The Adventures of Elektra, and Voltron: EVs in Michigan: Trip Report: Lap of Ohio visiting Electrify America

Full lap of Ohio Electrify America (EA) charging sites.

2 years ago, I went on a trip where I visited all the EA sites in Michigan. I have wanted to expand my reviews outside of Michigan for some time, so I decided I would go and visit all of the EA sites in Ohio. While the Michigan trip took me to 8 sites, the Ohio trip included 14 sites and took 2 days.

During my planning using the PlugShare and EA apps, I located the addresses of all the EA stations and made a high-level route plan. I would visit the four turnpike service area sites, Cambridge, Cincinnati (x2), Columbus, Cleveland (x2), Dayton, Mansfield, Youngstown . With the basic loop documented, I plugged all the destinations into A Better Route Planner, a website/app is designed for EV owners. Owners simply enter the details on their EV and then A Better Route Planner will plan routes that include charging stops with information estimating how long you will need to charge at each stop, along with estimated arrival and departure battery percentages.

Day 1 Travel Plan:

Day 2 Travel Plan:

There have barely been any EA upgrades in Michigan in the last 2 years. In this time, there are only 2 changes to the EA network in Michigan. They upgraded the charging units at the Roundtree Place location to the latest hardware (Site Review Updated). They added one new site on the west side of Grand Rapids. Frequent readers of my blog will note that this is no growth compared to the newly opened EVgo and Red E Charge locations.

As part of this trip, I also decided to test out a different EV. I rented a Polestar 2 from my local Hertz for just $50 a day. I wanted to do this to avoid the miles, and the DC fast charging cycles on Elektra. This turned out to be a great decision as the rented car gave me both excellent efficiency and charging speeds.

Day 1 Comparison:

The chart shows a very accurate estimation. I was just $3 short on the total cost, and 36 miles and 22 minutes over due to unexpected detours. The other item of note is the 45 minute charge session at the end of day 1 to prepare for day 2 of this trip.

Day 2 Comparison:

Another very accurate estimate from A Better Route Planner. Successfully completing over 1000 miles and 13 new EA locations. I had a lot of fun doing this trip, but with the number of new locations opening in Michigan, I don’t think I need to travel far from home next year to get plenty of new site reviews.

Here is a picture of the Polestar 2 while I was doing one final charge session before returning the car.