Trying to find a Marriott or Hilton chain hotel with charging nearby in Harrisburg

Sam: You could contact Hampton Inn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I know nothing else as I saw this on NJEAA - New Jersey Electric Auto Association this is a group of EV'ers on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/njeaa/

I don't know of any hotels in Harrisburg that have charging but there is a Hilton in downtown Harrisburg on 2nd St. and there is a Chargepoint station a few blocks north on 2nd St. It has a 2 hr limit, but is not used that often so I'm sure you could charge a little longer.

It looks like the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Hershey, PA has a J1772 charger. Hershey is 14 miles from Harrisburg and has other level two chargers around Hershey World. You can enjoy the chocolate.

is that 2 hour limit enforced?

For anyone else going that way, I used the ChargePoint station at the Hampton Inn, Lancaster, PA this weekend. The Courtyard Marriott, a half mile away, also has a ChargePoint station. They are both free and both worked as of April 1, 2014. The stations are not marked well as EV only so I'd call ahead and ask them to save the spot with a cone, especially if you plan to arrive late.

I tried to use the PEP station at the Fairfield Inn and Suites when passing through Hershey. I couldn't get it to initiate for some reason. Otherwise, it said it was charging after authorizing my credit card. Weird.

Anyone know of any updates about chargers in Harrisburg. Assuming I get my Model X before February, I have an event at the Harrisburg Hilton in February and will need a charger. The Hilton says they have no EV charging there. The Hilton is near the 2nd St. Chargepoint station but I have read recently that it is unreliable. It is 120 miles each way from my house in the Poconos. I could top off in Allentown assuming that SC is working by then, but that is cutting the 250 mile range of the X really close. Is the charging station at the Hershey Fairfield Inn open to the public? Is there a Supercharger being built in Harrisburg? I know things can change in 3 months, but I'm just planning ahead.

I would check plugshare.com. There are a few listings for J1772 and CHAdeMo stations in Harrisburg. The CHAdeMO at the Sheetz station in Harrisburg seems to have positive experiences from Model S users.

The two sheetz chademos work well when they are not out of service (this can be hit or miss). The Nissan dealership chademo didn't work with the adapter last time i tried. There is an exxon with a pair of j1772s on the other side of town that worked well (and is free).

The one sheetz is within walking distance to a Hampton inn if i remember correctly.

CHRGIT said:

I would check plugshare.com. There are a few listings for J1772 and CHAdeMo stations in Harrisburg. The CHAdeMO at the Sheetz station in Harrisburg seems to have positive experiences from Model S users.

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Thanks. I also found Alternative Fuels Data Center: Electric Vehicle Charging Station Locations so between these two I should be able to take the Model X instead of our C-Max, and be able to get home. I wish they would build the Harrisburg SuperCharger. I will need to drive to Pittsburgh later next year and don't currently see anyway to do this without charging in Harrisburg.

Yes, if you are approaching Pittsburgh from the southeast, then Harrisburg is the place to charge. If approaching from further north, i80 is the way to go, which means a stop in state college (another sheetz with a chademo charger is there).

The auto museum in Hershey has two HPWCs and I've heard from several Tesla users that it's been reliable. Good ratings on Plugshare as well.

http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/54932

Not as good as having it at your hotel, but it's something.

PatD said:

The auto museum in Hershey has two HPWCs and I've heard from several Tesla users that it's been reliable. Good ratings on Plugshare as well.

http://api.plugshare.com/view/location/54932

Not as good as having it at your hotel, but it's something.

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Thanks for that. I saw that the Auto Museum has the Tesla charger. It is a little out of the way, but sounds like the best option just to get enough charge to make it home.

Mark

And you can spend some time at the museum - win win!

CHRGIT said:

I would check plugshare.com. There are a few listings for J1772 and CHAdeMo stations in Harrisburg. The CHAdeMO at the Sheetz station in Harrisburg seems to have positive experiences from Model S users.

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I've used this one with good results. I believe I left comments on plug share.

mmccord said:

Yes, if you are approaching Pittsburgh from the southeast, then Harrisburg is the place to charge. If approaching from further north, i80 is the way to go, which means a stop in state college (another sheetz with a chademo charger is there).

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Thanks.

Mark

And, of course, it never hurts to call all the hotels you might stay at and let them know that if they installed a charger, they'd get your business. If enough of us do that, the message will get through. In fact, I think Lanny mentioned that Marriott was doing a photo shoot at an Arlington hotel that installed an HPWC to get stock photos for their new charger installation program, so mentioning that as a "competitive edge" would be extra-cool.