Overnight Charging in Charleston, WV?

[RobW2428]

Hey,

I'm looking for a spot to charge near Charleston, WV for a trip from Lexington, VA to Lexington, KY. It's part of a longer trip, but the Lexington to Lexington part is the only stretch without a Supercharger.

I can time it so that Charleston, WV is the time to sleep. Has anyone tried a good overnight hotel with or near a charger?

Thanks in advance,
Rob

 

[MDMGSO47]

Charleston W. Va . appears to be a destination charger wasteland on the various destination charger locator maps. You might want to call the hotel at which you intend to stay to find out if it has an exterior wall plug you can use or locate an RV park. Check Chargepoint.

ChargePoint

 

[kort677]

Hey,

I'm looking for a spot to charge near Charleston, WV for a trip from Lexington, VA to Lexington, KY. It's part of a longer trip, but the Lexington to Lexington part is the only stretch without a Supercharger.

I can time it so that Charleston, WV is the time to sleep. Has anyone tried a good overnight hotel with or near a charger?

Thanks in advance,
Rob

www.plugshare.com would be an aide to planning your trip
also Find Us | Tesla

 

[drklain]

There are a couple of options for you. Looking at Plugshare, the courtyard Marriott by the civic center has 120V outlets. There is a McDonald's at 1626 Washington Street East, Charleston, WV 25301 that has two J1772s. There are also two car dealerships (Buick and Audi) which have J1772s. Lastly, there are some people who have HPWCs on their home and are willing to make them available to drivers needing a charge.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Don't forget that the 120V will be incredibly slow.
Even here in Australia on 240V it's about 6 mph charging, so 120V would be 3mph.
A 10 hour overnight charge would only add 30 miles or so.
You really need at least the J1772.

 

[RobW2428]

Yeah, the McDonalds and the car dealerships are the only things I could find. I guess I was hoping for something that someone knew about that somehow I wasn't listed anywhere. I bumped into a nice fella from Rockville, VA the other night at a Supercharger and he mentioned there were some destination chargers in Charleston, WV but I guess we had a miss-communication. I should have gotten his contact into. Oh well.

Sadly, without something decent in Charleston, the trip from Richmond, VA to Indianapolis, IN has to go north through Pennsylvania which adds on a couple hours. Bummer.

During 2016, the Tesla map had a Supercharger listed as going in around Charleston, but that never happened.

 

[Shock-On-T]

According to PlugShare there are four Tesla owners in Charleston WV who've listed their home chargers, I'm sure if you phoned them someone could let you charge.
You might even get a guest bedroom!
Get the plugshare app (iPad is nicest) and make sure your filter includes home chargers.

 

[drklain]

Looking at EV Trip Planner, if you route from Richmond to Blacksburg and hit the supercharger there for a range charge, you will be at max range getting to the supercharger in Columbus OH after going through Charleston WV. Seems to me this route is doable if you (a) charge overnight at the Courtyard (which will buy you about 30 more miles) and then hit the McDonalds for Breakfast and hit the J1772 for another 30-45 minutes. You'll need to watch your charge and plan accordingly, but I'd consider the route doable and it allows you to avoid running all the way up to Pennsylvania.

 

[RobW2428]

Looking at EV Trip Planner, if you route from Richmond to Blacksburg and hit the supercharger there for a range charge, you will be at max range getting to the supercharger in Columbus OH after going through Charleston WV. Seems to me this route is doable if you (a) charge overnight at the Courtyard (which will buy you about 30 more miles) and then hit the McDonalds for Breakfast and hit the J1772 for another 30-45 minutes. You'll need to watch your charge and plan accordingly, but I'd consider the route doable and it allows you to avoid running all the way up to Pennsylvania.

Thanks for thoughts. Sounds like an "exciting" plan .

Makes me wonder:
1) how much the elevation changes would hurt?
2) whether it'd be possible to sleep near a McDonalds and charge overnight (is that allowed?)
3) whether I'll have another "close call" range issue between now and then, since I haven't had one in my first couple months on ownership

 

[RobW2428]

Just ran across this article in the Charleston Gazette-Mail about Tesla talking with a Charleston Marriott about getting a supercharger. Not 100% gonna happen, but best news in a while:
Tesla discussing electric-car charging station in Charleston