The Electric Ice Cream Mountain Test – CleanTechnica

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It was time for another summer New England road trip. Our plans were to head to Waitsfield, Vermont, home of Mad River Glen ski area (“Ski it if you can”),  and stay at a family member’s vacation home. Of course, driving my 2017 Chevy Bolt EV would be a mountain test, as we would move from our Connecticut elevation of 627′ to nearly 2500′ at the top of Roxbury Mountain. We would need to break the four hour jaunt into two parts, with the goal of locating available fast charging near the interstates and managing the range as the upward climb would drain the battery more quickly.

Part 1: Successful Fast Charging at the Hilton in White River Junction

With over 5,000 miles on the new Bolt battery, the dash reads about 250 miles of range when the battery is full. The plan on the trek north to the Green Mountain state was for one pit stop, and we would build in just under an hour for the fast charging to fully replenish the battery. Like many road trippers, we sought fast chargers, as they deliver much more power to the car’s battery than the Level 2 chargers that most EV drivers use at home or work. Generally, fast chargers reach the 80% level in roughly half an hour, more or less.

Hubby identified the Hampton by Hilton in White River Junction. It was about 2.5 hours from CT at that point, and by arrival we had used about 170 miles of range. We slowly meandered through the multi-level parking lot, and I started to wonder if this was a fool’s errand. Then — voila! — the Flo fast charger appeared as I rounded the corner.

This was one of the best charging experiences we have had on the road since I bought the Bolt.

The Flo app recognized my account, I tapped a couple of screens, and the electrons were on their way. Inside the hotel, the desk clerks were quite welcoming. They offered us access to the hotel’s WiFi and home baked chocolate chip cookies. The clean restrooms and comfy lobby were a gift to us while we were on the road.

Kudos, Hampton and Flo!

We returned to the EV refreshed and headed with confidence further north into Vermont. We climbed up and over mountains on loose gravel roads and eased down the other sides into verdant valleys with glinting streams.

Part 2: Level 1 Charging as We Tooled around in the Chevy Bolt

Hubby pulled into the Mad River Lookout and parked the Bolt. While I grabbed the refrigerated items, hubby snooped around and located an exterior electrical outlet. With a fairly long extension cord, that Level 1 outlet provided the majority of our charging while we were away from home. Sure, it was quite slow, but it sufficed, as we plugged in and hung out on the side of the mountain, watching the light change through the umbrella of mature firs and deciduous trees.

We explored the region, starting in Waitsfield with the Mad River Glass Gallery and the Artisan’s Gallery. We expanded our tour to adjacent towns and ended up at Ben and Jerry’s Factory. The colorful attraction was filled with areas like the Scoop Shop, the Flavor Graveyard, and a playground for children. There were also free Level 1 chargers! (There was a Flo fast charger, but it was already filled with EVs.) So we plugged in, took the factory tour, ate some sample Mango ice cream, and had a bit of silly fun while we grabbed some electrons.

Later in the week we were invited to visit a new friend in Peacham, Vermont, which is located in the southern tier of the Northeast Kingdom. Jock’s historic home is an electrified wonder (and you, dear reader, are sure to learn more about this feat of engineering in a future CleanTechnica article). He kindly plugged us into a Level 2 charger in his barn, his own Hyundai Kona EV parked nearby. We toured and chatted and later lunched at the Three Ponds Sandwich Kitchen (I ordered the vegan Tempeh Bahn Mi and found it quite delicious. I also definitely recommend that you try their Maple Creemees for dessert — a local wonder!).

As our vacationing was coming to an end, we felt quite satisfied about our ability to charge at relative leisure and to feel no stress about getting to any destination we desired with battery charge to spare.

Little did we know what our return home would be like.

Part 3: What? No Level 3 Charging, even tho’ the App Said So?

The Flo station in Pomfret, Connecticut is situated in a really rural community but is located on a route that connects fairly major roads, and we really like to stop there for a fast charge. As the summer evolved and I became more and more comfortable taking road trips in the Bolt, I began to choose the Flo app as a one-stop way to locate charging stations.

Being rather a type A person, I took some time the day before we departed our mountainside oasis to seek out chargers along Interstates 89 and 91, which would bring us close to our summer Connecticut home. I used the Flo app and filtered to “for my Bolt EV,” “FLO,” “DC Fast,” and “available.” After a bit of swiping, I located a really snazzy trip planner that took me to Brattleboro, Vermont — about halfway home. I consulted with hubby, and we agreed that it would be the destination of choice for the road trip home.

I used the Flo app “Plan trip” option for directions and arrived a bit over two hours later. Again, a series of interconnected parking lots took some careful study, but we eventually found the charging station. It had two charging cables, but only one was designated for Bolt’s J1772 compatible plug. It wasn’t even a Flo charger. Another driver was standing in front of it, waving his iPhone and stomping slightly. Hubby rolled down the window when the frustrated EV driver came over, who kindly offered to find another charger so we out-of-staters could charge.

We declined his generous offer and headed to another purported fast charger, this time in Greenfield, Massachusetts. We’d arrive with about 80 remaining miles of expected charge, which would be sorta acceptable. It would also be necessary that we get charged there, as we probably couldn’t make it home on the buzzing interstate.

We found the charger in the Big Y parking lot after a couple of rings around the entire facility. It was a ChargePoint Level 2 charger. At that point, we had no choice. I logged into the ChargePoint app, clicked a couple of screens, and began charging. Fairly quickly afterward, I received a message saying that, while the first 45 minutes of charging was free, the next hour would rise to $3.00 an hour. While still reasonable, that charger would take hours to get us up to a point where we’d be at even half charge. So we added 15 miles, got free electrons, and crawled home at 60 mph in the right lane of the interstate.

The dash noted that we had about 18 miles of charge left when we pulled into our delightful cabin in the woods by the brook.

Final Thoughts about an EV Mountain Test Trip

Today at home I studied the Flo app a bit more studiously. I realize now that the filters are a bit like idiot lights on my old 1967 Camaro — icons of things that might be but may not necessarily be. I will need to be a better fast charging planner for future road trips. Then again, this summer’s charging experiences as a whole on the road were much more positive than last summer’s, and it’s likely that next summer will be even better.

Ah, the eternal optimist…

“We really don’t have a fast-charging infrastructure today,” David Slutzky, founder of Fermata Energy, which builds vehicle-to-grid charging systems, told Bloomberg. Charging networks are building faster and larger stations in the US, although it’s not soon enough for those of us who already own EVs. Automakers now seems to be realizing that max charging rate is a deciding factor for car buyers, and they are accentuating the option on coming models.

“We still see a lot of discrepancy between what the customer is expecting and what they’re seeing at the site,” says Anthony Lambkin, vice president of operations at Electrify America. “The great news is we have a lot of new drivers, and this is just one of those learning-curve things.”