DC-Pittsburgh driving/charging experience?

[ChrisC]

Decided to skip the local lunch and grab lunch in Gaithersburg -- plugged in here: http://www.plugshare.com/?location=8911

Off on a tangent for a moment ...

I've exposed the URL above on purpose. How did you get that "location number" from PlugShare listing? One of the key reasons I insist on Recargo (instead of PlugShare) is because it's trivial to get the direct URL to a site, e.g. for purposes of sharing.

EDIT: aha, thanks!

 

[fryfrye]

. How did you get that "location number" from PlugShare listing?

There is a "share" button on the listings, it will pop up a URL that you can copy.

 

[paulkva]

So the trip meter is currently telling me I've gone 266 miles using 81.4 kWh, consuming energy at 306 Wh/mi -- pretty much Rated Range. That includes some driving around town in Pittsburgh as well.

I'm getting ready to head home within the next hour or so, and my car tells me I'm fully charged with 268 miles of range. Current plan is to stop in Frederick again for a late dinner and recharge.

 

[paulkva]

OK, one more update. The trip home was super easy! We did the same thing in reverse -- max range charge at CMU, stopped for dinner and an hour of charging (gained 20 mi) in Frederick at the same place as before. Made it home with 29 miles of range to spare. That was after being far less careful with speed and efficiency, and also without a 15-mile detour to avoid traffic. I would guess that I averaged 5-10 mph faster on the way home vs. the trip to CMU.

Stats:

CMU to Frederick: 201.8 mi, 59.7 kWh, 296 Wh/mi
Frederick to Falls Church*: 50.3 mi, 14.6 kWh, 291 Wh/mi
(* with a stop in Arlington to drop off co-workers)
Overall round trip: 518.0 mi, 155.8 kWh, 301 Wh/mi

As of this moment, it looks like I might be making the trip again in 3-4 days...

 

[fryfrye]

Its amazing how much more "downhill" the trip back from Pittsburgh is... did you see triple digits on the dash

 

[JohnQ]

I'm impressed with your efficiency. I just drove from Redding, CT to Boston this morning (170 miles) at 75mph and was averaging 330 Wh/mi. Once I hit the Boston suburbs traffic slowed so overall average was 320 Wh/mi overall.

 

[JakeP]

Nice job PaulkVA, very impressive crossing of the PA EV-charging desert! This will all be a funny historical footnote, once we get SCs in Bedford/Breezewood and Hagerstown.

 

[donauker]

Nice job PaulkVA, very impressive crossing of the PA EV-charging desert! This will all be a funny historical footnote, once we get SCs in Bedford/Breezewood and Hagerstown.

One of the PA Turnpike locations I heard about was Somerset.

 

[paulkva]

Here's my 30 mile energy graph approaching Frederick last night:

I was a bit shocked to see a sustained ~900 Wh/mi (it looked much more sustained in the 15 mile view, but I wasn't about to photograph it while driving). And of course I love seeing sustained green/negative numbers at >65 mph.

No triple digits for me on this trip - I didn't want to press my luck on the first try. Depending on what the battery meter says when I leave Frederick again on Sunday and Monday (as of now I'm going back for one more night), I might have a bit more fun with it, although as of now triple digits are an ancient memory for me.

 

[paulkva]

@donauker: have you heard any recent news about the Turnpike charging stations? Last I looked, there was no news beyond articles in late spring saying (incorrectly, in hindsight) that the first four would be ready by the end of the summer.

 

[donauker]

@donauker: have you heard any recent news about the Turnpike charging stations? Last I looked, there was no news beyond articles in late spring saying (incorrectly, in hindsight) that the first four would be ready by the end of the summer.

I have not heard anything recently on the official Turnpike charging station that were supposedly coming for years, but even if the do come I am not expecting them to be of any value to Model S owners. Everything I had seen on them indicated that they were going to be CHAdeMO Level 3 stations.

