RV park charging / required adapter(s)

Chevy Spark EV Forum

Help Support Chevy Spark EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

oilerlord

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2015
Messages
50
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a Spark EV, and drive it home from California to Edmonton, Alberta. There are an abundance of L2 sites around, but there are segments of the journey that I'll need to top off at RV parks. I had coffee with a friend that did exactly this, and said that "RV parks are your friend".

Apparently, most RV parks use a NEMA 14-50 plug. My dryer outlet in my garage at home is a 6-15 plug. I'd like to buy one EVSE, and with the adapters required for both locations. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to help a newbie out.
 
Do you have to drive it, or can you tow it using u-haul car dolly and your own gas car? L2 is not fun as it'll take 5+ hours. I suppose with careful planning, it can be done.

But if you insist on doing it, "aerovironment turbocord" is the best IMO. There's 120/240 dual mode version. You can buy higher power version if you plan to get another EV that charges more than 3.3kW (SparkEV is only 3.3kW). However, it's a portable EVSE, which might make it "ugly" for home use (ie, mounted on wall)

You can buy some adapters at home depot (hardware store) in a pinch. Here's an adapter that MAY (or may not) work with turbocord and RV parks.

http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&products_id=20&zenid=ag921b57md5ceqjb30fpgttok6

For CA, it may be possible to go all the way from Mexico border to Oregon border using DCFC along freeway 101.

http://sparkev.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-great-trans-california-ev-race.html

But you should get eVgo account. Since you won't be using it much, get the "free" one (I think $5 for card). I also recommend other "free" accounts: chargepoint, greenlots, blink so you have even more options. Semacharge is optional as they cost money to sign up. Who knows? Maybe you'll end up moving to CA! :lol:

http://sparkev.blogspot.com/2015/05/public-chargers-in-socal.html
 
oiler,

Are you sure you researched this?
I show SFO to Alberta as 1478 miles and 24 hours of non stop driving.
Even IF there were charging opportunities every ~75 miles, think of it as 'Drive 1 to 1.5 hrs. Stop for +5 hrs'. DCFC will help initially but you will soon be away from those.

I borrowed a buddy's SUV and rented a Uhaul dolly (one-way/ $125) and still spent a fortune on gas to bring mine home from 800 miles away, 1600 RT.
You could rent a truck or van capable of towing if you can't call in a favor from a buddy with a truck.
Maybe you could rent the truck and dolly one-way from Uhaul (expensive, I'll bet). Plus the airline ticket to get there.

I salute you if you pull this off!! You should start your own blog on this adventure.
How many days are you estimating? Do you have AAA? You'll need a Plan B.
There was a post here about a used Canadian Spark EV that was really nice with stock back up camera and better outside rear-view mirrors. Maybe more of those fleet vehicles will be on the Canadian market soon.

As for dual voltage EVSE's. You can fabricate a selection of the adapters you will likely need to mate with whatever EVSE you get.
I went with a kit built Juicebox from EMW. I'm not sure if they still sell kits. The stock EVSE can be modded to handle dual voltage, but that won't help you now.

Good Luck !!
 
NORTON said:
DCFC will help initially but you will soon be away from those.
Looking at plugshare.com, he might be able to get to Canada border with DCFC except for stretch between Portland OR and Tacoma WA. At Vancouver, there's at least one greenlots DCFC. Rest of the way will be tough, L2 / RV campgrounds. I think one week would be enough time, 2 or 3 days in US, rest in Canada.

But you're right. Using car dolly and gas car would be whole lot easier, though not as much "adventure".
 
oilerlord said:
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a Spark EV, and drive it home from California to Edmonton, Alberta. There are an abundance of L2 sites around, but there are segments of the journey that I'll need to top off at RV parks. I had coffee with a friend that did exactly this, and said that "RV parks are your friend".

Apparently, most RV parks use a NEMA 14-50 plug. My dryer outlet in my garage at home is a 6-15 plug. I'd like to buy one EVSE, and with the adapters required for both locations. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to help a newbie out.



How about buying a 14-50 EVSE, such as the ClipperCreek, and then adding a 14-50 outlet to your garage? I think you would wear out the dryer receptacle plugging/unplugging it a lot. If you are going to plug/unplug, maybe change the dryer receptacle to 14-50 and replace the dryer cord with a 14-50 cord. I think that would be more reliable and cost less.
 
BTW, there is a substantial federal tax credit for the EVSE unit and installation, and some states have a tax credit as well. In Oregon, it is 25% of the total, and the federal is I believe 30%.
 
Thanks for the replies.

As mentioned, there is a dark area between Portland & Tacoma, though there are a couple of RV parks that could supply a L2 charge between those cities. Otherwise, you can do L3 all the way from Northern California to the border. I did consider renting the U-haul trailer and doing a one-way truck... too expensive. I think the trip could be made in 4-5 days though shipping it all the way to my door would cost ~$1500 and save time, cost of a flight, hotel rooms, and the prospect of white-knuckle range anxiety or the embarrassing call to AAA for a tow.
 
If your car has a DC charger inlet, then I think it's a no brainer to drive it. Sure, there are a couple of spots that you'll have to charge at Level 2 chargers, but generally speaking I-5 now has SAE chargers all the way up. If you are strategic, you can schedule some overnight stays where the L2 chargers are so you get some rest during the slow charge. Sounds like a fun adventure that your friends will be asking about for years!

