Taking our Tesla to Vero Beach for the first time

[386chad]

Hi all, wanted to see if any fellow EV owners had to been to Vero Beach lately and what the charging situation was like. We've been DVC members since 2017 and never been to Vero, so if you have any other tips or things to see locally or great places to eat, fill me in on those as well!

 

[muppets3d]

Doesn't the Tesla map app in the car tell you where the chargers are?

 

[386chad]

Doesn't the Tesla map app in the car tell you where the chargers are?

I'm guessing you don't drive an EV?

Yes, a Tesla does everything for you as far as routing and charging as you travel. It even tells you if there is a supercharger stall down and how full a station is, and how many open spots there are. It shows you what's around as far as amenities, places to eat, shop, restrooms, etc.

What I'm asking is about the state of destination charging. What does the resort itself have in place for EV owners? If it's like WDW, the destination charging infrastructure is quite poor. This is not something the car can tell you as Tesla doesn't install or control, and rarely has any online access to destination chargers.

The reason it's important is then you don't have to leave the resort to get the car charged. It can be just like being at home, always have a relatively full charge for the day. The car uses a little energy while parked if you enable things like cabin overheat protection or sentry mode.

So having a destination charging solution is important. Every other hotel chain, like Holiday Inn Express, Hilton, Portofino Bay at Universal Orlando, they all are awesome in this regard. But DVC has never gotten the memo that electric vehicles are a thing now.

We were recently at Wilderness Lodge. They have a single charger to supply that entire resort, that you pay for (all the other hotels mentioned there's no charge) that's been installed by a 3rd party, split into 2 plugs, rarely works, and when it does, it can take 24+ hours to charge up to 90% from 10%. And if someone else plugs into the sister plug, it halves the kW you get, so you can double that time.

I wondered if Vero Beach was a bit better since it's a bit off the beaten path a bit. There is a supercharger station showing on the map as you head into the area, so that may be the only charging available.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Maybe I’m a bit slow, but what is the difference between destination charging and the charging things you listed that the car already tells you?

No, I do not have an EV. My car goes vroom VROOM!!!! and I love it.

I’m just curious as to what “destination charging” is…

 

[ehh]

I was at Vero last week. There's a two-plug ChargePoint outside of building 15, if I remember correctly. It's not in the ChargePoint app, but I did see a car using it (whether or not it was working...) and I think I always saw at least one open spot for it.

We were renting an ICE so I didn't check it out closely and can't tell you its charging rates, sorry.

 

[Mle8308]

I'm guessing you don't drive an EV?

Yes, a Tesla does everything for you as far as routing and charging as you travel. It even tells you if there is a supercharger stall down and how full a station is, and how many open spots there are. It shows you what's around as far as amenities, places to eat, shop, restrooms, etc.

What I'm asking is about the state of destination charging. What does the resort itself have in place for EV owners? If it's like WDW, the destination charging infrastructure is quite poor. This is not something the car can tell you as Tesla doesn't install or control, and rarely has any online access to destination chargers.

The reason it's important is then you don't have to leave the resort to get the car charged. It can be just like being at home, always have a relatively full charge for the day. The car uses a little energy while parked if you enable things like cabin overheat protection or sentry mode.

So having a destination charging solution is important. Every other hotel chain, like Holiday Inn Express, Hilton, Portofino Bay at Universal Orlando, they all are awesome in this regard. But DVC has never gotten the memo that electric vehicles are a thing now.

We were recently at Wilderness Lodge. They have a single charger to supply that entire resort, that you pay for (all the other hotels mentioned there's no charge) that's been installed by a 3rd party, split into 2 plugs, rarely works, and when it does, it can take 24+ hours to charge up to 90% from 10%. And if someone else plugs into the sister plug, it halves the kW you get, so you can double that time.

I wondered if Vero Beach was a bit better since it's a bit off the beaten path a bit. There is a supercharger station showing on the map as you head into the area, so that may be the only charging available.

And this is why I always recommend people not rent (I know you own) an EV from a rental car company if they have never driven an EV before. There's a reason they are so cheap to rent! Your experience at the WL is reflective of all over WDW property. And I do believe I remember Disney charging at the parks for EV charging, too, I don't remember any free (I do not drive an EV but friends do and were considering renting an EV for their Disney trip, so they asked me to check out the charging situation). I have not been to VB in years (it is beautiful), so I can't comment on EV charging there. But I would not count on it being great. Have back up plans if you will need a full charge for your trip home - it does look like you've done your homework!

 

[386chad]

And this is why I always recommend people not rent (I know you own) an EV from a rental car company if they have never driven an EV before. There's a reason they are so cheap to rent! Your experience at the WL is reflective of all over WDW property. And I do believe I remember Disney charging at the parks for EV charging, too, I don't remember any free (I do not drive an EV but friends do and were considering renting an EV for their Disney trip, so they asked me to check out the charging situation). I have not been to VB in years (it is beautiful), so I can't comment on EV charging there. But I would not count on it being great. Have back up plans if you will need a full charge for your trip home - it does look like you've done your homework!

No, don't need a full charge for the trip home, I-95 is literally lined with superchargers. The destination charging is just convenient and keeps your car topped up so you can run sentry mode, etc. thanks for the comments.

