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Colorado state parks getting level 2 chargers install by Rivian

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The chargers will be able to be used by any EV compatible with J1772 including Teslas.

Colorado Sun article about the chargers.
I think this is great would love to see more J1772 chargers at remote places that are also destination sites. The concerns are that it's 2 chargers per park, initially will be open to any EV that can use J1772 and does sound like this could change and Rivian could make them Rivian only supported chargers which I don't blame them for doing.
 
I think this is great would love to see more J1772 chargers at remote places that are also destination sites. The concerns are that it's 2 chargers per park, initially will be open to any EV that can use J1772 and does sound like this could change and Rivian could make them Rivian only supported chargers which I don't blame them for doing.
Being on state property, they better not lock them down to Rivian only. That said, from the discussion between them and Salida, it sounds like any level two chargers they install will be open to all EVs in perpetuity but their DCFCs will be Rivian only at least initially and could be opened up to non-Rivian vehicles.
Four (4) of the charging stations will be Level 3 chargers, which are capable of quickly charging most EVs in approximately an hour. The Level 3 chargers are currently proposed to be exclusively for the use of Rivian vehicles only. The remaining four (4) charging stations will be Level 2 chargers, which require more time to charge EVs (a full charge can take many hours). The Level 2 chargers will be open to use by any EV driver of any type of car (Chevrolet, Tesla, etc.). Rivian reserves the right to allowing all EVs to utilize the Level 3 chargers, at Rivian’s discretion.
 
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I routinely charge at many state parks now using the RV pedestals located in most of the campgrounds. As I understand it, this proposal would allow free charging but tiny numbers of J1772 plugs. Since level 2 charging takes hours, the possibility that the available plugs are already in use will be significant. For Rivian owners, the presence of DCFC options will be more useful.

For me, the ability to reserve a campsite online and know it will be there when I need it is more helpful. I always travel with my MC and 14-50 and TT-30 adapters (for "50 amp" and "30 amp" charging). It is going to take hours to get a charge anyway so I just plan to stay the night. In the last two years I've charged at seven different state parks (camping is good for "social distancing") and plan to add an eighth next month: Yampa River State Park, near Hayden.

Some of my favorites are Lathrop State Park, near Walsenburg, Island Acres State Park on I-70 and the Colorado River near De Beque and Rifle Falls State Park:

Lathrop State Park20190728edsf.jpg

^ Piñon Campground at Lathrop State Park, with the Spanish Peaks in the Background, taken from the Hogback Trail. Piñon Campground has many 14-50 sites.

Camping at Island Acres2246sf 4-27-19.jpg

^ Camping at Island Acres State Park, on the Colorado River. This campground has a small number of 14-50 sites but many TT-30 sites (at 2.88 kW, TT-30 is slow but useful overnight).

Camping at Rifle Falls State Park20190616_192916.jpg

^ Rifle Falls State Park. The handful of campsites have TT-30 charging.
 
What form does your camping take ?

Car ?
Tent ?
Other ?

I've given some thought to this and during Covid, my wife and I are not inclined to rent a cabin and the car is too small for two so I think my only choice is a tent
Depends on the weather. In wet, cold (30s or lower) or very windy weather I sleep in the car, since it holds a full length air mattress. Otherwise I just pitch my tent (same one I've been using since 1975). The tent has more space. The car has the ability to turn on the heat using my phone (if there is cell service). The sleeping bag and air mattress always stay in my front trunk as safety equipment in case of having to spend the night in the car, which is a basic precaution for those who drive in the mountains or in remote areas.

Although I use a single air mattress I've read of some who managed a double in the back of an S. Getting in and out is easy with the liftback.

I would think that sleeping in the back of a Model 3 would be awkward because of the lack of a liftback, although some do it. Tent camping would work fine with a 3. Be aware that some (few) commercial RV parks do not allow tents.

So far as Covid goes, most RV campers are self-contained. That means relatively few campers using the restroom facilities. Now that I am fully vaccinated it is no longer much of a concern.

Air mattress in Model S20190523sf_060004.jpg

^ Camping in the car at Yellowstone in May 2019 — the weather was cold, rainy and snowy. Since the Model S seats leave a bump when folded flat, I level out the back with a folded bedspread, which makes for a comfortable sleeping platform. I've used this arrangement numerous times on road trips.
 
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Depends on the weather. In wet, cold (30s or lower) or very windy weather I sleep in the car, since it holds a full length air mattress. Otherwise I just pitch my tent (same one I've been using since 1975). The tent has more space. The car has the ability to turn on the heat using my phone (if there is cell service). The sleeping bag and air mattress always stay in my front trunk as safety equipment in case of having to spend the night in the car, which is a basic precaution for those who drive in the mountains or in remote areas.

Although I use a single air mattress I've read of some who managed a double in the back of an S. Getting in and out is easy with the liftback.

I would think that sleeping in the back of a Model 3 would be awkward because of the lack of a liftback, although some do it. Tent camping would work fine with a 3. Be aware that some (few) commercial RV parks do not allow tents.

So far as Covid goes, most RV campers are self-contained. That means relatively few campers using the restroom facilities. Now that I am fully vaccinated it is no longer much of a concern.

View attachment 649283
^ Camping in the car at Yellowstone in May 2019 — the weather was cold, rainy and snowy. Since the Model S seats leave a bump when folded flat, I level out the back with a folded bedspread, which makes for a comfortable sleeping platform. I've used this arrangement numerous times on road trips.
Not to take the thread too far off-topic but we run a queen-size air mattress in ours and it works great. The key is to make sure you don't buy the fancy ones that tend to be much thicker which is a limiting factor especially as you narrow down to where your feet are by the hatch. This is especially true if you have large feet as I do. We finally bought one of those air mattresses made for a truck bed as the wheel well cutouts are perfect for the footprint of the Model S. It solves one of the bigger issues we had with the queen size air mattress and that's that the mattress will fold up slightly over the wheel wells making it like a taco for the meat (read: us) inside. Fine if you're friendly with your co-occupant but I would highly recommend spending the little bit extra for the truck bed version which is less than $100 shipped from Amazon. I can't tell you how many thousands we've saved in hotel rooms for our travels so don't nickel and dime on the front end as you'll get really good use out of it and will save you gobs of money, ultimately. It's a different list of needs though with more than one person so if you're solo camping much of what I said is largely irrelevant as the added space to store things (like I see you have there) may be of more benefit than more bed space.

There's lots of threads discussing these specifics though so I won't derail this thread any longer. I'm super excited to see more parks and remote areas getting EV infrastructure though. Very cool stuff.
 
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