Reliable charging / almost stranded

[chuckles]

FWIW the east side of that map looks like California (even the Bay Area) 15 years ago. PlugShare is named because residents would share an accessible plug (like in their garage or front yard) with random EV visitors. The tradition was to trade a bottle of wine for a charging session.

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[valeriol]

Maine, north of Portland, is a notorious EV desert. A friend of mine that was going there made sure that he could plug in the mobile charger at his destination and left the car plugged in most of the time (they didn't use the car much once there).

 

[MellowJohnny]

If you are fan of the Out of Spec Youtube channel you'll know they love road tripping "Out of Spec style" by arriving at DCFC locations with 1% or 2% SoC.

This is an exceedingly poor idea (in my opinion) if you don't run a YouTube channel and are just a regular EV driver who prefers sanity over hitting peak charging curves.

Others have said it, but trying to have a bit of buffer if you think you may need it seems like a good plan.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

OP, Never say Never!!! I for one, hope you do another trip with your Mach E; if noting else to just get the "bad taste" out. Good Luck, yes ABRP & Plug Share are mandatory for All Ev's......Maybe except Tesla. Their en-route planner appears very good.

 

[BreatheEasy]

I also noticed that there's some kind of line on the map? Seems to have some significance. There are a lot of chargers north and west of the line and fewer on the south and east side of the line... until you get to another line that runs north-south. I feel like we should make friends with the people who have such a wealth of infrastructure.

Yes, the province of Quebec has great EV charging infrastructure. I once encountered a station there with close to 30 chargers of various types!

New Brunswick has a decent offering of public chargers, as well, although not as plentiful as Quebec. Things are definitely spotty in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

 

[MacherAWD]

I went to PlugShare, curious about the infrastructure in Maine. Let me say @Aeon , you picked a tough trip. Holy cow. And I thought I was going into a charging desert. You, my friend, are Lawrence of Arabia.

I also noticed that there's some kind of line on the map? Seems to have some significance. There are a lot of chargers north and west of the line and fewer on the south and east side of the line... until you get to another line that runs north-south. I feel like we should make friends with the people who have such a wealth of infrastructure.

Just to clarify, most of that area of maine has no Towns, no paved roads, there are swaths of land that just have numbers - Section AB48..... The 1m people who live in maine are all bundled within 40miles of the coast. We go to Quebec regularly, that route is great, and would also go up the coast, or up 95 to Bar Harbor. Outside of that we are leaving the Mach-e with my sister and taking her Wrangler.

 

[Aeon]

I went to PlugShare, curious about the infrastructure in Maine. Let me say @Aeon , you picked a tough trip. Holy cow. And I thought I was going into a charging desert. You, my friend, are Lawrence of Arabia.

I also noticed that there's some kind of line on the map? Seems to have some significance. There are a lot of chargers north and west of the line and fewer on the south and east side of the line... until you get to another line that runs north-south. I feel like we should make friends with the people who have such a wealth of infrastructure.

I just burst out laughing

I knew where we were going was rural, but the contrast in that picture is hilarious!

 

[SPatil]

Currently on a trip in rural Maine. Prior to the trip, I planned out a route with chargers from the FordPass app as well as several back up chargers as I knew we would be out in the mountains. As we got closer to our Airbnb, we drove to a charger listed in the FordPass app, when we got there - out of service. No big deal, we’ll drive to the backup chargers I picked out. So we drove another 30 or so miles to a station listed on the Tesla app that ‘accepted converters,’ though when we got there, wasn’t compatible.

At this point, I start to get nervous because I have a car full of people and a battery that’s about to die and leave us stranded in the cold. I ended up dropping everyone off at the Airbnb and driving to the nearest charging station (with 2 mi of charge to spare) to sit for several hours as it was only 6kW, missing almost the entire night of festivities.

[Before you ask, rideshare services don’t exist out here, so I couldn’t leave my car at the charger and uber/lyft back. Additionally, the closest taxi service wanted +$100 for a 7 mile ride, again not an option.]

To have this near catastrophe situation be a learning experience - what would you have done differently? Has this happened to anyone on road trips before? And, more importantly, does anyone have a way to find reliable chargers?

