Official looking Lightning spotted @ Yosemite Camp Curry!

[metroshot]

We drove to Yosemite on our summer trip 350 miles from So Calif as my wife had never visited.

I spotted an official looking Yosemite NP Lightning in Yosemite valley near Camp Curry.

1st: Lightning has California plates and tags - not the US Govt plates.

2nd: Since there were no L3 DCFC in the national park how do they charge ? - L2 ?

I had to charge outside the park at a Tesla Supercharger in Oakhurst, CA before arriving to Yosemite.

However, the free L2 chargers scattered around the valley was a nice benefit to top off your EV, but it was a scramble each day to find an available & working L2 charger in Yosemite.

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[TaxmanHog]

Might be an "Enthusiastic" federal employee willing to mark his/her personal vehicle with the parks name! Maybe they can charge at the park facilities?

 

[Amps]

No picture, but I saw a Carbonized Gray Metallic Lightning Pro with official U.S. Government plates at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility a couple weeks ago.

I laughed out loud and took a picture of an Ioniq5 in JeffLab's parking lot with a 'Friends of Coal' Virginia license plate. EVs are coal fired–at least, to some extent–in most of the United States.

 

[metroshot]

Might be an "Enthusiastic" federal employee willing to mark his/her personal vehicle with the parks name! Maybe they can charge at the park facilities?

Yes, that makes sense!

Any official park vehicle has either the federal government plate or state of CA exempt plate.

Must have been a Yosemite worker's personal vehicle since the plates are standard commercial DMV plates issued to regular folks...

 

[ddimit]

NPS contracts out operations to private entities for daily operations. It used to be Curry and company but is now known as Yosemite Concession Services. hence the CA Commercial plate

 

[F150ROD]

The rare Pro with Extended Battery

 

[TheBigBezo]

I saw some Pro ERs a year ago at Redstone / Marshall in Huntsville, AL. I believe the trucks I saw were NASA's and not the Armys.

 

[hikinbengal]

We drove to Yosemite on our summer trip 350 miles from So Calif as my wife had never visited.

I spotted an official looking Yosemite NP Lightning in Yosemite valley near Camp Curry.

1st: Lightning has California plates and tags - not the US Govt plates.

2nd: Since there were no L3 DCFC in the national park how do they charge ? - L2 ?

I had to charge outside the park at a Tesla Supercharger in Oakhurst, CA before arriving to Yosemite.

However, the free L2 chargers scattered around the valley was a nice benefit to top off your EV, but it was a scramble each day to find an available & working L2 charger in Yosemite.

I've visited Yosemite several times with my truck and spoke with these guys. @ddimit is right; the private concessions company bought them. They are ER pro models, and they use the free Rivian L2 chargers, the same as all the park guests. They use them for all kinds of purposes, from food service to engineers.

 

[SMMD]

We drove to Yosemite on our summer trip 350 miles from So Calif as my wife had never visited.

I spotted an official looking Yosemite NP Lightning in Yosemite valley near Camp Curry.

1st: Lightning has California plates and tags - not the US Govt plates.

2nd: Since there were no L3 DCFC in the national park how do they charge ? - L2 ?

I had to charge outside the park at a Tesla Supercharger in Oakhurst, CA before arriving to Yosemite.

However, the free L2 chargers scattered around the valley was a nice benefit to top off your EV, but it was a scramble each day to find an available & working L2 charger in Yosemite.

We saw at least 2 F150L working vehicles in Yosemite Valley last month. Both were white and one was a Lariat. Most likely owned or leased by the concessionaire, Aramark. Also, there were 10x as many L2’s in the Valley as last year and all were Rivian branded, and free, I believe.

 

[The Weatherman]

No picture, but I saw a Carbonized Gray Metallic Lightning Pro with official U.S. Government plates at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility a couple weeks ago.

I laughed out loud and took a picture of an Ioniq5 in JeffLab's parking lot with a 'Friends of Coal' Virginia license plate. EVs are coal fired–at least, to some extent–in most of the United States.

Seems like it might be time to change that slightly: ‘The Power Behind America’s PAST.’

 

[Danface]

Seems like it might be time to change that slightly: ‘The Power Behind America’s PAST.’

While it's falling quickly, coal still generates 16% of the power in the US so we all may be burning some to get around. As of 2022, coal contributes less to the grid then solar and wind so, in my mind, that's good a thing (for Yosemite and everything else )

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Might be an "Enthusiastic" federal employee willing to mark his/her personal vehicle with the parks name! Maybe they can charge at the park facilities?

As a former Civil Servant, I can tell you that no federal employee with any sense would do that and bring that truck to work. We had to be careful with bumper stickers from our agency.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

We drove to Yosemite on our summer trip 350 miles from So Calif as my wife had never visited.

I spotted an official looking Yosemite NP Lightning in Yosemite valley near Camp Curry.

1st: Lightning has California plates and tags - not the US Govt plates.

2nd: Since there were no L3 DCFC in the national park how do they charge ? - L2 ?

I had to charge outside the park at a Tesla Supercharger in Oakhurst, CA before arriving to Yosemite.

However, the free L2 chargers scattered around the valley was a nice benefit to top off your EV, but it was a scramble each day to find an available & working L2 charger in Yosemite.

I'm headed right there in August..

 

[Electric_hillbilly]

I saw some Pro ERs a year ago at Redstone / Marshall in Huntsville, AL. I believe the trucks I saw were NASA's and not the Armys.

California Army National Guard has and Reserves have a few lightings on their installations with L2 solar chargers. There is s big push on government to decarbonize

 

[TaxmanHog]

As a former Civil Servant, I can tell you that no federal employee with any sense would do that and bring that truck to work. We had to be careful with bumper stickers from our agency.

I was too, and in the field all the time, I'd NEVER have posted IRS on the side of my truck, but there's one in every bunch.....

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