First Long-ish Road Trip ... to the Charging Desert of West Virginia

dracisk

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My husband and I planned a 330-mile trip from Maryland (just outside DC) to a cabin in West Virginia long before we bought our MME or even thought about going electric. When we left on the trip we'd owned the car for about 3 weeks. I'm usually the ultimate planner, but I had too much going on before we left to plan every detail of the trip and figured we'd be fine even though EV charging stations (even slow ones) in West Virginia are few and far between, at least compared to where we live.

We WERE fine, but we ended up spending a lot of mental energy on our short vacation thinking about how we were going to charge our car (and looking longingly at gas stations). Luckily I knew about A Better Route Planner (ABRP) from this forum, so we used it to plan our trip. I'd also discovered PlugShare. ABRP had us stop at a fast charger in Frostburg, MD, which was great. We could have charged to 100% there, but we didn't charge quite that much because our next "fast charger" (and the only one anywhere near where we were staying) was 90 miles away in Bridgeport, WV.

When we arrived at the "fast charger" in West Virginia and plugged in, my husband immediately said, "This isn't a fast charger." We were only getting 24 kW of charge and the charger said it was going to take 2.5 hours to charge to 100%. We had already been on the road for 6 hours (including charging and other stops). This was discouraging to say the least, especially since there were only two chargers near our ultimate destination (within 15-20 miles) and they were both Level 2 chargers.

The name of this stop in ABRP was "Almost Heven DC Fast Charger" (now changed to "Almost Heven DC Fast Hog"). With my inexperience I didn't look into the details (or reviews) and assumed this was a fast charger like others we'd used near our house and in Frostburg (i.e., FAST). Sadly, I was wrong. We stuck around for a couple of hours and ended up getting to about 90% charge ... then we had to drive another 100 miles.

When we arrived in the town of Summersville, about 15 miles from our ultimate destination, we stopped at a Chevy dealership with a Level 2 charger just to get the lay of the land. When we plugged in we got the red ring on the charge port indicator. We then had a freak-out about our ability to use J1772 plugs, which was thankfully quickly resolved by the forum. I still don't know why we got the red ring; we didn't stick around to investigate.

We drove the rest of the way to our cabin hoping that we'd be able to plug into a 240-volt outlet there. Alas, no. So at 9pm we plugged the car into a 110-volt outlet that gave us about 3 miles of charge per hour. 🙃 It's been a couple of weeks now, but I think when we left the cabin late the next morning we had about 120 miles of charge.

We knew there was a state park (Hawk's Nest in Ansted) about 24 miles away that had a Level 2 charger, so we headed there. We were happy to visit Hawk's Nest, but I'd be lying if I didn't say we mainly went for the charger. We spent a couple of hours there (with plenty to do and see, thankfully) and gained 56 miles. Of course we used almost half of what we added getting back to our cabin.

We plugged in at the cabin again and gained another 16 miles before my husband woke up at 2am and decided to go back to the Chevy dealership where we'd encountered the red ring. Luckily the charger worked this time and no one else was using it. He charged for several hours while dozing in the car and gained another 63 miles.

At some point that morning I realized there was a hotel within walking distance of the Chevy dealership and, even though we'd already paid for our cabin, we could book a night there to fully charge the car for our trip home. The hotel had one pet-friendly room left. (We had our dog with us but thankfully not our 8-year-old daughter.) We booked it. After that, we could fully relax for the first time on the trip.

We enjoyed our last day in West Virginia and checked into the hotel around 5pm. We got dinner then plugged the car in at the Chevy dealership (thankfully once again it worked and no one else was using it), where we charged -- for free -- for 7 glorious hours. We gleefully watched the battery charge on the Ford app until we went to bed. Once the car was fully charged my husband unplugged and brought the car back to the hotel.

At some point we'd learned that all West Virginia state parks with lodges have EV chargers, so the next day as we drove home we stopped at a state park on our route (Stonewall Resort in Roanoke), charged for several hours, and added 63 miles. This enabled us to skip the "fast charger" in Bridgeport (where there was little to nothing to do), FAST charge again in Frostburg, MD, and head home.

We learned A LOT about our car and charging on this trip. We also booked a stay at Stonewall Resort for this fall.
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Mikeg

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great story of resilience and adaptation. Where there is a will...there shall be a way!
it sounds weird but very exciting reading stories like this. And yes, it has happened to all of us even thought we don't like to admit it.
 

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My husband and I planned a 330-mile trip from Maryland (just outside DC) to a cabin in West Virginia long before we bought our MME or even thought about going electric. When we left on the trip we'd owned the car for about 3 weeks. I'm usually the ultimate planner, but I had too much going on before we left to plan every detail of the trip and figured we'd be fine even though EV charging stations (even slow ones) in West Virginia are few and far between, at least compared to where we live.