We've had the car for almost 4 years, 50K miles. Traveled several states over to see the in laws last month. Zero issues. The Tesla charging network is amazing. As far as renting, I guess EV ignorance is still at its peak, but as long as you let the car know where you're going, it takes care of the rest. Including driving you to the supercharger and backing in perfectly so you can plug in.

But I would never rent a non Tesla for a road trip, the network can be really bad as it's fragmented and not maintained well.

 

[386chad]

I was at Vero last week. There's a two-plug ChargePoint outside of building 15, if I remember correctly. It's not in the ChargePoint app, but I did see a car using it (whether or not it was working...) and I think I always saw at least one open spot for it.

We were renting an ICE so I didn't check it out closely and can't tell you its charging rates, sorry.

This information was exactly why I made the post.

Thank you!

 

[The Jackal]

Why should the resorts spend ten to hundreds of thousands of dollars for anyone to recharge a EV. This directly affects annual dues and would take years for any return on investment if any. Maybe they should install gas and diesel pumps too. I do not understand why EV owners expect every place to install chargers. I don’t expect them to install a gas station. We saw Teslas plugged into 120v outlets at AKV in the garage. Why should AKV/L owners pay to charge an EV.

 

[hmcgregoraz]

Why should the resorts spend ten to hundreds of thousands of dollars for anyone to recharge a EV. This directly affects annual dues and would take years for any return on investment if any. Maybe they should install gas and diesel pumps too. I do not understand why EV owners expect every place to install chargers. I don’t expect them to install a gas station. We saw Teslas plugged into 120v outlets at AKV in the garage. Why should AKV/L owners pay to charge an EV.

Only reason for "free" charging is that the infrastructure to bill $ for it generally is more costly than the charging itself.

As far as resort destination charging, I would be happy with a 120V 15/20amp outlet (Level 1), which has the bonus of not really hitting the demand (kw) side of commercial and industrial power billing very hard at all. Low amp 208/240V would be nice, but 120V is perfectly OK too.

I am also perfectly happy with reasonably priced charger, our other time share (WorldMark) has decent pay chargers in the garage in Anaheim, and Disney had decent paid chargers in the Downtown Disney parking lot in Anaheim too. This means that when we drive from southern Arizona to Anaheim, we aim to arrive at between 10 and 15% and we leave between 90 and 100% charge.

EV charging infrastructure is not a make it or break it for us when booking a hotel, AirBnB, or a resort, but it sure makes it easier. Our AirBnB in Chicago had a Level 2 charger in the private garage, and it meant that we never had to find a charger for our rental Model X. We specifically rented a Model X as we knew that everything and everyone (family of 7) could fit, as that is what we drove to the airport to leave for Chicago.

For our December/January Disney World trip we know from our last few trips, that we will have to venture off property to a supercharger a couple of times during our stay, as the on property infrastructure (paid) is not very usable. It's going to take more planning to "figure this out" that all of the charging from southern Arizona to Orlando will...

-Harry

 

[386chad]

Why should the resorts spend ten to hundreds of thousands of dollars for anyone to recharge a EV. This directly affects annual dues and would take years for any return on investment if any. Maybe they should install gas and diesel pumps too. I do not understand why EV owners expect every place to install chargers. I don’t expect them to install a gas station. We saw Teslas plugged into 120v outlets at AKV in the garage. Why should AKV/L owners pay to charge an EV.

Ah yes, the peak EV ignorance on display that I referenced earlier. I don't mind it being a paid perk. I just mentioned that other huge hotel chains offer it for nothing, or baked into the nightly rate. At home, I pay .05 cents per kWh, that amounts to $5 for a 'full tank' of 350 mile range with our Tesla Model X. We are not talking about huge amounts of power. Plus no one is ever charging 0 to 100% at a resort, that would be very rare.

A destination charger is just like the one I installed in my own garage. Cost of unit ~$400, cost of materials $36, draws 48 amps. As an example, they should have at least 2 of these for each of the private copper creek cabin parking areas. Charge me for it, I would just love having it available. Everything with your post is hyperbole and dramatic, but yeah, we'll install an oil drill at each resort too for equality.

Like Harry above said, it's not a make or break, but it does make it easier. Teslas protect themselves with things like Sentry mode that use energy, as well as cabin overheat protection.

Those outlets are 20 amp at Kidani, and most of them downrate (and are slow as hell) as they are old, legacy equipment, so depending on what the resorts pay for electricity, we're talking about a few cents per day each of those is putting out. Also, you're only going to get 15 amps, downrated to 12 max, unless you have the correct adapter, which almost no one does. They seem to be rarely used in my experience.

We stay at Kidani a lot and charge the car, in the rare event we are parked next to a working outlet. There was a cleanup crew of some sort down there last time and were there cleaning up an oil leak from a truck that had been parked down there.

Why should AKL/Kidani people have to pay for oil leaks from trash, legacy cars, omg...

The above was a joke, but to point out electric cars are the future and in order to keep enticing the people they want to entice to stay at the resorts, they need to be on equal footing with all their competition, including Universal Orlando, who has destination charging everywhere. This would make a much bigger difference revenue wise, in keeping resorts at capacity than arguing over the 18 cents of electricity the chevy Bolt 'stole' from one of those 20 amps in the parking garage after being plugged in for 2 hours.

Many EV owners will skip resorts or hotels that don't have destination charging. It's inexpensive and straightforward to implement. DVC is behind all other high-end resort and hotel chains in this regard.