[agorski]

So I recently did my first road trip of around 250 miles total from central AZ up to the Grand Canyon and back. I decided to stop at all the EA stations along the way to get used to DC fast charging.

First stop: Williams AZ. Just plugging in the car didn't auto-negotiate anything. Open the BMW App and select "Charge Here". Nothing shows up. Great. Used a credit card for a total of $6.98 just to top up a little.

Second stop: Tusuyan AZ at the South Rim Visitor Center. No auto-negotiate when I plugged in, but used the app to start the charging and that worked fine.

Final stop: Flagstaff AZ. This is where it gets weird. Used the app to select "Charge Here". 1 station shows, not the one I'm parked at. On a hunch, I change the selection from 350KW to 150KW. Now a different station shows, not the one I'm parked at. Change the selection to 50KW and the station I'm parked at finally shows. So I start charging there and get the full speed charging, much higher than 50KW.

Now I'm wondering if anything at Williams would have shown up if I diddled with the settings.

[LVBMW]

Have you verified the EA contract is showing in the car under and plug and charge and is toggled on?

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by LVBMW

Have you verified the EA contract is showing in the car under and plug and charge and is toggled on?

That is definitely key! I made sure the contract was loaded into my car before leaving the dealership and that I had a screenshot of my enrollment code from my phone when we activated it.

Granted, I have yet to try DC fast charging, but hope to soon (just to make sure it works before needing it during a road trip).

[agorski]

Originally Posted by LVBMW

Have you verified the EA contract is showing in the car under and plug and charge and is toggled on?

I’ll have to check when in the car. It’s active in the app and I’m pretty sure it’s automatically charged in the past. Managing my EA account in the app shows the two free charging sessions.

[LVBMW]

Originally Posted by agorski

I’ll have to check when in the car. It’s active in the app and I’m pretty sure it’s automatically charged in the past. Managing my EA account in the app shows the two free charging sessions.

The contract has to be downloaded to the car and enabled in the charging menu under plug and charge. I would have a look in iDrive to verify.

[agorski]

Originally Posted by LVBMW

The contract has to be downloaded to the car and enabled in the charging menu under plug and charge. I would have a look in iDrive to verify.

The contract was there but the Plug and Charge switch was off. Thanks!

[LVBMW]

Originally Posted by agorski

The contract was there but the Plug and Charge switch was off. Thanks!

There ya go! Now it should work…

[tsbrown]

Question for EV owners who do long interstate highway trips. I know this isn’t the best use-case but….where do you recharge along the highways?

I’m driving my G30 540i through Ohio and PA on the way to MA on a 1000 mile trip I do twice a year and while there are gas stations at nearly every exit (duh!) I have yet to see any EA, Tesla, etc charging station signs. Maybe it’s all shown on the app but how is this done in the US when I saw lots of EV charging along the autobahn in Germany last year.

It’s one of the reasons BEV/PHEV doesn’t work for me. But I still want to know what the future looks like if/when I have to buy one.

[agorski]

Since you get 2 years free charging at Electrify America stations with a new BMW EV, I’ll use them as an example. My trip discussed above was a 315 mile loop which had 3 EA stations spaced along it. Even out west where I am there’s adequate spacing of EA stations along interstates.

BMW has also added Plug and Charge capability for Shell Recharge. With this single account you can use Shell Recharge, EV Go, EV Connect, Chargepoint, and Blink stations.

There’s a cool app called Chargeway that is accessible via CarPlay in the car which is a trip planner that I configure to show only the above listed charging stations. No problems in long drives finding the juice.

Try going to the EA website and look at their map of stations.

[LVBMW]

Originally Posted by agorski

Since you get 2 years free charging at Electrify America stations with a new BMW EV, I’ll use them as an example. My trip discussed above was a 315 mile loop which had 3 EA stations spaced along it. Even out west where I am there’s adequate spacing of EA stations along interstates.

BMW has also added Plug and Charge capability for Shell Recharge. With this single account you can use Shell Recharge, EV Go, EV Connect, Chargepoint, and Blink stations.

There’s a cool app called Chargeway that is accessible via CarPlay in the car which is a trip planner that I configure to show only the above listed charging stations. No problems in long drives finding the juice.

