Chicago Rivian Enthusiasts

Hey fellow adventurers-

I'm making a trip from Chicago to Galena. Seemingly the only real L3 charging along the route is in Rockford (EA site at 7151 Walton). There seem to be a few L2s varying wildly in available capacity scattered around the Galena area and in Elizabeth. I've been combing through plug share and check-ins are mixed at best, trending toward openly awful.

Does anyone here have any "secret gems" along this route and in the Galena area?

Thanks!

Best I could do would be the EA at the Walmart in Madison, WI when we head to the Dells. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the Galena area.

Charge to 100% in Rockford then goto Gelena city hall and Charge enough to get back to Rockford..

@Ziggy

@Ziggy you have it right. That Walmart is literally it on that run. So it's entirely about making the most of that stop and just trying to top-up at any L2 chargers you can find (I was able to charge up a bit at Eagle Ridge) to get you back to that Walmart

As a note just for anyone else who might need to do this run - absolutely expect "backup" at the Rockford Sam's Club charger - was there at lunchtime and was there at 6-7pm and there was a line both times up to 3-4 deep. Also expect the typical charger etiquette nonsense such as a Kia Niros and ID4s using the 350kW ports vs the 150kW charger and people NOT moving when charged well above 80% because they're waiting for a spouse/partner to complete a shopping trip...

Not that I saw this personally BOTH times... no, of course not... I'm just warning people about something that MIGHT happen there... maybe, just maybe... ;-)

So if you're planning this trip and think you're going to show up and charge 20-30 minutes to top off - plan for a full hour, or possibly more - both ways. This is the sad state of charging infrastructure we need to deal with today.

Update on this - it seems that there are now 4 EV Connect 200kw chargers at Freeport Ford (555 W Meadows Dr, Freeport, IL 61032) and I called them and confirmed they are open to the public and seemingly, very new.

This is actually a great location as it's almost exactly right in the middle between Rockford and Galena which (at least coming from chicago) is the far more "dead" side of the trip - within 40-50 miles of chicago you have options, within 40-50 miles of Galena you had a handful of fairly unreliable L2 chargers. Being able to now have a little confidence to leave galena with maybe 100mi of range and top-up to get back home actually gives a surprising amount of flexibility and confidence. Once I get a feel for reliability there I'd be more confident leaving with <100mi but for the moment I'd want to keep a reserve to hit the Rockford station if need be so you need around 90mi of range minimum to leave a little buffer for that. but having 8 chargers along Route 20 now is actually huge and as I said means you now at least have some options in charging strategy - I can top-up (100%) at home, get to Galena straight through, top-up with L2 chargers during the day to get around town and as long as I'm around 100mi+ of range, have multiple options to stop on the way back now. There's no need to plan everything carefully around the one Rockford stop and deal with congestion there. And no need to absolutely make 2 stops. The round trip (depending on in town miles and L2 availability) can now be a single stop affair since the EV Connect station is much closer to Galena for the trip back. Hopefully this new option alleviates some of the planning stress on this route.

I realize this is probably only important to me

But I just bought a piece of land out there and I'm working on building a home on it, so there will be frequent trips for the foreseeable future. So anything that makes this route better for EVs has a huge impact for me.

Made the trip today stopped there on the way out and the way back just to see if it would be busy. It was great. I don't think too many people know about it just yet. Ran into another R1S there on the way back with a full family and a dog but otherwise totally empty. The chargers are new and payment was quick and easy. If you have to choose between this and Rockford stop here every time.

I would suggest grabbing a snack or coffee before stopping at the Freeport Ford. There’s nothing walking distance from there.

@juanherrera425

@juanherrera425 Agreed. And at least there are actually a lot of places a very short drive away to get those things. So as long as you're not in immediate danger of not making the charger, you can quickly grab something on the way in, and then head over to charge. It still beats the mayhem at Walmart in Rockford.

Chicago Rivian Enthusiasts

Chicago Rivian Enthusiasts

Share this group

Quick Overview

RexRemus