywhere, even in the “EV wilderness” of Garrett County, MD.
In Oakland I snapped a few photos and Vera took the driver’s seat. At exactly 8:00 AM we rolled away from the train station heading directly to the Hagerstown Supercharger 115 miles away. I had plotted the route using EV Trip Planner and I carefully monitored the projected vs actual energy usage from my seat on the passenger side. Our car has the Tesla “Autopilot” feature which uses a combination of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and data to adjust speed in response to traffic and automatically steer and change lanes on the highway.
We used the Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) practically the entire way to make sure that we stayed at or below the posted speed limit. The car’s forward facing camera is able to read and recognize the speed limit signs and by pulling and holding the cruise control stalk for a few seconds, the TACC will set its cruising speed to match the speed limit and automatically slow down when it senses a slower vehicle ahead and accelerate when movement resumes.
We used a publicly displayed Glympse map so that people who were interested could track our progress. Glympse also displayed the current speed so others could verify that we were sticking to the speed limit. One viewer commented that we were going 70 MPH on I-68 and must be speeding. I reminded them that on October 1st, Maryland increased the posted speed limit on the Interstate in western Maryland from 65 to 70 MPH. So all was good.
The first 85 miles was on two lane highways. Once we merged onto Interstate 68, Vera engaged the Autosteer function to keep the car in the current lane. The Autopilot features are still in beta and Tesla requires drivers to remain engaged and aware when Autosteer is enabled and to keep hands on the wheel at all times.
Traffic was light on I-68 so the Autopilot kept us moving along steadily at 70 MPH except when the posted speed was lower. We reached the Hagerstown exit at 9:59 AM. We arrived to find two of our EV friends had decided to come out to greet us. They had been tracking us on the Glympse map and figured out when we would arrive to charge.
Rick Rohn drove his LEAF from Martinsburg, WV and Dave Glotfelty, who also has a LEAF, drove from Pennsylvania bearing donuts and drinks. It was great to see them! Our visit was brief. After 42 minutes of charging, we had enough to make it to Ocean City, even if the tailwind quit. At 10:51, we were back on the highway with Autopilot engaged and Vera still holding the wheel.
After leaving Hagerstown with 215 miles of rated range and the wind literally at our back, I felt confident that we would make it to Salisbury with enough charge to keep going straight to Ocean City without stopping. Since we were trying to compare our total time from Oakland to OC vs a non-stop trip in a gas vehicle, we wanted to keep stops to a minimum. That included bathroom breaks. We were mindful of fluid consumption and it worked out well for the four-hour final leg.
Traffic was relatively light as we passed south of Baltimore, onto Route 50 and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore. We maintained the legal speed even when the limit dropped to 45 or 35 MPH. We got passed a lot.
At 2:41 PM, we crossed the entrance to the Hugh T. Cropper Inlet Parking Lot in Ocean City, exactly 6 hours and 41 minutes after leaving the train station in Oakland. If we were driving a gas car and didn’t have to stop to refuel, to use the restroom or to eat, we would have theoretically arrived 52 minutes earlier. In reality, it’s unlikely that people would drive a distance of 329 miles without stopping. Just a fast food stop and restroom break could easily add up to the same amount of time as our 42 minute Supercharging stop. And of course we eat and use the restroom while the car is charging.
Despite the title of this article, I don’t really presume that there’s a “record” for crossing Maryland. However, I do hope to draw attention to the need for more CHAdeMO and SAE Combo fast charging stations, especially in the western part of the state. Jonathan and Novia hoped that their documentary “would spark conversations about how transportation infrastructure needs to evolve in the 21st century.” I hope that our demonstration contributes to that conversation.
The former Maryland Attorney General promised a statewide fast charger network when he announced the $1,000,000 EVIP grant program. Three chargers funded by the program are under construction on the Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, there are no plans for building fast chargers west of Hagerstown in the EVIP awards. That Nissan LEAF that we spotted out in western Maryland should be able to drive to Ocean City by using a well-spaced network of fast chargers. I hope the infrastructure to support that trip won’t take another three years to develop.
