Zion National Park to Install Charging Stations!

[Owner]

I was poking around the Zion website as I'm thinking of going there in a couple of days at the end of my cross-country and back trip. I found this great news release:

Zion and Pipe Spring are partnering with Utah Clean Cities Coalition (UCCC) to replace three petroleum-powered fleet vehicles with two plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and one all-electric vehicle. Ten electric vehicle charging stations will be installed, five of which will be available for public use. The public charging stations will be located at the National Park Service Visitor Centers in Zion Canyon, Kolob Canyons, and Pipe Spring. The vehicles will be purchased this fiscal year and construction on the charging stations could start as early as this fall.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/parknews/afuelgrantzionpisp.htm

Hopefully we will see sufficient charging stations in all the National Parks soon. Even just for topping off.

 

[KJD]

That is very good news. It would be great if all the national parks started doing this. That park gets a lot of visitors every year.

I wonder if Tesla would be interested in donating a couple of HPWC for a project like that ?

 

[Bugeater]

At Grand Canyon they let EVs charge in Trailer Village for free on standard 50 amp RV outlets! Just a very short walk to the back of some of the cabins. A year ago now they were really happy to see an electric car there...

 

[bsbomber]

This is awesome news!! We love Zion. We also charged at Trailer village at the south rim of the Grand Canyon two months ago. We are very excited to get charging at National Parks!!!

 

[ecarfan]

That is good news but the press release offers no details on the type of charging being offered.

 

[Cottonwood]

That is good news but the press release offers no details on the type of charging being offered.

My guess is the typical 30 Amp J plug. If you plan a day of using the park shuttle bus, hiking, etc, even 30 Amp charging will be very helpful.

 

[Owner]

I agree. In well used parks like Zion and Yosemite with shuttle services, even slower chargers are going to be great.

My guess is the typical 30 Amp J plug. If you plan a day of using the park shuttle bus, hiking, etc, even 30 Amp charging will be very helpful.

 

[ecarfan]

My guess is the typical 30 Amp J plug. If you plan a day of using the park shuttle bus, hiking, etc, even 30 Amp charging will be very helpful.

Agreed a J1722 would be very useful. It would be even better if Tesla would donate five HPWCs to the park and have those in addition to the J1722s.

 

[Kipernicus]

I predict that the 5 J's will be taken up by Volts and PiPs while Teslas will just use the St George supercharger 40 miles away.

Sorry for the cynicism, but I've seen too many public chargers inaccessible when I need it.

 

[Darmok]

Kolob Canyon would be great for those headed to Duck Creek or Brian Head from Las Vegas, maybe for a bit of a top off before heading up the steep hills.

 

[SFOTurtle]

When will Yosemite follow suit and install some additional, much needed charging stations?

 

[Robert.Boston]

When will Yosemite follow suit and install some additional, much needed charging stations?

Perhaps when enough people write to the park administrator making the case.

 

[Bugeater]

I was there a year ago in my MS and told any and all staff how helpful it would be to have charging stations.

 

[SFOTurtle]

Perhaps when enough people write to the park administrator making the case.

Lots of us have written, including the entity contracted to oversee and manage of all of the infrastructure. Nothing seems to get done in Yosemite unless it is years and years in the making.

 

[donnac]

The Zion Lodge has just installed two Level 2 Clipper Creek Dual CS 40 systems. I am writing an article on this and the progress on other planned charging stations in the parks for the National Parks Traveler blog. If having charging stations in the parks affects your travel plans and you're interested in sharing your thoughts in the article, please feel free to send me a private message.

Thanks!

 

[KJD]

I was poking around the Zion website as I'm thinking of going there in a couple of days at the end of my cross-country and back trip. I found this great news release:

Zion and Pipe Spring are partnering with Utah Clean Cities Coalition (UCCC) to replace three petroleum-powered fleet vehicles with two plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and one all-electric vehicle. Ten electric vehicle charging stations will be installed, five of which will be available for public use. The public charging stations will be located at the National Park Service Visitor Centers in Zion Canyon, Kolob Canyons, and Pipe Spring. The vehicles will be purchased this fiscal year and construction on the charging stations could start as early as this fall.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/parknews/afuelgrantzionpisp.htm

Hopefully we will see sufficient charging stations in all the National Parks soon. Even just for topping off.

Does anyone know if these charge stations got installed or not ?

 

[ecarfan]

A Google search gave answers in a few seconds. See:

Electric Vehicle Charging Station at Zion National Park Lodge

Yes there are two Clipper Creek CS400 stations at Zion Park Lodge. My understanding is that only lodge guests can enter the park at the main entrance and park at the lodge. Others have to use the park shuttle bus system. So those two stations are not open to everyone.

 

[nwdiver]

This is certainly one area where public policy is DEEPLY lacking... we get credited $7500 to buy an EV but they can't find a fraction of that to install a few 50 amp plugs in parking areas at national parks?

 

[Twiglett]

I predict that the 5 J's will be taken up by Volts and PiPs while Teslas will just use the St George supercharger 40 miles away.

Sorry for the cynicism, but I've seen too many public chargers inaccessible when I need it.

or without proper signage, the 5 EVSE's will much more likely be taken up by minivans, pickups or <insert ICE brand here>

 

[nwdiver]

or without proper signage, the 5 EVSE's will much more likely be taken up by minivans, pickups or <insert ICE brand here>

Maybe it can be a new source of revenue for the park service :biggrin:

http://insideevs.com/one-charging-spot-generated-27000-fines-ice-drivers/