Fitting in a charging station meant for a car 😖

[Pjlightning]

Found myself having to stop in unexpectedly to an EA charging station at WalMart today, to get a boost to reach home, and barely fit the lightning into the space.

Shoe-horning an 80k Truck into this awkward space without an inch to spare was a high anxiety feat I won’t soon want to repeat.

With larger EV’s on the road now, it seems the next generation of charging stations will need far larger berths designed into their layouts.

I can’t imagine having gas stations laid out this way to fill-up the masses.

Kinda crazy :

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[BennyTheBeaver]

Next time park perpendicularly...let the charge company hear it from the irritated car owners.

 

[tomjackbear]

Buckland Hills?

First time I went there I skipped charging because it was so tight + traffic. Next time was around 9pm and I got in the space ok but the cords + bollards made it a pain.

It is unfortunate because that area around the mall is a sea of parking lots with plenty of space.

 

[Mike G]

We have all sorts of room at the EA chargers at my Walmart. That is so strange that it's that tight there. How bizarre.

 

[RickLightning]

Shown in PlugShare pics - https://www.plugshare.com/location/251951

 

[Pjlightning]

Buckland Hills?

First time I went there I skipped charging because it was so tight + traffic. Next time was around 9pm and I got in the space ok but the cords + bollards made it a pain.

It is unfortunate because that area around the mall is a sea of parking lots with plenty of space.

Buckland Hills indeed !
Our trucks are so big that we really need to have no cars parked opposite the charging space in order to have room to align the truck to fit in these spaces.

And as you say, this is a busy place.

It just seems with all the money it must cost to build these sites, they would make certain to make them as accessible as possible…..
Like Widening the spaces by 10 feet rather than using a standard size parking space.
Someday…..let’s hope.

For now it’s a real crapshoot of whether the trucks will fit, and whether the charger is working

 

[Pjlightning]

Shown in PlugShare pics - https://www.plugshare.com/location/251951

yep, that can be a useful site.

it’s so hard to judge from PlugShare pictures if the places around the charging spaces are positioned in such a way that getting the right angle is possible with a truck that’s nearly 20 feet long.

If there’s a rack of shopping carts across from the space you need to pull into, you’re really up for a challenging entry (while drivers are waiting to drive past in the parking lot).

especially given that there’s a decent chance that not all of the chargers are working, the pickings can be slim for what you have available, and since everyone’s EV’s have charging port doors at different spots on their vehicles, a “righty” or “lefty” spot can cancel out options too.

I think we’ll look back and laugh at what we had to deal with here in 2022 with full size EV trucks in a car sized EV world.

 

[Ffxdude]

My problem over here is the volta stations at the grocery stores - they're way too short. Tried to use one and about 3 ft of the truck was hanging out into the lane.

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