Useful charging accessories for road trips

[Deleted member 7736]

Apologies if this has already been covered. I tried searching as well as scrolling through several pages of this sub-forum and didn't see anything directly covering this.

I'm planning my first long-ish trip in the Taycan next weekend. Roughly 350 miles each way from the SF bay area to the LA area and back. ABRP shows that I can get there with two stops at EA stations, so in theory all is good, however I'd like to have at least some basic accessories with me to protect against the more common pitfalls one might encounter when trying to charge on the road. So far, I have an 80A TeslaTap (with two small padlocks), as well as a 20 ft. J1772 extension cable, which gives me some additional flexibility if I need to charge at a L2 charger or Tesla destination charger while in the LA area. Anything else I should consider adding to the kit? I'm not planning to bring my PMCC with me, FWIW, so not taking a NEMA 6-50 extension or anything like that.

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[PDACPA]

You might want to check out this thread( @daveo4EV has some great info for what to bring):

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/ev-roadwarrior-adapters-“kit”.1364/

Also search for posts from @tigerbalm. He had an amazing trip in his Taycan not long ago and might have some tips in his post that he documented here. Especially his planning.

 

[Deleted member 7736]

Thank you. I have scanned the thread you linked, and it seems that most of that discussion centered around adapters/extensions if carrying your own EVSE. Since this is a quick weekend trip and I'm staying at a hotel in the LA area, I'm not anticipating coming across any available open 240V outlets to charge at, so I'm not planning to carry my own EVSE - just planning to "live off the land," so to speak, and charge at whatever DC fast chargers and/or L2 chargers at hotels I come across. So my question was aimed mostly from that perspective, but it's interesting to read about everyone's approach on longer trips.

 

[submatrix]

You should be fine. One thing I would recommend is checking the status of those stations on PlugShare the day before or even the day of your trip, just so you're aware if there is an issue with one or more of the stalls not working.

 

[Deleted member 7736]

Great tip. Thank you.

 

[jkoya]

While not actually charging accessories, I brought along ancillary items such as: disinfection/cleaning wipes (have seen some pretty nasty cables/plugs at the charging stations), shop/paper towels and spray bottle with water or cleaner to clean the windshield. Also snacks and drinks if charging late at night when everything is closed. Have fun on your road trip !

 

[satchurator]

Not accessories per se, but I would suggest signing up for and installing mobile apps for your ‘plan B’ regional L2/L3 players, e.g. EVGo and ChargePoint. If you have a change of plans / encounter broken chargers / have unexpected opportunities to charge, having these already set up might save you time and annoyance if you otherwise had to do it on the fly.

 

[Deleted member 7736]

Thank you - yes, I already have ChargePoint and EVGo accounts set up and ready to go, as there are a few of those chargers around here in our downtown area that make for convenient parking spots on busy days when all the regular parking spots are taken.

 

[daveo4EV]

Apologies if this has already been covered. I tried searching as well as scrolling through several pages of this sub-forum and didn't see anything directly covering this.

I'm planning my first long-ish trip in the Taycan next weekend. Roughly 350 miles each way from the SF bay area to the LA area and back. ABRP shows that I can get there with two stops at EA stations, so in theory all is good, however I'd like to have at least some basic accessories with me to protect against the more common pitfalls one might encounter when trying to charge on the road. So far, I have an 80A TeslaTap (with two small padlocks), as well as a 20 ft. J1772 extension cable, which gives me some additional flexibility if I need to charge at a L2 charger or Tesla destination charger while in the LA area. Anything else I should consider adding to the kit? I'm not planning to bring my PMCC with me, FWIW, so not taking a NEMA 6-50 extension or anything like that.

if you are not concerned about 240v outlets then you don’t need much other than apps setup and ready to go

tesla tap or similar is useful for accessing tesla chargers at hotels and businesses

 

[PDACPA]

My bad on not realizing you were not bringing your charging gear

I had an unplanned trip and we were meeting up at a hotel. They had two Tesla L2 and a Clipper Creek free chargers. I used the Clipper Creek to add 20 miles while we waited, but did have my Tesla Tap with me had that spot been taken so Dave is right on that point (mine is under the tray in the trunk).

Second and Triple the have the accounts set up. We hit Electrify America that had six stalls, 3 broken and the other 3 had vehicles with no owners nearby (in a mall). Tried an EVGo that was not too far away, but I did not have the app set up and was having issues getting it set up. I was not that low on juice so I scraped it and found an EA on the way home. Have them all set up now!

 

[Klepper]

I would bring a J1772 extension cable. I had to use mine on two different trips as the spots in front of the hotel's EVSE were taken by ICE cars. I had to park a few spots down and use my J1772 extension cable.

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