Try going to the EA website and look at their map of stations.

FYI you no longer receive two years of free 30 minute charging sessions with 2025 models. It’s now a limited number of KWh depending on the model.

[Scrapula]

This is a free phone app called plug share. You can specify charger type, number of stalls, charger voltage, whether it is a stop with food, user ratings, etc. It’s very useful.

[LVBMW]

Originally Posted by agorski

Since you get 2 years free charging at Electrify America stations with a new BMW EV, I’ll use them as an example. My trip discussed above was a 315 mile loop which had 3 EA stations spaced along it. Even out west where I am there’s adequate spacing of EA stations along interstates.

BMW has also added Plug and Charge capability for Shell Recharge. With this single account you can use Shell Recharge, EV Go, EV Connect, Chargepoint, and Blink stations.

There’s a cool app called Chargeway that is accessible via CarPlay in the car which is a trip planner that I configure to show only the above listed charging stations. No problems in long drives finding the juice.

Try going to the EA website and look at their map of stations.

Also, Plug and Charge does not work for Shell Recharge. You can sign up for various charging services through Shell Recharge in the my BMW app as you mentioned, but it will not be Plug and Charge. As of now, only EA is confirmed as Plug and Charge capable.

[tsbrown]

Originally Posted by agorski

Since you get 2 years free charging at Electrify America stations with a new BMW EV, I’ll use them as an example. My trip discussed above was a 315 mile loop which had 3 EA stations spaced along it. Even out west where I am there’s adequate spacing of EA stations along interstates.

BMW has also added Plug and Charge capability for Shell Recharge. With this single account you can use Shell Recharge, EV Go, EV Connect, Chargepoint, and Blink stations.

There’s a cool app called Chargeway that is accessible via CarPlay in the car which is a trip planner that I configure to show only the above listed charging stations. No problems in long drives finding the juice.

Try going to the EA website and look at their map of stations.

So are these charging stations typically right off the interstate like gas stations or do you have to go a mile or so out of the way to reach them? With gas stations being immediately off the exit there’s little reason to stop for one that isn’t. First world problems.

Are the Shell recharge stations at the same location as the gas stations? I stopped at a couple on the way and didn’t notice any charge points. But I wasn’t looking for them at regular gas stations. And do most hotels have charging stations on-site?

As for my old tech pre-LCI 540i (no mild hybrid), it averaged over 33 mpg for the 1000 miles, average speed of 67 mph including gas stops but usually had cruise control set 10 over the limit.

[Scrapula]

Originally Posted by tsbrown

So are these charging stations typically right off the interstate like gas stations or do you have to go a mile or so out of the way to reach them? With gas stations being immediately off the exit there’s little reason to stop for one that isn’t. First world problems.

Are the Shell recharge stations at the same location as the gas stations? I stopped at a couple on the way and didn’t notice any charge points. But I wasn’t looking for them at regular gas stations. And do most hotels have charging stations on-site?

As for my old tech pre-LCI 540i (no mild hybrid), it averaged over 33 mpg for the 1000 miles, average speed of 67 mph including gas stops but usually had cruise control set 10 over the limit.

No, the Shell Recharge are not at regular Shell stations. Most of all charge points are at retail store parking lots. That is changing however. All the big truck stops - Flying J, Love’s, Buc-ee, Pilot, are adding stations. These are all off of freeways,

[Trevor G]

I recently finished my first road trip in my i5 M60. 427 miles from Long Island NY to Buffalo NY. Left on a Saturday afternoon to avoid major traffic. Ride was beautiful! Car planned route had me charging 10 and 15 minute quick charges. Every stop however I cancelled the route and charged to 80%. This added maybe a total of 10 minutes to the entire trip but I wanted to be sure I could get to another station if the one I was at failed to work or was crowded. EA worked perfectly for me at all stops. On the way up I saw a black shadow in the road in front of me so I took a quick glance at the forward camera display in instrument panel and I could see clear as day it was a deer crossing the interstate. Put the flashers on and slowed down. About 3 other cars on the road at that time and we waited for the deer to cross safely before resuming.

