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Charging / Travel Information Requested

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Branzo90D

Salt and Pepper
Oct 13, 2015
154
101
NorCal
I am interested in traveling between Boise, ID and Bend, OR in my Model S P90D. I notice two destination chargers listed at about the halfway point. One is in Prairie City, OR and the other in John Day, OR. Charging at one of these would be mandatory to make it to Bend from Boise along the direct route, US Highway 26.

As I have never traveled this route, I am looking for some feedback from any members of the forum who have done so. Are these chargers in good working order? Do you think I will have any competition for them in mid-June as they are only single chargers? Any weather issues typical during mid-June I should be aware of along this route?

Appreciate any feedback from anyone with experience. Thank you in advance.
 
The fastest route is actually US20, not US26. I have not done it yet myself but I have heard the 80amp level 2 which is at some government office in Burns is reliable. This is a fairly desolate part of the country otherwise, so definitely plan well.
 
I am interested in traveling between Boise, ID and Bend, OR in my Model S P90D. I notice two destination chargers listed at about the halfway point. One is in Prairie City, OR and the other in John Day, OR. Charging at one of these would be mandatory to make it to Bend from Boise along the direct route, US Highway 26.

As I have never traveled this route, I am looking for some feedback from any members of the forum who have done so. Are these chargers in good working order? Do you think I will have any competition for them in mid-June as they are only single chargers? Any weather issues typical during mid-June I should be aware of along this route?

Appreciate any feedback from anyone with experience. Thank you in advance.
Hey, I have traveled this route, although I did not use any of the charging opportunities along the way.

First off, I'll have to disagree with @PLUS EV . If you're taking a gas car, sure, driving highway 20 is the fastest because it is the shortest distance. But with having to take a Tesla, it's definitely not, because there is no Supercharger all that way. If you only have the 40A charger, as I do, you would be spending about 3 to 4 hours in Burns, and there is nothing to make Burns interesting enough for 3 hours.

So, going up I-84 to Baker City to get a really fast top-up on the Supercharger is good, and then the trip through highway 26 is just barely a little long for a full charge.

So back to @Branzo90D , my trip on this route was the other direction because I took I-84 out to Portland first. On the way back, I was going to leave Bend, hit up the CHAdeMO in Redmond, and then go straight shot, no recharging, to Baker City. Anyway, long painful story short, the CHAdeMO in Redmond was out of order, even though I had called Aerovironment ahead of time to check on it. I had to backtrack to Sisters Oregon and charge all the way up there, and then drove straight through to Baker City, with no stops, going about 45-47 mph. So that can be done with an S85. Because it's possible at slow speed with no stops, I would say planning for a lunch hour in John Day should be a pretty easy way to go at normal speeds. If you look it up on Plugshare, that station on the main street in John Day has a few restaurants just down the street, so that would be an easy lunch or dinner break. These charging locations in eastern Oregon are pretty infrequently used, so I would put it about 98% odds that it won't be in use when you get there--don't worry about that. Check recent checkins on Plugshare.

Also, one other note from my drive, you see that highway 7 that first comes off I-84 at Baker City and then joins highway 26? Yeah, that's the route to take, but DON'T try to drive that at night. It is kind of dangerous. It's pitch black, very winding, and they don't put up any of those warning signs before the curves that come up very suddenly. It'll give you a few pseudo heart attacks. I wouldn't mind doing it in the daytime, though, and it would probably be pretty fun.
 
I've done a similar thing on the highway 95 route from Boise to Winnemucca, with an hour lunch stop. If you have a higher amp charger than my 40A single, that is the really nice thing about all three of these: at John Day Chamber of Commerce, Burns Chamber of commerce, and Say When Casino in McDermitt. They are all 70 or 80 amp, so you can charge a lot faster if you have the right hardware in your car.
 
Sure, if it were me, I would just go through Baker City and get a range charge at the Supercharger there. As long as you don't speed, you should be fine to go directly from Baker City to Bend. Based on the OP, I was thinking he didn't want to go all supercharger route for some reason. In that case, I would recommend taking US26 and charging in Burns rather than splitting off at Vale and taking US26 through Unity, Mount Vernon, etc. (this is the 2nd recommended route on google maps).
 
I've done 26 across Oregon in my P85+ before the destination chargers went in. I range charged at the Redmond CHAdeMO while I had breakfast and made it to Baker City with 14% left. Having the destination charger in John Day now adds a good backup, you might take a break and add a bit of charge there since Bend is a little further than Redmond.
 
I've done Baker City to John Day via Sumpter 7 and it's very pretty. We charged at John Day and enjoyed the Kam Wah Chung museum. I then headed north on 395 to Pendleton. Charging at JD wasn't mandatory, just for extra caution. Posted on PlugShare. Didn't stop at Prairie City or Mt Vernon so can't confirm availability, but chances are very low that you'll see another EV. I've never seen another at Baker City and only once at Pendleton. Personally, I'd go 26 over 20, unless I had extra time and specifically wanted to see something near Burns like Malheur. Oh, and watch out around August 21st during the Eclipse. All bets are off then!