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Charging an EV on a Cross Country Road Trip

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JimH:
I just returned from a two week drive from Minnesota to the East Coast, including New York State, New York City, Boston, and Maine.  The car was a Mercedes EQS580.  I've had it for six months now, but until two weeks ago, I had only charged it at home.

Aside from seeing some old friends, I wanted to understand how feasible it was to travel charger to charger.  Here's what I learned.

Mercedes Isn't a Tesla
It can't use their network.  Nobody else can.  It's a closed network, except in Europe where the EU has forced them to open it up.  Tesla is talking about doing that here in the U.S.  Talking.

A Charger Is Not A Charger
They vary from recharging a vehicle in about 45 minutes to several days.  Fast Chargers are essential and there aren't many Charger Stations and they often have broken chargers.

The Apps Are A Challenge
Every network has its own app.  Parts of each work.

The Charging Networks are Primitive
On my route through Chicago, i used ChargePoint and Electrify America.  There were a lot of EVgo chargers in the Chicago area, but I didn't try them.  I should have.

Electrify America is owned by VW and has Siemens as a major investor.  Around $2.5billion invested so far.  More coming.  It's fallout from the settlement with the U.S. over Dieselgate.  Their support is good.

Plan Ahead
There are so few chargers that you need to know before you go.  Several times, my range was in the 20's before I could get to a fast charger.

Bring A Book
My "quick" charges were about 40 minutes.  This turned out to be no problem.  You meet other people who are in the same boat, learn from them, find something to eat, and walk a little.

Plugshare Helps
It's an app that another fellow charger recommended and it's good.  Oddly, you have to enter your trip first in a desktop browser. 

GPS Is Good
On Google Maps and on my car's map, you can find chargers.  It's awkward but helpful.  On Google, you just search for EV charger.  On the car, the map has a search window with a EV Charger icon.

Walmart Is Your Friend
Electrify America has the largest fast charger network and they have a partnership with Walmart.

Look Carefully
The chargers are all over the place and sometimes hard to find.  Plugshare has pictures.  Google sometimes can direct you there.

It was sold to EVgo last year, so its cross system approach may go away.

Bottom Line
It works, but it's not very reliable or easy.  It reminds me of the early days of the software business when software generally didn't work well.

If EV's continue to gain market share, the charging networks will have to expand rapidly.

JimH:
Pictures:

https://pix01.jriver.com/8M1%400cxw -- Visible

BillT:
There's a tool called a Better Route Planner which a lot of people in Europe use. It looks as if it covers the US as well.

I have an EV but I haven't used a public charger yet.

JimH:
Thanks.  I'll check it out.

JimH:
Chargers are rated by how many kW's they can provide per hour.

110 AC -- The typical outlet in a U.S. home.   It will provide something like 3 miles of range for every hour connected.  Works until you have something better.

AC Level 2 Charger
220 AC -- The typical home charger is similar to a 40 or 50 Amp dryer outlet.  It works well for home charging, providing around 30 miles of range per hour. So if you plug the car in overnight, you get around 300 miles.  You can find these on the road, but they're not worth using for anything other than overnight charging.

When you use AC chargers, the car does the conversion to DC

DC Chargers
Often referred to as "DC Fast Chargers" or "DCFC".

These are far better than Level 2 chargers.  They will be rated at 50 to 350 kWh.  That's the nominal rating, but the real charging rate is often half of that or less. At 150 or 350, you might get 70 to 175.  Depending on the car, this will get you about 200 miles in a little less than an hour.

As I understand it, the car can use anything with a compatible plug. The car will tell the charger how fast It can receive power.  This means that you can plug into any Any charger without risking damage to the car.

The charger will display the power it's delivering. It will start out at a lower number and work toward the maximum when it is charging a battery that isn't very low or high.

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