That's just on the East Coast and California. It's not true for the middle of the U.S. There are not nearly enough SC locations, and many large gaps. L2 is still used frequently. North South travel is particularly problematical.
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juliusa
Active Member
Very few gaps now. North Dakota and northern Montana are about it. We did use one L2 going to south eastern Colorado.
What gaps are you talking about?
The gap between Salina and Lincoln, The gap between Council Bluffs (Omaha) and Sioux Falls to name two that I use. But a glance at the map will show that north-south travel is poorly represented from Texas to South Dakota. Especially if you have an older 85 or lower range car (75, 60). Sure I can make it from Salina to Lincoln in nice weather, but because of the gap, it's a long charging stop at Salina, and winter travel is out of the question if the weather is bad.
Another way to look at it is: take the distance between any arbitrary SC and the next SC that you would use if you were going in that direction. If the distance is more than ~150 miles, there is a gap (except those places where there are no roads of course).
juliusa
Active Member
I would do those in my S85, though the 100% charge is painful. Much easier in my 2018 X100D, and even easier in the new S, X, and 3 cars that are 300+ miles.
The combination of increased range, faster supercharging, and more superchargers has made a huge difference in travel. Many of my trips take half the charging time in my 2018 X compared to my 2013 S.
Of course, if you can afford a new Tesla, it's much less of a problem. But that doesn't mean that the gaps shouldn't be filled because even with the new longer range cars, put one SC out of commission (the way Salina was when it flooded earlier this year) and there's a problem. Having no more than 150 miles between SCs (100 is even better) gives a redundancy to the network, and helps during peak travel days.
juliusa
Active Member
50 is even better, but my guess is there will be 150 mile gaps in less-travelled routes for a long time - a challenge for the 240 mile short-range cars.
Yep, our older cars are not what they are building the supercharger network to support. They are building for a future will all cars will likely have 300+ mile range.
While I don't disagree with that, there still needs to be redundancy of locations so that if one location is offline for whatever reason, there is an alternative. You can't really call the network complete until that occurs--even though it's closer to being complete than alternative fast charge networks.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
It’s not so much slowdowns as large debris in the road (retreads are plentiful this time of year), and potholes. Hitting those or having something launched by the truck can be the start of a very bad day.
juliusa
Active Member
Being offline is such a rare occurrence (so far), I don't see it as an issue, amd there should be other non-Tesla L3 options to fill in the gaps and for outages. In about 5 years there could be as many non-Tesla L3 chargers are there are Tesla superchargers - with about half the BEVs on the road non-Tesla. Or maybe there will be L3 convergence - Europe seems to moving in that direction.
I find it much easier to get around in my 2013 now than when I bought it. I did L2 charging on trips to Maine when I got the car, and a couple of years ago on a trip I stayed overnight in Port Huron to get a L2 charge. All superchargers now.
Well, duh. It wasn't till 2015 (IIRC) that there were SCs anywhere near me, so of course it's easier.
This spring in Selina the L3 alternative wasn't blocked, but it was out of service. I have heard of several reports about out of service L3s. I don't know how prevalent that is.
In five years when the EV America network is built out, it will be about the same as the Supercharger network in 2015 in number of locations. It will be less in terms of number of ports per location. The other network that GM is talking about isn't funded, and GM is not putting any money into it.
juliusa
Active Member
Seems to be about 2 or 3 out of 800 in North America at any given time. My guess is about half of all superchargers in the US are "redundant" (you could skip the supercharger and use another one). I got to one in Allentown PA when they had just closed the parking lot due to a gas leak - simply continued on to the next supercharger on my route. I think it reopened later that day. There was a gas explosion at Plantation FL - I think it was closed for less than a week. Also plenty of other superchargers nearby.
I think there are now more 3s on the road in the US than S and X combined. Things are changing quickly - and getting better all the time.
I do see your point about coming north out of TX - and does not look like Tesla has plans to fill the gaps. Choice seems to be Wichita or Trinidad.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
Another way to look at extended EV road trip is hotels with EV charging capabilities. I plan to take one in the near future. Should I worry about booking EV hotels? How to plan EV hotels strategically (e.g. California to Denver, with many national park stops)? My S could tell me where the nearby EV hotels are located, but I think I should book hotel in advance. Maybe the general question is what is the ONE thing you wish you'd known before you booked your hotel stay for your EV road trip? Any pointers are greatly appreciated.
