Do you need to carry EVSE ?

[jontybutts]

Never used an EVSE in any of my BEV cars over the past 6 years. Didn't spec it this time around and just took the public charging cable instead as a swap instead.

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[Klepper]

I have a hard time justifying keeping an EVSE in the car for "just in case". I use the PMCC to charge my car when it drops to ~20% and charge to 75%. So my lowest range is always around 50-60km. The nearest reliable DC fast charger is 3km from my house. When I do longer trips (a few times a year), I just pop the PMCC off the wall and carry that to charge at destination.

Can someone give me an example of how a spare EVSE gives them peace of mind? When do they expect to use it urgently? I can understand if people charge at work everyday and don't want to pop the PMCC off the wall everyday, but apart from that scenario I really can't see the use of a spare EVSE.

This just happened to me last Friday:

I left the house in the morning at 85% SOC charge and drove to work, north of my house. I drove home after work, so I was at around ~60% SOC (colder weather lowers my range a bit). My son called up and asked if we wanted to meet him for dinner. He lives about 40 miles south of our house. We hopped in the car and drove to meet him. Arrived at ~40% SOC. While at dinner, my wife brought up that we need to pick something up at our cottage (another 25 miles south). We had planned on going on Sat or Sun, but since we were 2/3rd of the way there, we drove to the cottage after dinner. Arrived at just under ~30% SOC. The PCM Nav said to get back home, we would arrive at almost 0% SOC, so while at the cottage, I pulled out my Mustart travel charger and plugged into my dryer outlet. For the 1 hour we were there, I gained enough mileage back to make sure we made it home.

There are no DC charging stations between my house and cottage.

Could we have just driven my wife's ICE car....sure.
Could we have skipped going to the cottage and just drove home....sure.
But it was nice to be able to do what I wanted.

Having that ability to me is peace of mind. My "road warrior kit" with the Mustart charger and some accessories all in was under $500. Well worth it to me.