Expanding EV charging in Yosemite

[paulgipe]

Prior to my most recent trip I also sent an email to the Tioga Gas Mart/Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, pointing put the need for L2 or better DCFCs there. Got an email back saying they'd been trying to get charging for two years, and that they were currently waiting for an engineering firm in Mammoth to finish their planning and/or permitting work. They suggested I contact the firm, so I sent them an email but haven't heard back. Emails being easy to ignore, I'll probably follow that up with a letter in a bit.

Thanks Guy. That's much needed. Mein Gott is that place busy. A DCFC would be ideal but anything would be better than nothing. They must pump an enormous amount of gas there.

I didn't see the kiosks at the old gas station in Toulumne Meadows but there was too much heavy vehicle activity for me to pull in. There was also fresh oil or asphalt too.

We hope they get the tent cabins open next year. It's been three years now.

Paul

[GRA]

I pulled into the T. Mdws. store parking lot the first time to look at them, but was able to pull into the old gas station lot the last time as it was mostly empty, and had a better look.

At the very least I hope they get the road finished this year. Sitting for 15-30 minutes waiting for the next convoy past the one-lane section is pretty tedious, especially on the way home. And then you get stuck in a line behind someone determined to drive 32 in a 45 mile zone who won't pull over under any circumstances, ignoring the 12 cars stacked up behind them, and this after having already waited until after 4 to enter if you don't have a reservation (this year you need one just to enter the park between 6-4 even if you're only driving through, owing to the roadwork). BEV passing ability helps, but that's a band-aid.

[GRA]

Semi-related, and concerning for anyone who's ever eaten at the Deli and wants it to stay just the way it is:

The best gas station food you’ll ever have is at the Mobil in the Eastern Sierra After 27 years, this beloved gas station in the Eastern Sierra is listed to sell for $16.5 million

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/e ... -read-more

[paulgipe]

They need that station and the restaurant. Not much in that area. Lee Vining is pretty limited. We ate at the deli a couple times while staying in Lee Vining.

Paul

[GRA]

On my recent trip into Yosemite Valley in a Bolt EUV (see https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic. ... 75#p627475), I charged at free L2s at Yosemite Lodge, in both locations. No activation required, just plug in. There are four EVSEs in each location, mounted two per pedestal. While these Rivian EVSEs have stickers on the side saying they are capable of 208V/48A, the ones here all seem to be limited to 32A, as the display on the units says max. power is 6.7kW, presumably rounding up from 6.656kW (208 x 32).

The L2 in the Yosemite Village Store parking lot has been unavailable for some time due to construction. While it's possible to get to it with a little effort, it's non-operational. The screen is powered up but it displays a message saying it's unavailable, and it didn't charge when I plugged in to test it.

I didn't check out the J1772s at the Ahwanee. There used to be just a single 16A J1172 there IIRR (plus a Tesla dest. EVSE) , but apparently there are now a pair of Rivians. Although they're listed as 10kW on Plugshare, I suspect they're actually 32A like the others, as 10kW is the nominal max. rating of all the Rivian EVSEs (208 x 48 = 9.984kW). OTOH several check-ins say 8kW, so possibly these are capable of 40A (8.32kW, but when you enter your max. charge rate on Plugshare it ignores everything to the right of the decimal, so 6.7 kW gets shown as 6kW, and 8.3kW would show as 8kW).