Driving back to the Bay Area from Bryce Canyon last week, we saw additional blue signs attached to Rest Area signs touting EV fast-chargers along I-15 between Nevada and Barstow. No way! DC fast-chargers that are not in the back parking lot of an upscale mall or gas station? This must be a mirage I am seeing in the Mojave desert... We stopped at the Valley Wells Rest Area for a bio-break (as it was the first rest area we had seen since crossing into Nevada from Arizona). We did not need to charge as we were headed to the Baker SC but definitely would have taken the opportunity for a fast-charge here had the two stations been operational. They were still cordoned off (even though the sign on the highway advertised them) and I think they were Electrify America stations. I have always wanted for there to be chargers at Interstate Rest Areas and am kind of sad Tesla is not in that game (yet?). (I did not see any solar panels, so I doubt they are this Arc system: PV - Envision Solar provides EV ARC fast charger for California highway rest area - Renewable Energy Magazine, at the heart of clean energy journalism)
The EV ARC system is installed at the the Camp Roberts and Shandon rest areas on the central coast. Plugshare - Camp Roberts Southbound Plugshare - Shandon Rest Area CalTrans has an extensive plan for chargers at both Rest Areas and their depots. See map below that was presented with the initial plan in November 2017. As far as I know only the following sites are live today: - Camp Roberts Rest Area Northbound - Camp Roberts Rest Area Southbound - Shandon Rest Area - Moon Lim Lee Rest Area - Clearlake Oaks Maintenance Station They all offer free CHAdeMO and CCS charging. The EV ARC sites can be extremely limited in energy and power. The Monterey Bay Air Resource District has approved over 1/4 million dollars of additional funds to install proper grid connections for those sites. This was in response to Recargo failing to install their CEC funded sites on the same 101 corridor. The CalTrans sites are mapped along with the other CEC funded sites on this Google map. CEC DC Fast Charging Sites
@e-FTW On the I-15 corridor, both the CV Kane and Valley Wells rest areas have BTC 50kW DCFCs installed, but not yet powered on. Those rest areas are nearly at the mid points between Yermo, Baker, and Primm. The California Rest Areas are prohibited from charging a fee, so all these fast chargers will be free vending. The CalTrans sites that are at their maintenance depots may eventually charge a fee, but the Clearlake Oaks site that is open is also free. Unfortunately, it does not look like there will be any J1772 charging stations for backup.
Makes me wonder if it would be worth it to get a CHAdeMO adapter... I have free supercharging but not all of those stops are that great, especially in the COVID present where you want to avoid the indoors with strangers and all you have around you is a mall that may be closed. I have been there charging during a medical trip to Phoenix where we needed a restroom break but were at a closed down mall, so I cannot wait for these sites at rest areas to open up! Most rest areas are actually pretty neat, and being able to charge there makes total sense.
I have learned in these times to take advantage of the rest stop (find them on the app) before pulling in to charge as the second I do I will need to find a tree to pee at.