Charging in Upstate New York (or maybe Vermont)

[EVenthusiast]

Guys, if you have any questions about EVSEs in the Syracuse NY area (say within 20-30 miles or so), let me know, I can help verify these units (only drive a 'puny' LEAF, but I'm here to help anyone). I also highly recommend PlugShare, seems to be pretty accurate for this area, and keep in mind that a bunch of Chili's locations in NY, MA, etc offer free charging as well (30A via J1772/ChargePoint).

I also purchased a 30A Aerovironment EVSE for my Nissan LEAF recently, but instead of hardwiring it with a disconnect, I'm considering installing a 14-50 receptacle and attaching a plug to my EVSE, so you guys can come get a charge if you need a little boost. I need to read up on code before I go ahead, as I thought the circuit had to be matched to the EVSE, but if it doesn't, I could go from the planned 40A circuit to 50A.

I'm far from rich, so before buying that extra hardware etc, I figured I'd ask in here to make sure that this would be of use, especially since I live about 20 minutes north of Syracuse (Oswego county, where we get quite a bit of snow) and it's only 40A (or 50A if anyone can confirm). Outlet would be in my garage, but I'm always reachable, and the door can be remotely operated.

Let me know if it would be a waste of time/resources please (I'll still help verify local charging stations tho). I guess it would be of most use to people coming from/going to Northern New York/Canada via Interstate 81 (I'm between exit 32/33).

 

[yobigd20]

Guys, if you have any questions about EVSEs in the Syracuse NY area (say within 20-30 miles or so), let me know, I can help verify these units (only drive a 'puny' LEAF, but I'm here to help anyone). I also highly recommend PlugShare, seems to be pretty accurate for this area, and keep in mind that a bunch of Chili's locations in NY, MA, etc offer free charging as well (30A via J1772/ChargePoint).

I also purchased a 30A Aerovironment EVSE for my Nissan LEAF recently, but instead of hardwiring it with a disconnect, I'm considering installing a 14-50 receptacle and attaching a plug to my EVSE, so you guys can come get a charge if you need a little boost. I need to read up on code before I go ahead, as I thought the circuit had to be matched to the EVSE, but if it doesn't, I could go from the planned 40A circuit to 50A.

I'm far from rich, so before buying that extra hardware etc, I figured I'd ask in here to make sure that this would be of use, especially since I live about 20 minutes north of Syracuse (Oswego county, where we get quite a bit of snow) and it's only 40A (or 50A if anyone can confirm). Outlet would be in my garage, but I'm always reachable, and the door can be remotely operated.

Let me know if it would be a waste of time/resources please (I'll still help verify local charging stations tho). I guess it would be of most use to people coming from/going to Northern New York/Canada via Interstate 81 (I'm between exit 32/33).

do you think Chili's would mind if I dropped my car off there for 7 hours to charge and a friend picked me up (e.g. not eating at chili's but only sucking their power)?

 

[EVenthusiast]

I have dropped my car off their for a couple of hours 1 time, as it was an emergency charge (and they were still closed). If it's a 1 time thing, I'm guessing they wouldn't care too much, but I'll ask them, as I interact with them on a regular basis. Worst case, you could do a few hours at 1 Chili's, and then go to the other location (20 minutes away or so) which also has the same exact setup. There is also the Ramada in Syracuse, also less than 20 minutes away, which offers the same setup (all these charging stations were put in by National Grid using the NYSERDA grant).

Let me chat with them about this (going with the assumption you don't want to do this on a regular basis).

 

[yobigd20]

I have dropped my car off their for a couple of hours 1 time, as it was an emergency charge (and they were still closed). If it's a 1 time thing, I'm guessing they wouldn't care too much, but I'll ask them, as I interact with them on a regular basis. Worst case, you could do a few hours at 1 Chili's, and then go to the other location (20 minutes away or so) which also has the same exact setup. There is also the Ramada in Syracuse, also less than 20 minutes away, which offers the same setup (all these charging stations were put in by National Grid using the NYSERDA grant).

Let me chat with them about this (going with the assumption you don't want to do this on a regular basis).

right yeah I live in NJ but going up to Skaneateles for a few days in July. Heading up through the poconos first (I've already put in a NEMA 14-50 in our vk house there) which is exactly half way between where I live now and Syracuse/Skaneateles. So I'll stop for a night and fully charge there but by the time I get to the finger lakes I'll be pretty low again likely <50-60 miles. Just need to top it off once somewhere then trickle charge it at our hotel for the remainder of the stay that should be enough to get me back to the poconos a few days later.

