How do you charge an electric car in rural area

[Midpack]

OP here, so I guess if you have an electric car you have to have another car too--you drive the electric car in populated places with chargers and the other car in places with no chargers like the Blue Ridge Parkway?? What happens if you finally get to a place with one charger (like Blowing Rock, NC) and another car is using that charger?

Depends. If you live in a large metro area and don’t travel beyond the round trip range of the car often, you rent an ICE car when you make a longer trip. There are some areas with a strong network of chargers between major metro areas that make longer trips viable, CA and northeast. For some an EV and ICE makes more sense, not everyone.

Most Tesla owners know this, and their cars show them where chargers are. Being completely stranded borders on willful ignorance...

 

[Senator]

That is exactly why electric vehicles are not ready for prime time.

 

[mountainsoft]

While an electric car may be very close to the utility of an internal combustion engine, it’s obviously not quite there yet. There may be work arounds but the infrastructure is just not fully built out yet.

We get spoiled by the availability of gas stations, but this problem is certainly not limited to electric cars.

Several years ago we took a road trip up to the Canadian Rockies. The sign said the next gas station was 150 miles. Our gas tank was 3/4 full so I wasn't worried about it. When we arrived at the gas station they were out of gas. The next gas station was definitely out of range, so the attendant suggested we head east about 50 miles to another station. We nervously back tracked to another highway heading into an area we new nothing about, hoping the gas station was really there and that it would have gas. Thankfully we found the station, filled up our tank, and saw scenery we otherwise would have missed. But it added a lot of miles to our trip and was a very tense time hoping we wouldn't run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.

Whether gas or electric when you're out of the energy source, you're stuck. In time I'm sure electric charging stations will be as readily available as gas stations.

 

[NW-Bound]

On some less-traveled Alaska and Yukon roads, if the gas station en route is out of gas, you camp nearby to wait until the fuel truck arrives. Camping is a natural thing to do when you have an RV anyway.

It did not happen to us, because we did not take the really bad roads when we strayed off the main highway.


A few years ago, there was a story of a Californian who drove from the LA area to Phoenix. She ran out of gas somewhere between Blythe and Phoenix. Instead of waiting for the highway patrol to come to her aid, she took a detour off the freeway onto a dirt road going to look for a small town for gas. There was no small town! She already died of heat and thirst, when she was found by a rancher a day or two later.

 

[candrew]

What is a gat??

+1

I looked up "gat". It's a slang term for a firearm.

 

[Bamaman]

As someone that's a domestic traveler, I'm driving a 2018 Camry Hybrid that gets 49 mpg on the open road and has a range of 600 miles.

I have no desire to have to search around for a charging station. Around town, I have to fill up so infrequently that I often forget to watch my fuel gauge. I have all the pluses and none of the minus' of the fully electric car.

 

[Alan]

As someone that's a domestic traveler, I'm driving a 2018 Camry Hybrid that gets 49 mpg on the open road and has a range of 600 miles.

I have no desire to have to search around for a charging station. Around town, I have to fill up so infrequently that I often forget to watch my fuel gauge. I have all the pluses and none of the minus' of the fully electric car.

+1. We’ve owned hybrids since 2007 (now on our 2nd)

I think our next car (5-7 years time) will be a plug-in hybrid. With a 20-30 mile range before the engine kicks in most of our local journeys will be on battery. These days we only do about 5k miles per year but for those driving vacation trips I really don’t want to be planning around the availability of charging stations.

However, a lot can happen in a few years so who knows what the landscape will be then.

 

[Aerides]

OP here, so I guess if you have an electric car you have to have another car too--you drive the electric car in populated places with chargers and the other car in places with no chargers like the Blue Ridge Parkway?? What happens if you finally get to a place with one charger (like Blowing Rock, NC) and another car is using that charger?

Depends where you live and how much you travel by car. One could always rent for a long trip too.

I live in FL. The furthest I'm going to ever drive is to the other side of the state. I'm not the type to want to take a long road trip (my parents attempts ruined that idea for me as a teenager). So,yes, someone who wants to drive do that sort of driving without allowing for a lot of charging interruptions is going to have a hard time or need a 2nd car. Or rent one for the trip.

I don't think anyone thinks this is a deal breaker if they really want an EV. Just means nope, it's not for everyone.

Then again, many ICE engine cars aren't suited for long road trips. I don't want to spend more than 30 mins in the passenger seat of DH's subaru BRZ, it's not a road trip car even though it fills up on regular gas.

