Charge port at front, passenger side

[SpaceEVDriver]

Please don't fall for the hype about the rear driver side being the best place for the charge port. It's far more useful to have it at the front passenger side.
It still makes it easy to use the NACS chargers with their super short cables. With it being in the front passenger, only one NACS post is used while charging, and it also enables charging without always having to drop a trailer. A rear port makes towing a far more painful experience. For a vehicle with towing capability, a front positioned port is best. For a tow vehicle with a NACS port, the front passenger port is the only sensible position.

 

[J Alynn]

Would help street parked cars as well so it stay on curb side

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

I’m conflicted…don’t know exactly where to place my vote on this subject. Here are some rambling thoughts:

I back in virtually everywhere for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because it’s safer as well as being easier for me. You can’t see all that well in many situations when trying to back out of a space (it’s better these days though with cameras and sensors of course but I don’t fully rely on those), however when you arrive and back in you’ve already surveyed the area coming in so there’s no mystery and then later on it’s easy to see everything around you and just pull out to leave. So, I would prefer back in charging spaces. Especially if I have to sit there for 40 minutes - I’d rather not stare at a building, fence, chargers, etc.

On the flip side, I tow often enough that I’m concerned with where and how I would charge on road trips. I’m not really interested in dropping the trailer to charge. I’ve watched it done at Superchargers a few times. What a pain. It’s already going to be more inconvenient than filling up with gas on long trips and I’m not wanting to make it even worse when towing, so I’m hoping that there will be better infrastructure by the time I have my Scout.

I’m not really a fan of pulling in with a trailer to charge at a regular charger either. There aren’t many chargers anywhere near me, but the ones that are within say 100 miles or so - at all of them I would be blocking the driving lane if I just pulled forward into the charger with a trailer.

Anyway, like I said I’m torn on this one at the moment.

 

[Scoutsie]

I don’t know where I stand on this whole Rice Chex/Wheat Chex debate going on: I figure whatever is decided, people will adapt. I think either can work just fine. I’m accustomed to filling my gas on the rear driver’s side, but I don’t think I’d stamp my feet and refuse to adapt to the change if the charging port meant I had to get out and (gasp) walk around to the whole other side of the truck and maybe get inspired to do some cleaning.

 

[therealschmaltz]

I think you need to stick with the industry standard, which is sadly, Tesla. Location and connector type. It should be placed driver rear to avoid issues with everyone's home that already has an EV charger and existing infrastructure.

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

I think you need to stick with the industry standard, which is sadly, Tesla. Location and connector type. It should be placed driver rear to avoid issues with everyone's home that already has an EV charger and existing infrastructure.

This is a good point.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I think you need to stick with the industry standard, which is sadly, Tesla. Location and connector type. It should be placed driver rear to avoid issues with everyone's home that already has an EV charger and existing infrastructure.

That's hilarious.

If sticking to industry standard were important, then brand-T would have gone with J1772 and CCS1 in the first place, since that existed before brand-T existed and represents the vast majority of ports in North America. There are more than 76,000 J1772 (L1&L2) and CCS1 (DCFC) charging stations (with many more than a hundred thousand ports), and only about 8500 J3400 (L1, L2, and DCFC) charging stations (with 17,000 total NACS ports). The brand likes to claim they have the largest network, and in one way they do (by single-branded network), but in most ways they don't.

The rear is a dumb placement of the charge port for a tow vehicle and just because one company asserts that's the best place for it doesn't mean they're right. They also thought the cybertruck was a good idea.

 

[Logan]

Charge port location is always going to be sort of contentious.

I want something on the rear half of the vehicle.

Why? Because a charger in the front would be something for me to trip over in the garage as I/my passengers walked around it into the house.

Also because my charger is close to my breaker panel in the garage, which is closer to the back half of the vehicle of the front. And I custom routed the cable so it goes up and over that garage door, and drops down from the ceiling at exactly the right height/location for my current vehicle.

But everyone is going to have different situations.

