What is the expected etiquette of EV charging station hosts?

The only public EVSE within 40 miles: Valley Nissan in Yakima, WA

On a trip to Yakima this week, for my grandfather's memorial, we found ourselves in a bit of an EV charging pickle.

Typically, the trip to Yakima from the Seattle area is fairly straightforward: top off at Bellevue College DCQC, two-thirds charge at the DCQC at The Summit at Snoqualmie, and wrap it up with a session at the Suncadia Lodge DCQC outside of Cle Elum, WA.

There is some strategy with that final charging session at Suncadia. If taking the Canyon Road from Ellensburg to Yakima, the trip from Cle Elum to Yakima really can be done with about a 50-75% charge, depending on travel speeds and weather.

For this trip, we decided to charge to 90% at Suncadia Lodge. The thinking was that we would arrive in Yakima with about a 40% remaining charge, and could recover the needed energy for the return trip the next day with a trickle charge overnight at our hotel in downtown Yakima following that afternoon's memorial service. We goofed, though, as our trip planning and timing underestimated the effects of heavy rain and standing water on the roadway, and the subsequent severe impact on the range of the car and on traffic volumes.

So when departing Suncadia an hour later than expected, we knew that we'd have to drive much faster to make it to Grandpa's memorial service in time. As we zipped along I-90 into Ellensburg, my wife and I strategized: "Do we trickle charge at the memorial and leave the car there while having family shuttle us around to the different services and events? Should we try and Level 2 charge at the Nissan dealership in Yakima after the service? Should we do a combo of one of the aforementioned options?" Basically, we knew that we were up the creek once we arrived in Yakima.

We arrived at 12:56pm, just four minutes until the service started. Our battery charge was down to an extremely stressful 4%. During the service--what a fantastic celebration of life, by the way--we plugged in to trickle charge at the funeral home. The hour-ish of charging gave us just enough juice to make the 6.5 mile roundtrip, very slow speed, drive to the cemetery for the military service and back to the funeral home for a reception with family and friends.

Yes, even LEAF families are race car drivers at heart!

And after another hour and a half of trickle charging, we decided to try our luck at Valley Nissan of Yakima. We pulled into the dealership at 5pm, and there was an unobstructed Level 2 charging station right there at the front of the sales center. We plugged in, and within moments, dealership personnel were there to greet us. The staff at Valley Nissan reassured us that it would not be a problem at all to continue the charging session after the dealership closed in an hour.

After talking a bit longer with the Nissan staff, a manager approached us with a key fob to a brand new Altima. He said that he'd feel better if we took the time needed to complete our LEAF's charging session and drove in the Altima to get a bite to eat and check in at our hotel.  Wow--what service! After showing us where the after-hours key drop was located, we drove off, in a very nice 2015 Nissan Altima.

So compelling was the incident, it got us thinking: As EV drivers, what are our expectations for the charging station hosts? Chevrolet and Nissan won't be the only EV game in town for much longer. Soon, KIA, Honda, Ford, Toyota (gasp!), VW, and BMW dealerships will be installing charging infrastructure.

So often, folks focus on what is proper etiquette for EV drivers, however, there is a wide range of behavior and rules from car dealerships hosting EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment), that it begs the question:

"What is the expected etiquette of EV charging station hosts?"

I'm going to take a stab and say that car dealers hosting EVSE should provide unobstructed, 24-hour access. That's it for us, but others have different expectations.

• Should EVs from different manufacturers be allowed to charge at a competitor's dealership EVSE network?
• Should there be a fee for charging (Level 2 & Level 3) for those who do not buy their EV at a particular dealership?
• What about blocking or locking up the EVSE until the EV driver asks to use the station?
• Will dealerships/manufacturers start offering concierge services, providing loaner cars on a temporary basis while drivers are EV charging?

Clearly, Valley Nissan of Yakima went far beyond all expectations...what are your expectations?

Nissan LEAF Crosses Mountains, and Journeys Through Life

Tipsoo Lake at the summit of Chinook Pass.

Five years ago, my family drove to Yakima to celebrate the marriage between my, then 85 year-old, grandfather to his beloved gal, Lorraine.

Grandpa and Lorraine make a remarkable story; somehow the two of them found each other after laying to rest their lifelong spouses years and years before. And they, the spunky, full of life folks that they are, decided to get married!

