Looking to charge between Baltimore, MD area and Pittsburgh

[nolngrgrsngslde]

I will be traveling between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Anyone knows of places to charge, either along the way or in Pittsburgh. I will be spending a couple of days downtown at the Hilton Garden Inn. 3454 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. It would be great to recharge while in Pittsburgh. I will not need the car.

The "recargo" app for android shows stations downtown at UPMC garage on 3459 Fifth Ave. When i called the attendant, he did not know anything about it. He also said that you need to be visiting patients to park there.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[artsci]

The "recargo" app for android shows stations downtown at UPMC garage on 3459 Fifth Ave. When i called the attendant, he did not know anything about it. He also said that you need to be visiting patients to park there.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

You'll be visiting a patient, won't you?

 

[Zarb]

I have not used it but there is an "electric garage" that I believe is open to the public on CMU's campus at 4621 Forbes Ave. It is several miles from you hotel but there is easy public transit (PAT buses) to get there. I think any 61 or 71 Line will go between downtown and the university area.

 

[dennis]

I have not used it but there is an "electric garage" that I believe is open to the public on CMU's campus at 4621 Forbes Ave. It is several miles from you hotel but there is easy public transit (PAT buses) to get there. I think any 61 or 71 Line will go between downtown and the university area.

The address for the hotel (3454 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA) is only about 10 blocks from the CMU campus - an easy walk. Here is a link to the electric garage site:

ChargeCar - Recharging your Daily Commute

It says they have the funding for 8 Eaton chargers that will be free to the public, but the webpage is from 2011 and I could not find any updates. Does anyone in the Pittsburgh area have current info?

 

[nolngrgrsngslde]

Thanks guys.

I got in touch with them using the link above: http://www.chargecar.org/parking

found the email address: [email protected], sent an email and already received a reply. They sound very willing to accommodate.

 

[Electric1]

I am told that there is a public charge station at Soldier's & Sailor's Garage on Fifth Avenue, which is very close to your hotel. I know of a couple of other Pgh. chargers also. Feel free to PM me if you need further information. My mother lives close by (unfortunately in a condo without charging capabilities) and I have researched my options for visiting.

 

[DFibRL8R]

I am planning a road trip from Northern Virginia to Pittsburgh in early April. I discovered a (newer?) EV charger at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center which is Downtown. I plan to stay at the Omni William Penn which is 1/2 mile away. Has anyone in Pittsburgh used this charger yet? Would be nice to know it is functional prior to setting out on my 235 mile adventure over the mountains. Now if we could only get that supercharger installed at the intersection of 70 and 76...I guess a pause at one of the RV chargers on the way will have to do for now.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I am planning a road trip from Northern Virginia to Pittsburgh in early April. I discovered a (newer?) EV charger at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center which is Downtown. I plan to stay at the Omni William Penn which is 1/2 mile away. Has anyone in Pittsburgh used this charger yet? Would be nice to know it is functional prior to setting out on my 235 mile adventure over the mountains. Now if we could only get that supercharger installed at the intersection of 70 and 76...I guess a pause at one of the RV chargers on the way will have to do for now.

You risk brodering your car, trying to do 235 miles on a mountainous interstate. If you are careful and the weather favorable, you might be able to pull this off, but you should know which campgrounds are open. Many open on Apr 15. I recommend the Allstays RV app to locate campgrounds; it allows you to filter for "50 amp" campgrounds, which is the jargon you'll want to find NEMA 14-50 plugs.

 

[JakeP]

I have not seen or used the charger at the Convention Center or any downtown, but I have successfully used several at the Giant Eagle and Whole Foods grocery stores in the Pittsburgh suburbs. If I am downtown anytime soon I will check that for you, and log its status on Recargo. If you get in a pinch, I am on Plugshare with a NEMA 14-50, but I am 14 miles NW of the city.

As Robert.Boston points out, the more difficult part will be getting to Pittsburgh without a stop en route. Allstays RV app indicates there are campgrounds along I-76 with 50A plugs, and Recargo shows Nissan dealerships as you get close to Pittsburgh (Greensburg, for example).

 

[DFibRL8R]

Well I took my trip from Leesburg to Pittsburgh this weekend to catch Eric Clapton in concert and the drive was great! Stopped to charge midway on the 230 mile trip since that is beyond the limits of my 60 kWh given the speed and elevation change. All of the state Campgrounds were still closed until next weekend (April 12) including Shawnee where they said they would let me charge for a fee but that I would would have to call ahead to check availability since they only had "a few" 50 amp hookups. I went to a private campground just off the I-70/68 split called Happy Hills Campground in Hancock, MD. They are open year-round and are located right off the C&O canal. I Plugged in to their NEMA 14-50 (they only have one, have dozens of the 30 amp TT-30 RV hookups). The staff declined my offer to pay them for access too. Since they are right next to the C&O canal and a paved bike trail, I spent the 2 hrs of charge time on the trail (gorgeous), stopping for lunch in Hancock. Continued on to Pittsburgh and parked at the David Lawrence Convention center. It is right next to the Westin and an easy walk to the William Penn Hotel where we were staying. There are two J1772 immediately on the right as you enter the garage off 10th street. Chargers are free but you have to pay to park. Also the garage is not always open on the weekends so you have to call and check to see if there is an event at the center in which case it stays open. The charging options in downtown Pittsburgh are very limited given the size of the city. I was nervous because if this charging solution didn't work, there weren't many other good options. Fortunately, only one of the 2 EV spaces was blocked by an ICE (which stayed parked there the whole 24 hours!). Trip home was basically the reverse with another stop at Happy Hills and bike outing. I used 70kWh to get there and 69kWh to get home so the whole trip would easily be done in an 85kWh car even from Baltimore (247miles). I thought the similar energy used was interesting given the elevation changes. Despite the mountainous high speed driving I averaged about 300 watts/mile (mild weather really helped I think too).