Fuel door location would be more like that, except for the fact that gas stations have evolved into pull through stations with pumps on both sides, and the speed is fast enough that you're generally not hanging around very often.

I imagine that as charge times improve (faster chargers, faster charging vehicles), we'll see more of the pull through/gas station style chargers, which will likely negate some of this. As instead of being a place to park for 1-2hrs, it will be a ~10-20min sort of thing.

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

Specific to the charging while towing topic:

I’ve experienced charging in four different states and unfortunately have not come across any chargers that would allow charging while hooked to the trailer and pulled straight in without blocking a driving lane. On occasion I’ve seen tow vehicles able to charge without unhooking by blocking a big section of chargers while parked sideways if there was virtually nobody there (usually the Supercharger locations with something like 12 chargers during a slow time, but in almost all cases they had to disconnect the trailer to charge. Has anyone encountered pull-through chargers for tow vehicles in the real world?

I’ll also note: 7k to 10k pound towing capacity accommodates a set of trailers that can get quite long. Easily 30+ feet long. Even a fairly light flatbed trailer with a 4 door UTV is easily 16 to 18 feet long. This leads me full-circle back to the wish for the Harvester to provide a “gas and go” experience for those that go on long trips and/or tow often.

It’ll be awesome to see what Scout Motors comes up with.

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

Charge port location is always going to be sort of contentious.

I want something on the rear half of the vehicle.

Why? Because a charger in the front would be something for me to trip over in the garage as I/my passengers walked around it into the house.

Also because my charger is close to my breaker panel in the garage, which is closer to the back half of the vehicle of the front. And I custom routed the cable so it goes up and over that garage door, and drops down from the ceiling at exactly the right height/location for my current vehicle.

But everyone is going to have different situations.

Fuel door location would be more like that, except for the fact that gas stations have evolved into pull through stations with pumps on both sides, and the speed is fast enough that you're generally not hanging around very often.

I imagine that as charge times improve (faster chargers, faster charging vehicles), we'll see more of the pull through/gas station style chargers, which will likely negate some of this. As instead of being a place to park for 1-2hrs, it will be a ~10-20min sort of thing.

I agree. You make a really good point with the last couple of sentences, I agree there as well.

 

[LastDayScout]

I think you need to stick with the industry standard, which is sadly, Tesla. Location and connector type. It should be placed driver rear to avoid issues with everyone's home that already has an EV charger and existing infrastructure.

Good point. But, this mainly applies to using Tesla Superchargers. While they are prolific and very good. They are not the only game in town. I imagine that by the time the Scouts roll out there will be more options.

 

[KarlT]

I don’t know that many people have garage chargers based on their Tesla. My charger location was decided by where the outlet was. Many people have their charger outside. Most home chargers come with long cables.

 

[Chaparral]

I don’t know that many people have garage chargers based on their Tesla. My charger location was decided by where the outlet was. Many people have their charger outside. Most home chargers come with long cables.

I think it’s going to go on the side where the electric breaker is. I’d just reverse into the garage if that makes it easier.

It makes sense to me for the charge port to go near the sidewalk. Future infrastructure will surely have more sidewalk chargers, so I think putting it near the sidewalk makes it more future proof.

 

[oldgeeksguide]

I think you need to stick with the industry standard, which is sadly, Tesla. Location and connector type. It should be placed driver rear to avoid issues with everyone's home that already has an EV charger and existing infrastructure.

But there really isn’t an industry standard, there are cars with ports front/back, left right and center. This is really only an issue for older Tesla chargers because they have very short cables. Everyone else, even newer Tesla chargers have cables of sufficient length that it’s really not an issue. Like the op, if you want it to work well at a Tesla v3 chargers, front right is a great option.

We don’t have to everything the way Tesla does it just because Tesla does it that way.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I imagine that as charge times improve (faster chargers, faster charging vehicles), we'll see more of the pull through/gas station style chargers, which will likely negate some of this. As instead of being a place to park for 1-2hrs, it will be a ~10-20min sort of thing.

