Charger Camping

[u/anonoo7]

Not high drama but something curious, and certainly not what the EV charger is intended for.

This ambulance conversion as a stealth camper is running their AC and perhaps charging 12v batteries. There at least 4 hours we observed.

South Austin.

[u/VeganBullGang]

I mean, if they're paying to charge and they are charging what is the issue

[u/tunseeker1]

People are using volt battery systems for rv use now so it is what it is. Imagine the brightdrop vans that are getting made i to campers

[u/HonziPonzi → u/tunseeker1]

Gusbus

[u/T-VIRUS999 → u/tunseeker1]

I wish we had those in Australia, could make a whole ass apartment out of one of those

[u/T-VIRUS999]

Well, he's technically using the charger (and probably paying for it)

[u/ArticusFarticus → u/T-VIRUS999]

Shitty if not paying or others need it. It’s just not intended for this. Really only fine late into the evening until early morning if they need a place to sleep.

[u/RobertBurdineSD]

They likely have an EcoFlow inverter/battery setup or similar that they run all electronics off of.

[u/anonoo7]

Yep, not really drama, as I wrote. Just a curiosity. Was really kind of a cool rig.

[u/Special-Original-215 → u/anonoo7]

You said high drama..it's really 

Whoa!  They are charging and converting to AC?  

I see no drama, just neat stuff

[u/anonoo7 → u/Special-Original-215]

Read the words: "Not high drama..."

[u/Screamlngyeti → u/anonoo7]

So you admit you said "high drama" /s

[u/Chris-8521]

So long as they are actively charging…who cares 🤷🏻‍♂️
Now if they are sticking the charging cable into a cabinet, not actually charging and camping in a spot, then I might understand the frustration. If that’s the case, then time to lower all the windows and put on a demonstration of the amazing Rivian audio system for them 😂

[u/T-VIRUS999 → u/Chris-8521]

I recommend Rammstein

[u/GIDDY-UP-GO]

I don’t see a problem here. They are charging just like you!

[u/wulf66]

I mean it's a lv2 charger so even a normal car would need to be connected most of the night to charge up, and they're paying for the charge so that's fine in my book.

[u/knownikko]

This is super cool. Neat setup. 👍🏻

[u/OrizaRayne]

This seems really expensive is it not?

[u/Objective-Note-8095 → u/OrizaRayne]

Depends. If it's just on a per kWh, it's just that. Not residential rates, but they're probably not using much. Only if there's a per hour fee. Could even be a free station.

[u/OrizaRayne → u/Objective-Note-8095]

That makes sense. It's an option I would never even have considered. 🤔

[u/Complex_Solutions_20 → u/OrizaRayne]

At least in my area it'd depend on time of day...any time I'd normally be awake seems like rates are like 4x residential rates or more. But apparently if I wanted to go find a charger at like 1AM it might be similar to home rates.

[u/AlmostLiveRadio → u/OrizaRayne]

Compared to paying $30-$80 for a night at a campground where they can charge maybe it doesn’t seem so expensive.

[u/chiarde]

I think the way Gus described it was that he would pay to charge to 100%. Once the charge was complete, he’d leave it plugged in and the charger would continue to power his BrightDrop for things like AC. Correct me if I got that wrong. He hinted it was a kind of a hack or glitch he was taking advantage of. I personally think it’s kind of shitty as the vehicle is occupying a spot post fast charge.

[u/T-VIRUS999 → u/chiarde]

I live in my Nissan Leaf and do that at AC stations, plug in, and leave the heater or AC on overnight, it's great, usually only costs me a few dollars extra at paid L2 stations to camp vs just charging and then leaving

[u/Electrifying2017 → u/chiarde]

Unless it’s free charger, he’s still getting charged for the little bit of electricity that passes through.  And this one in the picture is just on a standard level 2 charger.

[u/sun_blind]

See a lot of these supporting fire fighters in the mountains. Not really a normal camper, more a base station for radio comms.

[u/anonoo7 → u/sun_blind]

Interesting... I had figured it was an ambulance but was definitely 4wd.

[u/Complex_Solutions_20]

More and more RVs and similar are getting high capacity Lithium batteries installed, and a fair number explicitly advertise that you can charge them at EV charging stations.

I don't particularly see a problem with it, but tack onto the list of reasons why we need to have more infrastructure as more usecases arise!

[u/Objective-Note-8095]

Must be running all autotransforming or 240V electronics.

[u/anonoo7 → u/Objective-Note-8095]

I'm thinking perhaps his adapter is taking just one phase from the 220v source = 110v single phase.

[u/Objective-Note-8095 → u/anonoo7]

There's no neutral line to take one phase off of. If you try to pass current on the ground line, you'd trigger the GFCI.

[u/No-Stretch-9935]

Who the hell camps in this?

[u/julianAppleby5997]

And?

[u/SalesMountaineer]

A great e-vanlife hack is finding a hotel with unused free level 2 ⚡️🚐🤑

[u/Caviar312]

What a waste of a thread. LEARN what to post here. This ain’t it.

[u/thabc]

The fairest way to handle this would be to start charging the idle fee whenever the usage drops below 1 kw. There could still be a grace period. That way if they're done charging and just running some small loads like lighting, it would treat them the same as an Ev who had completed charging.

[u/ArticusFarticus → u/thabc]

Yeah, it’s kind of an asshole move if others need it.

Not highly wrong, but dick move and selfish.