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Zion and Bryce Canyon in peak summer season

Discussion in 'Mountain/Southwest' started by willigetit, Feb 7, 2021.

  1. willigetit

    willigetit Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2019
    Messages:
    113
    Location:
    San Diego
    Hello

    We are planning to drive Model 3 LR from Los Angeles to Zion to Bryce . I have looked at the superchargers
    - St. George supercharger
    - Cedar City supercharger

    I am planning to book one of the hotels with Telsa destination chargers . My worry is that it being the peak season (summer time) , either the destination chargers might be IC'ed or there might be too many Tesla's

    Anyone been to Zion and Bryce around June can let me know their charging experience . Should i be worried ?

    Thank you for your time
     
    • Like x 1
  2. tharasix

    tharasix Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2019
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    56
    Location:
    Minneapolis, MN
    I'll be watching this thread too, as I'm planning on going to Bryce in August. I already have a reservation at Ruby's Inn, and I'm hoping to be able to use the chargers there. I'm not seeing too many complaints of ICEing on Plugshare at Ruby's Inn.
     
  3. PLUS EV

    PLUS EV Running on Empty

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2016
    Messages:
    5,767
    Location:
    Seattle
    If you're worried about HPWCs being ICEd, just call ahead on the day of your arrival and ask them to block one of the spots for you. I've had places put a cone in the spot for me to be sure no one ICEs it. Even if they don't have a cone, an employee could park their car there to block the spot (just be sure it's an employee who will be there when you check in!).

    From a practical standpoint, hotel parking lots are typically quite empty during the afternoon, so if you arrive then, you should be fine. It's the late night arrivals that you have to worry about.
     
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  4. Barry

    Barry Active Member

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    I stayed at Zion Lodge several years ago. The L2 chargers were a good distance away in a large lot, so unlikely to be ICEd
     
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  5. smartypnz

    smartypnz Supporting Member

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    Monterey Peninsula
    Most hotels I have used will ask the ICE to relocate. (Based on Lic plate ID)
     
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  6. gsteele

    gsteele Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2016
    Messages:
    82
    Location:
    California
    We stayed at the Bryce Canyon Inn in Tropic, and we were there the week before the 4th of July last year (2020). There were two Teslas the first night but only one the second. As usual, I left my cell phone number on my dash in case a third showed up late at night.
     
    • Informative x 1
  7. bxr140

    bxr140 Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2014
    Messages:
    2,607
    Location:
    Bay Area
    TLDR, no.

    Few thoughts:
    --Don't limit yourself to Tesla charging solutions. You can certainly base your primary plan on superchargers and HPWCs, but there are plenty of L2 options as well as backups. If you're staying in Springdale, for instance, your hotel might have an in-use HPWC but a hotel down the street might have an open L2.
    --Form an anxiety perspective its not a bad idea to big-charge at superchargers, even if that means you're only hotel charging for a few hours...like, if you're staying in Springdale, its still a good idea to 95% charge in St George on the way in. That way you know that if you can't get a charge at a hotel that night you'll still be good to get to Bryce the next day and then hopefully you can get a hotel charge when you get back (if that's your itinerary), and you'll certainly have enough to bail out to Cedar City.
    --RV parks are a plentiful worst case solution, so even if you end up wasting a few hours to get enough to limp to a supercharger or hotel charge, its not like you're going to be totally up the creek.
    --A few years ago we did a heat-of-August leg in our M3 that started with a near full charge at the *sugar*-show Beaver Supercharger-->Over to 89 down to the Zion East entrance-->Hotel in Virgin that night (Without charging)-->Back to Zion the next day (including a drive up through the tunnel and back)-->Back to St George supercharger (the dumb one on the other side of town, before they opened the new one on I-15). Googs says that was the better part of 240-250 miles and at no point was I worried that I wasn't going to make it. Don't recall the final RM usage.
     
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  8. Matsayz

    Matsayz Active Member

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    1,059
    Location:
    Las Vegas
    So I was just out at the Zion area this weekend. We stayed at an Airbnb in La Verkin that only had a 120v and we had some long days so that didn’t help much. There are some Tesla Wall Connectors (HPWC) in La Verkin though, I used one at the Best Western (3 of them there) for free, 10kW.

    When we went towards Zion we stopped and walked Springdale prior so I parked at another Best Western and used their J1772 (2 of those) also free, pulled about 7kW for a bit.

    In Zion at the Visitor Center there’s two J1772, free as well. There was an X and a jackass Mercedes EV/hybrid something another that was just using it to park. I asked if the dude was going to charge and he just waved at me... we saw him later just walking the trails, like I said, jackass.

    All in all, get as much juice as you can at St. George’s V2 SuperChargers then head into Zion area. The Supercharger site has 8 or 10 V2’s then two Urban Chargers on the other side of the dumpster. There’s also the Urban Chargers near the convention center in St George but there was on 4 of those I think and a few cars lined up... it’s closer to the highway but less power, just check the screen for vacancies

    Highly recommend the PlugShare app and bring your 120v adapter along with your J1772 adapter. Have fun!
     
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  9. dgpcolorado

    dgpcolorado high altitude member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2015
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    2,475
    Location:
    The Western Slope, Colorado
    #9 dgpcolorado, Mar 4, 2021 at 6:55 PM
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2021 at 7:04 PM
    Those willing to camp can snag one of 95 campsites with RV pedestals in the Watchman Campground, adjacent to the Visitors Center and shuttle bus station parking area. (Watchman Campground, Zion National Park - Recreation.gov) Requires a TT-30 adapter (available from EVSEadapters.com). TT-30 is a bit slow, 120 volts x 24 amps = 2.88 kW, but that's twice as fast as a standard wall plug and it will give a decent charge overnight.

    Plug your car in at your campsite then walk to the shuttle bus station to explore the park. Shuttle buses run from March 13th until Fall; private cars are not allowed in Zion Canyon when shuttle buses are in service.

    Model S at campsite Zion NP1683sf 6-10-16.jpg
    ^ Charging on TT-30 at Watchman Campground in Zion NP.

    Panorama of Canyon walls Zion NP1702-04sf 6-10-16.JPG
    ^ View of Zion Canyon.
     
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