Yeah, local DCFC is a bit irrelevant to many (most?) EV owners. I have never even tested my local chargers.
Great question. I live in Maine, and tried to go north a couple of years ago (had a Tesla at the time). When I got to Presque Isle, I found one charger that was a very weak parking lot charger at some public works facility. I spent several hours there getting enough charge to get back to the closest supercharger (one of the two shown in central Maine on this map). There was a supercharger in Canada (this map shows it way up north, but it's not in the US). However, we had not brought our passports, so we couldn't get to it.I was curious about a statement @Ford Motor Company made in one of their threads that claimed a Ford driver on most highways is within 30 miles of a DCFC.
I pulled data from the Dept. of Energy Alternative Fuels database. Those data are somewhat out of date (2022), but still a good enough set of data.
The heat maps below show every DoE-known DCFC within the contiguous US with a 50-, 100-, and 200-mile radius circle plotted around it.
A point of interest in the US is within straight-line range of a DCFC if it's in the maroon coloring. The darker the maroon, the more DCFC chargers within that range.
Caveats:
Not every charger is compatible with every vehicle. For example, this includes V2 brand-T chargers. Not every charger is operational all the time.
Regardless of the caveats, this is why I feel perfectly comfortable picking up and going on a road trip whenever the mood strikes. Other than the northern reaches of some midwest states, everywhere in the US is within 200 miles of several DCFC stations.
50 miles:
100 miles:
200 miles:
Being within 50 miles is cold comfort if it's not "on the way". I've been in the situation where I've been within 40 miles of one, but it was not on the way, so I figured 40 miles there 40 miles back, chilly spring day, 80% realistic charge, 1.5 hours of driving, 45 minutes of charging, it all added up to a pretty hefty overhead for a net addition of around 100 miles range.
If you can stomach using muskrat's network (I can handle a little puke in my mouth) the V3 SCs across ND are spaced appropriately even for sub zero temps. Below are my prep notes from our trip across ND last December. It was as cold as -7 and we didn't have any issues.
I misremembered. We did use SCs almost the entire way out there, until Bozeman where we used EA because SC was not near us. But the spacing is the same as the EAs and SCs are in the same cities.
Yep, as I mentioned in the first post, these data are from 2022. They're the most easily accessible, public data that can be imported into a GIS application without a lot of work and/or signing agreements that I'm not willing to sign.
I know you have posted this picture in a previous thread, but it just hit me how ironic it really is!!!I would say closer to 150 - 165 in nice weather for 70% of battery. As to speed, we were out west in an 80mph area and had no problem doing 65... Doing 60 in a 70mph zone would also be easy.
In addition to distance to a charger, it has to be a working charger. We have done trips (across North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana) where there is one fast charging location on the route. If it is down, you are hosed.
Last trip was to Bozeman, MT via North Dakota. EA across North Dakota is only option. 150 miles between Billings and Bozeman. Strong headwind. I drove 63 much of it.
From Big Sky south to Driggs, ID to ski Grand Targhee and then Jackson Hole, there were 2 independent chargers to hit. They used to be on the now defunct Juicebox network. At the first stop outside West Yellowstone, one of two chargers was broken. The other took 6 tries to work (as it did for others). In Driggs, same chargers, 2 side by side.
Then we had to head home and cut through pretty desolate area. Again, only one charger to hit, a different organization, 2 times before we got to interstate. One had been down the week prior, but I emailed them and they confirmed it was up.
Yeah, three years in technology is kind of like dog years!!
I-90 is even worse. Only V3 SC is in Gilette and that just went in 6 or less months ago. Sheridan is the big problem. Only available DCFC is a single plug Chargepoint at the Jeep Dealer. It's getting busier by the months and if it ever goes down the local campground is anti-EV and won't let you charge. Only one hotel has destination chargers and they are down most of the time.
