Is there an easy way to find hotels in North America with EV charging? Plugshare seems to have a filter for it but I couldn’t make it work. Any tips from those who have hotelled it would be welcome. (E.g., do you call the hotel to be sure; can you reserve an overnight charger?) I’d like to be able to find places while out on the road, rather than have every night planned ahead of time from home.
I just tested the filter on PlugShare and it seemed to work just fine for me. I've only stayed at one place with EV charging, a motel in King City, California. I found it on PlugShare, and before reserving a room I called to confirm it was in working order. It was first-come, first-served, but they had 2 plugs and only one other person used it during the 3 days I was there.
So maybe it's just me, but I'm having trouble with Plugshare. I live across the street from a hotel with chargers, so that's my test. Also, there's a free charger at a park nearby. On my phone, neither charger shows up whether or not I use the hotel filter. Also, the filter says it will show "only" hotels, but it shows nothing. On my laptop, the filter doesn't say it will show "only" hotels. But it shows both chargers whether the filter is off or on. For reference, on both my phone and laptop, Chargepoint shows the park charger but not the hotel. I generally find Chargepoint the most reliable app, but don't see a way to get hotels to show.
I would use the "Send Feedback" link on Plugshare to let them know. I did that once -- I forget why now -- and did get a response.
Set the plug filter for the type(s) you want. Check the map for know charging stations. Hover over each to see if it is a motel or hotel you would use. PlugShare allows ‘hiding’ non-public chargers. Bob Wilson
https://chargehub.com/en/charging-stations-map.html It makes sense to at least ask the front desk if the charger is working before you get there. Scrambling for a plug when you're tired is no fun.
I tried the Chargehub app on my phone. It doesn’t show the hotel across from me, and if I turn on the “show only hotels” filter it doesn’t seem to show any. Haven’t tried it on the laptop.
Yes but not all of them allow you to plug in. I always ask first. Some don’t care and others getting up in arms about he cost to the hotel and “we don’t give gas to guests, we aren’t giving you electricity”. Even though it would cost them less than $5/day (which I’d gladly pay for the convenience). They don’t know and they don’t care. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
EV sales are accelerating rapidly, and the day is coming when hotels will have to offer EV charging or face serious loss of business. The smart ones are getting ahead of the curve.
My plan is to let AutoPilot+Full_Self_Driving keep on rolling to the next SuperCharger. Biology break and cat nap before moving on to the next. Bob Wilson
Since Google took it over, I'm rebuilding my confidence. For example, Google reported the L2 chargers at the Kendall Cracker Barrel were gone but the street view showed the Blink chargers. When I arrived, there were empty concrete pads where the Blink units used to be. Plugshare had identified a free L2 charger about 8 miles away at the South Pittsburg Cast Iron Museum on the way home. A dual-cable, Chargepoint unit, they also have a breakfast-lunch diner where I got a fried oyster omelet. Large portions, the left overs were my supper. Bob Wilson
Google Maps now show charging locations, but I believe PlugShare has been owned by EVgo since 2021. It seems there could be a possible conflict of interest to have a charging-station network own the app that purports to work with all charging-station networks (I don't get to type "purports" very often).
Yes, EVGo bought Plugshare a couple years ago: https://electrek.co/2021/07/14/evgo-acquires-plugshare-ev-charging-app/ Plugshare has been pretty accurate on the relatively rare occasions I've needed to use it. Here on Hawaii Island, EVGo doesn't have much presence. Nearly everything is ChargePoint or Shell Recharge and they all show up pretty accurately on PlugShare.
