Whether you’re driving a gas-powered car or an electric vehicle, your #1 goal is likely to keep the car moving forward. With electric vehicles, instead of stopping at a gas station around town, you’re primarily concerned with finding places to charge up. The good news is, Rochester already has multiple options for charging up if you know where to find them.
Where to find charging stations?
With the rise of EVs, there are now tools specifically set up to help you find charging stations. If you do a quick Google search of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Rochester you’ll see the plugin options our city already has to offer. If you’re looking for a regular 240v charger or Tesla Supercharger, there are multiple options around town. Check them out on the map below.
Other Apps & Websites For Finding Charging Stations
There are also apps & websites specifically set up to help you find chargers around town. These also become handy if you’re planning on driving your EV outside of town.
Plugshare
This website has a nice search tool to find verified charging points and even shows people that are willing to let you use their home charger if you’re in a pinch.
Chargepoint
This will only show Chargepoint-specific charging stations, but with the app see what stations are option, activate your charging session, see how much has been charged, and more.
Even More Options
It’s highly unlikely to happen, but if all of these options to charge around town are occupied or aren’t an option for you, there are alternatives to get you charged up.
Use Your Travel/Home Charger
If you’ve got time to kill, you’re able to leave your car for awhile, and you’ve got your 120v home/travel charger that comes with your vehicle, there are public outlets available to charge up. You can use plugshare.com to find these “Wall” options.
Charge At Home
If you’re researching getting an EV and you live in Rochester, one of the best things you’ll learn is that you can get all the energy you need at home even with a Level 1 / 120v charger. Chargepoint has a nice Level 2 / 240v home charger that is really easy to install and can get you juiced up even quicker. But if you’re out running errands around town and you want to know areas around town that you can charge if you need to, it’s handy to be aware of your options.
Conclusion
Since I’ve gone electric, I have NEVER run out of charge for my car. This may be a fear you have before making the switch to EV (It was for me), but you’ll find that with a little planning and changing your mindset to think of your car like your cell phone by charging up every night or 2, you’ll be set to keep rolling.