EV road trips can be a bit aggrevating if you're in a rush and can only drive about 2 hours at a time. However, if you accept that you're on a casual road trip and give yourself plenty of time, you'll find it's actually pretty fun. Hook up the Bluetooth and make some calls to friends you haven't talked to in a while. Bring a book to read or binge on some Netflix shows that you've been meaning to catch up on while you're charging. Make a point of taking a walk and seeing something nearby as often as you can when you're stopped, there's lots of neat things to do even if it's just stopping at a local diner for a cup of coffee or a milkshake.

If you decide to make a trip, I've been making a spreadsheet to help with just that sort of trip that I'd be glad to share with you. It has inputs for how much heating and cooling power are needed, the charger power available, usable kWh, and approximate steady state efficiency of the vehicle at 5 mph increments. Ultimately, this will help you pick the best target speed depending on the distance to the next charger and the power the charger can deliver in order to get the quickest trip distance (including charging time). This sort of thing would normally be splitting hairs for a regular commute, but if you can save 5 minutes per charge it starts to add up to a significant time savings for a very long drive. This will also give you a clear bogey to hit for mi/kWh between charges if you are nervous about hitting your next charging station.

If I was more handy, I'd turn it into an app we could all download like the Leaf guys have done, but I'm not that handy. ;)

Bryce
 
oilerlord said:
..I did consider renting the U-haul trailer and doing a one-way truck... too expensive. ....
A U-haul dolly is all you need. Mine was $125 for an 800 mile one-way rental.

Doesn't your cousin Bernie, with the pick up truck, that you helped move several times in the past, owe you a favor?
Anything with a tow hitch, well, a 3000 lb rated tow hitch, will do.

It won't be as big of an adventure, but you'll be back home with your new car many days sooner.
 
NORTON said:
A U-haul dolly is all you need. Mine was $125 for an 800 mile one-way rental.

Doesn't your cousin Bernie, with the pick up truck, that you helped move several times in the past, owe you a favor?
Anything with a tow hitch, well, a 3000 lb rated tow hitch, will do.

It won't be as big of an adventure, but you'll be back home with your new car many days sooner.

Except that it's a 1500 mile one-way trip from Edmonton to Northern California...so tack on at least two full days of driving "Bernie's" truck (plus fuel & hotel rooms) just getting there. I'm leaning towards going for the adventure option and enjoying the drive. I've got lots of airline points, so the one-way flight to Cali would be taken care of.

I had a coffee with a fellow member that did this drive with his Spark EV that last summer. Great guy.

https://plugndrive.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/california-to-alberta-the-story-of-a-chevrolet-spark-ev-owner/
 
Nashco said:
If you decide to make a trip, I've been making a spreadsheet to help with just that sort of trip that I'd be glad to share with you. It has inputs for how much heating and cooling power are needed, the charger power available, usable kWh, and approximate steady state efficiency of the vehicle at 5 mph increments. Ultimately, this will help you pick the best target speed depending on the distance to the next charger and the power the charger can deliver in order to get the quickest trip distance (including charging time). This sort of thing would normally be splitting hairs for a regular commute, but if you can save 5 minutes per charge it starts to add up to a significant time savings for a very long drive. This will also give you a clear bogey to hit for mi/kWh between charges if you are nervous about hitting your next charging station.

Bryce

That's a nice offer. I may take you up on it! :D
 
oilerlord said:
....I had a coffee with a fellow member that did this drive with his Spark EV that last summer. Great guy.

https://plugndrive.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/california-to-alberta-the-story-of-a-chevrolet-spark-ev-owner/

Interesting beginning, middle but the end to that story is really quick.
I'm looking forward to you writing a better story !! Are you going to blog about your adventure? You could do it from the road!
Are you packing a tent, sleeping bag and pad for your 'RV' stops? The car would not be that great for car camping.

How did that guy get to the DCFC units that were 100 miles apart? He doesn't mention that. 35-40 MPH on the highway?

This gives me the itch to try a road trip!
I wonder, what is the lightest 3.5 kW/ 240V gas generator?
 
Ryan wrote about the adventure here:

http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3964

He said the trip should be a little easier this time around because there is more L3 chargers available on the way to the border. At that point, the trip gets longer because I'm limited to 3.3kW charging for ~600 miles. I wouldn't want to do this without AAA.
 
oilerlord said:
... I wouldn't want to do this without AAA.
Are you saying you may take the 'Tow of Shame' on purpose? And you have the premium service that can tow you ? 100 miles? I know I do.
Will you need a 'cover story'?
Shhh,,,, we won't tell...... Maybe I can do that as part of my road trip plans...
 
NORTON said:
oilerlord said:
... I wouldn't want to do this without AAA.
Are you saying you may take the 'Tow of Shame' on purpose? And you have the premium service that can tow you ? 100 miles? I know I do.
Will you need a 'cover story'?
Shhh,,,, we won't tell...... Maybe I can do that as part of my road trip plans...

That is an idea...get a tow "on purpose". No, I'd just like AAA because I'd be doing some of the trip through mountains so that ~90 mile range would be significantly reduced. Ryan ran out of juice by not factoring in elevation.
 
Back
Top