What's the best charging network for road trips? We charge at home for daily use, but do a lot of road trips around the West to various National Parks and ski resorts, mostly in California or up through Utah and Wyoming. I don't want to have a bunch of memberships, so planning to just get one, but not really sure which would be the best overall. Looking at price, availability, convenience, and up-time. Any advice?
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Best charging network for road trips?
- Thread starter kman42
- Start date
RTPEV
Active Member
What's your hesitation for having a bunch of memberships?
The problem is that your strategy of having just one is going to be an issue when the one you need is not the one you have. Charging networks are not like brands of gas where you can pretty much find one of each in every town. Although on the other hand, with roaming agreements between charging networks, your worries may be moot.
Fortunately the barrier to entry for most charging networks these days is not much more than enrolling and possibly providing a payment method (maybe that is your hesitation?) A few do establish a payment account and replenish the funds when it gets too low, so you do wind up with $10 or $20 sitting in an account you may rarely use. Unfortunately the most useful charging network to have a membership with--ChargePoint--is like that. But ChargePoint is one of the better networks, is nationwide, and offers a huge number of L2 stations which is helpful at hotels, parks, and other tourist attractions, which sounds like it's what you need.
To more directly answer your question, though, the best charging network is the Supercharger network, which I am assuming you would be able to use since you are posting in a Tesla forum. It easily has the rest beat in terms of coverage, reliability, and site size. Recently it has taken a bit of a back seat in terms of cost, but unless you are driving tens of thousands of miles a year on the road, or using them as your daily charging solution, the difference in cost is probably not that great to get worked up over.
Among the others, we need to talk about fast charge networks vs. L2 networks. For the actual get from point A to point B part, you'll want to use a fast charge network. After the Supercharger network, Electrify America is probably your next best bet (I'm assuming you have a CCS adapter, or at least a CHAdeMO adapter -- if not, you're pretty much stuck with Superchargers anyway). They are expanding quickly, have reasonable site sizes, and are fairly cost effective. And you don't even need to join. You can take your chances and hope the credit card readers work. However, if it were me, I'd sign up anyway because sometimes using the app is the only way to get a session started. They have reasonably fast chargers, but not all chargers at each site are the fast 350kW units, and some sites only have 150kW units.
Next, would be EVgo. EVgo is also expanding, but they are somewhat of a regional network. Most of their sites, and especially their newer ones are 4-stall, consisting of 2 100kW units, and a single 350kW unit that can charge two cars at once (and split the power). They do have some larger sites, especially in California. Some of their sites have a built in Tesla adapter, but it only charges at 50kW. I like their web site and app, and the reliability of their sites seems on par with or maybe a bit better than EA, but that's somewhat subjective. I do think they are on the pricey side though.
There are other fast charge networks, but they are more regional (EVCS in California, Francis Energy in Texas & Oklahoma, Red E in Michigan, etc. EV Connect appears to be making some moves lately, but they are going into a lot of retail and car dealerships. Volta is exclusively at malls and outlet centers. There is also Blink, but they have had a troubled past. I think we need to wait and see how reliable they can become. Shell Recharge (formerly Greenlots) is another option, and they are starting to take charging more seriously. As Greenlots, they had pretty bad reliability. Let's see if things improve with Shell (they are in fact re-outfitting sites with new hardware, so that might be a good sign).
But as we switch to talking about L2 networks, there is one network that bridges the gap between L2 and DC fast charge, and that is ChargePoint. And this is why if you're going to pick one network to join, ChargePoint would be my pick. ChargePoint has a HUGE network of L2 chargers, and a decent network of DC fast chargers (although many are at car dealers and workplaces). AND, ChargePoint is somewhat at the center of roaming agreements between the various charge network providers. So if you have a ChargePoint account, it may work with other networks (I don't have firsthand experience with this, as I already have accounts with most of the charging networks already).
Chances are if you are visiting a hotel or a national park or other tourist attraction and there are charging stations there, they will either be just free to use, or part of the ChargePoint network (and still possibly free, but you need a ChargePoint account to activate the charger).
ChargePoint is a bit different than most other networks in that it's the site host that's responsible for maintenance, which means that if they don't really care about the station (many only installed it to get LEED points are some other green "cred" and have become disillusioned with it, or car dealers that didn't want it in the first place), it may go down and stop working. Unless they call ChargePoint for a repair (and pay for it), it stays down. The host also sets the cost. They may offer the charging for free to attract customers, or they may charge a small fortune to dissuade usage (like car dealers do). There is no set fee.
All that said, it is a very popular network and I would consider it a must have.
However, really what you need to do is to hop on Plugshare.com and explore the areas you might be going and see what charging networks are at places you would likely stop. For the actual driving part, I would probably just rely on the Supercharger network, and use a tool like abetterrouteplanner.com to plot your trip.
Good luck and happy road tripping!
The problem is that your strategy of having just one is going to be an issue when the one you need is not the one you have. Charging networks are not like brands of gas where you can pretty much find one of each in every town. Although on the other hand, with roaming agreements between charging networks, your worries may be moot.
Fortunately the barrier to entry for most charging networks these days is not much more than enrolling and possibly providing a payment method (maybe that is your hesitation?) A few do establish a payment account and replenish the funds when it gets too low, so you do wind up with $10 or $20 sitting in an account you may rarely use. Unfortunately the most useful charging network to have a membership with--ChargePoint--is like that. But ChargePoint is one of the better networks, is nationwide, and offers a huge number of L2 stations which is helpful at hotels, parks, and other tourist attractions, which sounds like it's what you need.