 

[EVenthusiast]

Well I definitely can make it happen for a 1-off visit, but I'd like to get an answer anyways for other folks as well. You could always leave the car parked in my garage and charge it overnight (I'll try to have my 30A EVSE up and running by then), but I'm probably too far (10 minutes from exit 32 on I81 when coming from Syracuse).

 

[yobigd20]

I'm heading up to Skaneateles today. I see that the Destiny mall has switched all the chargepoints from free to $2.40/hr. That was my 'plan' for charging. However I do see some free chargepoints at a Chili's in Dewitt, Ramada inn, and Crouse Medical school. Crouse would be closest I guess but apparantly you still have to pay to get in the parking area. On Plugshare I see a charger (not chargepoint) at Onondaga Community College but I have no idea what type of connector it is. I only have NEMA 14-50, 5-15, and J1772 adapter. If anyone knows anything else in that area, hit me up. I'll be up in a few hours

 

[EVenthusiast]

The 30A AeroVironment @ Burdick Nissan in Drivers Village is NOT locked down as far as I know. If you do get caught, just tell them the guy running ChargeNY sent you, and you'll be fine. It's right off the I-81/I-481 interchange, so it might be a better location.

I'm hoping to have my 50A 14-50 up today, but I am 20 minutes north of Syracuse, so probably not worth the trip. Highly recommend Chili's and Ramada Inn as well. Forget about Destiny, between the high cost, and most of the stations being down all the time (if not ICEd), it's not worth it.

Dan

 

[yobigd20]

I did a range charge before I left Arrowhead Lakes in the Poconos. My max range charge is 259 (lower I guess that I expected). It's 152 miles exactly. I arrived at chilis with 72 miles range left.

If you do the calcs:
Actualy distance is 152 miles.
259miles range - 152 miles = 107 miles expected remaining range.
259miles - 72miles actual remaining range = 187 range actually used.

So I used 187 miles range to go 152 miles. That's about 81% 'efficiency' or however you want to call it. I attribute that to 1) driving faster than the avg joe and 2) mountain driving. Whats funny, thats actually better than my 'normal' daily commute HAHA.

Normally, my 'daily' commute from south jersey to NYC is 101.1 miles:
238miles stanard charge - 107miles range remaining (on average) = 131 miles range used

So typically for daily commuting I use 131 range miles to go 101.1 miles, and that's about 77% efficiency.

Anywho, I'm just saying that to say I never actually get rated range. But I don't drive 55mph, or 65mph, or 75, mph, lol. It's usually between 80-85mph. 'my fault'.

Ok back to topic, I arrived at chilis with 72 miles range and plugged into their chargepoint. 32A and I get 19miles/hr charge. Went inside to get some drinks and some friends picked us up. We went out and about for several hours while they toured us around (we are thinking of moving to the Skaneateles/Camillus area). Had some drinks and food and scouted some houses, etc.

Got back to the car several hours later and I was back up to about 177miles. I had like 3 hours remaining until the standard charge would complete. Wasn't going to hang around. We left and are at Mirabeau Inn and Spa in Skaneateles. That was like 38 miles. Got here with about 138 miles range left. They have 120V outlets in the parking lot that they use for christmas lighting and stuff that I plugged into. (I'm not using an extension cord into a room that someone else posted recently and got in trouble! lol). Woke up this morning and I have about 180 miles range. Slow charging!! We're here for a few days so I should be able to get charged back up enough on the 120V to make it back to the Poconos.

I really wish there were some faster chargers around! Even 32A is so slow! If we didn't have friends picking us up, what were we supposed to do? Hang at chilis for 8.5 hours for a full charge? I guess we could always go hang out at the Destiny USA mall and 'pay' for the chargepoint there. Sigh. Well, I am hopefully that over the next few years more and more chargers will start popping up all over the place. Anyhow, just wanted to write my 'status' back and keep you up to date!

@EVenthusiast thanks for the help too , always great to see new friendly EV enthusiasts! lol

 

[EVenthusiast]

One of the hotels in the Syracuse area will have a 90A EVSE soon, thanks to the generosity of a Model S owner. Should be up soon.

