Remember when I tried to go to Mount Hood, but it happened to be on the day that an uncommonly violent snowstorm occurred? So we had to turn back when the entry to the lodge was within sight. One of those times when life kicks you in the nards so hard, one of them goes up your throat and you spit it out, all covered in blood.

Well life wasn't done with me it seems, it had to go after the other nard too. I took an impulsive trip out to the Oregon coast with @amandarichards today, assuming when we arrived that the only electric car charger in town would be working. But it wasn't.

The only electric car charger in town was not working. I mean, I have the gas range extender so it's not the end of the world. But what the fuck would I do if I had a battery only EV without a ChaDeMo socket? (There was one ChaDeMo and one J1772 socket. The CHaDeMo worked, the J1772 didn't.)

It was an Aerovironment charging station, not Blink or Chargepoint, so I didn't have the card for it. I could apparently pay through the Plugshare app except my phone was dead. I charged it from a power bank long enough to get it turned back on, so I could pay through the app.

...Only to discover that the app showed the J1772 station as "not available". Well fuck my tender, unassuming asshole. It's really going to be like that, is it? This was after I drove around, lost, because the transit center where the charging station was located wouldn't show up on my car's GPS.

I couldn't use my phone to find it either as it was dead. When you're just barely in range of a tower, often your phone boosts it's own signal to compensate, but drains battery like mad in the process. Mine went down from 14% to 0% in the span of like 5 minutes.

Anyway I stopped to ask for directions and was able, by that time honored low tech method, to find the charging station. But by now, you know that wasn't the end of my troubles. I was fucking pissed. What would somebody with an 80 mile range all electric car do in my shoes?

What if they brought their wife and kids? What would their options be? Hunker down for a week waiting for the station to be repaired? Pay for a tow truck, 72 miles back to Portland? It's not like it's a difficult problem to solve either. If they just had 3 or 4 J1772 stations, then even if one or two break, there's still the others.

It's called redundancy, Aerovironment, you flaming dumpster of a company. Have you heard of it? Blink has out of order chargers all the time but they also have multiple chargers per location for exactly this reason. I shot them an email to complain, mostly to make myself feel better.

On the upside, the little coastal town we visited was lovely. All manner of charming shops selling trinkets and baubles. Also some fantastic book shops, cafes and restaurants, one of which we stopped in to get some work done on our laptops in a cozy little windowed nook:

I wish that had been the focus of this article but when basic infrastructure you were planning on using doesn't work, and no backup option is provided, it has a way of becoming your main focus in a big fucking way.

One charging station in the entire fucking town and it only has one ChaDeMo and one J1772. And only one of those works. How do you like that shit? I like it extremely little. If you need me, I'll be in my Anger Dome.

^source

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^{Stay Cozy!}