Experience using Destination Chargers
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From: Philadelphia, PA (USA)
2025 E53 Hybrid
Experience using Destination Chargers
I just completed a 30-day, 6500 mile cross-Country trip from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and back to Philadelphia. Other forum members may find my experience with destination chargers helpful in preparing for long overnight trips.
We stayed in Marriott properties for twenty of the days during the trip. Marriott publishes a list of hotels with EV chargers. Other hotel chains probably do the same.
https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-33854
The first driving segment of each day can start with a 100% SoC if you use hotel destination chargers. It’s not really practical to charge to a 100% SoC at a fast DC charger since doing so can easily increase the length of a charging stop to as much as 90 minutes.
Hotels with L2 EVSEs typically have between one and four charging cables available for hotel guests. Some hotels have only Tesla chargers, some have J1772 chargers, and other hotels have both.
Many hotels have installed L2 chargers without RFID or CC readers. Typically these will be Tesla, Bosch, Siemens, or Clipper Creek chargers similar to those that EV drivers install in their own garages. Other hotels feature ChargePoint L2 chargers which require a ChargePoint RFID card to initiate a charge. Personally, I prefer the hotels with ChargePoint chargers since they are professionally maintained.
On the very first night of our trip, we stayed at a hotel in Ohio with two Tesla chargers and two Bosch chargers. We arrived while it was raining and found both Bosch J1772 plugs on the ground full of mud. Thankfully, I had a Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter and I was able to charge using the Tesla EVSE. Not only were the J1772 connectors full of mud and sand, one of the Bosch chargers was not operational, and two of the charger cables on the functioning chargers were damaged with exposed wires. On the third night at this location, both Tesla chargers were in use and I cleaned up one of the J1772 connectors with some paper towels and Q-tips. I regretted doing this since using the plug did transfer some sand into the car charging port. I managed to clean the port with a vacuum and air compressor at one of our stops later that day.
On the last night of the trip we stayed at a hotel with three Siemens chargers. Two were non-operational, and the third one was connected for about 18 hours to a hybrid Jeep that appeared to be fully charged.
All of the ChargePoint chargers we encountered required an RFID card to release the J1772 connector from its holster. We were only able to unlock the connector with the black MB RFID card at one hotel. All of the other chargers required the orange ChargePoint RFID card to unlock the connector. Even though the ChargePoint RFID card was required to initiate a charging session, the actual charge was complimentary.
We found that chargers at “airport” hotels tended to be more available. We assumed that this was because a high percentage of guests at airport hotels were flying the next morning and did not drive to the hotel in an EV.
On the days that we did not stay at a hotel with a destination charger we tried to charge the car upon arrival in the area. That way we could precondition the battery before reaching the charger. If we did charge the car in the morning after a hotel stay we tried to select a charger that was at least 20 miles from the hotel so that there was time to precondition the battery before charging.
We stayed in Marriott properties for twenty of the days during the trip. Marriott publishes a list of hotels with EV chargers. Other hotel chains probably do the same.
https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-33854
The first driving segment of each day can start with a 100% SoC if you use hotel destination chargers. It’s not really practical to charge to a 100% SoC at a fast DC charger since doing so can easily increase the length of a charging stop to as much as 90 minutes.
Hotels with L2 EVSEs typically have between one and four charging cables available for hotel guests. Some hotels have only Tesla chargers, some have J1772 chargers, and other hotels have both.
Many hotels have installed L2 chargers without RFID or CC readers. Typically these will be Tesla, Bosch, Siemens, or Clipper Creek chargers similar to those that EV drivers install in their own garages. Other hotels feature ChargePoint L2 chargers which require a ChargePoint RFID card to initiate a charge. Personally, I prefer the hotels with ChargePoint chargers since they are professionally maintained.
On the very first night of our trip, we stayed at a hotel in Ohio with two Tesla chargers and two Bosch chargers. We arrived while it was raining and found both Bosch J1772 plugs on the ground full of mud. Thankfully, I had a Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter and I was able to charge using the Tesla EVSE. Not only were the J1772 connectors full of mud and sand, one of the Bosch chargers was not operational, and two of the charger cables on the functioning chargers were damaged with exposed wires. On the third night at this location, both Tesla chargers were in use and I cleaned up one of the J1772 connectors with some paper towels and Q-tips. I regretted doing this since using the plug did transfer some sand into the car charging port. I managed to clean the port with a vacuum and air compressor at one of our stops later that day.
On the last night of the trip we stayed at a hotel with three Siemens chargers. Two were non-operational, and the third one was connected for about 18 hours to a hybrid Jeep that appeared to be fully charged.
All of the ChargePoint chargers we encountered required an RFID card to release the J1772 connector from its holster. We were only able to unlock the connector with the black MB RFID card at one hotel. All of the other chargers required the orange ChargePoint RFID card to unlock the connector. Even though the ChargePoint RFID card was required to initiate a charging session, the actual charge was complimentary.
We found that chargers at “airport” hotels tended to be more available. We assumed that this was because a high percentage of guests at airport hotels were flying the next morning and did not drive to the hotel in an EV.
On the days that we did not stay at a hotel with a destination charger we tried to charge the car upon arrival in the area. That way we could precondition the battery before reaching the charger. If we did charge the car in the morning after a hotel stay we tried to select a charger that was at least 20 miles from the hotel so that there was time to precondition the battery before charging.
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Great post. Would love to hear more about the overall charging / waiting experience over the full 30 days/6500 miles. We did 1400 miles in spring break, and probably spent 25-30% more time overall in driving/charging than we would have in a ICE vehicle. This was due to longer routes with chargers and the charge time at each charger and the few phone calls that had to be made to get the charging to work properly.
Also, I curious because you mention the Chargepoint RFID card. I charged with Chargepoint on my trip, but just used the Chargepoint app which I already had on my phone because of my home charger. Never needed a card and it was plug and play. Any reason you were using an RFID card and not the app?
Also, I curious because you mention the Chargepoint RFID card. I charged with Chargepoint on my trip, but just used the Chargepoint app which I already had on my phone because of my home charger. Never needed a card and it was plug and play. Any reason you were using an RFID card and not the app?
