A number of weeks in the past, I ran throughout a major logistical problem when planning a visit. I wished to take my Bolt EUV (with solely 200–250 miles of vary) to Moab, and doubtless with a small trailer stuffed with tenting gear or an RV. Neither of these trailers ended up getting purchased (extra on that in an upcoming article), however earlier than I bumped into that downside I bumped into an even bigger impediment: Moab’s solely CCS charging station is deader than a doornail.
A map of CCS stations within the space close to Moab, Utah. Screenshot from PlugShare.com.
If I used to be simply passing by means of, this wouldn’t have mattered an excessive amount of. I might have had sufficient vary to drive on by means of city or get again to Inexperienced River or Monticello. However I had greater plans for the ability from that CCS station. As an alternative of simply utilizing the ability to get round, I wished to drag a trickle of it from the automotive at camp for warmth or AC, cooking, and different issues. I may need even used it for a small water heater to get showered.
Taking a look at entries on PlugShare and speaking to another individuals who wanted the station to be up, I heard that the native electrical utility wasn’t planning on repairing the station in any respect.
I did have a Plan B: RV parks. With 50-amp service, an RV park may each give my camp the ability I wished and provides me Stage 2 charging whereas staying on the town. However, I had deliberate on going throughout the Easter Jeep Safari, and principally each RV park was full. Even giving up on tenting fully and going with a lodge (Plan C) was ruined by an extended checklist of “no vacancies” and “no rooms accessible for the dates you chose” on-line, even for accommodations with none type of charging choice. Ouch!
For a lot of households, the plain reply is to depart the EV at dwelling, burn fuel to get to Moab, and use fossil fuels to energy a campsite. However, the large plan is to get away from that and put all people in an EV, proper? So, the state of affairs the place a city solely has one CCS plug and it goes down for good after a flood occasion isn’t going to chop it.
The excellent news is that the Infrastructure Invoice supplied the funds and Utah plans so as to add not less than 4 extra stations in Moab. The dangerous information is that these stations aren’t allowed to be a excessive precedence. Federal regulation requires that the funds be spent increasing charging choices alongside interstate highways first, and different highways second. The U.S. freeway that passes by means of Moab is taken into account a predominant various gas hall, although, so I could also be improper about this assumption.
Both method, these 4 stations are more likely to take not less than a 12 months or two to finish, leaving a well-liked vacationer city (and a well-liked city for automotive information) with no CCS charging.
There’s a Fast Method To Remedy This Drawback in 2023
If you happen to’re a Tesla driver, you is perhaps considering that I used to be dumb to not simply purchase a Tesla. Whether or not or not I’m dumb might be debatable, however I wasn’t capable of get one. Again in 2018, I purchased a Nissan LEAF as a result of there have been no Mannequin 3s available at any value and I wanted a automotive. In 2022, the most cost effective Tesla was tens of hundreds of {dollars} exterior of my value vary (and the LEAF wasn’t caring for my driving wants). I’m positive I’m not the one one who wished an EV and located Tesla to be simply out of attain.
Reasonably priced or not, there’s no denying that Tesla’s charging community is much better than CCS and CHAdeMO in the USA. Tesla Superchargers coated many of the Interstate highways ages in the past, and so they’ve been in locations like Moab for years. Not solely that, however Tesla’s even constructed a second location within the city when the unique 4 stalls had been getting too busy. So (assuming you’re on a Tesla price range), Tesla’s community is the best way to go in Moab.
The nice information for us CCS peasants is that Tesla has a method to rapidly repair this downside for us: Magic Dock. For these unfamiliar, Tesla’s putting in built-in CCS charging adapters at some Supercharger websites. Poors like me (together with individuals who personal dearer CCS vehicles) can pull as much as them, launch the adapter with the Tesla app, after which use a Supercharger to cost our vehicles. Out of Spec Opinions has an ideal video displaying how this all works:
What’s nice about that is that it doesn’t require an extended, costly course of. The Tesla station doesn’t should be changed or rewired so as to add this adapter setup. Folks have seen groups from Tesla present up at a Supercharger and have the entire stations upgraded to Magic Dock inside hours. It doesn’t seem to require any allowing or utility work, both. Which means nearly any present Supercharger can get this improve rapidly.
What isn’t 100% clear is what Tesla’s technique is right here. The extra cynical individuals are saying that Tesla is barely doing this to absorb authorities cash, and that it might receives a commission for its Supercharger websites by governments provided that it permits different EVs to get a cost. The extra charitable commentators suppose Tesla is doing this to serve “the mission” (to speed up the transition to wash power). The reality most likely lies someplace in between, with Tesla having a number of motivations, and I personally suppose there’s nothing improper with chasing {dollars} so long as you’re not dishonest individuals.
In some circumstances, Tesla will wish to prioritize including Magic Dock to a web site primarily based on authorities incentives. In different circumstances, it might produce other motivations. I actually don’t know.
One Issue I Assume Tesla Ought to Take into account
My large level in writing this text is just not solely to encourage Tesla to do Magic Dock in Moab, however to encourage any Tesla individuals studying this to think about the gaps within the CCS community first (when potential). In a city the place there’s an present Electrify America or ChargePoint station with a number of stalls, including CCS functionality to the native Supercharger remains to be useful, however not as useful as it might be when Tesla does this in CCS deadzones.
Moab is only a nice instance of this. With the one CCS station completely down, a Magic Dock set up would make an enormous distinction for CCS drivers. It would even impress them sufficient to make their subsequent automotive a Tesla. There are numerous different locations round the USA the place Superchargers are the one DC quick charging stations round. In some circumstances (Willcox, Arizona, is an efficient instance), they’re actually the one EV charging stations that aren’t RV park charging.
I do know Tesla can’t make plugging CCS community gaps its first precedence, however it positive can be good if the corporate may not less than attempt to embrace plugging such gaps in its plans and do Magic Dock in these places earlier than doing it in locations that have already got nice choices for CCS drivers.
Featured picture by CleanTechnica.
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