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EV Camping·November 09, 2026·@tessa_wick

Anyone else using their EV as the camping basecamp? How do you handle charging/power on multi-day trips?

Just got back from our first time camping with the EV and I'm looking for advice on the charging side, because it didn't go the way I hoped. We were relying on campsite power for the trip. We were happy to plug into the standard 120V outlet at the site, but it was a GFCI-protected outlet and it kept tripping. Every time it popped we lost the charge, so we never got a clean overnight session going. That's what got me looking into the 30 to 50 amp adapters. I'm not sure if that's actually the right fix though, or if I'd just be buying a part that doesn't solve anything. Any suggestions on what to do in that situation? Or is the realistic answer to just plan to charge somewhere else and treat the campsite as a bonus? A few specific things I'd love to hear from people who've done this: - Is the tripping the outlet's fault, the car's, or some combination? Would an adapter to a 30 or 50 amp pedestal get around it, or is it a separate issue? - If we do end up on 120V, is it worth turning the charge amps down in the car so we're not running the outlet flat out all night? - Do you call ahead and ask campsites about 50A sites or whether they allow EV charging at all before booking? - For the overnight stay itself, how much battery does it cost to keep the climate running, and how do you plan charging stops on multi-day trips when the car's loaded up with gear? This was our first trip like this so we were a bit caught off guard. Thanks in advance, any help is really appreciated!

Filed under: EV Camping

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30 ANSWERS

@rgaudet_58November 09, 2026

Dialing the amps down in the car is what I do with my Tesla on 30A pedestals too. I plugged in at a 30 amp campsite with the limit at 22A and it stayed there all night, though I'm never fully sure the pedestal breaker is happy with it. Does anyone know if 22A is too much for a 30A breaker over 8+ hours?

@tessa_wickNovember 09, 2026

Never thought to check PlugShare for a town charger near the campground, we'll do that next time. Honestly after the GFCI outlet kept tripping on us I'm not sure a 30/50 amp adapter is worth buying unless the site actually has the right pedestal.

@teddy_roarkNovember 09, 2026

Can't speak to the TT-30 wiring question, but we've only used straight 50 amp pedestals and they've been easy. This year we charged on the 50A at Icelandic State Park in North Dakota, Stanley RV & Camp in Idaho and Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, using the Ford mobile charger at 32A. No issues at any of them, and they didn't charge us. If you can find a real 50A site I'd do that rather than fight with adapters.

@lpenhallNovember 09, 2026

Worth noting a 50A site isn't a guarantee either. A campground in northern Idaho wouldn't let me plug into their 14-50 even though I offered to pay. The clerk said EVs explode all the time. Meanwhile there were propane tanks everywhere.

@tmerritt_82November 09, 2026

Same thing on my end, though it's new for me. I just finished a cross-country run towing my travel trailer with the EV9, staying at regular RV parks, and this was the first trip where I saw posted rules against charging an EV off the park's electrical. Worth asking before you book.

@gramps_wilNovember 09, 2026

Even calling ahead doesn't always save you. We called before booking at Bandy Creek in Big South Fork, TN, and were told it was fine as long as we paid for the site. Then the camp host got the rangers out, and one of them said to get out or they'd call the police. A supervisor finally came and said it wasn't preferred but we were ok this time. The campground's solar L2 wasn't working that day, and there's nothing else within an hour's drive, so we really needed that plug. It was not a fun trip with 5 grandkids in the car. If you're remote like that, I'd try to get the OK in writing, or at least know your fallback charger before you go.

@lwheeler_58November 09, 2026

Mine's been the opposite so far. Every campsite where I'd booked an electric site and nothing was posted about EVs, I just plugged in and it was never a problem. I kept expecting someone to say something, but nobody ever did.

@gabe_sinclairNovember 09, 2026

Weird, that's not been our experience. We just did a month towing the boat from Texas down to the Keys, plugged in at campground pedestals the whole way, and we've never had a problem at state or county park campgrounds. Nobody blinked.

@nolan_teschNovember 09, 2026

Same here, I camp in my car and plug into the 240V at campgrounds all the time. Well over 50 nights so far and I've never had any issues with it.

@mkessing_64November 09, 2026

When I took my Tesla camping I set it to use only 16amps out of the 120v 30amp plug. Didn't want to sit at the limit all night on somebody's campsite wiring, and it never tripped anything.

@dgerber_71November 09, 2026

We sleep in our Model Y with the seats down on a contoured mattress, me, my wife and our 100lb German Shepherd, and it's honestly comfortable. Climate held fine in a t-shirt and shorts at 30 outside. The catch is what the OP asked about: if you're not near an outlet or RV plug overnight, the battery drains more than you'd think, so I'd always try to park somewhere with power.

@nabbott_November 09, 2026

Gear space is the part that caught me off guard, more than the power side. Last camping trip the cooler, tent and sleeping bags for the four of us filled the GX460 and the Model Y would have been a no-go. So the Model Y stays home for anything longer than a weekend, and the camp power question only matters for the other car.

@jsmoot_82November 09, 2026

The drain is real if you're running climate, but I've had the opposite surprise with the trailer. I tow with an EV9 up to a campground at 8600 ft outside Vegas with zero hookups, so the car is the power source. Last time up there I ran the trailer's lights, fridge and fan off the EV9 all weekend with no generator and still had plenty left to drive home. The drive up is what hurts, since towing cuts my range roughly in half.

@gary_lenhartNovember 09, 2026

Been on the lucky side of this so far. 8,000+ miles with the Lightning and a travel trailer (Michigan to Florida and back twice, plus Florida to California to Michigan), and I've only ever used the 240V 50A plugs with the standard Ford mobile charger. Pulls 6.5kW all day, no issues. Never been told to unplug and never paid extra. If anything the attendants mostly just ask about the truck.