I did hear details on the Tesla Supercharger locations and was told to expect a big announcement by the end of October, of course that was in Tesla time so who knows for sure. From what I heard I think we can expect quite a bit of change from their SC map of coming locations as it relates to Elon's upcoming cross country trip. These have been given a very high priority and they will need to be closer then depicted since to accomplish this trip with only 9 hours of charging requires never charging at the reduced rate seen when charge tapering begins.

 

[paulkva]

Funny you should mention CHAdeMO:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/22312-CHAdeMO-Adapter-coming-this-winter
Great that the adapter is coming soon, now I wonder about the actual Turnpike stations! "Charging desert" indeed. Anyway, I don't plan on buying a CHAdeMO adapter unless/until there's at least one station along one of my long-distance non-supercharged routes where I could use it.

Really looking forward to the updated supercharger map.

 

[JakeP]

Very cool Donauker, I hope what you heard is true. Would love to see SCs throughout PA before any CHAdeMOs arrive...though I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla worked their way into the Turnpike plans.

 

[paulkva]

Made it back to Pittsburgh, this time with 16 miles to spare. I didn't hit traffic or take any detours this time, but I was a bit less careful with my speed and had 5 of us in the car vs. 3 last time. We stopped in Frederick again, and I ended up around 310-315 Wh/mi to get from home to Pittsburgh. I keep forgetting to write down or photograph all the numbers when I get out of the car! I'll have to check it during the day or right before we leave.

I'm charging overnight this time, otherwise we wouldn't make it back. Looks like I need about 13 hours total at CMU's chargers to get from 16 miles back to Max Range, and I'll only be on campus for ~8 hours.

 

[donauker]

Very cool Donauker, I hope what you heard is true. Would love to see SCs throughout PA before any CHAdeMOs arrive...though I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla worked their way into the Turnpike plans.

Two of the three locations mentioned were stated as major route intersections and those don't work well with turnpike plazas in our area. To use a turnpike plaza from a crossing route could require 50 miles of detours and multiple tolls. They could work well for Somerset though.

If I lived anywhere near Wexford I would definitely head up to the 76 & 79 interchange and see if I could find any suspicious activity at any of the conveniently located restaurants or motels. :wink:

 

[JakeP]

Hmmm, I will definitely do some scouting around Cranberry then...plenty of good spots to put an SC up there. Of course, that is right in my backyard, and the last place I personally need for an SC!

 

[paulkva]

Frederick to Falls Church*: 50.3 mi, 15.9 kWh, 315 Wh/mi
(* with a stop in Arlington to drop off co-workers)
Overall round trip: 505.2 mi, 154.8 kWh, 306 Wh/mi

Made it home with 26 miles to spare this time. The last leg from Frederick is interesting because I didn't think I was going much faster than last time. Guess I was wrong. Maybe passenger count and wind contributed as well.

We stopped briefly in Breezewood on the way home, because I thought I had run over some debris just beforehand on the turnpike. (Car seems fine, fortunately.) I could see no obvious signs of construction along the short stretch of Route 30, although I did not scout thoroughly.

 

[JakeP]

Interesting on Breezewood, as it does seem like a good candidate. But perhaps Bedford is better, as it addresses I-76 and traffic north on 99. I-70 will also likely get Hagerstown, so Bedford may make more sense. If I was a betting man, I would say Cranberry for I-76/I-79, Bedford for 76/99, and Carlisle for 76/81. And then ultimately Erie for I-79/90, and then spots on I-80 and I-476 in the North/Northeast corner.

 

[Newscutter]

...I thought I had run over some debris just beforehand on the turnpike.

Careful. That's how rumors get started. :wink:

 

[paulkva]

Careful. That's how rumors get started. :wink:

Hahaha, good point. I'm pretty sure I *did* hit something in the road -- there was a loud "clunk" sound that seemed to come from the left side of the car -- and I certainly thought about the recent fire right after the sound. But the car wasn't complaining or alerting me to anything, and it was still driving just fine, so I continued the last few miles to Breezewood before stopping to check. No evidence of any debris or damage, so I guess whatever it was must have exerted less than 25 tons of force on my car. ;-)