Solar EV charger in camping area.

[ykzandwyz]

Right now the charging station net is far away from established, maybe travel from city to city would be nice and easy, but for family trips, adventures to the rural area, all EVs are not in consideration. Especially when camping, which lots of people love to do, needs to carry gears, maybe even travel trailers, that makes it even harder to choose EVs.

Think about that, you newly purchased model s may have 390 miles of range, and there is a campsite that is about 150miles away from the nearest any kind of public charging station, consider the weight of all 4 family members and camping gears. foods and water, you might barely make it. What people gonna do is 1, go somewhere else, 2, go with a gas car, neither of this two are efficient, you weather can't go somewhere you wanted to, or spend more money to rent a car.

I am thinking of a solution, don't know if it is gonna work, putting a solar panel array at popular travel destinations, having people to access them when driving an EV. Maybe you battery was empty upon arrival, however after a two day of camping + charging, you may get enough juice to get back to the charging station.

Please comment and let me know what you think of this.

 

[ChadS]

We don't travel to cities...all of our vacations are at National Parks and such. We've driven EVs for these trips for 10 years now. We haven't had much trouble, but it is a good idea - there are indeed a few places where such a solution would be helpful.

It's not a new idea...9 or 10 years ago I displayed my Tesla at an auto show near a self-contained solar-powered charging station with storage.

In fact, just a couple of days ago my wife and I charged at one at a remote park (we saw one other person while hiking there):

 

[ykzandwyz]

We don't travel to cities...all of our vacations are at National Parks and such. We've driven EVs for these trips for 10 years now. We haven't had much trouble, but it is a good idea - there are indeed a few places where such a solution would be helpful.

It's not a new idea...9 or 10 years ago I displayed my Tesla at an auto show near a self-contained solar-powered charging station with storage.

In fact, just a couple of days ago my wife and I charged at one at a remote park (we saw one other person while hiking there):
View attachment 526247

Thanks for the info, can you share a little more about the self contained EV charging station you know, because none showed up during my research. Travel to places wouldn't be a problem for most of EV owners nowadays. However, for family camping trip (with all heavy gears) and towing a travel trailer, the places can go are still limited( I have traveled with a small airstream with my X 90D, and the range are roughly around 120miles, that limit my destination to 50 miles to the charging station). If much more place can have this kind of station, people will start to travel with their EV, which is much quieter, cleaner for the National Parks.

But I'm glad people are putting this kind somewhere, or I wanna figure out to do it myself.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

You will certainly have solar charging options at destinations like this in the near future. Panels are already dirt cheap and thin film will get lighter every year.

I imagine they'll be available where you park and you can set up a canopy to cover your vehicle and charge.

 

[ChadS]

I can't find the Oregon company that I had been familiar with...they may well be out of business. But HERE is a link to a nearly identical product...the one in the photo above.

I agree this is more likely to be helpful for those that tow.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

We don't travel to cities...all of our vacations are at National Parks and such. We've driven EVs for these trips for 10 years now. We haven't had much trouble, but it is a good idea - there are indeed a few places where such a solution would be helpful.

It's not a new idea...9 or 10 years ago I displayed my Tesla at an auto show near a self-contained solar-powered charging station with storage.

In fact, just a couple of days ago my wife and I charged at one at a remote park (we saw one other person while hiking there):
View attachment 526247

Cool. Where was that.

 

[ChadS]

It is at the Trees of Stone Interpretive Trailhead at Gingko Petrified Forest State Park in Washington.

 

[dhrivnak]

We don't travel to cities...all of our vacations are at National Parks and such. We've driven EVs for these trips for 10 years now. We haven't had much trouble, but it is a good idea - there are indeed a few places where such a solution would be helpful.

It's not a new idea...9 or 10 years ago I displayed my Tesla at an auto show near a self-contained solar-powered charging station with storage.

In fact, just a couple of days ago my wife and I charged at one at a remote park (we saw one other person while hiking there):
View attachment 526247

Not very workable as it is big, heavy and in many places will not work well. That said I use our Chevy Volt for camping as National Parks, Forest Service parks and evening some state parks have no electricity.

 

[SageBrush]

I thought that by definition camping implies dispersal. Trying to place charging at the camping site is a massive waste of money.
Placing a few fast chargers (or destination chargers at overnight places) at or near key entry points to parks makes a lot more sense.

 

[miimura]

In fact, just a couple of days ago my wife and I charged at one at a remote park (we saw one other person while hiking there):

The pictured station looks like the Envision EV-ARC.

EV ARC™ - Envision Solar

 

[ykzandwyz]

I thought that by definition camping implies dispersal. Trying to place charging at the camping site is a massive waste of money.
Placing a few fast chargers (or destination chargers at overnight places) at or near key entry points to parks makes a lot more sense.

Or maybe a ultra portable, easy to setup solar system that can put into the trunk. So people can carry it everywhere.

 

[mspohr]

Many camping areas have electricity hookups for RVs.
Electricity infrastructure is widely dispersed.
Or, get a Cybertruck with solar