Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 03-01-2018, 08:14 AM   #1
Senior Member
 
nomad297's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 7,053
Electric Cars and Campgrounds

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
__________________
2016 Rockwood Windjammer 3029W Diamond Edition
2015 Chevy 3500HD LTZ 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 Long Bed 4.10:1 SRW
nomad297 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 08:20 AM   #2
Member
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Michigan
Posts: 77
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.
Spanko is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 08:26 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
dontay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 255
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.
__________________
N. Brevard County, Florida

2010 Lexington 255 GTS

2000 Jeep Cherokee Toad
dontay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 08:27 AM   #4
2007 WildCat 32QBBS
 
18CrewDually's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NJ
Posts: 2,350
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.
__________________
*Current: 2005 Ford F350 Crew Cab Dually 6.0 diesel 4x4*
*Retired: 1987 F350 Crew Cab Dually 6.9 turbo diesel
2007 Forest River WildCat 32QBBS
18CrewDually is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 08:31 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
bubbles's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,653
We plug the mobility scooter charger into the motorhome external TV receptacle.
bubbles is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 08:51 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
mjones12's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Lexington, NC
Posts: 2,621
I've stayed in campgrounds where they required everyone to use gas for water heater, presumably to save on electricity.
__________________
2018 Coachmen Apex 249 RBS
2010 Silverado LT 5.3 V8


The world is a great book, of which those who never stir from home
read only a page. - St. Augustine
mjones12 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 08:58 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
Witch Doctor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Clarksville Va.
Posts: 10,422
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjones12 View Post
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
__________________
Coachmen M/H
Concord
2018 / 300 DSC

Witch Doctor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 09:04 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Western New York
Posts: 1,331
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.
__________________
2014 Coachmen Pursuit 31BDP
2016 Ford C-Max Energi
1987 Chrysler LeBaron Convertible
FROG Member
FMCA Member #F438633 - Good Sam Life Member
Coachmens Owners Group Member
ResQfrog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 09:35 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
Keystoner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 362
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.
Keystoner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 09:56 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
retireearly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 214
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.
__________________
2017 Forester 2291S
2015 Honda Accord on Master Tow Dolly
1999 Jeep Cherokee flat tow
retireearly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 10:20 AM   #11
Senior Member
 
NMWildcat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southern NM
Posts: 9,732
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
__________________
Scott and Liz - Southern NM
2012 Wildcat Sterling 32RL - w/level up (best option ever)
2007 Chevy 2500HD Duramax
Reese Fifth Airborne Sidewinder
NMWildcat is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 01:50 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
caper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,031
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.
__________________
Terry and Janet
2008 3001W Windjammer
2007 Ford F150
caper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 02:13 PM   #13
Site Team
 
Flybob's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 15,498
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.
__________________

2015 Freedom Express 248RBS
TV 2015 Silverado HD2500 Duramax
TST Tire Monitors
Honda 2000I + Companion
2 100W solar panels
Flybob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2018, 05:29 PM   #14
H3N
Member
 
H3N's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Lakewood OH
Posts: 55
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
__________________
Three Woading Wyrding Wandering Widows
2018 XL 369DS, aka Uncle George Junior
2016 Ford CMax Engeri plug in hybrid “Kona Car” (toad)

H3N is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2018, 07:29 AM   #15
Senior Member
 
nomad297's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 7,053
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
__________________
2016 Rockwood Windjammer 3029W Diamond Edition
2015 Chevy 3500HD LTZ 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 Long Bed 4.10:1 SRW
nomad297 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2018, 07:34 AM   #16
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 820
Quote:
Originally Posted by NMWildcat View Post
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.
KFX450RXC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2018, 07:41 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
nomad297's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 7,053
Quote:
Originally Posted by KFX450RXC View Post
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
__________________
2016 Rockwood Windjammer 3029W Diamond Edition
2015 Chevy 3500HD LTZ 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 Long Bed 4.10:1 SRW
nomad297 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2018, 07:41 AM   #18
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Waynesville
Posts: 14,428
This falls under "Pay to Play" if you use More Power than others "You Pay" Nobody Rides Free! Youroo!!
__________________
youroo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2018, 07:53 AM   #19
Senior Member
 
nomad297's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 7,053
Quote:
Originally Posted by youroo View Post
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
__________________
2016 Rockwood Windjammer 3029W Diamond Edition
2015 Chevy 3500HD LTZ 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 Long Bed 4.10:1 SRW
nomad297 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2018, 08:11 AM   #20
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Waynesville
Posts: 14,428
Our Power Co.reads our Meter "Doing a Drive By" technology is Great! Youroo!!
__________________
youroo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
electric, mpg

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:34 PM.