Portland to Oregon Coast?

[nikwax]

has anyone made a Spark trip to the Oregon Coast from Portland? I'm hoping there is a way to do so, but I'm not seeing it.

 

[emv]

I have a friend who went from Beaverton to Seaside heading out 26. I think she had 5 miles left when she got there. She's a little braver/foolhardy than I. :mrgreen:

 

[nikwax]

I have a friend who went from Beaverton to Seaside heading out 26. I think she had 5 miles left when she got there. She's a little braver/foolhardy than I. :mrgreen:

she did that with a Spark? Impressive.


it's amazing/sad that there is not a single SAE charger on 26 between metro Portland and the coast. I could see a way to reach Astoria via highway 30, which would involve a few stops (it's about 100 miles but very hilly in spots).

 

[Nashco]

I can make it from Portland to Cannon Beach. If you're the nervous type, top off in Banks. There's a little grocery store, gas station, restaurant, etc. if you want to multitask.

www.plugshare.com

Bryce

 

[nikwax]

Cool...then do you charge at the RV park in Cannon Beach?

 

[Nashco]

I usually charge at Surfsand Resort and eat at the restaurant next door. Make sure to call ahead and ask for them to make the charger available, as suggested on Plugshare.

Bryce

 

[SparkMoore]

I've gone to Cannon Beach several times from Portland, and I made it there by topping off at the Fred Meyer in Hillsboro before heading west. Unfortunately, using a Level 2 charger to top off can take an hour or more. When I arrive in Cannon Beach, the range meter usually indicates 6 - 8 miles of range remaining.

When traveling near the end of your range limit, be sure to have a back up plan. I usually charge at the J1772 AeroVironment charger at the Cannon Beach RV park, but one time I got there and the Level 2 charger was being used by a Leaf. Fortunately they left within a couple of hours and I was able to get on. If a Spark EV is parked there, they could be on it the entire day! Also, the cell reception in that area is very poor, so if you don't already have a monthly subscription with Aerovironment, making a call to get them to turn on the charger may not be possible. This is worth noting for all remote charging locations. This happened to me at the AeroVironment charger on the way to Timberline Lodge as well. If you don't already have an account and a working card to swipe, making a phone call to the service provider may be difficult. The Spark's Onstar phone works better in these locations, so you may want to buy some minutes for emergencies.

I once plugged in at the Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach while eating at their restaurant, The Wayfarer Restaurant and Lounge. That charger doesn't show up on plugshare any more, so it may have been removed. You should also have a back up plan for that as well, because someone on their staff unplugged me after an hour, even though I had gotten permission from the manager to stay longer. That's a nasty surprise to come back to if you're counting on having a charge when you return. Thankfully the Spark sent me a text, so I went back to check and still had time to plug in and get back home.

My backup plan whenever going near my limit is to take my portable Level 2 EVSE with me. You can find 240V power in a lot of places, the most handy one being RV camp sites. I learned that little tidbit from a Tesla forum. There are lots of RV parks along the coast, even where there are no chargers. They can all have different plug types, so you will need some adapters as well. But when all else fails, a campsite and a level 2 charger can be your saviors.

Yes, it would be nice if there were more SAE Level 3 chargers on the way out to the coast or other natural areas. As it is, you really have to be committed to making the trip and having a back up plan. Alternatively or additionally, it would be great if you could upgrade the Spark EV to a 6.6kW On Board Charger. That could take 4 hours off of a round trip to the beach. Its the difference between making it a day trip, and making it a very long day trip, or an overnight trip.

 

[nikwax]

Would the only way to do AeroVironment be via a $20/month subscription? That seems harsh.


I do have a portable EVSE with a NEMA 14-50, that may be the solution for that part of the coast.

 

[SparkMoore]

Yeah, AeroVironment only offers their subscription service at $20/month. At least the last time I checked, that was the only way to get a card. If you can call from the charger, I think they charge $7 per charge, independent of time or electricity consumed. You just pay with a credit card by phone.

If I recall, the campsite that I used at the Cannon Beach RV Park had a 6-30R or 6-50R connector, but I think they had other spots on site that used 14-50. They do sell adapters in the RV Park Office for around $20-$25, but only had one type, so that may not work for some.

 

[ReddyKilowatt]

Just got back from a week in Bandon (on the south coast, below Coos Bay). I hadn't even thought about charging stations on the coast, but seeing a Tesla with Cal plates made me look it up on my various apps.

Unless that Tesla lives in Crescent City, I have no idea how it made it up to Bandon. Can't have come up the coast route, unless they have a friend with an EVSE somewhere. Maybe several friends with EVSE.

There are a bunch of L2 stations between Florence and Bandon, so if you can make it there (Eugene to Florence would be the likely way to go) the south coast is a possibility. There is a DC fast charge station in Coos Bay at Fred Meyer's, I think that might be the only one.

We were towing a camping trailer, so we weren't driving our Spark, although we did see a motorhome towing a Leaf on a trailer. A lot of the camp sites have 50 amp (120v, though) power, so L1 charging at one of the yurts in state parks in Brookings, Bandon, Florence is possible.

 

[nikwax]

The Coos Bay Fred Meyer is a ChaDeMo DCFC, good for a Leaf or a Soul but not a Spark. I don't think we have SAE DCFC anywhere on the coast.


50 amp power is always 220/240 volts.

 

[ReddyKilowatt]

The Coos Bay Fred Meyer is a ChaDeMo DCFC, good for a Leaf or a Soul but not a Spark. I don't think we have SAE DCFC anywhere on the coast.


50 amp power is always 220/240 volts.

We had a 50 amp breaker at our camp site but only 3 prong plugs were available for "shore power" - pretty sure that means only 120v. 240 is 4 prong.

 

[nikwax]

Not at all. You need two wires for 220/240 volt power, that is, the difference between the two is 240 volts. A third wire is provided for a neutral, so that the difference between one of the hot wires and the neutral is 110/120 volts. Modern codes call for a fourth wire as a ground wire (NEMA 14-50).

You could have 50 amp 120 volt (NEMA 5-50) but I think something more like NEMA 10-50 would be more common.

 

[nikwax]

Now I'm wondering about Portland to Lincoln City. Looks like there are some places to top up in McMinnville, then 50 miles from McMinnville to Lincoln City. There are a few L2 changers in LC. Might be worth doing when the weather clears up. Thoughts?

 

[nikwax]

Ah, and there's a L2 at the Grande Ronde gas station, so there's even a midpoint charger.

 

[Marktime]

I've been looking at the trip to Lincoln City. It seems like the most logical way would be to hit the dcfc at Roth's in Salem and the head for Grande Ronde for a quick boost just to have a nice cushion when you get there. Haven't tried it yet though