We wanted to forego the doldrum of driving Interstate 90 to get to their wedding. This was before EV Life, so the adventure of covering long distances in an electric vehicle hadn't presented itself yet. In the forefront of our minds, then, was a desire to drive over the fantastically beautiful Chinook Pass. It was an early July trip, with snow still on the ground in spots at the 5,430ft. crossing. That drive, in the summer of 2009, really stuck with us...

Chinook Pass is a mountain road like few others. From Enumclaw (750ft.), the elevation climbs steadily for 35 miles. Then, over the next 10 miles, the drive is equal parts white-knuckled and jaw-dropping. The altitude increases so rapidly over this last section before the summit that the ear popping seems like Pop-Its being dropped incessantly inside the car. And the view? Well, Mt. Rainer, the most glaciated mountain in the lower-48, looms less than 12 miles away. Yes, Chinook Pass is bucket list worthy.

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Now in their 90s, and both with deteriorating health, I knew that time was waning in seeing Grandpa and Lorraine. We would be heading over to celebrate life, similarly like we had celebrated love with them on the trip in 2009. The symbolism of driving across Chinook Pass to see Grandpa and Lorraine for possibly a last time seemed so fitting. I just had to figure out how to make a successful trip in my all-electric Nissan LEAF.

I've heard rumors of somebody driving their LEAF in the Mt. Rainer region, but had not talked with anybody who had successfully driven the 100 mile west-to-east trip from Enumclaw to Naches (both on their respective ends of Chinook Pass). 

The trip was surprisingly simple! We charged to 100%, via a combination of DC quick charging and Level 2, at a Blink charging station in Auburn, WA. Then, drove 15 miles to the last EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) in Enumclaw for a "top-off." 

Ford to the Nissan rescue!

There are two documented public EVSE in Enumclaw, but only one being user-reviewed on the ubiquitous PlugShare app. That EVSE, located at Art Gamlin Motors, is a 15 amp unit. Even though I only had to recover about 20% of the battery charge, doing so at 15 amps sounded dreadful in my 30 amp capable LEAF. So I gambled and headed to Fugate Ford in Enumclaw, and was pleasantly surprised to find a great 30 amp Level 2 charging solution!

From Enumclaw, we had that magnificent 45 mile drive to the summit of Chinook Pass, then another 32 mile drive east of the pass before arriving at Squaw Rock Resort & RV Park (which, itself, is about 20 miles from Naches). I had fortunately reached out to the management at Squaw Rock before leaving, and they were very much open to the idea of an EV charging at a vacant RV plug-in site. 

Squaw Rock Resort & RV Park

At Squaw Rock, our kids played with some other children at a small playground there in the campground while I walked around a bit to take in the scenery. The flora of Washington state east of the Cascade Range is noticeably different than that seen on the western slopes where we live. Take the ponderosa pine needles seen in the above picture; those needles must have been at least 10 times the size of the Douglas-fir needles that we are accustomed to!

And after about an hour of charging, when a wicked storm started blowing through, it was those pine needles that started becoming tribal blow darts whizzing by with every gust. We quickly took refuge in the car, and ended up departing soon thereafter with a 40% charge.

We drove into Yakima without trouble, and soon went to visit Grandpa and Lorraine at their assisted living home. They just loved seeing the kids, and it was a very special moment for us all. I am so grateful for having those moments with Grandpa, Lorraine, and our family. 

Best burgers in the west: Miner's!

After our visit with Grandpa and Lorraine, we decided to eat dinner at Yakima's finest eatery--Miner's. Miner's is an interesting story. There is seemingly only two kinds of folks who know of the burger joint. Those people from Yakima, and those who travel to Yakima for sporting events. Yes, with its unbelievable capability of serving voluminous servings of food to voluminous numbers of costumers, Miner's has carved itself a niche market for feeding every single soccer, baseball, basketball, and marching band group that passes through town. The spectacle of watching so many people herded through the burger joint is only second to how delicious those MASSIVE hamburgers are.

Canyon Road, Connecting Selah and Ellensburg, WA

The next day, I decided to take a more leisurely drive home via Ellensburg and Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90. We've driven this route several times, and frankly, it is a rather easy drive in an electric car, as it can be driven with the sole use of DC quick charging stations the entire trip. 

