Can you charge an EV at a campground hookup? Nine federal campgrounds answer in writing, and all nine say no

No. Every federal campground listing on Recreation.gov that answers the question in writing says you cannot charge an electric vehicle from the campsite pedestal. We read the notices on all 5,445 campground listings on Recreation.gov on October 16, 2026. Nine address charging at the site. All nine say no or not available, and not one says yes.

What the nine say

Five give a reason, and every reason is about the electrical system.

• Union Creek, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon: “Electric Vehicles should not be plugged in and charged because the circuit breaker is not rated for this use.” (listing)
• Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida: the sites have 20, 30 and 50 amp service, but “our systems can not currently support the charging of electric vehicles.” (listing)
• Dogwood and Serrano, San Bernardino National Forest, California: “We do not have 50 amp electrical for electric cars. Do not book an RV electric for this usage.” Dogwood adds: “It will not work.” (Dogwood, Serrano)
• Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California: plugging in “could permanently damage your vehicle and the campground’s electrical system. You could be liable for any damage done to the system.” We covered that listing in detail in September. (listing)

The other four just say no: Pinnacles (“EV CHARGING IS PROHITIED AT RV SITES”, their spelling), Davis Bayou at Gulf Islands in Mississippi (“NO Electric car charging in the campground”), and Horseshoe in the Monongahela and White Rock Mountain in the Ozark-St. Francis, which both list EV charging as not available.

The catch: almost every listing is silent

That leaves 5,436 listings that say nothing about it, including nearly all of the 844 whose notices use the word electric at all. Silence is not permission. The National Park Service’s servicewide EV charging page (last updated February 27, 2025) is a station map built with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and carries no campground policy, so there is no national rule to fall back on in either direction. The answer lives at the campground level, and where a campground has written one down, it is no.

A silent listing tells you nothing about whether that campground’s breakers can take an EV, and we are not going to guess. What some listings do say is that the pedestal is for your camping unit. Smith Ridge, a Corps of Engineers campground in Kentucky, puts it this way on its listing, read October 16: “To prevent overloading electrical circuits, only one (1) camper unit may be plugged into the campsite electric pedestal.” We cover that rule and others like it in one camper per hookup.

Where to charge instead

Seven listings point you to a dedicated charger instead. Crater Lake’s Mazama Village points to a 24-hour station at the Annie Creek Gift Shop with one J1772 and one Tesla connector. All four Shenandoah campground listings, Big Meadows among them, say chargers are “only available at Skyland Lodge (milepost 41.7).” Pinnacles points to a charger by the store, and Furnace Creek to the Oasis a short drive away.

Before you plug anything other than your rig into a post, ask the host or the ranger, and read what is posted at the site. The sign and the campground’s own guidance beat a listing, and they beat this page. For California’s federal campgrounds, where four of the nine sit, see our California free camping page.