Electric Cars and Campgrounds

[nomad297]

On a different thread there is discussion of charging electric cars at campground pedestals, while towing or with generators. I didn’t want to take that thread off topic, so I wanted to ask this question here and get opinions:

When using the electricity provided by a campground, if it is not metered, is it ethical to charge your car at the pedestal without first getting permission from the management? Even if it is permissible, is this the right thing to do?

More and more electric cars are on the road every day, and I can see how they would be a very attractive selection as a toad for their (generally) light weight and low fuel cost.

However, wouldn’t this eventually result in higher campsite costs for everybody, as management would be paying more and more as time goes on and electric cars become more ubiquitous?

I have been to several campgrounds where they state “No electric heaters permitted”. I have always assumed that this is because of the additional cost to the campground for electricity, but maybe it is for safety reasons — I don’t know because I never asked.

Is this a real concern, or am I just overthinking things?

Bruce

[Spanko]

I think it is a real concern. I have never seen it but have read that there are campgrounds that mete your electric consumption and charge accordingly.

[dontay]

My nephew and his family camp out of their Tesla Model S. They have a tent that fits over the open hatchback and they run the car's a/c to cool the whole thing off at night. Some of them sleep in a regular tent, too. And of course the campground power charges the car.
Since they rarely run the a/c during the day except for baby naps I doubt they use more power than an RV running two a/c's 24/7 like we did when we camped with them last.

[18CrewDually]

If the campground advises of restrictions at check-in such as heaters then I'd ask if it would be o.k. to charge the car.
If no other restrictions I'd plug in. In cold long stays I've plugged in my diesel block heater and never had a problem.

[bubbles]

We plug the mobility scooter charger into the motorhome external TV receptacle.

[mjones12]

I've stayed in campgrounds where they required everyone to use gas for water heater, presumably to save on electricity.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by mjones12

I've stayed in campgrounds where they required everyone to use gas for water heater, presumably to save on electricity.

Might be old undersize wire to, as far as charging things, just plug in, if your not overloading your box then you are using the amount they expect, what if it is a cool day and you dont use your a/c do they give you a rebate? NO

[ResQfrog]

We charge our Ford C-Max Energi when we are camping. Highly doubt it would effect the power usage much. After 20 months on balanced budget billing we have only scene a $4.00 dollar increase in our Bill. And that's charge every day, sometimes twice a day.

[Keystoner]

As more and more campers got air conditioning and now have multiple units, campground pricing compensated. No one else pays for my gasoline or propane and I don't want to pay for another's "extra" electric usage. If a tent camper is only charging his car I think that's fair, but if an RV/trailer is running all their electric and charging a vehicle that's too much. I don't like coin-op showers and don't want to pay electric, but if campground prices came down some and I had to pay for my actual usage that would be acceptable.

[retireearly]

It appears that most electric cars that are charging on 120v (slow charger) are pulling between 8 and 12 amps, some can even select the amp draw. We are starting to see a lot of public charging stations pop up in our travels- Love's travel stops, Cracker Barrel, etc. Electric cars are coming, like it or not and if a campground's electric system can't handle an extra 12 amps I would say they have a problem to start with.

[NMWildcat]

Campgrounds will compensate. They will keep up with the times, or die. If we ran into a campground that posted 'No electric heaters or water heaters', we would not stay there. It would be like posting 'NO a/c ' in the southwest. You would have no customers. As far as electric cars, they may be coming eventually, but they are an oddity in the southwest. We see a few in major towns, but that's it. We have seen a couple of charging stations, but they are never being used. It's like NMSU, they got a grant to put in charging stations. They have been there over a year..... Never used yet. Our tax dollars at work

[caper]

The KOA that I stay at has a regular salesman stop at the campground. He rents a cabin and charges his electric car at a 50 amp campsite. The campground is 1/2 way between Toronto and Montreal. They only charge for the cabin. He uses the campsite because the cabin has electric heat and AC there is not enough amp. to charge the car.

[Flybob]

A lot depends on the type of campground. Many state campgrounds especially in the east and south have been around for a while. Although very busy they have very tight budgets as costs are rising as fast or faster than rates. Rewiring a 30A service campground for 50A service is not inexpensive. They may choose to add a few centrally located EV charging stations as that is a much lower cost. Most of the larger commercial campgrounds may have been initially wired for 50A service or may be selectively upgraded over time. It is unlikely that many of them will be impacted short term by the lack of EV charging capability as the supply of campsites has not kept up with the demand over the past few years. EV owners staying at 30A service parks will need to figure in EV charging as they manage their current demands. Putting the entire thing in perspective, the short term EV charging impact on demand is very small as compared to the impact of the increase of two and three AC's demand.

[H3N]

We’ve had the same experience as ResQfrog regarding the cost of charging our C-Max Energi at home. The total cost per month at home is slightly less than $4.00. Let’s round up to $4.00. Divide by 30 days/month and the result is $.13333. I would be happy to pay the extra $.13/ per night to cover my car charge. But since we rarely use air condo where we camp, or electric heaters for that matter, I would suspect we use less electricity per night than the average 50 amp, dual air condo RV, including the cost of the car charge.

Just my experience. Hope this helps

[nomad297]

From what I have read, the cost of the electricity to power an EV is not as inexpensive as some are thinking. For the most part, I have found that the fuel cost of an EV averages about 1/4 to 1/3 of the fuel cost for the average non-EV — there are many factors which can put the cost for the EV much higher than 1/3, but not many to put it below 1/4.

This is still money that needs to be paid by somebody at the campground. But, who? We all know it will be paid by all of us. Eventually. With the advent of RV heat pumps and electric fireplaces, both of which are becoming more commonplace, campgrounds have realized an increase to their power bills over the past few years and have begun to compensate by passing on these expenses to all of us by increasing daily prices. I know this for a fact.

I don’t mind chipping in to help keep my fellow campers comfortable and warm, but I don’t want to have to pay for the “gas” for their vehicles.

Bruce

[KFX450RXC]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

Campgrounds will compensate. They will keep up with the times, or die. If we ran into a campground that posted 'No electric heaters or water heaters', we would not stay there. It would be like posting 'NO a/c ' in the southwest. You would have no customers. As far as electric cars, they may be coming eventually, but they are an oddity in the southwest. We see a few in major towns, but that's it. We have seen a couple of charging stations, but they are never being used. It's like NMSU, they got a grant to put in charging stations. They have been there over a year..... Never used yet. Our tax dollars at work

What he said.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by KFX450RXC

What he said.

You both will have a hard time finding a campground in Upstate New York if you stick with this sentiment. Just about every campground I have been to there doesn’t “allow” electric heaters.

Bruce

[youroo]

This falls under "Pay to Play" if you use More Power than others "You Pay" Nobody Rides Free! Youroo!!

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by youroo

This falls under "Pay to Play" if you use More Power than others "You Pay" Nobody Rides Free! Youroo!!

I agree that this would be a good way to keep things fair, but the only way to do this would be having a meter at every site which would need to be read by management at check in and at check out. I don’t know how practical that would be.

Bruce

[youroo]

Our Power Co.reads our Meter "Doing a Drive By" technology is Great! Youroo!!