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1 Year later and Virginia Beach is still behind on chargers...

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Last February, I took my first road trip in my Model S to Virginia Beach. I found very limited charging options in the area. I ended up staying at a KOA cabin to charge. I was disappointed that the LEED certified Virginia Beach Convention Center didn't even have a 110 outlet I could use despite having 67 parking spaces designated for alternative fuel vehicles! Now almost 1 year later I am making the trip again in a few weeks and it looks like there are still no hotels with level 2 chargers and the CC is still without chargers/outlets. Fortunately the Richmond Supercharger is available now:)

Has anyone stayed at a Virginia Beach Hotel that was accommodating with a 110 outlet?
 
DFibRL8R, I'm looking forward to hearing how your trip goes. Even with the Richmond Super charger I'm guessing you're still going to have to find some sort of charging new virginia beach so you can drive around there with no worries about making it back to Richmond. There's a Whole Foods that could help with a charge in case your battery gets too low for the return Richmond trip.
 
In August I stayed in VB at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Virginia Beach Oceanfront 1901 Atlantic Avenue and they let me charge the entire week I was there.
(I used Hall Nissan the night I arrived and the night before my departure). If I come again I'll probably stay a bit higher up.

I am heading down to Norfolk next month from MA, a bit concerned that it may not be as easy as my summer trip in August.

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I charged at Hall Nissan, the Whole Foods, and a restaurant that had a Fisker (!) charger.
The Whole Foods shuts off their charger when the store closes...ouch.
 
I received a call from a reporter at the Virginian Pilot yesterday. He is doing a story about Superchargers and the possibility of seeing one in the Hampton Roads area. It should be in the paper this Sunday.

I'm a bit worried as I am typically horribly misquoted in newspaper articles. We'll see how this one goes :).
 
I received a call from a reporter at the Virginian Pilot yesterday. He is doing a story about Superchargers and the possibility of seeing one in the Hampton Roads area. It should be in the paper this Sunday.

I posted this earlier in a different thread:

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My second suggestion is that Tesla put in a supercharger on the way to Virginia Beach sooner rather than later. There isn't a dot for it on any Tesla released supercharger map, but I'd like to lobby for something in Newport News. That way there is a charger right outside the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport and before the split between going south around Norfolk versus east. I'm thinking Jefferson Commons Shopping Center which has a number of food/shopping options. It's 70 miles from the Glen Allen supercharger and 44 miles from the Hilton at Virginia Beach. Which means it is possible to hit it up on the way down, *not* charge at Virginia Beach or surrounding areas, and then come back and hit it up. Given the dearth of L2 charging options at the beach, this is actually pretty important. It's also 162 miles to Ocean City, which makes it possible to do that hop an 85kWh.
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It's very sad that the beach still has so few options for even slow L2 charging.


 
I'm headed down to VA Beach next month. Although you could probably do Glen Allen->VA Beach->Glenn Allen without charging, I agree that it would be nice to have an option.

I'm planning on using the J1772 charger at:877 Seahawk Cir, Virginia Beach, Virginia

It is located about 6 miles from VA Beach proper. There are two level two chargers. It is 1-2 blocks from a shopping mall. Plan is to top off on the way down from the SC. Hang out at the mall for a couple hours.

 
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I posted this earlier in a different thread:

===
My second suggestion is that Tesla put in a supercharger on the way to Virginia Beach sooner rather than later. There isn't a dot for it on any Tesla released supercharger map, but I'd like to lobby for something in Newport News. That way there is a charger right outside the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport and before the split between going south around Norfolk versus east. I'm thinking Jefferson Commons Shopping Center which has a number of food/shopping options. It's 70 miles from the Glen Allen supercharger and 44 miles from the Hilton at Virginia Beach. Which means it is possible to hit it up on the way down, *not* charge at Virginia Beach or surrounding areas, and then come back and hit it up. Given the dearth of L2 charging options at the beach, this is actually pretty important. It's also 162 miles to Ocean City, which makes it possible to do that hop an 85kWh.
===

It's very sad that the beach still has so few options for even slow L2 charging.



Totally agree.
 
I'm headed down to VA Beach next month. Although you could probably do Glen Allen->VA Beach->Glenn Allen without charging, I agree that it would be nice to have an option.