Start: 8:00 AM Oakland, MD Train Station
Finish: 2:41 PM Ocean City, MD Hugh T. Cropper Inlet Parking Lot entrance gate
Elapsed Time: 6 Hours, 41 minutes
Total Charging Time: 42 minutes
Rated Miles Added by Charging: 118
Time Taken to Recharge – From Exit to Reentering Hwy: 52 minutes
Total Miles: 329
Total Energy Used: 80 kWh
Avg. Energy: 243 Wh/mi
At a meeting earlier this week, the Ocean City, Maryland Mayor and City Council agreed to install electric vehicle charging stations in at least three locations. The Holiday Inn Oceanfront has already installed Tesla destination charging stations and those are up and running now.
In August, the Mayor and Council had agreed to accept a grant from Tesla Motors to install three charging stations in the Convention Center south parking lot. City Engineer Terry McGean reported that the originally proposed location in the southeast corner of the lot did not have electric service of the proper voltage for the charging stations and there was no close by transformer for DelMarVa Power to tap into. McGean recommended changing the location to the north side of the same parking lot near a utility pole with transformers to install the two Tesla HPWCs and one universal J-1772 station.
The City has also been approached by Electric Vehicle Institute (EVI), a Baltimore company that markets charging stations, with a grant that would include a generous number of charging stations including installation at no cost to the City. Ocean City would provide the parking spaces and electricity in the arrangement. After some discussion, the Mayor and Council voted to agree to the new location of the Tesla supplied stations at the Convention Center and to accept the EVI grant proposal for two stations each at Northside Park and the parking lot at 100th Street with another yet to be determined location in the south part of town.
City Engineer McGean was asked by the Council to explore options for the fourth EV charging location in the downtown area close to the boardwalk. Councilman Tony DeLuca said, “The more locations that we can have, the better. Having people come here with electric cars of all types is really the future and I just think it is the right direction.”
The City will provide the electricity for free for one year and then reevaluate. Councilman Wayne Hartman noted the @TeslaRoadTrip event that came to Ocean City in April and said that most of them stayed in Salisbury because of the chargers there. “If we have those 80 or 100 cars here, the town is going to actually make money by having those chargers here.”
The City Engineer has said that their goal is to have the Tesla charging stations installed by next spring.
Driving straight across Maryland using Tesla Autopilot and newly installed destination charging stations in western Maryland and Ocean City. More info.
UPDATE: Drive completed on November 11, 2015
All-Electric from Oakland, Maryland to Ocean City, Maryland in 6 hours, 41 minutes
Map:
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
The Parking Authority of Baltimore City garage in the Royal Farms Arena just got three more charging stations installed.
These are part of the partnership between Baltimore-based company, EVI and the City of Baltimore to expand EV charging at some city-owned garages and street-side locations. All stations in the garage are free to use.
Royal Farms Arena Garage has had one ChargePoint station with a Level 1 and a Level 2 port for a few years. There are now three additional Level 2 stations supplied by EVI on the second floor adjacent to the original station. The address of the Arena Garage is 99 S. Howard Street. The garage entrance is on a one way street just north of Lombard Street.
We recently drove down to North Mrytle Beach, SC to attend a wedding and stayed at the North Beach Plantation. We were pleased to find that we could charge our Model S right outside of the reception hall at the Tesla HPWC shown in the photo above.
The hotel that we stayed at also had an HPWC and a ClipperCreek universal J-1772 charging station in the garage. The resort uses electric shuttle buses that might be parked at the charging stations, but we were quickly able to find a valet who cheerfully moved the shuttle bus out of a spot for us to charge.
The two destination charging locations on the North Beach Plantation Resort grounds are not yet on the Tesla Destination Charging map. Tesla has been very busy getting partners into the destination charging program that they must have a hard time keeping the map up to date with new installations.
If you know of a hotel, resort or other location that would be a good candidate for a destination charging station, have them contact the Tesla Destination Charging team.
UPDATE: The Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform Act passed the House and is now headed to conference with the Senate before a Nov. 20 deadline to avoid a gap in highway funding.
Allows the GSA to install and operate EV charging stations for private vehicle use at Federal facilities.
An amendment, modeled after the EV-COMUTE Act, that would allow the General Services Administration (GSA) to construct, install, and operate electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for private vehicle use at federal facilities at no cost to taxpayers was adopted by the US House of Representatives on November 3, 2015.