 

[jabbahop]

The campground charging works fine if you can get a 220 50 amp plug and have the right 14-50 adapter for the portable electric charger. You can charge about 20 miles/hour.

I know a number of early tesla owners travelled across country using campground charging before Tesla’s charging network was widespread.

Tesla’s navigation system does a good job helping people find charging but only shows Tesla superchargers and Tesla destination chargers at this point.

I agree the industry needs to do a better job of explaining charging options and resources (plug-share is a great app for this) for new to electric owners.

 

[Chuckanut]

Isn't VW building its own network of chargers?

I would hope that charging an EV would be non-denominational. Any charger that meets minimum specs can charge any EV. Otherwise, the EV folks will be shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[mountainsoft]

if the gas station en route is out of gas, you camp nearby to wait until the fuel truck arrives.

When we were low on gas in Canada, the attendant said the truck wasn't expected that day. So we took his recommended adventure to the other gas station. Of course, a couple hours later on our way back past the original gas station, we saw the gas truck filling the tanks at the station.

 

[Jerry1]

Isn't VW building its own network of chargers?

I would hope that charging an EV would be non-denominational. Any charger that meets minimum specs can charge any EV. Otherwise, the EV folks will be shooting themselves in the foot.

I know. Could you imagine pulling up to a gas station and not being able to find a nozzle that fits your gas tank? I hope the charging stations and the plugs are standard.

 

[gerntz]

Depends. If you live in a large metro area and don’t travel beyond the round trip range of the car often, you rent an ICE car when you make a longer trip. There are some areas with a strong network of chargers between major metro areas that make longer trips viable, CA and northeast. For some an EV and ICE makes more sense, not everyone.

Most Tesla owners know this, and their cars show them where chargers are. Being completely stranded borders on willful ignorance...

That averages out to 30 locations/state.

 

[NW-Bound]

When we were low on gas in Canada, the attendant said the truck wasn't expected that day. So we took his recommended adventure to the other gas station. Of course, a couple hours later on our way back past the original gas station, we saw the gas truck filling the tanks at the station.

Well, the attendant did not know when the tanker truck would arrive either. Same with the grocery delivery truck, or the UPS, or anything.

Such is life in the boondocks. No next day Amazon Prime Service.

 

[NW-Bound]

Isn't VW building its own network of chargers?

I would hope that charging an EV would be non-denominational. Any charger that meets minimum specs can charge any EV. Otherwise, the EV folks will be shooting themselves in the foot.

I know. Could you imagine pulling up to a gas station and not being able to find a nozzle that fits your gas tank? I hope the charging stations and the plugs are standard.

As I recall, Tesla offered its charging network to other EV makers. However, Tesla uses a different plug than the standard agreed on by other makers.

Now, perhaps Tesla set the precedent by having the first supercharging plug, but the other makers did not agree to it and had their own ideas. Perhaps Tesla superchargers are tuned to Tesla cars, and other EVs cannot be easily adapted to them. I don't know. It is another case of Betamax vs. VHS.

PS. The network to be built by VW as part of their penalty for the diesel emission fiasco will use the industry and international standard. Will Tesla change to work with it? I have not heard anything.

 

[Midpack]

Depends. If you live in a large metro area and don’t travel beyond the round trip range of the car often, you rent an ICE car when you make a longer trip. There are some areas with a strong network of chargers between major metro areas that make longer trips viable, CA and northeast. For some an EV and ICE makes more sense, not everyone.

Most Tesla owners know this, and their cars show them where chargers are. Being completely stranded borders on willful ignorance...

That averages out to 30 locations/state.

Averages don’t mean much, the map in my post #26 clearly shows that. Not to mention TX is 250 times the area of RI, and population density varies wildly too.

That’s why I said if you don’t travel out of range often, or you live in a charger dense area, EVs are more viable than if you live in a rural area and/or regularly travel out of the range of an EV.

The OPs conclusion that we all need an EV and and ICE is a sweeping generalization at best.

 

[NW-Bound]

PS. The network to be built by VW as part of their penalty for the diesel emission fiasco will use the industry and international standard. Will Tesla change to work with it? I have not heard anything.

Found some answers to my own questions on Wikipedia. Note that Teslas built for the EU use the standardized plug. Teslas built for the US keep the proprietary plug.

