Returning from a weekend outing I was unsure of getting home, we had taken a 10 mile detour and also taken the interstate to save time, this sapped our available mileage. It looked like I’d be a mile or two short, I had miscalculated,  so rather than take the risk of coming up short I decided on taking a detour to Cracker Barrel in Nashville which has a quick charge unit. I anticipated I’d be charged up in less time than it took to eat a meal.

When we arrived at the Cracker Barrel close to  Percy Priest Lake we found that not only were both of the quick charge parking spaces taken by gasoline vehicles, but the L2 charger was also occupied with a gasoline vehicle. All their units were inaccessible! I drove on instead to Kohl’s on Lebanon Road where I know there were 4 Level 2 chargers available. The first unit I pulled up to looked like it was working just fine. After pressing ‘charge’ following entering my ZIP code I received a ‘Failed System Diagnostic’ and the charge did not start. Fortunately the next unit over worked just fine.

This experience taught me a few things, when running short on charge, DON’T go 5 miles out your way for a quick charge unit, it may not be available. We would have been better off trying to make it home and stopping off at Rivergate or Hallmark Mitsubishi for a quick 15 minute charge at a L2 unit. I had a full car with luggage and all seats occupied, and didn’t want to stop at a  car dealer, a restaurant would have been much more convenient.

While we waited at Kohl’s we bought a pair of Jeans and also got some drinks at Target next door. Kohl’s gained extra business as a result of smartly placing their charging stations in a non-premium parking location. Cracker Barrel on the other hand missed out on selling some meals (it was lunchtime anyway) just because they placed the units at a premium parking location and failed to reserve the parking spots for EV’s.

I had no plans to stop at Cracker Barrel or Kohl’s. Keeping spaces open can and will attract additional business from EV drivers.

Kohl’s 1;  Cracker Barrel 0

Quick Note to Kohl’s, if you would only add units at your Hendersonville location, I would have headed there instead of Cracker Barrel in the first place.