[Trevor G]

I did learn that going faster did not save me time also. 65 to 70 mph did not over tax my battery and charging time was significantly shorter. This of coarse was on the ride back to Long Island Going up was about the same amount of time but was traveling a lot faster and also charging longer.

[tsbrown]

Originally Posted by Scrapula

No, the Shell Recharge are not at regular Shell stations. Most of all charge points are at retail store parking lots. That is changing however. All the big truck stops - Flying J, Love’s, Buc-ee, Pilot, are adding stations. These are all off of freeways,

What’s the business model for choosing truck stops to add EV charging? It makes sense from a location and space perspective…right off the interstate/highway (sorry, I never learned “freeway” living in the eastern US). Love’s is the standard according to a friend in the trucking industry. And Buc-ee’s seems to be a destination stop.

[Scrapula]

Originally Posted by tsbrown

What’s the business model for choosing truck stops to add EV charging? It makes sense from a location and space perspective…right off the interstate/highway (sorry, I never learned “freeway” living in the eastern US). Love’s is the standard according to a friend in the trucking industry. And Buc-ee’s seems to be a destination stop.

Truck stops have a lot of food, snacks, fast food restaurants, etc. They want to get those $$ from the people charging EVs. A lot of people pump gas and leave, but let an EV charge for 30 minutes and that person will go inside and most likely spend money.

[agorski]

Originally Posted by tsbrown

So are these charging stations typically right off the interstate like gas stations or do you have to go a mile or so out of the way to reach them? With gas stations being immediately off the exit there’s little reason to stop for one that isn’t. First world problems.

Are the Shell recharge stations at the same location as the gas stations? I stopped at a couple on the way and didn’t notice any charge points. But I wasn’t looking for them at regular gas stations. And do most hotels have charging stations on-site?

The 3 EA stations I used were located in different places:

Williams AZ - in town in a motel parking lot away from I40.
Tusuyan AZ - at a visitor center with food and an IMAX theater right on the 2 lane highway.
Flagstaff AZ - in town in a Walmart parking lot away from I40.

A lot of interstate motels have level 2 AC destination chargers like you would have in your garage. Slow, but good for charging overnight while you sleep. Some of these are no cost.

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by Trevor G

I recently finished my first road trip in my i5 M60. 427 miles from Long Island NY to Buffalo NY. Left on a Saturday afternoon to avoid major traffic. Ride was beautiful! Car planned route had me charging 10 and 15 minute quick charges. Every stop however I cancelled the route and charged to 80%. This added maybe a total of 10 minutes to the entire trip but I wanted to be sure I could get to another station if the one I was at failed to work or was crowded. EA worked perfectly for me at all stops. On the way up I saw a black shadow in the road in front of me so I took a quick glance at the forward camera display in instrument panel and I could see clear as day it was a deer crossing the interstate. Put the flashers on and slowed down. About 3 other cars on the road at that time and we waited for the deer to cross safely before resuming.

That's a great story about the deer! Makes me think that maybe I should put the AR view in my instrument cluster sometimes - especially at night I guess.

Originally Posted by tsbrown

What’s the business model for choosing truck stops to add EV charging? It makes sense from a location and space perspective…right off the interstate/highway (sorry, I never learned “freeway” living in the eastern US). Love’s is the standard according to a friend in the trucking industry. And Buc-ee’s seems to be a destination stop.

The 3 Electrify America locations in my town of about 250,000 people are:

1. In a Walmart parking lot. About 2-3 miles from the I5 freeway.
2. The parking lot of our biggest mall. About 4 miles from the I5 freeway.
3. The parking lot of a large shopping plaza. Maybe half a mile from the I5 freeway - this plaza is one block away from the freeway.

[tsbrown]

Originally Posted by Scrapula

Truck stops have a lot of food, snacks, fast food restaurants, etc. They want to get those $$ from the people charging EVs. A lot of people pump gas and leave, but let an EV charge for 30 minutes and that person will go inside and most likely spend money.

Makes a lot of sense. And very similar to what I saw in Germany, except I would call those more a rest stop with restaurant than truck stops. Must have had 20-30 cars charging. It’s forcing a rethinking of what a “fuel” stop looks like. Will be interesting to see how it evolves.