GetOffYourGas
Well-known member
This summer I spent a week in Virginia Beach. I've taken my family down there for a few years now, but this year we were able to do 100% of our driving in an EV. Not bad for a trip that's 580 miles one-way.
Before we left, I checked and double-checked Plug Share. The new trip planner tool is easy to use and very helpful indeed! It knows my car's nominal range, and clearly plots it on the map. I wanted to err on the side of caution, so I tried to choose chargers that gave me considerable reserve (at least 25-30%). I was fortunate to have a network dense enough to allow for that.
The longest gap was the second, at 168 miles. And that road has a 70MPH speed limit up and down steep hills in PA. This meant that I needed to charge nearly to full (to keep a good reserve). To make matters worse, there is only one place with a QC nearby - if it was down, I'd be sitting at an L2 for hours. Fortunately when I got there, it was working and available. Better yet - it was free of charge, courtesy of NYS tax payers (e.g. me).
The next stop was just outside of Philly. It took a little while to find the charger because it was tucked behind a Panera, next to the dumpster. I also added two stops at Royal Farms in Delaware. I really only needed one, but I stopped twice for good measure. The first stop was just enough time for a quick bathroom break and then grab some drinks and snacks for the kids.
We arrived at our final destination 575 miles later, having burned through 152kWh for an efficiency of about 3.8 miles/kWh. Not bad for having run the A/C, and carried a Thule box on the roof.
The return trip was more or less the same path. We stopped briefly in Philly to walk around and see the Liberty Bell. I also learned that they recently discovered the foundation of George Washington's home. A nice memorial was made around it with some interesting history on civil rights.
When I hit the QC in the 'burbs, this time I had company - a Model 3 had just arrived. This was the first time I had seen another EV at a charger. Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for me), he did not have a CHAdeMO adaptor, just the J1772 that came with the car. I explained to him the difference, and he said he would look into buying the CHAdeMO adaptor ASAP. In the meantime, he plugged into the L2, and I got to use the QC.
As luck would have it, the next charger I also had company - another Bolter from Vermont. This time it was at the NYS welcome center on I-81. Fortunately they had just turned on the second QC, so we were able to charge our matching Bolts at the same time. I didn't get to talk with this driver, but I did snap a picture before he left.
When we finally made it home, we had covered 581 miles using 146kWh. That's 4.0 miles/kWh, a little better than the way down. It was a little cooler on the return, and the difference was probably the lower A/C usage.
Overall, it was a great trip. It was my first trip over 2x the single-charge range of the car. I learned a lot and I feel much more comfortable taking these trips in the future.
My biggest wish would be for a denser QC network. If I didn't have to worry about those nearly 170-mile stretches without QC, it would have been a much more easy-going trip. Also, the Bolt has a very aggressive QC taper, and I could have stopped while the car was still charging much faster.
Before we left, I checked and double-checked Plug Share. The new trip planner tool is easy to use and very helpful indeed! It knows my car's nominal range, and clearly plots it on the map. I wanted to err on the side of caution, so I tried to choose chargers that gave me considerable reserve (at least 25-30%). I was fortunate to have a network dense enough to allow for that.
The longest gap was the second, at 168 miles. And that road has a 70MPH speed limit up and down steep hills in PA. This meant that I needed to charge nearly to full (to keep a good reserve). To make matters worse, there is only one place with a QC nearby - if it was down, I'd be sitting at an L2 for hours. Fortunately when I got there, it was working and available. Better yet - it was free of charge, courtesy of NYS tax payers (e.g. me).
The next stop was just outside of Philly. It took a little while to find the charger because it was tucked behind a Panera, next to the dumpster. I also added two stops at Royal Farms in Delaware. I really only needed one, but I stopped twice for good measure. The first stop was just enough time for a quick bathroom break and then grab some drinks and snacks for the kids.
We arrived at our final destination 575 miles later, having burned through 152kWh for an efficiency of about 3.8 miles/kWh. Not bad for having run the A/C, and carried a Thule box on the roof.
The return trip was more or less the same path. We stopped briefly in Philly to walk around and see the Liberty Bell. I also learned that they recently discovered the foundation of George Washington's home. A nice memorial was made around it with some interesting history on civil rights.
When I hit the QC in the 'burbs, this time I had company - a Model 3 had just arrived. This was the first time I had seen another EV at a charger. Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for me), he did not have a CHAdeMO adaptor, just the J1772 that came with the car. I explained to him the difference, and he said he would look into buying the CHAdeMO adaptor ASAP. In the meantime, he plugged into the L2, and I got to use the QC.
As luck would have it, the next charger I also had company - another Bolter from Vermont. This time it was at the NYS welcome center on I-81. Fortunately they had just turned on the second QC, so we were able to charge our matching Bolts at the same time. I didn't get to talk with this driver, but I did snap a picture before he left.
When we finally made it home, we had covered 581 miles using 146kWh. That's 4.0 miles/kWh, a little better than the way down. It was a little cooler on the return, and the difference was probably the lower A/C usage.
Overall, it was a great trip. It was my first trip over 2x the single-charge range of the car. I learned a lot and I feel much more comfortable taking these trips in the future.
My biggest wish would be for a denser QC network. If I didn't have to worry about those nearly 170-mile stretches without QC, it would have been a much more easy-going trip. Also, the Bolt has a very aggressive QC taper, and I could have stopped while the car was still charging much faster.
