Driving into the Kansas charging abyss this weekend

[rlbussard]

The DC "fast" charger that is furthest south heading out of KC is a 26KWh charger at a Harley dealership. The price is $0.05 per minute which is $30 per hour. If you got a full 26 KWH in that hour it would be at best $ 1.15 per KWh. Yikes.

Maybe not too bad if you are charging an electric Harley. Not so good for a Lightning.

$42.76 for 46KW in 1 hour and 43 minutes. It's $0.42 per minute. They advertise it as a 62KW charger, but I think it's spilt between the J-1772 and Chademo. On one of the sessions I was able to get up to 30KW, but the others one just 26KW.

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[rlbussard]

As stated Highway 75 should be avoided. If you do take the turnpike. There are supposed to be DC Fast Chargers at all the turnpike rest areas in Kansas. I haven't stopped to check them out but I know they have them at some of the stops. Towne East Square which is not far off of the Turnpike in Wichita has EA DC fast chargers.

In early October I going from Dallas to Emporia Kansas for a week to play disc golf for the whole week. The last time I made that trek about 18 months ago, there wasn't a DC fast charger on the direct route, but this time around there is one in the middle so it should shorten my time.

 

[jerock]

Welcome to Emporia. We had the professional disk golf championship here this last weekend. Stop by and say high when you’re here. You can charge on my 14-50 outlet or maybe my 80amp if it’s delivered by then.

 

[greenne]

Yeah, I kind of skim around that area. I come down I-88 to Binghamton, NY, then I-81 S through Scranton and Wilkes-Barre to I-80 W. Plenty of chargers on that route.

I do wish there were more chargers on the East side of Harrisburg. I go down i88 to i81..then 15 south to Gettysburg.

The Scranton charger is a bit off highway, prefer to deep charge in Harrisburg since we stop there for food anyway.
(The only dcfc in area is way west of town-- Carlisle)

 

[Theo1000]

Have you used the EV Go charger at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park? I figure I'll re-charge there on arrival.

Yup! It works fine with the Lightning. I think I tested Marianne.

I live in KS side as well but tend to take the 49 connection to Tulsa, Austin, etc. There is a large gap on the Wichita side between El Dorado and KC. On 49 to 44 I can consistently drive at 80 mph no concerns...

Would definitely be interested in how your trip up 75 goes. Do post a follow up.

 

[p52Ranch]

Yup! It works fine with the Lightning. I think I tested Marianne.

I live in KS side as well but tend to take the 49 connection to Tulsa, Austin, etc. There is a large gap on the Wichita side between El Dorado and KC. On 49 to 44 I can consistently drive at 80 mph no concerns...

Would definitely be interested in how your trip up 75 goes. Do post a follow up.

I'll be taking 75 to Independence and then jump over onto 169. (A bit of road construction north of Chanute will have me on some gravel roads for 9 miles. 169 is a much more direct route for us than 75.

Ideally for me there would be a fast charger off of I-35 at Ottawa. DCFC at Emporia and/or Ottawa would really help out on that I-35 gap.

 

[Theo1000]

Ideally for me there would be a fast charger off of I-35 at Ottawa. DCFC at Emporia and/or Ottawa would really help out on that I-35 gap.

Sigh! You and me. Many a post has been made about this gap and where a charger should sit for years and years now. There is one coming up about 20 miles south of ottawa on a state sponsored site. That should help when its up.... ...your tax dollars at work.....

 

[jerock]

If your highlighted one at Matfield Green is the one you are saying is 20 miles south of Ottawa that's not even close. The Matfield Green & Belle Plaine are the chargers on the Turnpike. Belle Plaine is South of Wichita & Matfield Green is between Wichita and Emporia on the Turnpike. I haven't checked them out but they are installed.

 

[Theo1000]

I haven't checked them out but they are installed.

Hmm. This would be news to me. I drove through there about 2 months ago and not even the grass had been disturbed! That's super quick if they did it in 2 months. Way to go.

 

[jerock]

I stand corrected. The charger I drove past is the Towanda Turnpike rest stop which is just north of Wichita. The Topeka rest area just east of Topeka has theirs installed also.

 

[p52Ranch]

I’ll give a more detailed update later. Quick update. Left Bartlesville with 100% charge. Drove a conservative 62 mph (3 mph below the speed limit. Arrived at the Overland Park DC FC in 3:46 and covered 194.5 miles. 22% SoC remaining.
The GoM was still playing catch-up and only showed 44 miles of range. I had been averaging 25 miles for each 10% of charge. So 250miles of range at highway speed is feasible. No wind. 90 degrees when I left and 70 degrees when I arrived.
I’m driving an XLT SR. It showed 2.4 miles per KWh.

 

[p52Ranch]

Discovering the inanity of charging station design. When I arrived a Tesla was charging which prevented me from connecting. Two Fords can charge at one time or two Teslas can charge but not one of each.

 

[Toby57]

Newby here. I do not have an EV.
Do Tesla chargers work on the Lighting?
If so, there are at least a dozen less than a half mile from the south Wichita exit on the I 35.
The Belle Plain service center I drive by almost daily. I think I will swing in and see what kind of charger they have.
Edit to add the Belle Plain charger would probably be the same as the Towanda one.

 

[p52Ranch]

Newby here. I do not have an EV.
Do Tesla chargers work on the Lighting?
If so, there are at least a dozen less than a half mile from the south Wichita exit on the I 35.
The Belle Plain service center I drive by almost daily. I think I will swing in and see what kind of charger they have.
Edit to add the Belle Plain charger would probably be the same as the Towanda one.

Tesla supercharger stations (DCFC) currently only work on Tesla cars. Elon Musk is working to open up Tesla stations to other vehicles. Tesla cars can recharge and CCS or ChaDemo DCFC chargers.

A J1772 adaptor plug will allow a Tesla home charging station to charge other vehicles.

Ford EV's use CCS as the DCFC plug.

Kansas City only has two (non-Tesla) DCFC locations that will deliver more than 50 KWh. One is in Overland Park KS and one is in Independence MO. Hard to believe for a metro area of 1.7 million people.

 

[Toby57]

Thank you. It does seem odd there are only two in that large area.

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