 

[yobigd20]

Well my wife and I went to the movies at Destiny USA so I topped off while I was there. Cost me $11.43 for 4h45min of "occupying the space". I say it like that bc I was only topping off. Plugged in at 4:18pm and got notification was fully charged at 7:43pm. We didn't get out of the movies and unplug until 9:02pm. Sure enough I got charged $2.40/hr for the entire time I was plugged in even though I had finished charging 1h19min earlier. Lame. Also, all 6 chargers in the one side of the mall are apparently inactive/broken/unusable. Only 2 of the other 3 chargers on Solar street by Dick's were operational. One of the two operational ones were blocked by a standard (non-plugin) ICE Prius. Lame.

 

[JohnQ]

Well my wife and I went to the movies at Destiny USA so I topped off while I was there. Cost me $11.43 for 4h45min of "occupying the space". I say it like that bc I was only topping off. Plugged in at 4:18pm and got notification was fully charged at 7:43pm. We didn't get out of the movies and unplug until 9:02pm. Sure enough I got charged $2.40/hr for the entire time I was plugged in even though I had finished charging 1h19min earlier. Lame. Also, all 6 chargers in the one side of the mall are apparently inactive/broken/unusable. Only 2 of the other 3 chargers on Solar street by Dick's were operational. One of the two operational ones were blocked by a standard (non-plugin) ICE Prius. Lame.

Glad you were able to get charged as necessary. While $2.40 an hour seems high for the power usage (I don't know the actual cost/kWh to the business), I honestly don't mind paying for charging. Someone went through the trouble to install a station and needs to recoup their investment. Having said that, if there was a free charger around the corner I'd go for the free one.

Regarding payment when not charging, you're occupying the space and preventing anyone else from charging. That's a good incentive to go out and move the car. It's not perfect, you could simply unplug and stay in the space, or not initiate charging at all, but but still reasonable.

 

[EVenthusiast]

The units in the garage are having issues because of communication problems. Has been like this for a long time, doubt it will get fixed anytime soon, as the company which installed them (or at least their EV part of the business) was sold to a company in FL.

That said, my 30A EVSE and 14-50R (on an actual 50A breaker, installed for you Tesla folks, as I only need the 30A EVSE) is up and running, and while I'm in a boring area, anyone is welcome to plug in. I'm on plugshare, but you do need to contact me first in order to get the actual address.

 

[Asif]

One of the hotels in the Syracuse area will have a 90A EVSE soon, thanks to the generosity of a Model S owner. Should be up soon.

Do you know if this high amp charger is up and running? I'm planning on coming down on Aug 24th and have booked at the Ramada. However, I may look at switching to the other hotel if their charger is up.

 

[EVenthusiast]

I called several days ago, and they had no clue what I was talking about, so I'm going to ping some other contacts to find out what the deal is.

Don't forget I have my 14-50 outlet up and running (30 mins north of Syracuse, near I-81) if you are worried about not making it.

 

[Monto]

I just got back from a weekend in Stowe, VT. We flew, so I didn't have my car, but I asked the valet why there were no charging location near by. He said they have 2 Tesla charging spots in the garage. I asked to see them, and he took me down. I then posted it on Recargo and they thanked me for doing that. I think there are many more around that are not publicized. http://www.recargo.com/sites/10490

 

[EVenthusiast]

I highly recommend you post them on PlugShare as well. While they are now owned by ReCargo, the data hasn't been merged yet, and PlugShare seems to be a lot more popular. I have been talking to RV parks, trying to get them to let me add their 14-50 outlets (succeeded with 1 so far) to PlugShare as well, hopefully this will help.

 

[Monto]

I highly recommend you post them on PlugShare as well. While they are now owned by ReCargo, the data hasn't been merged yet, and PlugShare seems to be a lot more popular. I have been talking to RV parks, trying to get them to let me add their 14-50 outlets (succeeded with 1 so far) to PlugShare as well, hopefully this will help.

Done

 

[neroden]

One of the hotels in the Syracuse area will have a 90A EVSE soon, thanks to the generosity of a Model S owner. Should be up soon.

Please do tell us which one. I can get to Syracuse and back on a single charge, but it's good to know where to stop if I need to go further north...

 

[EVenthusiast]

The 70A Sun Country Highway EVSE is up and running in the Syracuse area. Check out this article for more information. The station is also on PlugShare!

 

[ToddRLockwood]

I just got back from a weekend in Stowe, VT. We flew, so I didn't have my car, but I asked the valet why there were no charging location near by. He said they have 2 Tesla charging spots in the garage. I asked to see them, and he took me down. I then posted it on Recargo and they thanked me for doing that. I think there are many more around that are not publicized. http://www.recargo.com/sites/10490

I assume that's a valet-only situation, so you can't actually plug the car in yourself? And, of course, you'd need to bring your charging cable.