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Ateo
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Baja EV Thread
Hello fellow Baja travelers,
JD Canuck was asking about EV’s in Baja so I figured I’d start a new discussion.
This is the first time I’ve taken an EV south of the border.
Only went as far as Ensenada.
There are known chargers at the Energy Gasolinera on the toll road in Rosarito and a Tesla Supercharger that I used this morning at Hotel Coral in
Ensenada.
Anyone have any other favorites or upcoming installations?
The hotel in BOLA also had a few Tesla wall charger units when I was there last year.
Waves are big and very consistent today at K-38.
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AKgringo
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If you can let us know what EV you are driving, and how it works for you, that would be useful information.
I am jealously contributing from northern California. Have a great trip!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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SFandH
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Ateo, does your EV have a spare tire? Most EVs don't, and I think driving Baja without a spare is risky. Also, EVs need special tires to handle the
extra weight, right?
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JDCanuck
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I don't know about the Tesla Y models like Ateo has but my Leaf comes with emergency repair and inflator kit like most newer cars do. Packing a
separate spare might be worthwhile in Baja. I have never had to use the inflator kits, just added air without the sealant or plugs til I could get to
the next tire repair shop.
And thanks for the info Ateo, i'm sure others will be interested in how it goes further south.
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mtgoat666
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I see chargers in most every bigger town up and down baja.
The burning question: given that gasoline pumps are all rigged to cheat you on volume, have the electric charger operators figured out how to scam EVs
on amount of juice dispensed? I am interested if the onboard data matches the charge dispenser data…
Woke!
Hands off!
“Por el bien de todos, primero los pobres.”
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Pronoun: the royal we
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JDCanuck
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There should be a lot more room to make profits on the power than on gasoline, so they should have no need to "adjust" it. People with EVs will gladly
pay 2 times their cost of power without complaining. Gasoline profit margins are much tighter.
The one time we tried out a for profit charger, we paid 3 to 4 times what it costs us at home per kwh received and they had lots of people stopping
there, buying food, taking a break and charging up a bit extra to be sure they had enough to get home.
They used a time based charge regardless of how fast your EV drew the power, and our charger type feeds to our vehicle slower than most will draw it.
They would have been making at least 100% markup on the fastest charges.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck]
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Tioloco
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Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck  | There should be a lot more room to make profits on the power than on gasoline, so they should have no need to "adjust" it. People with EVs will gladly
pay 2 times their cost of power without complaining. Gasoline profit margins are much tighter.
The one time we tried out a for profit charger, we paid 3 to 4 times what it costs us at home per kwh received and they had lots of people stopping
there, buying food, taking a break and charging up a bit extra to be sure they had enough to get home.
They used a time based charge regardless of how fast your EV drew the power, and our charger type feeds to our vehicle slower than most will draw it.
They would have been making at least 100% markup on the fastest charges.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck] |
Why would people gladly pay double what they normally pay for a charge?
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JDCanuck
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Convenience of charging away from home and taking a break at a convenient location and where the scenery and or good food is. When I charge at
home(assuming I was still paying full residential power costs) it's less than 1/10 the cost of gas, so at a for profit place it would still be 1/5 the
cost of gas. Once competition gets tighter they will find cheaper places as they do now for gas. For now, the few people that put in charging stations
are making great profits and in addition drawing more customers to their primary businesses. Remember...we are talking 5 bucks extra to get an 80% of
full charge on most vehicles with a 250 to 300 mile range. That's less than I'd be paying a server for a tip at a decent restaurant.
The previous free Level 2 chargers at hotels, etc. are disappearing as the charge speeds accelerate in the higher voltage ones. In our case as we only
travel 250 miles on a round trip anyway, we get by with only charging at home from our newly installed solar system.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck]
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Tioloco
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I suppose that is an acquired taste. Taking a long break at a charging station seems VERY inconvenient. To each their own.
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JDCanuck
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Every 4 or 5 hours of driving I take a long break anyway, generally for a meal. It really would not be that inconvenient to plug into a charger while
I am there. Overnight, a level 2 charger (generally free) at a hotel like One La Paz where we usually stay anyway would be fine and would give me a
full charge in 5-6 hours while I slept. It was just another cheap perk they added a few years back to get more customers than their competition.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck]
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Tioloco
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The F150 Powerboost with the 7.2kw inverter looks like a pretty interesting rig. It is capable of powering your house in case of power outages and
seems like a cool option for backup power for a Baja house whether on or off grid.
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JDCanuck
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I would have bought one of those F-150 Lightnings for the reasons you mentioned if I was an American. They were just under 40,000 with 12,500 rebates
when they first came out. They sold for a lot more up here, and no rebates. As we could have left it charging on our 240v 50 amp outlet from solar in
Baja it would have significantly reduced the number of storage batteries we needed to install. It's really too bad Ford stopped making them, as I see
a lot up here in use by contractors.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck]
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Tioloco
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Powerboost has the advantage of gasoline power to recharge batteries and fire up the inverter. More flexible and practical for most people. And no
waiting around at charging stations!