I agree. Now that Superchargers are plentiful, about the only time I ever look for a charger is at a hotel. I have enough range for any around-town driving, so I only need chargers on roadtrips. And Superchargers work best for most day-driving charges; it's just at night that I'd like to be able to plug in to an L2 charger. In fact, several years ago I asked plugshare and other charging apps if they could add a way to specifically search for chargers at or near hotels.
AFAIK none of them ever added that feature, although I would be pleased to learn that I am wrong. A fair percentage of Tesla Destination chargers are at hotels (albeit often pricey ones), so it's not too bad to look at them first (Tesla's map is HERE). If you know roughly where you want to stay, you can of course use Plugshare to examine that area, although it can be a little tedious.
Once you find a hotel with a charger...generally speaking, you still need a backup plan because:
Whoops, maybe that was more than "ONE thing". But good luck and have fun!
AFAIK none of them ever added that feature, although I would be pleased to learn that I am wrong. A fair percentage of Tesla Destination chargers are at hotels (albeit often pricey ones), so it's not too bad to look at them first (Tesla's map is HERE). If you know roughly where you want to stay, you can of course use Plugshare to examine that area, although it can be a little tedious.
Once you find a hotel with a charger...generally speaking, you still need a backup plan because:
- most chargers are not tested or maintained by hotel staff, so they could be broken
- most hotels only have one or two chargers and they don't allow them to be reserved, so they could be taken by other EVs
- few hotels have well-marked, dedicated EV charging spots, so the spots could be ICEd...and a lot of hotels don't want to bug their guests to ask them to move their car (assuming they even keep track)
- arrive at the hotel with enough range to get to the next Supercharger; if the L2 charger at the hotel is available, then you save time by not having to stop at it
- book a hotel near a campground with 50A outlets (a lot of casinos and larger resorts will have both a hotel and RV parking, so they can be convenient)
- book a hotel in a city that has lots of L2 stations scattered around, within reasonable distance of the hotel
- book a hotel right next to a Supercharger...there are lots of those too. Just make sure to not leave your car parked in front of the chargers all night
Whoops, maybe that was more than "ONE thing". But good luck and have fun!
paulkva
part of the supercharge.info dev team
PlugShare.com offers filter functionality for hotels. Click the three horizontal lines in the search box at the top-left to open the menu, under Filters expand Amenities, and then you can choose Lodging. It's crowdsourced data though, so it won't be perfect, and of course I agree with the other caveats and advice @ChadS provides.
I would also add that many hotels have 120V outlets on the outside of their buildings that could give you a boost overnight. Be sure to bring your charging cable, and ask before you plug in! I've generally had much better luck asking in person than I have via phone or email. And for any hotel that allows me to charge, once I've plugged in successfully I add them to PlugShare if they're not already there.
So there is no assurance the destination charger works or available? I don't want to book the EV hotel, drive to it, and find out the charging stations don't work or all occupied. It seems more extra attentions to details if I take my EV for an extended road trip. Wish there is a way to guarantee the working condition, stretch goal is availability.
Bighorn
Top Supercharger
paulkva
part of the supercharge.info dev team
PlugShare will help you find hotels with EV charging. The site assigns a score that's meant to indicate reliability, and the description often provides the detail you need, but again it's crowdsourced data. I'd say your best bet would be to search for a hotel with PlugShare, read the listing, and then (as @Bighorn said) call the hotel to ask about current status and whether or not you can reserve a charging station.
We're still early enough in EV adoption that a road trip does sometimes require more planning and attention to detail than it otherwise would.
No others needed. Truly. Plugshare is the most up-to-date and comprehensive map of every charging resource available. It includes all of the sites from all of the commercial paid networks, all of the Tesla destination sites, Superchargers, even individuals' home outlets that they have offered to be shared, a lot of campground sites (but not all) with electrical hookups.
I guess the only other very obscure resource would be if you are really going to an area that has nothing listed in Plugshare, that usually means it is remote enough that there may be campground or RV sites there. So websites that list campgrounds might show a little extra there if they haven't been added to Plugshare already. Two good sites for that are www.rvparky.com and www.allstays.com.
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