The U.S. Department of Energy has a great online tool to locate charging stations for electric vehicles. The tool allows you to locate specific types of chargers and connector types: J1772, CCS, CHAdeMO, and Tesla.
You can view the tool below or click here.
There are a number of good online tools to use to find charging locations. I’m sure I’ll do an app review of some of the ones I’ve tried along the way.
But the U.S. Department of Energy mapping tool is good for other fuel types as well including: biodesiel, compressed natural gas, ethanol, hydrogen, liquid natural gas, and propane.
As far as electric vehicle charging location go, they are rapidly expanding. Gone are the days when range anxiety was a real concern.
With a little planning, electric vehicle charging stations are accessible and available with a little bit of route planning.
But a number of destination locations also have slower charges for free. These locations can include hotels, AirBNBs, restaurants, shopping centers, etc.
As far as my Tesla goes, I have access to charge anyplace there is a regular household outlet using the Tesla Mobile Connector. It comes with the car and I leave mine in the frunk for charging if I need it.
Not All Chargers Are Created Equal
When you are using the map above, a consideration for charging station locations is going to be the type of connector available.
The Tesla uses a unique type of connector but also comes with an adapter for a J1772 connection.
A higher speed adapter is available for the Tesla as well. This is a CHAdeMO connector, but it is pricey. It might be worth buying if you wanted the ultimate travel charging flexibility at high speeds and not have to worry about a dedicated Tesla supercharger location.
For me, I’m just going to plan better than drop all that money on a CHAdeMo connector I would rarely use.