No More Road Trips

[music_cities]

After 3.5 years of ownership I’ve finally tossed in the towel with lengthy road trips. The poor mileage under freeway conditions, unpredictable charging infrastructure, wait lines for charging, and the Walmart parking lot ambiance makes for a longer and unpleasant experience. My wife has been putting up with this up to now, but has finally put her foot down. Not doing it ever again.

This is for trips 300 miles or more. Great car for around town and shorter trips.

Your profile shows you as in Oregon? We did a road trip through Oregon, across the Gorge, down South on the Oregon Coast, and, after some time in Northern California, back up through Bend. No problems, but I did spend a lot of time picking a hotel in Portland next to a parking lot with L2 charging, and we did a long walk deliberately in Newport OR while waiting to charge. Oh, also in Newport, we had to go on a waiting list to get into a popular restaurant, so we charged while waiting. Klamath Falls we couldn't get into a hotel with an overnight L2 so we charged eating dinner, and so needed a quick boost in Chemult the next day because we didn't get to 100%

Oregon L3 chargers at:
* Tesla Hood River (beautiful brewery, and beautiful walk by the river)
* Newport EVCS (dinner, walk through bayfront touristy area)
* Newport Tesla (waiting on a restaurant waiting list)
* North Bend Safeway EA (no productive use of time just talked to Ford about PlugNCharge)
* Klamath Falls downtown near the Mexican restaurant (dinner)
* Chemult Tesla (oops ran into snow and needed a little bump)
* Bend Downtown Chargepoint (great lunch restaurant)

Level 2 Oregon chargers in Portland (overnight) Astoria (lunch), Tillamook (dinner), The Dallas (overnight).

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[load97]

After 3.5 years of ownership I’ve finally tossed in the towel with lengthy road trips. The poor mileage under freeway conditions, unpredictable charging infrastructure, wait lines for charging, and the Walmart parking lot ambiance makes for a longer and unpleasant experience. My wife has been putting up with this up to now, but has finally put her foot down. Not doing it ever again.

This is for trips 300 miles or more. Great car for around town and shorter trips.

Can’t say I blame you. Really depends on a person location & if you have a Nacs adapter. Late this summer I was going to go about 180 miles each way to see a friend for a weekend. Decided against it as I didn’t feel like taking my V8 sports car & with figuring chargers in to a rural area with the Mache, it was gonna be a bit more of a pain then I wanted to deal with. This was with me having a nac’s adapter even.

 

[McQueen]

It's only going to get worse, as the new administration is talking about pulling funding for increasing charging infrastructure. Really a shame.

We get the government we deserve; at least 49% of us. Got Polio?

 

[snowdoggie]

Isnt costco also adding chargers now? they have 3 stores in CA slated to have chargers installed. I wonder if you need a costco app or if they going to partner with EA

 

[dbsb3233]

Isnt costco also adding chargers now? they have 3 stores in CA slated to have chargers installed. I wonder if you need a costco app or if they going to partner with EA

EA has put a handful of new stations in Costco lots, but I don't think that means they're going into all or most Costcos. It's just like how EA locates some in Walmart lots, Target lots, and Sam's Club lots.

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/releases/260

 

[Sikkun]

Can’t say I blame you. Really depends on a person location & if you have a Nacs adapter. Late this summer I was going to go about 180 miles each way to see a friend for a weekend. Decided against it as I didn’t feel like taking my V8 sports car & with figuring chargers in to a rural area with the Mache, it was gonna be a bit more of a pain then I wanted to deal with. This was with me having a nac’s adapter even.

Figuring out 1 charge and or taking the other vehicles you have was too much of a hassle?

Guess that’s one way to tell your friend you don’t want to see them.

 

[Sikkun]

It was more than one charge needed buckaroo. I was coming to visit you, so you can see why it wasn’t worth the 93 octane gas or multiple charge stops ?

Buckaroo I would rather have friends who can get their 250+ range battery go 360 miles without multiple charge stops.

 

[DoubleDribble]

This might be a problem unique to people who live in Oregon. The rest of the United States doesn't feel the urgent need to leave their present surroundings. Maybe. Just sayin'.

 

[RickMachE]

EA has put a handful of new stations in Costco lots, but I don't think that means they're going into all or most Costcos. It's just like how EA locates some in Walmart lots, Target lots, and Sam's Club lots.

