Extension Cord

AMONG THE PUBLIC CHARGERS LISTED ON THE EV APP PLUGSHARE, WE FOUND SOME PRIVATE HOMES, SO WE SET OFF TO VISIT SOME PURVEYORS OF ELECTRIC GENEROSITY.

- Elana Scherr

One notable entry described itself as "The Watt Family Poodle Farm and Insane Asylum." The Watt place (yes, really) stands out on the PlugShare list, one of several unexpected private residences among the app's location and status reviews of public EV chargers.

To find out who is inviting total strangers to their garage and why, photographer Michael Simari and I nabbed the key fob to an electric car we figured wouldn't be too unwelcome in any driveway, a BMW i4 M50, and charted a course along the west coast of Michigan, marking our stops based on PlugShare's little blue house icons.

Our first destination was a complex of tiny homes a few miles from the beach in South Haven, where, with no answers to our in-app texts, we pulled up in front of a charging Chrysler Pacifica and clumsily asked a woman sitting on the nearby patio if we could borrow some charge. "I'm sorry, what?" she said, looking confused. "Can we plug into your charging station? You're listed on the PlugShare map." Her eyes widened, and she started laughing.