Federal agencies currently have no authority to install and operate EV charging stations, so federal employees and contractors are unable to charge their vehicles while at work.
The amendment to the Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform Act of 2015 was sponsored by Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY), Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA). Congressman Massie modeled the amendment after the EV-COMUTE Act (H.R. 3509) of 2014 written by Congresswoman Lofgren. The amendment added language to the original bill that will give jurisdiction to the GSA for the installation and operation of the charging stations at Federal facilities.
“In 2012, Congress passed legislation to allow electric vehicle recharging at the U.S. Capitol for congressmen and their staff for a fee, but neglected to extend this authority to other federal agencies and employees. Our amendment would correct this disparity,” said Rep. Massie, who serves on both the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
Will give Federal employees more options in their commute.
“I first learned of this issue after a constituent wrote me a letter last year,” said Rep. Lofgren, who introduced the EV-COMUTE Act that served as template for this amendment. “In it, he said he was ‘surprised and dismayed’ that it is illegal for federal facilities to provide electric vehicle charging stations for the public or their employees, even at no cost to taxpayers. My family has an electric car and I know they are an important part of improving efficiency and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. As this amendment was adopted on the House floor today, it served as a powerful reminder of the role citizens play in generating new ideas and legislation.”
“In my personal and public life, I consistently support an all-of-the-above energy strategy for the United States,” concluded Rep. Massie, an MIT graduate who drives a Tesla electric car daily in Washington, D.C. “I’m proud to sponsor this amendment because it will expand transportation options for many Americans at no cost to taxpayers.”
Eshoo, who also introduced the original EV-COMUTE legislation said, “As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government should lead by example in offering workplace charging. Silicon Valley is home to thousands of electric vehicle owners, yet the more than 5,000 federal employees in my congressional district have no access to charging facilities at work because of a quirk in existing law.”
The House is expected to vote later this week on the Surface Transportation bill, H. R. 3763.
Double ICEd by Tractor-Trailer
Take a look at that picture. A tractor-trailer truck is blocking not just one, but TWO EV charging stations. And those are the only charging stations for miles around.
This occurred on August 27, 2015 at the “Charging Up Delaware” EV charging stations installed at the Royal Farms store in Bridgeville, DE. I approached the manager of the Royal Farms and she told me that the truck drivers park there and leave them – sometimes for days.
New Installation, Signs Ordered
I wrote an email to the director of the program at the University of Delaware. He explained that the charging stations had just been installed and that signs would be there eventually, but it may take a month or two. We had no choice but to drive slowly, conserving range, to the next available charging station which was in Rehoboth Beach.
No Truck, Cone Placed
The next time we passed through was on September 17th. This time there were no trucks parked there, but no signs yet either. I spoke with a Customer Service Leader at the Royal Farms and she helpfully offered to place orange cones by the charging stations to discourage trucks from parking there. She was able to find only one cone but cheerfully promised to order several more.
No Signs, Cone Gone
On the most recent excursion through Bridgeville on October 25th, I was disappointed to see there were no signs posted yet and the cone was gone. Fortunately, the stations were not ICEd and both stations were accessible. I hope that Royal Farms and the University of Delaware will find a permanent solution to prevent the trucks from blocking these valuable and needed charging stations that enable long-distance EV travel on the DelMarVa peninsula.
Nice dedication ceremony Monday night for the Front Royal, VA CHAdeMO/SAE Combo (CCS) Fast Charger.
Front Royal Town Council (including Mayor Timothy Darr), Virginia Clean Cities Executive Director Alleyn Harned & Deputy Director Matt Wade, representatives of Tri-State Nissan (with a black 2015 Leaf S), and a reporter from WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, MD were among those in attendance. A new Tesla Model S owner from Northern VA also made the trip out and had his car on display.
Council Members in attendance seemed genuinely excited about the prospect of drawing EV owners off Interstates 81 & 66 / Routes 340 & 522 and into town to enjoy great dining and shopping opportunities which are all an easy walk from the new charging station.
The station operates on the Greenlots network.
Thanks to Rick Rohn for contributing this report to Plug In Sites. Rick drives a Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. He is a strong advocate for EV charging infrastructure in and around the eastern panhandle of West Virginia where he lives.