From Yakima, a Nissan LEAF driver would have to be suicidal to drive along I-82 into Ellensburg. The high speeds of desert travel, coupled with range killing hills that also serve as speed ramps for the largest of tractor trailers--wherein it is a sport for them to gather as much speed as possible on the downhill sections to provide the big rigs momentum to make it easily over the next large hill--make this roadway quite dangerous. Seeing that the hill cycle repeats, again and again, over 30-plus miles, makes I-82 completely out of the question for current technology EVs. Actually, it would be suicide-by-EV to drive I-82. 

The alternative was to drive the splendid Canyon Road connecting Selah (Yakima) and Ellensburg. It is an awesome drive, that just so happens to be easy on the battery pack charge too. 

Once in Ellensburg, though, the driving plan changed for us. Instead of cruising along I-90 to the DC quick charging station at Suncadia Lodge in Cle Elum, the pull of The Drive directed me to take State Route 10 that parallels the interstate highway. A first for us, driving WA-10 became one of the highlights of the entire driving weekend. With a forest of deciduous trees on both sides of the road, the fall colors illuminated our afternoon drive with a multitude of oranges, yellows, and gold.

While cruising along in beautiful silence on the 16 mile stretch of WA-10, it hit me. I was intentionally driving slower than the freeway speed option over on I-90. I was intentionally prolonging our return home. I was intentionally driving like EV driver! 

Driving like an EV driver? EV driving will, for some time, carry a negative connotation that is (was) associated with driving a first generation modern electric vehicle. That view, believing that driving the byways and side streets of America is a recipe for driving insanity is simply one perspective of the experience. And to further explain why I have grown to love the EV driving experience, our next destination on the trip demonstrated that pleasure perfectly.

Roslyn: A Northern Exposure Oasis

When we arrived in Cle Elum, I again decided to take a different path. Instead of driving right to the charging station at Suncadia Lodge, we diverged to Roslyn. Roslyn is a great destination in of itself, gaining rise in popularity with the loyal viewers of the early-90s T.V. show Northern Exposure. After cruising the town, I put in Suncadia Lodge into the car's navigation. Surprisingly, the "Shortest Route" directed us through uncharted roadway. The LEAF's battery charge was getting low, but not to the point that I had to navigate the off-map areas. However, the adventurer in me was all in!

I seem to always end up on "primitive roads!"

When the pavement ended, I stopped the car to have a moment of reflection. With a low battery charge, I could not afford to drive too far on the primitive road if we had to eventually back track to make our destination. With a snapped picture and high-fives to the kids, we set out on the gravel roadway.

Harvest Festival Extravaganza!

In a complete surprise, we came upon a field full of festivities for families. Who needs to charge a car when such fun can be had?!? So, we pulled over and played. It was awesome! 

With the EV Driving Experience, stumbling onto an event like this is not as rare as one may expect. We have come across many cool activities such as the one found on this particular day. Which leads me to the "True Life: I drive electric vehicles" reality. Driving current-technology EVs affords drivers the experience of living the life of a traveler, not the "mileage hero" road warrior. 

Life is being lived by people everywhere, and there certainly are visual wonders of nature that are off the beaten path. When one is traveling, there is an intense appreciation in experiencing those moments, those cultures, those wonders along the way. That is the EV Experience for the time being. Going all-EV means to go all in. The EV Experience is not about making time, it is about experiencing life in all of its wonderful beauty and differences. 

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Nuts & Bolts: Chinook Pass Data

Slow Speed is Key to Mountain Driving

The above graph is a rough visual showing the elevation, speed, and GIDs (1 "GID" equals 80Wh) between charging stops in Enumclaw and Naches (Squaw Rock). 

The driving plan was quite simple: Drive no more than 35mph from Enumclaw to the summit. 

Once the steep downhill started on the eastern slope of Chinook Pass, I would shift into neutral to build speed. Then, at about 10mph over the speed limit, shift into either Drive or Brake mode, depending on how steep the gradient was. When the brake regeneration slowed the car down to about 5mph below the speed limit, shift once again into neutral and do the cycle again. Once the elevation flattened out, rendering the "shift neutral" technique useless, cruise control was set to 50mph to finish out the leg to Squaw Rock. 

