Can EV owners collectively extend range?

[Desertstraw]

The New York Times has an article on how "hackers" are improving the Leaf,
"The Electric Leaf’s True Believers Won’t Leave Well Enough Alone". I was interested in the reference to "EVSEupgrade.com" which sells an adapter that enables charging at any 240 outlet. I then thought of a recent drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles in my Prius. Except for the 102 mile stretch from Buckeye to Quartzite, I was always within easy Leaf distance of a Subway food store. Suppose Plugin America or some other EV advocacy group persuaded this chain or some similar business to make ordinary 240 volt outlets available to EVs. Except for rare problematic intervals like Buckeye to Quartzite, long distance travel with EVs would be possible almost immediately with little cost. It would, of course, be better with fast chargers but their installation seems to be painfully slow. For the rare long gaps like the cited one, we would need to persuade government to put in charging stations, probably only a handful in the whole country for Interstate highways.

 

[Randy3]

Great idea to have a major chain agree to let LEAFs plug into their 240 volt outlets. It may be best if the outlets were located either outside the building or inside but close to a door that the public doesn't use.

I had a little body work done on a different car awhile back and asked them about what electrical outlets most auto repair shops (body and/or engine) had. They said nearly all would have 240 volt. Just another idea.

What about truck stops? Would most major truck stops have 240 volt outlets available somewhere on premises? Truck stops normally have creature comforts that would be nice.

Anyway, there is also the idea of finding RV parks along your route and calling them ahead to set up charging sessions. A 50 amp RV outlet using the EVSE upgrade charges at L2 speed.

What other types of businesses should we consider?

 

[TickTock]

Starbucks (or other coffee shops) I think would find sharing outlets with patrons mutually beneficial.

 

[garygid]

Try to discover widespread business types that would already have 240 sockets (almost available). Which of these has some parking available, "close enough" to there electricity?

Then, discover a good reason (a benefit to them) that some of these businesses would allow EVs to visit and charge.

With a fast-food place, the benefit is clear: you might buy some of their food.

A car-wash business?
An RV park?
Walmart-type chains of stores?

Public places like rest stops and parks, even parking lots usually do NOT have 240v (or even 120v) available.

 

[Desertstraw]

The obvious business would be gasoline stations. But they might be reluctant to accelerate their own demise. That is why I chose Subway which is supposed to have the most fast food outlets. For the gaps electric companies might be willing to install chargers. With the rapid increase of solar powered homes, they will be looking for new business in the future.

 

[laalan]

I would love to see Mobil, Exxon, Valero, Shell or other gasoline chains make available outlets or charging docks. Even as a for pay model, there is a lot of real estate being wasted in non-revenue producing activities.

I am still waiting for Costco to step up to the plate again.

 

[smkettner]

Why limit this to businesses. Go ahead and put a 30a connector on the front of your house and list it on the plug share site.
If even 5% of people did this collectively you could go about anywhere.

 

[mitch672]

I already did. Put an RV park setup just outside my garage... This entire setup costs just $130 w/shipping, it's fed from a 100A breaker just inside the garage (behind the wall, 4' of 2AWG wire). Notice there is an open 2 pole breaker position on it, if there was enough interest I could even mount an L6-20R below this unit with a weatherproof in-use cover, those setups costs between $40-50 so I havn't done that yet, the 50A can be used with the correct adapter anyway, so probably no need.

PlugShare: http://www.plugshare.com?charger=405" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is where you get this nice RV Park setup, for $115.95 + shipping. made in American too (in upstate NY)
http://www.rvparksupplies.com/p/503020AMPSMPOWER/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

view from further away:

here is the 125A panel inside feeding this, and the Schnieder EVSE, also below the panel is an L6-20R as well (indoors).

 

[abasile]

We're in PlugShare. Our AV EVSE is outdoors, in front of our driveway. We usually leave one parking spot free. So the likelihood of someone being able to use the EVSE, even if we're not home, is pretty good. And we have good access to hiking trails.

Let's build our own, grassroots charging network!

 

[LKK]

I would love to see Mobil, Exxon, Valero, Shell or other gasoline chains make available outlets or charging docks. Even as a for pay model, there is a lot of real estate being wasted in non-revenue producing activities.

I am still waiting for Costco to step up to the plate again.

I like this idea! L2s would be too slow, how about 2 or 3 L3s located off by themselves? Not free, but maybe something like 4 bucks to charge for an half hour. They would also make money selling snacks, coffee and other stuff.

 

[LEAFfan]

I already did. Put an RV park setup just outside my garage...

That's a super idea! You must not have an HOA. There's no way in hell our HOA would allow it on the front like that which is where ours would have to go too. I would definitely do it though if we didn't have an HOA. They're pretty picky here. We bought some solar screens for the windows which the HOA can say NOTHING about legally, but still received a letter that said we weren't allowed to tint our windows without the consent of the architectural committee. Unbelievable that they didn't know the difference between tinting and solar screens!

 

[TonyWilliams]

I like this idea! L2s would be too slow, how about 2 or 3 L3s located off by themselves? Not free, but maybe something like 4 bucks to charge for an half hour. They would also make money selling snacks, coffee and other stuff.

$4.... it's no wonder that businesses aren't tripping over each other to get a piece of that action !!!

 

[adric22]

240 electrical sockets are great and all. But there are a few problems to consider:

• Businesses aren't going to want wires coming through the front door.
• Businesses aren't going to want wires laying around outside where people could trip on them.
• There needs to be a standardized 240V electrical socket, where right now there are 4 or 5 common ones in use.
• It needs to be on a pole in front of a parking spot, in which case if you've already spent the money to bury a 240V cable, might as well spend another $800 or so and put some kind of EVSE there.

However, I will admit that it is probably cheaper to install a standard plug in many cases than an EVSE, but I'm not sure it is cheap enough to make the difference.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

There's also the issue of safety. It's real hard for some idiot to electrocute himself with a J1772. On the other hand, you never know what someone might stick into a standard 240V outlet.