To help you with that I recommend the website Plugshare. There dozens of mapping apps for charging locations but this one is best for several reasons. It shares info for all of the competitors in the charging marketplace, it updates daily, and best of all it shares user experiences as they charge.It also lets you plan and save your trip from charger to charger.
You may be thinking "only the insane would want to stop so often just to get fuel" and I would have agreed as I was certainly there for many years but times have changed and so have I!
We will drive the 1600+ kms to Hilton Head with two overnight stops at hotels that have chargers. This means that we eliminate the time and expense of those two charges and like from home we are charged and ready to go for early morning starts. We also plan our start, stop and charge times in sync with our need for food and washroom breaks. In the past we might have stopped for 45-50 minutes for a lunch break but now we might have to extend that to 75-80 minutes depending on the next segment distance.
The first day's drive is to Altoona PA . If you open and enlarge this Google map routing (Click "Altoona"!)you will see other important changes from our "routes of the past". The first is in Buffalo where we turn onto Route 5 just before the arena.The shortcut to Fredonia saves 9 kms over the normal I90/190 route but also reduces battery consumption considerably. Yes, there will be a few stop lights in Lackawanna but the lower speed limits and reduced distance really help with a minimum time loss.
A Nissan Leaf charging at Fredonia
We will be stopping in Fredonia at the new Electrify America fast chargers. Electrify America was born of the Volkswagen fines as a result of their lying and cheating with emissions and fuel economy. Nasty history but probably a good new beginning. The fines are paying for a massive installation of a network of new generation fast chargers very much like that of Tesla.
Unfortunately there are three standards in chargers: Tesla, Chademo and CCS/SAE. Tesla speaks for itself, Chademo is the Asian Standard and CCS is used by the Europeans and North American manufacturers. Teslas can use an adaptor at a CCS charger but the others can not adapt to Tesla.
Some chargers are free with the host picking up the tab. IKEA, Toronto Airport Authority, and various hydro utilities such as Veridian in Ajax or Alectra in Niagara are but a few examples of generous corporate sponsors, all with their own and different motivations.
Other Canadian corporate initiatives include the likes of Scotiabank, Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire. These all involve user costs and different levels of success. The most successful to my mind is not the one with the lowest cost but the one with the fastest and most reliable service. Canadian Tire with their new "Nissan" co-venture DFC chargers have a great phone app and are extremely efficient but are the most expensive of the three at $20 an hour.
Depending on my time and the weather of the day I can either make the drive to Belleville and back for free or pay $20 at the Belleville CTC. Electrify America is $18 US per hour and is taking a lot of heat from those who wrongly think it should be free!
Can things go wrong...you bet... electric car charging is currently all about Murphy's Law...but the progress since we made our purchase is absolutely incredible and seems destined for exponential progress!
Since weather is so, so important we are looking at the ten day forecasts daily for any indication of concern.
Follow this link toWeather Underground, my go to weather app. On Sunday evening they were forecasting a high of 11 C for Thursday which is fantastic for battery usage. Unfortunately they may get more than an inch of rain
Sure glad that we are leaving in the morning and NOT driving through the freezing rain today. It would have been impossible to stay on any schedule and very unsafe! Everything closed for the day in St Catharines.
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