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JDCanuck
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Is that the new extended range EV they are coming out with that has the small engine to recharge the battery but runs 100% on electric? Now that seems
like the best way to go rather than either full diesel or gas with an installed inverter or a traditional hybrid. If the engine has issues it just
becomes a regular EV, pull the engine and have it repaired without losing the availability of the truck.
I just looked it up and see I was wrong. This looks like a somewhat upsized version of the BYD Shark
.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck]
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JZ
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Rented an EV in Florida a couple months back. Cost $25 to charge it from 30% to 80%, and took 30 minutes to do it.
It would have taken another 30 minutes to charge to 100%.
EV's are the future, but the future isn't here yet and forcing people into something (vehicles/infrastructure) that is not ready needs to stop.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JZ]
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Tioloco
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| Quote: Originally posted by JZ | Rented an EV in Florida a couple months back. Cost $25 to charge it from 30% to 80%, and took 30 minutes to do it.
It would have taken another 30 minutes to charge to 100%.
EV's are the future, but the future isn't here yet and forcing people into something (vehicles/infrastructure) that is not ready needs to stop.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JZ] |
Those charge times are a real non-starter for those that aren't retired or just bored. And the impending road tax on EV's for their share of the
street and highway maintenance is going to set back their viability even more.
With the current oil reserves of over 100 years, I think we will see IC vehicles in baja indefinitely. They are definitely easier and more practical
to use.
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JDCanuck
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That is an amazingly high cost to charge alright. sounds like you paid around 60 cents per kwh assuming that was a larger than normal 80kwh battery to
take that long to charge on high voltage charger. That's about 6 to 8 times what my residential power costs, but then...it is Florida. The provider
has found a new way to get rich fast. Sounds like a Tesla charger, perhaps with a huge surcharge to charge another brand of EV?
I'm more interested in how much they charged Ateo for the extra 2 minutes it took him to plug in his Model Y at the hotel he stayed at in Ensenada for
a realistic trip to Baja and back. My experience after 2 1/2 years actually using my Leaf is it has been a huge time saver rather than spending extra
time refueling on trips. I charge free at the mall when we are shopping or getting my hair cut and never have had to sit in lineups at the gas station
to get my vehicle fueled. After we went through that inconvenience we would search out some place to get lunch, and finally get back on the road
again. On extra cold days, the windows are defrosted, the vehicle warmed and ready to roll out the driveway in half the time of warming the gas
vehicle with the motor running.
[Edited on 9-6-2026 by JDCanuck]
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Ateo
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I’ll check in this evening when I’m home. Lots of common questions and concerns in this thread that I’ve realized over the last three years of
driving my EV over 100k miles througout So Cal aren’t an issue.
I don’t have a spare. If I was traveling further south past Ensenada I’d bring a spare. There are llanteras and tow trucks everywhere in Baja
though.
I have a Tesla Model Y
Tires may be unique sizes.
What I’ve noticed so far on my recent trips further in the mainland is there are electric vehicles all over the place and BYD dealers popping up
everywhere.
I’m expecting that to continue in Baja.
I work in the gasoline industry. I really thought that transitioning to an electric vehicle was a long ways away from me.
After one of my kids bought one and I saw what a great design they were. I bought one for Work.
The overall driving experience in those last three years has been a huge upgrade from gasoline, powered vehicles over the rest of my life.
Almost all of my fears about electric vehicles were totally misplaced and not based in reality.
That’s what I’m realizing.
The cost of ownership has been minimal.
No oil changes.
All I’ve done in three years and 110k miles is buy two sets of tires. Current tires have another 30k on them probably.
Now for Baja, it’s not the vehicle you’re gonna go prerun in for the Baja 1000 but it’s pretty good for driving on roads where you know where to
charge.
Yes a gas vehicle is currently better for those long desolate stretches.
I paid $8 pesos per kWh yesterday. Haven’t done the math but I think k it was like $10 to get it from 45% to 80%
And another thing is the charging at the newer chargers is very quick compared to what everybody thinks.
I am in a massive hurry when I’m at work and I leave home with a full tank every morning and if I need to charge if I’m going super far away
usually a 10 minute stop is all that’s needed to get back home and charge for super cheap!!!
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: Originally posted by Ateo | | I’ll check in this evening when I’m home. Lots of common questions and concerns in this thread that I’ve realized over the last three years of
driving my EV over 100k miles througout So Cal aren’t an issue. |
EVs are pretty slick
Woke!
Hands off!
“Por el bien de todos, primero los pobres.”
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Pronoun: the royal we
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JDCanuck
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Thanks Ateo. I too found it very convenient and a time saver overall which was the exact opposite of what people who had never owned one kept telling
me. My biggest expense in 2 1/2 years was one tire replacement which was a pinhole leak on the sidewall. Other than that, a cabin filter and 4 key fob
batteries is all we have spent in maintenance. Tires for my car are the same ones as used on gas vehicles, but when they are finally replaced will be
steel belted Michelins, also common to gas vehicles.
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