We WERE fine, but we ended up spending a lot of mental energy on our short vacation thinking about how we were going to charge our car (and looking longingly at gas stations). Luckily I knew about A Better Route Planner (ABRP) from this forum, so we used it to plan our trip. I'd also discovered PlugShare. ABRP had us stop at a fast charger in Frostburg, MD, which was great. We could have charged to 100% there, but we didn't charge quite that much because our next "fast charger" (and the only one anywhere near where we were staying) was 90 miles away in Bridgeport, WV.

When we arrived at the "fast charger" in West Virginia and plugged in, my husband immediately said, "This isn't a fast charger." We were only getting 24 kW of charge and the charger said it was going to take 2.5 hours to charge to 100%. We had already been on the road for 6 hours (including charging and other stops). This was discouraging to say the least, especially since there were only two chargers near our ultimate destination (within 15-20 miles) and they were both Level 2 chargers.

The name of this stop in ABRP was "Almost Heven DC Fast Charger" (now changed to "Almost Heven DC Fast Hog"). With my inexperience I didn't look into the details (or reviews) and assumed this was a fast charger like others we'd used near our house and in Frostburg (i.e., FAST). Sadly, I was wrong. We stuck around for a couple of hours and ended up getting to about 90% charge ... then we had to drive another 100 miles.

When we arrived in the town of Summersville, about 15 miles from our ultimate destination, we stopped at a Chevy dealership with a Level 2 charger just to get the lay of the land. When we plugged in we got the red ring on the charge port indicator. We then had a freak-out about our ability to use J1772 plugs, which was thankfully quickly resolved by the forum. I still don't know why we got the red ring; we didn't stick around to investigate.

We drove the rest of the way to our cabin hoping that we'd be able to plug into a 240-volt outlet there. Alas, no. So at 9pm we plugged the car into a 110-volt outlet that gave us about 3 miles of charge per hour. 🙃 It's been a couple of weeks now, but I think when we left the cabin late the next morning we had about 120 miles of charge.

We knew there was a state park (Hawk's Nest in Ansted) about 24 miles away that had a Level 2 charger, so we headed there. We were happy to visit Hawk's Nest, but I'd be lying if I didn't say we mainly went for the charger. We spent a couple of hours there (with plenty to do and see, thankfully) and gained 56 miles. Of course we used almost half of what we added getting back to our cabin.

We plugged in at the cabin again and gained another 16 miles before my husband woke up at 2am and decided to go back to the Chevy dealership where we'd encountered the red ring. Luckily the charger worked this time and no one else was using it. He charged for several hours while dozing in the car and gained another 63 miles.

At some point that morning I realized there was a hotel within walking distance of the Chevy dealership and, even though we'd already paid for our cabin, we could book a night there to fully charge the car for our trip home. The hotel had one pet-friendly room left. (We had our dog with us but thankfully not our 8-year-old daughter.) We booked it. After that, we could fully relax for the first time on the trip.

We enjoyed our last day in West Virginia and checked into the hotel around 5pm. We got dinner then plugged the car in at the Chevy dealership (thankfully once again it worked and no one else was using it), where we charged -- for free -- for 7 glorious hours. We gleefully watched the battery charge on the Ford app until we went to bed. Once the car was fully charged my husband unplugged and brought the car back to the hotel.

At some point we'd learned that all West Virginia state parks with lodges have EV chargers, so the next day as we drove home we stopped at a state park on our route (Stonewall Resort in Roanoke), charged for several hours, and added 63 miles. This enabled us to skip the "fast charger" in Bridgeport (where there was little to nothing to do), FAST charge again in Frostburg, MD, and head home.

We learned A LOT about our car and charging on this trip. We also booked a stay at Stonewall Resort for this fall.
Traveling is always an adventure and that’s what makes it exciting.
 

Parasmoney

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Wow...I like reading these types of stories but every time I read them I find my self asking if I want to revolve my road trip around charging the car... Lol it seems like finding a charging point is the main point of these stories vs peacefully enjoying your time on the road.
 


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Oof, that sounds rough. I'm familiar with the area and have plotted routes through WV and KY several times. That DCFC at the Frostburg library is handy.
 
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dracisk

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Wow...I like reading these types of stories but every time I read them I find my self asking if I want to revolve my road trip around charging the car... Lol it seems like finding a charging point is the main point of these stories vs peacefully enjoying your time on the road.
This trip definitely felt like it revolved around charging the car, which was unfortunate. We would have planned differently if we'd planned the trip AFTER we bought the MME. (We maybe even would have chosen a destination other than West Virginia.) We certainly wouldn't have chosen to stay at a cabin the woods 15 miles from the nearest (Level 2) charger. If we'd stayed at a lodge at a state park (which all have Level 2 chargers) our lives would have been a lot easier. Also, part of the reason we bought the car was (of course) to save on gas, but then we ended up spending some of our savings on a hotel so we could charge the car.

That DCFC at the Frostburg library is handy.
That thing was a lifesaver!!
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