Electric Vehicle Charging at the Grand Canyon National Park - Discrimination Continues!

[Sharkbait]

I finally heard back from a guy named Shawn Norton, U.S. National Park Service, Washington DC Office, Chief - Sustainable Operations. I figure this fancy title is worth over six figures a year (not including benefits), and here is his response to my question of National Parks with charging stations, which is totally bogus, inflated and full of fluff (for his bosses?).

The first task is to decrypt the designations like GRCA, which probably stands for Grand Canyon, CRLA maybe stands for Crater Lake. I can tell you first-hand that lines 19 and 20 are non-existent, level 2 charging locations. They do not exist, at least today. GRCA - Delaware North (concession) does not have four L2 chargers dedicated to EVs.

Perhaps this table represents their current AND future planned (allocated?) deployment. Who knows? Also note, many of these charging locations appear to be private, like Tusayan, AZ, which I believe represents the Premier Best Western Hotel and is NOT located in the GRCA NP. They installed two Tesla wall chargers ages ago. Williams, AZ is probably an RV park. Perhaps these are the "Donor" locations the NPS is referring to as they flesh-out their grandiose plan? Is NPS taking credit for those NOT located in National Parks? I noted with interest that Park Police have 14 Level 2 charging stations. Are these reserved for the 14 Tesla Model X pursuit vehicles? Pathetic response. Your tax dollars at work.

 

[ArizonaP85]

I finally heard back from a guy named Shawn Norton, U.S. National Park Service, Washington DC Office, Chief - Sustainable Operations. I figure this fancy title is worth over six figures a year (not including benefits), and here is his response to my question of National Parks with charging stations, which is totally bogus, inflated and full of fluff (for his bosses?).

The first task is to decrypt the designations like GRCA, which probably stands for Grand Canyon, CRLA maybe stands for Crater Lake. I can tell you first-hand that lines 19 and 20 are non-existent, level 2 charging locations. They do not exist, at least today. GRCA - Delaware North (concession) does not have four L2 chargers dedicated to EVs.

Perhaps this table represents their current AND future planned (allocated?) deployment. Who knows? Also note, many of these charging locations appear to be private, like Tusayan, AZ, which I believe represents the Premier Best Western Hotel and is NOT located in the GRCA NP. They installed two Tesla wall chargers ages ago. Williams, AZ is probably an RV park. Perhaps these are the "Donor" locations the NPS is referring to as they flesh-out their grandiose plan? Is NPS taking credit for those NOT located in National Parks? I noted with interest that Park Police have 14 Level 2 charging stations. Are these reserved for the 14 Tesla Model X pursuit vehicles? Pathetic response. Your tax dollars at work.
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"Allocated" does not necessarily mean "contracted" and obviously does not mean "built."

 

[Sharkbait]

"Allocated" does not necessarily mean "contracted" and obviously does not mean "built."

I know. It's what I call hobble-gobble speak.

 

[abasile]

It looks like that's just a list of charging stations donated by BMW, or planned donations, within or in the vicinity of some national parks. BMW has used ABM to perform installation and maintenance of charging stations.

 

[Sharkbait]

It looks like that's just a list of charging stations donated by BMW, or planned donations, within or in the vicinity of some national parks. BMW has used ABM to perform installation and maintenance of charging stations.

The list of charging stations is a mixed bag, including at least a couple Tesla chargers at the Best Western in Tusayan and perhaps some other NEMA 14-50s at RV campgrounds (Williams has quite a few RV sites). I'm not familiar enough with other Parks or Monuments to recognize the details. ABM is involved in a number of infrastructure projects. It would be interesting to know if they are doing the 2 Level 2 chargers at Maswik Lodge.

IMO, it still looks like NPS knows little about was is actually installed and how much they had to do with it. NPS Headquarters at GC knew nothing about the two chargers allegedly going in at Maswik, so maybe it's all smoke.

 

[Sharkbait]

Pikes Peak, Red Rocks, Moab, Bryce, Zion, Mesa Verde, Antelope Canyon, and Lake Powell were all well represented with onsite L2 charging.

And the list submitted by NPS above is further evidence that NPS hasn't a clue. Need help with the last identifier in this list:

EDIS - Edison
GETT - Gettysburg
OLYM - Olympic
GRCA - Grand Canyon
BICY - Big Cypress
DEWA - Delaware Water Gap
CACO - Cape Cod
GRCA - Grand Canyon
EVER - Everglades
CRLA - Crater Lake
MORA - Mount Rainier
DEVA - Death Valley
JEFF - Jefferson
WEPE - ?????

Not all of the above are national parks. There are also national monuments and national recreation areas all under NPS. Plugshare is probably the most accurate.

 

[SageBrush]

I'd like to visit the GC again this Autumn so I have followed this thread,
sent an email to the PR person of the Delaware concessions,
And thought about access.

All in all, Flagstaff seems fine.
If I want or need a few extra miles of charging closer to the the GC village I'll grab a snack or meal at the Best Western and request charging privileges for an hour or two.

 

[Sharkbait]

All in all, Flagstaff seems fine.
If I want or need a few miles of charging closer to the the GC village I'll grab a snack or meal at the Best Western and request charging privileges for an hour or two.

If you're coming in with a full charge at Page, you get the benefit of taking the entire day to do Desert View west all the way to the GV Village without the consideration of doubling back (if you're moving on to Flagstaff). Next day (if you're staying a couple nights) you could use the free trams and buses for more touring, saving the balance of your charge to make Flagstaff.

Unfortunately, the free buses and trams don't run east toward Desert View, at least not very far. Those trips are for expensive, paid tours, which you can easily do in a BEV if you can pick up some power at Maswik or anywhere else in the Canyon and still make Page or Flagstaff without staying at one of the expensive hotels outside the Park like Moenkopi or Best Western. (A previous report indicated that Moenkopi allowed free charging if you purchased something, like lunch?) We charged at the Flagstaff, Courtyard and also stayed there for $126/night (double that for an evening at Maswik Lodge). I tried to get into the El Tovar but it's generally booked a year in advance.

The sunrise from Desert View in the morning is worth seeing on the canyon walls to the west like the sunsets are, looking east from Hopi Point or Hermit's Point. The "Blue Bus" takes you all the way to Hermit's Point for free and another one comes by every 15 minutes to pick up visitors and/or drop them off or return to Bright Angel. They make seven stops traveling west from Bright Angel Lodge continuously until a short time after sunset.

My trip was from Tucson, through Flagstaff, and I didn't feel comfortable doing Desert View, then back to the Village and having enough power to make Flagstaff again. Hopefully, when you travel, the Maswik Lodge chargers should be up and running, In retrospect, I probably could have done the trip I wanted in a 100. We need a report on the availability of 220V charging interfaces at Maswik if and when these become available.