I've read some (many?) truck stops have power for running their reefers (refrigerated trailers) and keeping their engine off while sleeping. Does anyone know if this is practical for recharging our cars, especially with a trailer in tow? What plug converter is needed?
Yes, these usually can be used to charge Tesla cars, and they were used some in the past, before the Supercharger network was as extensive. They are almost always some form of 208V or 240V AC supply in those outlets, so if you can connect to that, it will charge the car fine. There can be a few plug types I think, and it might vary some what they have available at each site.
Early on, back in 2014 and 2015 near me, I-84 through Oregon and Idaho didn't have Superchargers yet, and the "Baker Truck Corral" in Baker City, OR had a section of outlets for the trailers that was listed on Plugshare. It was 14-30 outlets, like electric clothes dryers use, so if you had an adapter for that, people were using it to travel I-84.
There's a national network of these from a company called Shorepower.
Shorepower Technologies: What you need / FAQ
They have metered credit card billing, etc. It says that they have 5-15 or 5-20 outlets and 14-30. And then they do have the bigger 440V ones that are used for running some of the bigger power hungry trailers. Those you wouldn't be able to use for Tesla charging.