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/releases/260

This is different. The chargers are co-branded. And Costoc is doing more, working with a Seattle company at one store. They will be doing about 20 stores over a period they didn't disclose.

 

[dbsb3233]

This is different. The chargers are co-branded. And Costoc is doing more, working with a Seattle company at one store. They will be doing about 20 stores over a period they didn't disclose.

I saw that Costco actually purchased the chargers, making it a little different on the back end. But I really meant in terms of how many locations they'll be putting them in at.

Some people hear "Wow, Costco is adding chargers!" and automatically think that means *all* Costcos will be getting them. AFAIK, it's just gonna be *some* Costcos, like there's some Walmarts and some Sams and some Targets that have them. And some Kroger/Smiths stores, etc. I think we're still just gonna have to navigate for EA locations, regardless of what the host parking lot is.

 

[RickMachE]

I saw that Costco actually purchased the chargers, making it a little different on the back end. But I really meant in terms of how many locations they'll be putting them in at.

Some people hear "Wow, Costco is adding chargers!" and automatically think that means *all* Costcos will be getting them. AFAIK, it's just gonna be *some* Costcos, like there's some Walmarts and some Sams and some Targets that have them. And some Kroger/Smiths stores, etc. I think we're still just gonna have to navigate for EA locations, regardless of what the host parking lot is.

Yeah, it's hard to tell without reading all the stuff.

For example, many existing (2023 and prior) EAs are at Walmart, Sam's, Kroger/Smith, Target. To my knowledge, all of those installations are EA installations, where they simply are leasing the space.

Walmart announced in April 2023 they'd be adding chargers at thousands of Walmart and Sam's locations. They want to do this because they have a growing EV fleet (supposedly they'll have chargers in the back for their use). They did NOT specify what brand they would be installing, it's driven by them, not by a charger manufacturer like EA. https://corporate.walmart.com/news/...n-to-expand-electric-vehicle-charging-network

 

[dbsb3233]

Yeah, it's hard to tell without reading all the stuff.

For example, many existing (2023 and prior) EAs are at Walmart, Sam's, Kroger/Smith, Target. To my knowledge, all of those installations are EA installations, where they simply are leasing the space.

Walmart announced in April 2023 they'd be adding chargers at thousands of Walmart and Sam's locations. They want to do this because they have a growing EV fleet (supposedly they'll have chargers in the back for their use). They did NOT specify what brand they would be installing, it's driven by them, not by a charger manufacturer like EA. https://corporate.walmart.com/news/...n-to-expand-electric-vehicle-charging-network

Yeah, it's been a year and a half since that announcement and not a peep since. That I've seen, anyway. Although it does say "by 2030" so sounded quite a ways off to begin with.

At least that one does explicitly say "thousands of locations across the country", so their plan is a mass rollout. I didn't get that impression from Costco. But anything can change years down the road, I suppose.

 

[RickMachE]

Yeah, it's been a year and a half since that announcement and not a peep since. That I've seen, anyway. Although it does say "by 2030" so sounded quite a ways off to begin with.

At least that one does explicitly say "thousands of locations across the country", so their plan is a mass rollout. I didn't get that impression from Costco. But anything can change years down the road, I suppose.

Costco, like Sam's, isn't looking for people to come in that aren't members. Costco now makes you scan your badge at the entrance. Can you get in the exit to go to the bathroom? Yes. Are you allowed to buy certain items in certain states without being a member? Yes - pharmacy and alcohol are two.

That's different from Walmart, Target, Kroger/Smith's where yes I may use the bathroom, but I may also grab some food, etc.

 

[dbsb3233]

Costco, like Sam's, isn't looking for people to come in that aren't members. Costco now makes you scan your badge at the entrance. Can you get in the exit to go to the bathroom? Yes. Are you allowed to buy certain items in certain states without being a member? Yes - pharmacy and alcohol are two.

That's different from Walmart, Target, Kroger/Smith's where yes I may use the bathroom, but I may also grab some food, etc.

And usually shorter hours than a Walmart, Target, or grocery store. Like I said the other day, membership warehouses aren't ideal hosts.

But we're still in the "we'll take whatever DCFC we can get" stage, I suppose.

 

[RandyMache]

It's only going to get worse, as the new administration is talking about pulling funding for increasing charging infrastructure. Really a shame.

Pulling funding? The Biden administration had billions for it, then never did anything with it. It won't get any better with the new administration, but damn, I don't think it was any better before.....

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