The 45 mile trip from Enumclaw to the summit consumed about 17kWh of charge, and the 32 miles from the summit to Squaw Rock consumed about 1.4kWh of charge.

Can an EV Make the Trip to Yakima?

For my grandfather's 91st birthday, I thought it would be nice to take Sabrina and Charlie to see Great Grandpa in Yakima this past weekend.  Tanya and I haven't visited Grandpa since owning an EV, and frankly I was always concerned with the feasibility of the trip with our kids.  With the successful BC2BC trip under my belt, I figured that if a LEAF can cover the "EV Badlands" of California, where there isn't a J1772 or CHAdeMO for hundreds of miles in much of the state, then visiting my grandfather in Yakima ought to be doable.

Before leaving, it looked like we would be okay to CHAdeMO quick charge all the way to Cle Elum. However, successfully traversing I-82 from Ellensburg to Yakima seemingly would require some Level 2 time in Ellensburg.  When asking for route options from fellow LEAF owners on the Seattle owner's Facebook site, there were suggestions to travel along the Canyon Road instead of I-82.  Avoiding the steep terrain of I-82 sounded good--the Canyon Road was the way to go!

The Canyon Road from Ellensburg to Selah is such a beautiful drive!

This trip was also the first time that I would use the data logging feature from the LEAF Battery application.  This Android app was developed by "Turbo3" from the My Nissan Leaf forum. Using this app was a critical part of the successful BC2BC drive, and having it for the drive to Yakima would be important so that I would not end up stranded on the side of the road with a two and five-year-old.

Not only did we successfully make the trip from Lake Stevens to Yakima, but it was downright easy! We utilized only CHAdeMO quick charging--Level 2 charging in Ellensburg was not necessary at all.

Here is how it looked:

Bellevue College DCQC to Snoqualmie DCQC

We did a long charge at Bellevue College, leaving with 267 GIDs @ 92% State of Charge ("SOC" hereafter).  I wasn't sure if we could make it to the Summit at Snoqualmie with a more typical 80% charge.

We arrived at the Snoqualmie summit with 70 GIDs @ 33% SOC remaining.  Driving at 60 m.p.h., this is an easy leg in the summer, and can probably be driven in the winter too.

Snoqualmie DCQC to Suncadia Lodge DCQC

Even with a quick charge to just 199 GIDs/71% SOC at Snoqualmie Pass, it was way more than what was needed to drive to Suncadia Lodge at 60 mph.  I could've made up some time by driving this leg at 70 mph or charging less at the Summit.  We arrived at Suncadia with 70 GIDs/33% SOC.

Suncadia Lodge DCQC to Yakima via Canyon Road

It is a good thing that Tony Williams amended the rules of the "100 Mile Club" because, with an elevation profile like this, I could've driven all the way to Goldendale on a single charge.  Note that the ~800 foot uptick at the end of this leg was due to Grandpa's home being actually outside of town, up in the Naches Heights area.

Back at the Suncadia Lodge, we did an hour-long charge and departed with 280 GIDs/96% SOC. Pulling into Grandpa's place, the battery was at 111 GIDs/45% SOC.  When we arrived into Yakima, there was still more than half of the battery charge remaining--charging to 80% at Suncadia would be more than enough to make the summer time drive into Yakima possible.

The return trip was even easier--we only quick charged twice.  Driving from Yakima to Suncadia is no problem, again driving the Canyon Road.  We arrived at the Suncadia Lodge with 47 GIDs/24% SOC. In the winter time, I recommend driving on WA-10 from Ellensburg to Cle Elum to avoid the freeway speeds of I-90.

The CHAdeMO at the Summit is proving to be a great location.  We made it back home to Lake Stevens (~75 miles) with just an 80% charge, driving 65 mph from the Summit to Issaquah, then 60 mph on I-90/I-405/I-5 the rest of the way home.

Taking our gas car to Grandpa's house used to take four hours, with a couple of stops along the way for our kids.  On this trip with the LEAF, it took five and a half hours to get to Yakima, and five hours for the return.  If we were to take advantage of doing the minimal charging needed at the CHAdeMO stations, the trip to my grandfather's house could be done in just about the same time that it took us to drive using our gas-powered vehicle.  Now, that is amazing!

Three Pass Blast!