To more directly answer your question, though, the best charging network is the Supercharger network, which I am assuming you would be able to use since you are posting in a Tesla forum. It easily has the rest beat in terms of coverage, reliability, and site size. Recently it has taken a bit of a back seat in terms of cost, but unless you are driving tens of thousands of miles a year on the road, or using them as your daily charging solution, the difference in cost is probably not that great to get worked up over.
Among the others, we need to talk about fast charge networks vs. L2 networks. For the actual get from point A to point B part, you'll want to use a fast charge network. After the Supercharger network, Electrify America is probably your next best bet (I'm assuming you have a CCS adapter, or at least a CHAdeMO adapter -- if not, you're pretty much stuck with Superchargers anyway). They are expanding quickly, have reasonable site sizes, and are fairly cost effective. And you don't even need to join. You can take your chances and hope the credit card readers work. However, if it were me, I'd sign up anyway because sometimes using the app is the only way to get a session started. They have reasonably fast chargers, but not all chargers at each site are the fast 350kW units, and some sites only have 150kW units.
Next, would be EVgo. EVgo is also expanding, but they are somewhat of a regional network. Most of their sites, and especially their newer ones are 4-stall, consisting of 2 100kW units, and a single 350kW unit that can charge two cars at once (and split the power). They do have some larger sites, especially in California. Some of their sites have a built in Tesla adapter, but it only charges at 50kW. I like their web site and app, and the reliability of their sites seems on par with or maybe a bit better than EA, but that's somewhat subjective. I do think they are on the pricey side though.
There are other fast charge networks, but they are more regional (EVCS in California, Francis Energy in Texas & Oklahoma, Red E in Michigan, etc. EV Connect appears to be making some moves lately, but they are going into a lot of retail and car dealerships. Volta is exclusively at malls and outlet centers. There is also Blink, but they have had a troubled past. I think we need to wait and see how reliable they can become. Shell Recharge (formerly Greenlots) is another option, and they are starting to take charging more seriously. As Greenlots, they had pretty bad reliability. Let's see if things improve with Shell (they are in fact re-outfitting sites with new hardware, so that might be a good sign).
But as we switch to talking about L2 networks, there is one network that bridges the gap between L2 and DC fast charge, and that is ChargePoint. And this is why if you're going to pick one network to join, ChargePoint would be my pick. ChargePoint has a HUGE network of L2 chargers, and a decent network of DC fast chargers (although many are at car dealers and workplaces). AND, ChargePoint is somewhat at the center of roaming agreements between the various charge network providers. So if you have a ChargePoint account, it may work with other networks (I don't have firsthand experience with this, as I already have accounts with most of the charging networks already).
Chances are if you are visiting a hotel or a national park or other tourist attraction and there are charging stations there, they will either be just free to use, or part of the ChargePoint network (and still possibly free, but you need a ChargePoint account to activate the charger).
ChargePoint is a bit different than most other networks in that it's the site host that's responsible for maintenance, which means that if they don't really care about the station (many only installed it to get LEED points are some other green "cred" and have become disillusioned with it, or car dealers that didn't want it in the first place), it may go down and stop working. Unless they call ChargePoint for a repair (and pay for it), it stays down. The host also sets the cost. They may offer the charging for free to attract customers, or they may charge a small fortune to dissuade usage (like car dealers do). There is no set fee.
All that said, it is a very popular network and I would consider it a must have.
However, really what you need to do is to hop on Plugshare.com and explore the areas you might be going and see what charging networks are at places you would likely stop. For the actual driving part, I would probably just rely on the Supercharger network, and use a tool like abetterrouteplanner.com to plot your trip.
Good luck and happy road tripping!
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Superchargers and ChargePoint will get you 90% of the way there, but the real answer is the best charging network is the one associated with the station you want to use.
Missile Toad
MSLR Wht/Blk/19 | OD 6/10/21 | RN11512
I just took a trip Houston to Atlanta. I attempted to exclusively use Electrify America, since my '22 S LR is compatible with the new CCS adapter. For the six EA chargers I used, I estimate it took, on average 6 minutes per charger to get EA to authenticate me and start the charge. Half the time I had to call up EA and get them to reboot the charger.
My recommendation: don't waste your time on the CCS charger adapter. I know its good for other CCS networks. But Electrify has the most robust set of charging locations -- if location was all that mattered. Unfortunately, in October of 2022, Electrify America and Tesla just don't play well together.
My recommendation: don't waste your time on the CCS charger adapter. I know its good for other CCS networks. But Electrify has the most robust set of charging locations -- if location was all that mattered. Unfortunately, in October of 2022, Electrify America and Tesla just don't play well together.
Research this buy watching any new ev car YouTubers reviews them on long road trips. Trust me you’ll see a pattern on their road trip experience with any nontesla and Tesla cars. Which is most nontesla chargers have a high failure rate. Tesla supercharger are actually cared for and the company insures their function. Personally I road trip a lot. Work from home but put 28k per year in the last 3 years now Tesla chargers are way reliable. 95% of the time they work. Nontesla charger from what I know is 25 to 40% failure rate which is unacceptable.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
hodad66
Member
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