Long Beach, WA

[JeffGo]

I'm going to Long Beach for a few days. I'll be passing through Olympia, I know where to charge there. But it's about 230 miles round trip between Oly and LB, and I'm not seeing any L3 chargers near there, enough to make me a little nervous. My hotel does offer EV charging, so I'm guessing it's L2 and who knows if I can get a spot.

Anyone know of good options there?

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[david_quick]

Do you use PlugShare? It should let you see the hotel changers and their usage rate.

if you are going through Aberdeen there are several L3 sites there. If you go south through Kelsi Longview there is an EA and Tesla SC ( if you have the adapter. Look at your route and adjust it to hit one of these.

 

[JeffGo]

Do you use PlugShare? It should let you see the hotel changers and their usage rate.

if you are going through Aberdeen there are several L3 sites there. If you go south through Kelsi Longview there is an EA and Tesla SC ( if you have the adapter. Look at your route and adjust it to hit one of these.

Not going through either of those points. But thanks for the recommendation to use PlugShare. I had the app but never used it. It looks like there are 11 chargers at the location (Blink) all appear to be L2 (and many in use at the moment but I will be there mid-week).

 

[silverelan]

My family is taking my car to Cape Disappointment pretty soon. It sucks there’s no DCFC in town but with a good charge in Aberdeen, it should be fine.

 

[ChehRob]

We'll be going to Long Beach sometime this fall. I wish people would quit trashing AC charging stations. A 60 amp station (48 available) would take most cars from 20-80% in less than five hours. They are cheap enough to install that a tourist town could have several available. The key to AC charging as a tourist is not waiting to get a charger.

That trashing has been so effective that no towns have tried to do it. If typically most motels, gas stations, convenience stores put in one, two or three (whatever their breaker panel would take) there would be one available. For a small isolated town the capital costs between a dozen AC charging stations and 2-4 DC ones is enormous.

 

[JeffGo]

Follow-up / Trip Report
First things first, traded the '21 Job 1 Premium for a '24 GT last week.

On the way down to Long Beach, we stopped overnight in Olympia. At that point, the car was at 75%. Stopped at the Capitol Village Mall EA chargers (4, all free and working) behind Jo-Ann Fabrics. Plug & Charge did not recognize my car - it's first time on a public charger. I had to swipe a credit card. Talk a short walk through Target, fast charged to 80% and then slower charge (still, not bad) to 85%. 9kWh in 13 minutes. Since this was the first fast charge for this car, I will have to try the local EAs which have always worked for me before to see if there is something wrong with P&C. The Ford Connected Services page says Blue Oval is active.

We made Long Beach with 46%, about 100 miles, much of it on 2 lane roads. Our hotel had 6 AC chargers, at most one other EV chargige. There was another MachE at the hotel, a few Teslas, and a Bolt. As part of the "Resort Fee", you get to use the chargers at no additional cost. Topped off overnight, 46-100%, would have cost at least $25 elsewhere. Second night, topped off again, 87%-100%. That got us home with 31% left.

I also got to play with BC 1.3+ on I-5. On the return trip, my confidence improved and we drove for maybe 30-40 miles with BC in control including entirely through the Tacoma area. My wife was giggling (instead of gripping her arm rest). While I won't pay for a 3 year subscription when my 90 day trial ends, I am likely to buy the monthly pass if we travel. The next anticipated trip might still be in the trial window.

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