emergency charging - HELP

[gjrentcars]

Its happened a few times to me, I'm running errands and my planned distance was exceeded . So I need to get a small amount of charge, so I'm confident I'll make it back home.. Any recommendations, do you guys ever run into range anxiety?

What if gas stations started to have EV charging for us? opinions?

Thanks

 

[JeffRay]

Pays to do spend some time on your computer looking at charging stations in your circle of travel. ChargePoint or PlugShare both have good maps. I had to pit once and rolled into an unknown parking lot with 1 mile left. Talk about range anxiety. Time permitting, check them out to see if they are accessible or inside a private lot. If you are in an area served by ChargePoint, I went online and registered for a card. Most of the charges are free, one place I use charges $2.95 per hookup.

What is a gas station? Remind me? Seriously, do we want to go back there. You are right, if they would add a ChargePoint station next to the air machine.

 

[rdavis0521]

You really want to get some EV charge cards (ChargePoint, Blink, EVGo) etc, and get familiar with PlugShare app (or the others as well).

I routinely go out locate chargers within 20 miles of home, just to know where they are in case I need them. Sometimes they are a little hard to locate, and piece of mind comes from knowing exactly where they are.

PlugShare also has user comments about their experience at various stations.

Even when I'm out in areas that I don't plan on charging, if I have spare time, I'll pull out the PlugShare app, and locate what is around me. Perhaps it was my training many, many years ago as a glider pilot, we were taught to always look for a landing spot. I follow the same principal with charge stations.

I will also, at times if a charging station is nearby when I'm out driving, I'll plug in, even if I don't really need it, to guarantee that I have plenty to make it home.

I've driven up to 180 miles in a day, and never worried about making it.

 

[gjrentcars]

why dont gas stations just add ev chargers? Would you guys use public chargers more if they were at gas stations?

I always end up with a PlugShare spot thats either taken or is private(when listed as public)

 

[rdavis0521]

I'll use them anywhere I can find when I'm wanting one. If you're finding private PlugShare entries that are marked public, log in and fix it. This is a crowd sourced app, and if you don't fix it, it's likely that someone else will make the same mistake.

If you don't mark it as restricted, at least append to the description field that it's for private use only.


Personally, I haven't found all that many where I couldn't get a charge when I wanted. A couple of times, at a site with a single L2, but anywhere there is 4 or more, I've never really had an issue. Granted, it might be more where I'm located. We don't have many free ones here, and reading PlugShare comments seems to indicate the free chargers are use a lot!

 

[wtzouris]

ABC, always be charging, whenever you can. It would be great if I could charge at every Home Depot, Lowes, Supermarket, etc. I always wake up with my car fully charged, I never wait for it to drain down. I notice the same issue with cell phones -- for some people they are always "dying" Others are fine, because they charge every night and whenever there is the opportunity.

 

[phototrek]

After three years of FFE ownership, today I ran out of juice for the first time. I have rolled into the garage countless times with one mile left one range gauge, a few times with zero, but today I got caught with zero miles left with one more mile to go, uphill. So I spent some time at the local church

 

[JeffRay]

Phototrek,

Smart to just plug in vs. getting caught somewhere with no options except the tow truck. I have often thought if it was worth schlepping my very expensive and largely unused Goal Zero solar charged "generator" in the trunk of my car for back up purposes. It might be good for a mile or two since it is just a car battery. Decided in the urban environment and eye on the % gauge, no need to. I use the percent gauge and my mental calculator to determine mileage since the ROM is not precise enough.

 

[rdavis0521]

why dont gas stations just add ev chargers? Would you guys use public chargers more if they were at gas stations?

I was thinking about your question, and have some thoughts on it. I think part of the reason is the amount of revenue vs the amount of parking spaces. Think about it. Gas pumps will pump $75 of gas in a matter of minutes. An L2 charger will charge a maximum of about $2.00 per hour.

I think charging sites lend themselves to large parking areas, where the loss of a space or two doesn't hurt parking, and as a benefit draws someone in for perhaps a 2 hour lunch or shopping time. I see them also in train stations etc, where people are going to park for a long term, and this encourages "green" driving.

But, I don't think you're going to see them routinely at gas stations. Too quick in and out there.

 

[JeffRay]

Has anyone else run out of juice so can advise what happens when you call MB Roadside Assistance or AAA? Do they just tow to nearest dealer or do that actually try to charge the battery? Just curious as I have run it down to 1-2 miles about once a month.

 

[phototrek]

AAA will tow you wherever you want to be towed. Can be your home, the dealer, a public charging station, or a church No clue where MB assistance would tow you, probably only a dealership, which is about the last place I'd want to be towed.

They can't charge you on the spot.

 

[leousa]

why dont gas stations just add ev chargers? Would you guys use public chargers more if they were at gas stations?

I was thinking about your question, and have some thoughts on it. I think part of the reason is the amount of revenue vs the amount of parking spaces. Think about it. Gas pumps will pump $75 of gas in a matter of minutes. An L2 charger will charge a maximum of about $2.00 per hour.

I think charging sites lend themselves to large parking areas, where the loss of a space or two doesn't hurt parking, and as a benefit draws someone in for perhaps a 2 hour lunch or shopping time. I see them also in train stations etc, where people are going to park for a long term, and this encourages "green" driving.

But, I don't think you're going to see them routinely at gas stations. Too quick in and out there.

Exactly! Installing charging units at the gas stations does not have any sense.

Who wants to spend significant amount of time at the gas stations waiting while their car is charging? Doing what? :roll:

I’ve read somewhere about the law in Russia that forcing every gas station to have EV plug. In my opinion this is a useless law, which is actually masking government unwillingness to promote EV.

Remember: Electric Cars are the enemy of the oil industry, and oil industry is the sponsor of our governments. So don’t expect rational decisions from the governments at all.

We have to struggle for EV survival.

First of all we need to understand clearly that WE NEED CHARGERS AT THE PLACES WHERE WE ARE PARKING OUR CARS and spending some time there: e.g. shopping malls, business offices, medical offices and hospitals, hotels, resorts, libraries. That’s it! If every place where I and you are visiting on the daily basis would have a plug, the problem with range anxiety is disappearing.

So we should push our legislators to create laws that will change the local code that require EVERY existing business to install at least one (or better several) plugs on every parking lot their own.

It will wipe out the range anxiety and charging time inconvenience for the EV owners altogether, since you always can add whatever amount of energy to the next destination while doing your business

 

[JeffRay]

Agree 100%. I am pushing my landlord, actually an arm of the local government, to install charging stations in the parking lots at work. Right now, the current landlord lets me plug into an outdoor outlet while double-parked. Where I am going next year, the battle is still ongoing. For now, I have a routine down with the dealer and parking lot. Strangely, there are charging stations at one of our remote locations, a suburban office complex.

 

[GlennD]

AAA will tow you wherever you want to be towed. Can be your home, the dealer, a public charging station, or a church No clue where MB assistance would tow you, probably only a dealership, which is about the last place I'd want to be towed.

They can't charge you on the spot.

When the 12V battery died on my Leaf Nissan would only tow the car to the nearest dealer. AAA would be an advantage.