A Really Big Trip

FYI, EVConnect is just a software and network provider, like Greenlots. So the stations are always owned by another party, frequently a government agency or utility, and EVConnect can't do much except maybe a soft reset.

You can sometimes find information for the station owner on the station itself, in PlugShare, or Googling around if you find who the owner is. Might be more helpful, depending on the circumstances.

 

Excellent anecdote regarding the car fire!

 

Just seeing this now. I was actually in Cleveland this weekend too, we could have had a quick Kona meetup. Oh well.

 

I hadn't even heard of EVconnect until I saw this thread. The Balkanization of charging just has me shaking my head.

 

Hi Clamps.
I'm planning on using some EV connect charge stations. I have tested a couple in my local area. I could not terminate the charge session at the station. Could you tell me how you stopped the charge when you were ready to leave to charge station? At one station I used Blue Link to terminate the session and another station I called customer service and they were able to terminate it but could not tell me how to stop it from the app.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Joev

 

It wasn’t even wind that caused the bulk of the issues it was natural gas and Greg Abbott is a liar.

 

Tonight head out to Charleston, sc from lewes, Delaware. ABRP has me using evgo and a few EAs. Hope all goes well. This is the first multi-charge trip I've done with the Kona.

 

What's the etiquette on these hotel chargers? Should you unplug once your car is completely charged?

 

Thanks for sharing! It's like the wild west when they started installing gas stations in the early days. I will be trialing a trip like this next spring with either a VW ID.4 or an IONIQ 5.

 

I don't know if there's formal etiquette for them. I usually won't unplug if it's in the middle of the night or whatever, and especially if the hotel is pretty empty.

Just be courteous. If you're really worried, you could put your phone number on a note in your window and say people should call if they really need the charger.

 

I've charged overnight at hotels quite a few times. It always seems like the charging will complete around 3am. If there are at least 2 chargers and one is available, I go to bed and don't worry about it. The last time I did this I did wake up and notice a Tesla was then charging on the other charger and my car was of course done so I went down and moved it. It's always good to check in on Plug Share too so people can message you if they need you to move.

 

Also, set the button to the right of the steering wheel so that the charger is unlocked when you're done charging.

I think this etiquette isn't so clear yet, but hopefully we'll get to a general convention where people expect to be unplugged by the next person when their car stops charging.

 

Agree; the only time I set it to lock even after fully charged is the very rare time I'm using the Tesla adapter I bought and obviously don't want anyone to steal it. But in that situation a user should still be able to disconnect the other end of the Tesla adapter from the charger and just leave the piece that goes to my car.

 

what button to the right of the steering wheel? Photo?

 

It's on my right ... on your left in LHD cars.

 

You have adjustable brightness fog lamps ?! Jealous. We don't even get fog lamps, period.

 

There are many opinions on this. Personally, I believe that a Level 2 charger is an overnight charger and one should plan to have it all night. There are 2 main reasons for this:
1) If EVs are going to be convenient, one won't have to wake up at 2:00 am to unplug your car. Supporting this approach is detrimental to EV adoption.
2) In cold weather, it is particularly important to have one's battery warm upon departure in order to get maximum range the next day. The only way to do this is to program to stop charging at departure time, meaning you need to be plugged in all night.
3) By enabling "range charge" to 100%, one can get longer range than leaving a safety buffer in ones battery. However, charging your car to 100%, then leaving it that way for a long time harms the battery. Therefore, for optimal battery life, the practice of leaving the car plugged in all night is necessary.

Clearly, in the long run, roadside hotels are going to have to provide EV charging at every parking space. Whether we suffer by having to unplug and move in the middle of the night, have less range due to cold, shorter battery life, or inability to share the limited chargers available, these are all necessary growing pains. There is no best way to solve, therefore, I don't see that it really matters.