Ask somebody who owns a Harley what the Three Pass Blast is in the Cascades and you'll be entetertained by stories of motorcycle riding across the three primary mountain passes in Snohomish and King Counties: Stevens Pass, Blewett Pass, and Snoqualmie Pass.

At 4062', 4101', and  3022' respectively, having a blast on "The Blast" while driviving an EV presents a potential challenge not considered by the weekend warrior motorcycling crowd. The West Coast Green Highway has EV charging stations sprouting up from the Puget Sound area to connect both sides of the Cascades with Level 3 Quick Chargers.  With this electric car infrastructure in place, driving from, say, Everett to Leavenworth to Snoqualmie Pass and home again should be possible.

For this trip, I wanted only to charge to 80% at each station to be as time conscious as is realistic on this 265 mile excursion.  At Quick Charging stations, the LEAF default charges to 80% to promote battery longevity.  Sure, it is easy to get a full charge at a Level 3 station, but doing so would take an hour instead of the typical 25 minutes to charge to 80%.

At each stop, I collected some basic data to share with fellow LEAF drivers.  Let me just say that it is almost an embarrassment to post the number of battery bars used to travel in a LEAF, as the car's display is truly a guess-only affair.  Without a proper GID meter, though, this ballpark reading may serve some bit of usefulness to other LEAF owners.

Some points from the chart need clarity.  I had the AC blowing the entire trip.  Yes, running the AC in warm weather is massively more efficient than having the heater on in the winter.  I had a close eye on the energy consumption of the climate control and it ranged from 0 kWh to 1.5 kWh, with the average probably about 1.0 kWh for the day.  Second, the Low Battery warning (~12 miles of range remaining), was only hit once--pulling into Suncadia Lodge.  Third, the trip from Cle Elum to the top of Snoqualmie was a horrific experience!  As you can see in the chart, the battery was getting warm.  There were actually eight temperature bars when we pulled out of the Suncadia Lodge parking lot.  I drove at 55 m.p.h. on I-90 from Cle Elum to the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass which helped to get the battery to cool, but I truly was public enemy number one to the folks driving home over the pass after a nice weekend east of the mountains.  I had so many trucks road raging because of my snail's pacing that I was having flashes of Steven Spielberg's Duel haunting me.

How to get 100 Miles of Range?  Drive Downhill.

This ties in with my final thoughts on the average speed.  For most of the trip, I went the speed limit.  The only other times that the speed limit was not maintained was on the stretch from Skykomish to Stevens Pass (55 m.p.h.) and the final 10-ish miles leading up to top of Blewett Pass from Leavenworth.  On the way down from the Passes, I frequently shifted the car into neutral and coasted at the speed limit, shifting into "gear" only to activate the regenerative brakes.

Beyond going geek today, I was a dad!  My five year old daughter, Sabrina, joined me for this trip.  As for being a fun experience for the two of us to enjoy, today was a resounding success!  Needing to stop every hour, or so, has some great benefits...it slows you down.  For those who know me professionally, having a full day to be present with my daughter is a real blessing.  Slowing down is not my usual modus operandi.  

We Actually Built a (Small) Sand Castle

While charging in Skykomish, we played along the Snohomish River.  Who ever takes even 15 minutes to pull over in Skykomish to walk the town?  It was awesome.

Today, I fell in love with Leavenworth all over again.  When bombing across the Pass and stopping in Leavenworth for food, we typically stop at Heidleburger Drive-In.  Sure, the grub is good, but we stop there nearly every time because it's the first food stop in the town when traveling from the west.  Today, we ate at the Leavenworth Sausage Garten.  It is every bit as fast-food as the Drive-In, but it was a change.  A change that wouldn't have happened unless we had to charge!

On Your Mark.  Get Set.  Go!

While looking for a park for Sabrina to play at in Leavenworth, we stumbled upon an Easter egg hunt...at the Suncadia Lodge, we went on a "bear hunt" (a.k.a. hiking trail) and enjoyed stunning panoramas of the Yakima River...at the Summit at Snoqualmie, Sabrina and I had some care-free moments in the snow.  Before owning an electric vehicle, we never took the time to enjoy these places like this.  Today was casual.  There was no worry about hitting the tourist spots like what happens when these places are the destination.  Instead, our stops today gifted us with the time to recharge.  It was perfect.