Getting charged at the end of the road- Parks

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edatoakrun

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2010
Messages
5,222
Location
Shasta County, North California
If you are near a local National or state park, and wish to drive there in your LEAF, please try to contact them about what you'll need to do so. Many parks, due to remote locations, will be inaccessible unless the Parks or their vendors install charge points.

The National Parks have the program below:

http://www.nps.gov/climatefriendlyparks/

After a few months of efforts, I finally got to talk to a Park Rep about My local NP, Lassen. She was very encouraging, as her Job is to get us up there, just not informed as to the need (which I suggested, is a L2 at both major park entrances). I'd suggest Calling your Local NP directly, and ask for the program coordinator for the "Climate Friendly Parks Program", as (unturned) emails to Washington and earlier attempts to contact Lassen NP got me nowhere, as below illustrates.


To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:18 PM
Subject: Climate Friendly Parks Program


Hello,

I would like to see all National Parks allow visitors to minimize their climate pollution. Last December, I sent the message below to LVNP.

I followed up with a phone call in January, leaving a message to the individual that Park personnel directed me to. I Have received no response to either inquiry.


"Hello,

I am a frequent visitor to Lassen Park. I am also planning to purchase an electric vehicle within the next few months.

I would like to use my EV on future Park visits. But, as you may be aware, the roadside charging infrastructure is currently limited, particularly in the North state.

Does LVNP have any plans to accommodate visitors driving EV's, such as the Nissan LEAF and Ford Focus, and other "plug in vehicles", such as the Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius, by providing facilities for drivers to charge their cars, during their visits to the Park? Due to the limited range of most currently available EV's, this will be a crucial question for all drivers along the I-5 corridor, who wish to visit Lassen Park.

In my own case, I live about 50 miles from the park entrance, and am planning to buy a Nissan LEAF this Spring. Just being able to plug into a standard 120 volt outlet for a few hours during my visit, could allow me to leave my "gas guzzler" at home-and make my trips to (and through) the Park, emission-free.

Please feel free to call me at or reply by email, if you feel I can help provide details of future visitors' needs.

Thank you,"


As I believe my comments could be useful to the plan below, Transportation Management, page 13:


http://www.nps.gov/climatefriendlyparks/downloads/Action%20Plans%20and%20Inventories/lavo-final-cfp-action-plan.pdf


Please direct this message to the responsible party at LVNP, and ask them to contact me.

Thank you,
 
I've spoken with a few local parks administrators and rangers and they have been extremely supportive of me bringing my electric vehicle and charging it on-site. Most parks that have RV hookups locally use NEMA 14-50 outlets (for 240v service) so I'll be using a "portable" J1772 charging station at those sites.
 
Thank you for the inspiration. After taking delivery of our LEAF, I too would like to plan a camping trip. I believe if driven carefully, the LEAF could transport us all the way to Joshua Tree National Park on one full charge. With a full charge at Joshua Tree overnight, and additional charging on the way home, the trip seems doable. However, I called the Joshua Tree park office and was told that they have no outlets available where I could plug in. Hence the following e-mail to the park supervisor, submitted through a form on their website. I plan to post any responses.

Hello,

I am writing because I intend to take delivery of a Nissan LEAF electric vehicle in approximately one month, and my family and I would like to plan a camping trip at Joshua Tree National Park using the LEAF. One of the current goals of our national parks is to serve as models of environmental stewardship, as reflected in http://www.nps.gov/climatefriendlyparks/. Encouraging and supporting zero emissions driving within the Park would clearly be consistent with that goal.

My most immediate objective is to hopefully identify a standard electrical outlet at the Park at which we would be permitted to charge the LEAF overnight, preferably not too far from a campground such as Indian Cove. While the cost of electricity for a full charge is no more than a few dollars, I would be happy to pay a fee or make a donation in exchange for the opportunity to plug in. This would allow us to leave our gasoline car at home.

Longer term, offering dedicated charging stations where feasible would serve to encourage cleaner and more efficient transportation using American power sources, while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew Basile
 
Following is my latest correspondence with Joshua Tree National Park:

Hello Judy,

Thank you for your response. It turns out that we were able to take delivery of the LEAF just a couple of days ago! It really is an amazing car. I am glad to hear that the Park uses electric vehicles and that you are willing to consider offering charging to the public in the future.

In the meantime, I will indeed investigate the possibility of charging at a business close to the Park. We do have plans to camp with a group at Indian Cove in May (we were at Ryan Campground just last week as well). If I am able to work out a way to visit the Park with the LEAF, I will plan on driving it to your headquarters in 29 Palms during business hours.

Regards,
Andrew

On 4/22/2011 2:44 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Dear Mr. Basile

Thank you for your email sharing with us your anticipated efforts to use your all-electric vehicle to come to the park. While we encourage energy conservation and do use electric vehicles in the park, we are not currently set up to provide support to the public for their electric vehicles while visiting the park. At this time we do not have the means to provide a public outlet at the Indian Cove Ranger station or a method to accept or collect any funds for this type of service. It may be possible that a local business in the Indian Cove area would consider and be able to support your electric vehicle while visitting the park. Again thank you for the information on requirements and amp usage the new LEAF takes. We will be considering your information and reviewing the potential for this service in the future.

Judy Bartzatt
Chief Ranger
 
A little OT, but the City of San Diego has been approached by ECOtality for placement of EVSEs in Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3524
 
I just called one of the local popular Bay Area parks, Big Basin SP. I spoke to someone who at first said "sorry, nothing available here", but seemed open to continue to try to work with me to figure something out for the long term. Especially when they realized I would only need a dollar or so's worth of E-juice.

Bill
 
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