Month: June 2024

Over at CleanTechnica, I recently wrote several interesting articles about national parks and EVs.

First off, there’s a new EV charging station just outside of Arches National Park. Electrify America has partnered with Rocky Mountain Power to open an 8-stall station, including one dedicated pull-through stall. Plus, several others could work well for people pulling trailers with some creativity. This brings the full number of EV charging stalls in Moab, Utah to 16 for non-Tesla vehicles and 20 for Teslas.

Another interesting thing is just how many EVs I saw on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Compared to the other western parks I typically visit, there was just a crazy number of EVs. In the article, I explore why this might be.

While I was out that way, I got a chance to test out my Bolt-powered campsite. I use a power inverter to pull power from the Bolt’s battery, and use it to charge a Jackery 3000 Pro. This in turn powers a slide-out kitchen in my trailer, heat or AC for Shiftpod tents, and anything else I’d like. When there’s good sun, I also have 1200 watts of solar power available.

Sadly, I’ve had to make a number of repairs and upgrades to the trailer (you can learn more about that struggle here). I still need to make some serious improvements to get the trailer ready for its next journey out to explore the EV charging situation. If you’re interested in supporting Charge to the Parks on these journeys, please consider donating here or sharing the fundraiser with friends and family!

While the site didn’t change much in May and June, that’s only because we were busy traveling to several parks in an EV! While traveling to attend an important EV event in North Carolina, we stopped at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Since visiting, I’ve updated the page for the Great Smoky Mountains, and I created a new page for the Blue Ridge Parkway. A new page for Hot Springs National Park is coming soon.

Along the way, we towed a custom camping cargo trailer about 4,000 miles, which really tested the limits of our Bolt EUV. This is obviously not an ideal travel setup, but it does show that EVs, even budget ones that charge slower than others, are up to the task and people can have a good time.