@nick_alvaradoNovember 09, 2026

Another data point for the 'ask first' crowd. Out near Capitol Reef in southern Utah, which is pretty remote, I found Dukes RV park that let us charge and even had an EV-specific site. We got a full charge overnight at 40 amps in our Model Y. Worth checking whether a park has a dedicated EV spot before you book.

@mike_tavaresNovember 09, 2026

Ha, two 14-50s side by side would've been nice for us. Our version of the annoying one was the opposite, just a trickle charge at my in-laws' place in Montana and nowhere close to a Supercharger. A couple of the RV parks up there let us use their L2 for a small donation though, so worth asking.

@mike_halvorsenNovember 09, 2026

Montana was the one place on our loop that made me sweat too. Eastern Montana between Miles City and Billings has basically nothing in the middle, so we charged to 100% and kept it at 70 in Eco. Ended with 14%, fine, but I wouldn't have wanted to do it on a trickle charge. Sounds like donation L2 at the RV parks saved you.

@dkessler_74November 09, 2026

Trickle charging in Montana sounds rough. Only overnight I've done like that was a Rivian RAN site at a mall in Ohio, plugged into the L2 and sleeping in my rooftop tent in the parking lot. Lights were bright but it was full by morning and nobody bothered me. Probably only works if you have a Rivian though.

@rtepper_61November 09, 2026

I do a lot of 500 to 1,000 mile trips, 12 to 26 hours of driving, so overnight stops are a big part of my planning. What's worked for me is fast charging to 100% at a mall or travel center late at night when nobody's waiting, then moving the car to a normal spot and sleeping. Travel centers are also the only places with restrooms open in the middle of the night. RV parks with L2 are good too. I look at the area on Google Maps first, because PlugShare doesn't tell you whether you'd actually want to sleep there.

@paul_heskethNovember 09, 2026

That's pretty much how I did it when I crossed the USA and car-camped. I skipped L2 for the most part. Fast charging and then moving the car is smart, because you're not sitting in the charger's spot hogging it. If you do sleep at the station, you're technically a customer. If you get the knock, just say you fell asleep doomscrolling. In the rural west cops mostly leave sleepers alone anyway.

@jhedrick_22November 09, 2026

Late to this, but for anyone planning a tow trip: I pull a 21' Airstream with a Standard Range Lightning and get about 1.3 mi/kWh at 60 and 1.4 at 55. So I plan the stops off those numbers and not the sticker range. It also means I'm usually charging at the campground if they'll let me, and I run the trailer off the truck's bed outlet while I do.

@pjansen_58November 09, 2026

Same experience with the Airstream, towing speed matters way more than anything else. I do it with an R1T and a 25ft Airstream. Those 5000 miles were spread over about a month of sleeping in the Airstream, and sticking to 60 is what made the long gaps between chargers workable. Dropping from 70 to 60 gave back a lot of range.

@dcoulter_58November 09, 2026

Model Y here. Before a road trip I left it in Camp Mode at home to see what it'd do, and it was about half a percent per hour. Then I slept 5 hours at a rest area with the cabin at 65-66 F and it was high 30s to 40s outside. Only lost 2%. Nothing running but the climate. It probably changes with the temp gap and screen use, but the drain wasn't something I had to think about.

@tmarwick_November 09, 2026

Agreeing on matching the pedestal. I use a Camco 50A 15ft extension from the pedestal to my R1S, with the mobile charger at around 32A. It's been fine and never got hot, though I'm not an electrician. The thing is just heavy and a pain to move around.

@mpruden_November 09, 2026

Same boat. I tried a 14-50 mobile connector end with a TT-30 converter on a "30 amp" site and got nothing, no lights at all. The 110 outlet at least started charging, but the breaker popped within seconds even at 5 amps. I read somewhere that some TT-30 adapters are wired for RVs rather than EVs, but I'm not an electrician. Does anyone know if that's actually a thing? Agreed that it's only worth buying one if you know the pedestal matches.

@dgreenhalghNovember 09, 2026

Same, I live in a trailer full-time and plug into pedestals everywhere. Only time it mattered was Joshua Tree, I rolled into the campground at 4% after a Supercharger stop and nothing else was nearby. Just plugging in at the site saved me.

@chris_lanphierNovember 10, 2026

Half the range while towing is about what I figured. No EV here yet, just an F-150 pulling an Airstream at 11.5 mpg, and I've been eyeing an R1S for it. We cap our days at about 4 hours of driving anyway. Honestly, with the kids and all the gear packed into the trailer, those frequent stops are when we get the cooler restocked and everyone stretches. What I still can't tell is how many chargers you can actually pull through without unhooking.

@rsutherland_November 10, 2026

My annoying one was the layout. Two 14-50s side by side on the pad, so I had to back the trailer all the way to the back and then turn the R1S around just to reach the outlet. First time towing, so that was a fun little puzzle.

@kevin_ordwayNovember 10, 2026

Same lesson on my LA to Denver trip in a Model 3 SR+, just no trailer. Only time I got range anxiety in 3000 miles was westbound I-70 from Green River to Richfield. Huge headwinds, and the Tesla trip planner doesn't account for wind or weather, so the stops that looked fine on paper weren't. ABRP was much closer for me.

@mreinholt_November 09, 2026

Planner ignoring wind is good to know. I only sleep in the back of my Model 3 (5'10" and it's fine), but I've never checked how much the battery drops overnight with climate on. Did anyone here see a rough % after a night in Camp Mode?