DCFC charge times right now are 20-45 minutes; I'm typically back on the freeway within 35 minutes with my "slow" charging Fords. This is often after being threatened with idle fees because the vehicle reached the max charge I set. Some vehicles can hit 10-20 minutes for the standard ~80% refill with the right chargers.

But it should be noted that the vehicles on the road will not improve substantially in charge times because charge time is dependent on battery architecture coupled with charger architecture. Many CCS1 fast chargers provide more power than most batteries can accept, so often the limitation is the battery, not the charger. But the majority of NACS chargers (brand-T supercharger) can only supply up to 600 volts (or lower), which means the Scout will not see a benefit from charging at most *existing* NACS chargers compared with, for example, an EA charger CCS1 (or converted) that provides 350 kW of power. Maybe in three years that will have changed. We'll see.

 

[LastDayScout]

DCFC charge times right now are 20-45 minutes; I'm typically back on the freeway within 35 minutes with my "slow" charging Fords. This is often after being threatened with idle fees because the vehicle reached the max charge I set. Some vehicles can hit 10-20 minutes for the standard ~80% refill with the right chargers.

But it should be noted that the vehicles on the road will not improve substantially in charge times because charge time is dependent on battery architecture coupled with charger architecture. Many CCS1 fast chargers provide more power than most batteries can accept, so often the limitation is the battery, not the charger. But the majority of NACS chargers (brand-T supercharger) can only supply up to 600 volts (or lower), which means the Scout will not see a benefit from charging at most *existing* NACS chargers compared with, for example, an EA charger CCS1 (or converted) that provides 350 kW of power. Maybe in three years that will have changed. We'll see.

All correct

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Specific to the charging while towing topic:

I’ve experienced charging in four different states and unfortunately have not come across any chargers that would allow charging while hooked to the trailer and pulled straight in without blocking a driving lane. On occasion I’ve seen tow vehicles able to charge without unhooking by blocking a big section of chargers while parked sideways if there was virtually nobody there (usually the Supercharger locations with something like 12 chargers during a slow time, but in almost all cases they had to disconnect the trailer to charge. Has anyone encountered pull-through chargers for tow vehicles in the real world?

I’ll also note: 7k to 10k pound towing capacity accommodates a set of trailers that can get quite long. Easily 30+ feet long. Even a fairly light flatbed trailer with a 4 door UTV is easily 16 to 18 feet long. This leads me full-circle back to the wish for the Harvester to provide a “gas and go” experience for those that go on long trips and/or tow often.

It’ll be awesome to see what Scout Motors comes up with.

This leads to the other side of the charger equation, which is that chargers should be placed where pull through is common. Then the port location is irrelevant and we can just get back to driving. Sadly, this isn't currently very common, and likely won't be by the time the Scout is available. Which means to me the best placement is the right-front.

While it's uncommon to find even good charging options while towing, for me the key is:

It's never possible for a tow vehicle with a rear charge port that's hooked up to a trailer to charge at a pull-in charger. A rear charge port is, basically, always the worst option when towing.

 

[J Alynn]

With discussions of pull through maybe older car wash spots (manual) could add them at the vacuum station. Wash car, pull through to vac and charge while you vacuum. Just another spot to consider. When not busy at night you’d still get travelers pulling in to charge and you already have power running to the stations. Just a non-typical location thought

 

[Harris005]

If they don't already, the apps that show which chargers to stop at on your road trip, should have a "trailer friendly" option to select. Maybe even something similar to what Google Maps does by having the app ask "was this charging station trailer friendly?" to help build that data.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

If they don't already, the apps that show which chargers to stop at on your road trip, should have a "trailer friendly" option to select. Maybe even something similar to what Google Maps does by having the app ask "was this charging station trailer friendly?" to help build that data.

PlugShare has a filter for that, but because it's crowd-sourced, it's not well-populated. Since a large majority of EVs aren't tow vehicles, it's kind of a catch-22 that nobody is thinking about it because nobody needs it so it looks like there are very few. Some of the stations I use have pull-through but are not flagged as such in Plugshare (and it's not at all clear to me how to flag them).