Total Eclipse anyone ?
- Thread starter Cosmo Cruz
- Start date
I have booked a room and dinner at Bent's Opera House. We may change plans and head further East, after looking at cloud cover on the national weather service site. Or, since you can't get to Vermont from New York (apparently Atiiiiaidoueroundacks ... whatever that is).
I spend a few hours trying to find a way to Plattsburgh (has an EA charger) from Binghampton. No.
When we got to this motel, the Bates Motel, (off the highway ) we were the only ones here. They have a Level II charger (27 mph). I was told the place is booked. This is how far South of Syracuse one need to go to find a room. Everyone is going to this one.
I spend a few hours trying to find a way to Plattsburgh (has an EA charger) from Binghampton. No.
When we got to this motel, the Bates Motel, (off the highway ) we were the only ones here. They have a Level II charger (27 mph). I was told the place is booked. This is how far South of Syracuse one need to go to find a room. Everyone is going to this one.
I'm sorry to see only four Lucids are daring to brave charger hell to see the eclipse.
Gutless and sad. At the EVolve charger in South Binghampton : 2 Kia, one Volt, one Volvo. all going North.
I must have the only Lucid in Pennsylvania !
Gutless and sad. At the EVolve charger in South Binghampton : 2 Kia, one Volt, one Volvo. all going North.
I must have the only Lucid in Pennsylvania !
Though there’s the potential for double counting, all together we had at least nine Lucids spotted in VT and NH for the eclipse. @dsherris, Nick, and I were in Stowe, and @Bunnylebowski ran into several Lucids at the (horrendous) EA chargers in Lebanon, NH.
More importantly, I was able to drive home along country backroads using 50% charge over 220 miles and 5.5 hours without hypermiling on our way back.
More importantly, I was able to drive home along country backroads using 50% charge over 220 miles and 5.5 hours without hypermiling on our way back.
There were at least two other Lucids there, myself and a friend stayed in Tunbridge and drove up to Cabot for viewing. The town hall parking lot in Cabot had a level 2 charger so he added a few miles of range while we watched the eclipse. A friend reported that on Saturday there were 18 cars in line for the 3 working EA chargers in Lebanon.
Hopefully those northeastern states were paying attention and using this to tell where they should put their NEVI money. The biggest issue for all of us was the Lebanon, NH charger. Not even because it's terrible and broken (though it could use some improvement for sure), but because there just aren't any other 150+ kW CCS chargers around, so it became the bottleneck to the entire northeast. I did hear from a Rivian employee who was there charging that they plan to put in an Adventure Network station nearby soon, so that'll be a good start.
Other than that, charging was a breeze throughout the weekend. I used EA, EVolve NY (also EA), Flo, and "Charge Port" from a local VT electric company throughout the weekend without issue and without lines. Had a great time crashing @Dortreo's eclipse party too.
Other than that, charging was a breeze throughout the weekend. I used EA, EVolve NY (also EA), Flo, and "Charge Port" from a local VT electric company throughout the weekend without issue and without lines. Had a great time crashing @Dortreo's eclipse party too.
The Tesla Superchargers were not faring much better. In the St. Johnsbury, VT, chargers, they were passing out numbers to folks and got up to 150 at one point... One Tesla driver reported he arrived at the charger at 6:00 PM and did not get out of there till after midnight. Welcome to the charging desert that is northern New England. (This is why I bought a Lucid).
@dsherris and I were able to use the single not-terribly-fast (45 kWH) charger at Ben & Jerry’s before they opened thanks to a crusty but understanding security guard. That made all the difference, as we were then able to hook up to a couple of L2 chargers in town for long enough that we had no need to charge for the drive back to Boston.
The thing with eclipse chasing is that it takes serious planning. That means booking a hotel well in advance (We got ours over a year ago), arriving a day early, and staying until the day after.
Drive in and charge before the crowds arrive and again after they’ve all gone. Problem solved.
Otherwise, trying to charge during any sort of rush like this is bound to leave you massively frustrated and potentially stranded.
Rent an ICE car for the day if you can only do a day trip during an event like this.
Oh, and you’ll have to book that rental a year out, too.
Drive in and charge before the crowds arrive and again after they’ve all gone. Problem solved.
Otherwise, trying to charge during any sort of rush like this is bound to leave you massively frustrated and potentially stranded.
Rent an ICE car for the day if you can only do a day trip during an event like this.
Oh, and you’ll have to book that rental a year out, too.
Or zero planning and sleep in your car / tent.
One night we shared a “camp site” with one other person. The rest of the time we were alone and all was quiet. Couldn’t be happier. There was only competition at the one charger, too. The rest of the time I plugged in immediately. For now all you have to do in the northeast, it seems, is accept paid chargers slower than 150kW. There are 50-100 kW chargers all over the place that were empty. I used a 100kW charger just south of Stowe twice, and even on Monday, nobody was there. Drove by it again on the way out Monday night, still empty. Especially with most non-Lucids, the extra 50kW isn’t going to make an appreciable difference anyway.