I'm planning on using the J1772 charger at:877 Seahawk Cir, Virginia Beach, Virginia

It is located about 6 miles from VA Beach proper. There are two level two chargers. It is 1-2 blocks from a shopping mall. Plan is to top off on the way down from the SC. Hang out at the mall for a couple hours.


idoco

Why not use the free J1772 charger at Whole foods (places to eat & shopping right there) or the private owner near the Whole Foods who has a 50 (40) amp UMC?

Aaron
 
I made my trip this weekend traveling about 450 miles round trip from Leesburg to Virginia Beach. Was pleasantly surprised to arrive in Glen Allen Saturday morning and see this:

tess+6 Glen allen.jpg


I crossed paths with the folks heading North for the great event organized by Aaron which I couldn't make.
Rather than stay in Virginia beach, we decided to stay at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. Thanks to Linkster for scouting out the outlets there in advance. The staff was very accommodating, offering a few different 15 or 20 amp outlets. I used the 20 amp outlet in the rear service area and got 4 miles/hour charging at 16 amps. I sent a message to customer service thanking them for their help and encouraging them to upgrade to a HPWC, a 14-50 or level 2 chargers.
tess Great wolf.jpg


In Virginia Beach, I went to our event at the Leed Certified Convention Center with its 67 dedicated prime parking spaces for alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles most of which were occupied by pure ICE SUVs and minivans. The Convention Center still does not have a single available outdoor outlet or charger so I went to Whole Foods. The J 1772 was predictably Ice'd when I got there (poor signage and too close to the entrance). To make matters worse, when I finally got to plug in, I got the bad wiring or using an extension cord message so thanks to the recent firmware upgrade, I could only charge at 13mi/hr. Fortunately, I had plan B which was a kind Model S owner on Plug Share with a 14-50, located less than a mile from Whole foods. This gave me enough cushion to get back to Glen Allen with a comfortable buffer.

Good trip, much easier than the same one 1 year ago before Glen Allen opened but would be much better with proper destination charging.
 
We made it to Norfolk as well sadly missing the DC event as well. SC In Greenwich, CT and stayed the night by the Newark,DE SC (various detours in northern NJ and Philly and constant light snow).

Woke up wanting to finish the SC But this was a mistake! You can't take advantage of the SC while the battery is cold (it was 22F). We should have fully charged the night before.
 
Continuing along we hit the Bethesda SC after a quick stop in Baltimore. I was afraid of taking the Delmarva peninsula on such a cold day and without a L2 charger near our final destination


So we hit the Glen Allen SC and made it to Norfolk easily. Charged at the hotel and my brothers place today (L1). Will stay by Glen Allen tonight and drive to Charlottesville briefly and back to Glen Allen and our final destination of DC!!!!!
 
So we hit the Glen Allen SC and made it to Norfolk easily. Charged at the hotel and my brothers place today (L1). Will stay by Glen Allen tonight and drive to Charlottesville briefly and back to Glen Allen and our final destination of DC!!!!!

Did you charge at a Hotel in Norfolk? If so, you might consider a post on PlugShare if they were accommodating even with a level 1.
 
I sent a message to Great Wolf's customer service yesterday thanking them for their assistance but also encouraing them to install better charging infrastructure. They have a program called Project Green Wolf so seem to have a corporate policy that would be receptive to a project like this.
Celebrating Our Project Green Wolf Efforts - Great Wolf 360 | Great Wolf Resorts

I sent them the link to Tesla's Destination Charging progam also. I would encourage anyone else considering a visit to Great Wolf in the next year to make a similar request.
 
I sent a message to Great Wolf's customer service yesterday thanking them for their assistance but also encouraing them to install better charging infrastructure. They have a program called Project Green Wolf so seem to have a corporate policy that would be receptive to a project like this.
Celebrating Our Project Green Wolf Efforts - Great Wolf 360 | Great Wolf Resorts

I sent them the link to Tesla's Destination Charging progam also. I would encourage anyone else considering a visit to Great Wolf in the next year to make a similar request.

I don't have an EV yet, but will do so when I take my boys in March! They love some Wolf Lodge...
 
I was talking to a local Richmond solar installer and they mentioned that they knew of an EV charging project with solar panels at Virginia Beach that was either underway or will be underway soon. I'll check back for more details.
 
Hi Y'all,
I performed the the final tie-in of our HPWC this week. This was installed for guest use only since we will continue to charge with a 14-30 for a 160-mile commute. We live 60 miles from the Glen Allen "super" in Kingsmill (we were able to get them to install (5) 14-50's last year) which offers charging to overnight guests. So, have at it.