Has anyone driven a Bolt S.F. Bay Area to Tahoe or Yosemite yet?

[GRA]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned doing so so far.

 

[sgt1372]

I wouldn't drive my Bolt there but I just checked and there is a 30A L2 charger at the Village Store and a 15A L2 at the Awahanee (now Majestic Yosemite) Hotel.

The L2 at the hotel was installed by Tesla because the NPS required them to install one that EVERYONE could use as a condition to allowing them to install a 80A Tesla charger there. There's also a 110 plug that you can use a the store w/your L1 charger.

But with only 2 L2 chargers in the entire valley, and only 1 of them a 30A charger at that, good luck getting a charge there. Pretty slim pickings outside the park too.

In this case, Tesla has the real advantage w/Supercharger sites in Oakhurst near Wawona on 41 and in Groveland on 120, as well as other Telsa non-Supercharger sites sprinkled in between.

 

[GRA]

I wouldn't drive my Bolt there but I just checked and there is a 30A L2 charger at the Village Store and a 15A L2 at the Awahanee (now Majestic Yosemite) Hotel.

The L2 at the hotel was installed by Tesla because the NPS required them to install one that EVERYONE could use as a condition to allowing them to install a 80A Tesla charger there. There's also a 110 plug that you can use a the store w/your L1 charger.

But with only 2 L2 chargers in the entire valley, and only 1 of them a 30A charger at that, good luck getting a charge there. Pretty slim pickings outside the park too.

In this case, Tesla has the real advantage w/Supercharger sites in Oakhurst near Wawona on 41 and in Groveland on 120, as well as other Telsa non-Supercharger sites sprinkled in between.

I'm aware of the charger situation in Yosemite (i surveyed then all as well as potential new locations last September), but there are eVgo dual-mode QCs along Hwy 99, so the Bolt should be able to make the round trip from them to/from the Valley, perhaps taking it a bit slowly - from the QC in Atwater it's only 90 miles one-way, with ca. 4k feet of climb.

Tahoe shouldn't be any problem at all, so I've been surprised that no one has mentioned trying either of them yet, at least among the membership here.

 

[MrBill]

San Francisco to Tahoe is easily within my bolt range but I wonder how much I lose climbing up over the summit. Has anyone done that. I’m just curious if I can make that run without stopping for a booster charge in Sacramento.

 

[theothertom]

Maybe this will help a little:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inm_1MvThBM

 

[cwerdna]

For Tahoe, you can take advantage of free juice from https://drivethearc.com/#sec-locations.

As I posted about at https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/calif-dcfc-info-and-or-news.30575/page-17#post-545551, I learned that they extended their free juice to CCS users. Previously (from day 1) it was only free for CHAdeMO users. I've received about 167 kWh of free juice from them so far.

You have to use their wonky app to start charging (by getting a promo ticket) and you MUST link your DTA account to your EVgo account.

Per the news item on May 27, 2020 at https://drivethearc.com/news/, they're doing free doing free juice until further notice.

 

[AyeJay]

I drove my 2017 Bolt to Squaw Valley Resort last summer. My total cost for fuel (electricity) was $0.00 ..

I DCFCed 1 mile from my home for free to 90% and drove past Sacramento, CA.
Since I didn't think I had enough range to overcome the losses of climbing the mountain to Tahoe I DCFCed at an EVgo location off I-80 at Lincoln, CA for free in a small shopping center just before the foothills. After having lunch and coffee at a small cafe there I waited about ten minutes for the 80% charge to complete.

Upon arriving at my destination the hotel valet plugged my car into a level 2 charger there for a free charge to 100%. A couple of days later I was able to drive home coming down the mountain, controlling my downhill speed with the car's 'L' regenerative braking system on that single charge no problem.

I even stopped for a hike on my favorite trail behind Soda Springs on the way home .. (a slight detour) .. no problem.

-- I usually average around 3.9 miles/kWh when freeway/city street driving in the SF bay area .. making the climb to Tahoe at freeway speed I averaged about 2.6 mi/kWh.

Conclusion: As expected I saw a significant reduction in efficiency going up the grade which I recovered through regenerative braking coming down that same grade.

AJ

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
You mean miles/kWh? miles/kW makes no sense. The car's instrumentation uses the right units.

A bit more explanation and discussion at https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=514567#p514567.

 

[AyeJay]

You mean miles/kWh?

corrected .. thank you cwerdna

 

[BoltEV]

You mean miles/kWh?

corrected .. thank you cwerdna

When I corrected a similar mistake recently, after it was pointed out to me by another, my corrected post now shows everyone that I edited it retroactively.

I notice yours does not.

Do Moderators have the ability to go back and stealthily edit their prior posts, even after someone has posted afterwards?

 

[SparkE]

You mean miles/kWh?

corrected .. thank you cwerdna

When I corrected a similar mistake recently, after it was pointed out to me by another, my corrected post now shows everyone that I edited it retroactively.

I notice yours does not.

Do Moderators have the ability to go back and stealthily edit their prior posts, even after someone has posted afterwards?

I never noticed before, but it looks like when a mod (well, at least for me) edits their own post, it doesn't show up has being modified. It's not an option (AFAIK), it is the default. Strange.

 

[JoeS]

Back on topic - I once drove a Mitsubishi i-MiEV (EPA range 62 miles) with CHAdeMo from the Peninsula up to Tahoe via Highway 50. Left at dawn and arrived at Incline Village at dusk after driving around the lake. Visited friends along the way, and made the return trip down through Grass Valley (stayed there for a day) and then for variety through south Sacramento down Highway 99 and back into the Bay Area through Tracy. Total of 600 miles and three days, painless. Yosemite is more 'interesting', but charging in Yosemite Valley is iffy because of (primarily) PHEVs hogging the available charging stations. You'd think that by now proper etiquette would be followed to move the car as soon as it's charged!