In the European market, Tesla has been using the standardized IEC 62196 Type 2 connector for Model S and Model X cars and Superchargers. Tesla announced in November 2018 that it was updating all Superchargers in the EU to add CCS/Combo2 connectors, as an additional connector to the existing DC Type 2 connector. In the same announcement it was stated that this CCS/Combo2 connector will be the connector used for the Model 3 due the following year. This brings complete compatibility with the legislated charging standard for EU public charging. Existing Model S and X cars will be given the option of an adapter for CCS/Combo2 that allows those cars to use the EU standard public infrastructure as well. There will remain an incompatibility with imported US Tesla cars (that all use a Tesla proprietary connector). As of 2017, Tesla is the only automobile manufacturer which offers direct current (DC) charging based on the IEC 62196-2 specification. Other manufacturers use the IEC 62196-3 Combined Charging System (CCS) charging standard.

 

[Car-Guy]

The campground charging works fine if you can get a 220 50 amp plug and have the right 14-50 adapter for the portable electric charger. You can charge about 20 miles/hour.

Is that a joke? It takes an hour to get about 20 miles worth of driving range with a 220 50amp connection! That would be like 10 hours just to get a 200 mile charge.... And that's assuming you can find a 220 connection in remote areas. That's much, much, worse than I thought.

 

[NW-Bound]

No joke.

Cars are energy hogs, whether EV or with a combustion engine.

Laymen often talk of future cars with solar panels on top. It is as if car makers are too stupid, so have not built one. They did not know that such a car would have to be put out in the sun for several weeks if not a couple of months to recharge an empty battery.

 

[youbet]

Perhaps she thought she would be OK charging at the campground, but then got impatient and just took off. She might never charge before off a 15A outlet, and was expecting too much?

15A only outlets are pretty rare at campgrounds. Typically, there is a 15A and a 30A available on the site power post. Many campgrounds have 50A outlets available for the "big rigs."

I can't remember the last time I was camped on a site that had only a 15A rated outlet. I wonder if that 15A only info is correct.......

 

[youbet]

The campground charging works fine if you can get a 220 50 amp plug and have the right 14-50 adapter for the portable electric charger. You can charge about 20 miles/hour.

I believe the 50A outlets at campsites are 120V, not 220V jabbahop. The pin configuration of the outlet sure looks reminisent of a 220V outlet, but I think it's 120V.

 

[RunningBum]

15A only outlets are pretty rare at campgrounds. Typically, there is a 15A and a 30A available on the site power post. Many campgrounds have 50A outlets available for the "big rigs."

I can't remember the last time I was camped on a site that had only a 15A rated outlet. I wonder if that 15A only info is correct.......

Of course, if she didn't appreciate the difference and figured an outlet is an outlet...

 

[Chuckanut]

PS. The network to be built by VW as part of their penalty for the diesel emission fiasco will use the industry and international standard. Will Tesla change to work with it? I have not heard anything.

The local big box store near us has charging stations setup. From what I have seen Tesla, Nissan and Kia EVs all use the same equipment.

 

[NW-Bound]

15A only outlets are pretty rare at campgrounds. Typically, there is a 15A and a 30A available on the site power post. Many campgrounds have 50A outlets available for the "big rigs."

I can't remember the last time I was camped on a site that had only a 15A rated outlet. I wonder if that 15A only info is correct.......

I was the one who jumped to the 15A assumption.

As I understand, most (all?) EVs are set up to accept trickle charge from a residential 15A outlet. To accept a higher charge from a 115V/30A RV outlet (common on class B and class C RV's), or 115V/230V/50A splitphase RV outlet (class A), you may need an adapter that does not come with the car.

As these RV receptacles are not found in residential homes, I assume the woman did not have the right adapter, and simply used the 15A plug.

 

[NW-Bound]

The local big box store near us has charging stations setup. From what I have seen Tesla, Nissan and Kia EVs all use the same equipment.

These are Level 2 chargers. The Level 3 superchargers are different, and only available for Tesla cars now.

Level 2 chargers deliver the same output as what you get from the receptacles of your cloth dryer or electric stove at home. It is also the same output level as the class A RV receptacle discussed above.


PS. Level 2 chargers can go up to 19.2kW, according to one source. However, many public Level 2 chargers only provide up to 6.6kW. They are really just power posts, because the charger electronic is really inside the car.

In contrast, the superchargers provide high-voltage DC power directly to the car battery, bypassing the charger (AC-to-DC converter) built-in to the EV. Tesla superchargers can provide power level in the 100kW level.