I have also found Ford pass app charger suggestions not to be reliable. I'm especially leery of chargers that are outside of Ford dealers. The dealership staff I've run into are not curious about chargers that may be outside their door. They may not be aware if they are working or not. They may not know how to operate the chargers.

I use ABetterRoutePlanner to plan my route. But if I export to Google Maps, Google Maps often inserts their own choice of a charger. Google Maps underestimates my range. I find myself following Google navigation to a charger too soon. It gets so confusing.

 

[Steph]

Thanks for your input everyone - I appreciate it!

It does seem a bit annoying / frustrating to have to cycle through several different apps (ABRP, Plugshare, Tesla, etc.) simply to drive your car. It’s a shame there isn’t an easier way to do this by now. I definitely regret taking this over a friends non-electric car (which is also a bummer because I love my MME). I probably won’t ever take this on a road trip to more rural areas ever again, doesn’t feel worth the anxiety.

Occasionally I have found a hotel with EV charging (that isn’t substantially higher priced than one without), or a charger near it on I can walk to. The overnight charge to 100% is crucial for a road trip when you can only reasonably charge to 80% on fast charging. It can also be very expensive to DC charge which makes it all the more painful.
Further to chuckles’ comment, there is a filter on Plugshare to show private homes which may prove valuable in case of emergency.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

When I roadtrip (which admittedly isn't all that often), I use ABRP to plan the trip. Crucially, I set it up in advance to match both my car and how I drive. This includes my typical miles per kWh and such. Even more important, ABRP allows you to set the minimum amount of charge you want when you arrive at each charger, as well as your minimum for when you arrive at your destination. Why have two settings? Well while you may be comfortable coming into a charger "on fumes", you don't want to arrive at your destination with no range unless a) you have a reliable charging solution at your destination, and b) you have total confidence it will actually work. FWIW, I usually set the minimum battery% on charger arrival to 20%, while I set the destination arrival minimum to 40%. I adjust these value as needed. E.g., sometime I notice I can take out a charging stop by charging longer at the previous charger and arriving at the next with a lower charge.

Yes, it takes planning. It will be a long time before roadtripping with an EV is as simple as with an ICE vehicle. I tell friends that are at all EV-skeptical and would plan to roadtrip with it, don't get one. It's not worth it if you're not willing to change habits. But with some planning it can (generally) be done.

 

[ex2bot]

Thanks for your input everyone - I appreciate it!

It does seem a bit annoying / frustrating to have to cycle through several different apps (ABRP, Plugshare, Tesla, etc.) simply to drive your car. It’s a shame there isn’t an easier way to do this by now. I definitely regret taking this over a friends non-electric car (which is also a bummer because I love my MME). I probably won’t ever take this on a road trip to more rural areas ever again, doesn’t feel worth the anxiety.

You might consider just using Android Auto (seems to work well) or CarPlay (not great). They’ll add chargers to your turn-by-turn where needed. AA will also tell the car to precondition when needed.

It wouldn’t hurt to also get PlugShare configured correctly (including “NACS Tesla” under More Plugs in Filters). Use it to double-check chargers when needed.

 

[Gil McC]

I don’t have an answer except that if you have the mobile charger maybe you could have plugged in there at your destination.

The mobile charger is slow, but if you are staying for a while worked for us.

 

[DugthePug Dad]

The mobile charger is slow, but if you are staying for a while worked for us.

He said that he was staying at a Airbnb. That’s why I made my post.

Yes it is slow but in a pinch it works.

 

[Bobcat17]

I have had EV for 4 1/2 years and have only had to charge away from home a few times. When I have taken longer trips I just use Turo app and rent someone else's car for a day or two.

 

[ChasingCoral]

So we drove another 30 or so miles to a station listed on the Tesla app that ‘accepted converters,’ though when we got there, wasn’t compatible.

... does anyone have a way to find reliable chargers?

So this is an odd one. While I have had the Ford navigation send me to a Tesla charger that wasn't compatible I've never had the Tesla app send me to an incompatible charger.

What Tesla charger did you go to that didn't work?
What adapter were you using?

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