To get an idea of my charging experience in Mid Range , 19" sport wheels
San Jose to Newport Beach Via Pasadena ... on 101 ....
Started in San Jose at 246 battery range. (last 15 miles or so of range do take a long time to achieve)
Navigation indicated I could make it to San Luis Obispo (about 180 miles) with 6% to spare (Chill mode , outside temp 50F). I didn't;t want to drive @ 65 ... so I stopped in Salinas and spent ~15 mins to recharge to 215 miles range (from 181), and got to Madonna Inn in SLO with 43 miles remaining. Went 70-75 most of the way, no heat on. (132 miles @ 291 w/m)
About 4 charge spots open - had lunch - charged 43-231 range in about an hour - pretty fast.
Drove to Oxnard Charger (about 149 miles) with 69 left (averaged 259 w/h - keeping it at 70 and in slow traffic at Santa Barbara). Autopilot works great - except at the roadworks and if someone is merging slow onto the freeway in front of you)
Recharged in Oxnard (lots of open spots on a Friday pm)(69-226 miles in 40 mins).Then drove Pasadena to Irvine with 100 miles left. Ayres hotel there had 4 chargepoints - all open at 9pm on Friday night) - recharged overnight to 238 mi.
Before I left on Sunday - recharged to Max (259 miles was "charge complete") - at hotel. Was going to go over the grapevine from Pasadena, but Nav said only 6% remaining charge projected by Tejon Ranch - and I was chicken and it was heavy rain in LA (plus snow was forecast) so I drove almost same way back - stop in Oxnard (recharged 85 - 165) range in 30 mins. Top up at Buellton (75 - 131 mi in 27 mins) (I was only getting 28KW for some reason - slowest stop), made it to Arrastadero with 35 miles left (had to drive at speed limit only). Great Korean BBQ there - fast recharge (35 - 232 miles in 56 mins - saw 119KW). I might have made it back to San Jose from there - but stopped in Salinas again (added 50 miles in 7 mins - bathroom break needed anyway) - drove 80+ most the way back - with 85 range remaining.
Autopilot makes trip much less tiring than with regular car. A couple of quick extra top-up stops allow you to drive faster and with less range anxiety (the stop time is mostly offset by the extra speed) - but at least one SC seemed slow (Buellton) compared to the rest. Overall no waits for SC, good facilities by most of these). Yeah, if you are in a rush, and have to do this sort of trip a lot, EV still has some limitations/tradeoffs - but in general - very impressed.
San Jose to Newport Beach Via Pasadena ... on 101 ....
Started in San Jose at 246 battery range. (last 15 miles or so of range do take a long time to achieve)
Navigation indicated I could make it to San Luis Obispo (about 180 miles) with 6% to spare (Chill mode , outside temp 50F). I didn't;t want to drive @ 65 ... so I stopped in Salinas and spent ~15 mins to recharge to 215 miles range (from 181), and got to Madonna Inn in SLO with 43 miles remaining. Went 70-75 most of the way, no heat on. (132 miles @ 291 w/m)
About 4 charge spots open - had lunch - charged 43-231 range in about an hour - pretty fast.
Drove to Oxnard Charger (about 149 miles) with 69 left (averaged 259 w/h - keeping it at 70 and in slow traffic at Santa Barbara). Autopilot works great - except at the roadworks and if someone is merging slow onto the freeway in front of you)
Recharged in Oxnard (lots of open spots on a Friday pm)(69-226 miles in 40 mins).Then drove Pasadena to Irvine with 100 miles left. Ayres hotel there had 4 chargepoints - all open at 9pm on Friday night) - recharged overnight to 238 mi.
Before I left on Sunday - recharged to Max (259 miles was "charge complete") - at hotel. Was going to go over the grapevine from Pasadena, but Nav said only 6% remaining charge projected by Tejon Ranch - and I was chicken and it was heavy rain in LA (plus snow was forecast) so I drove almost same way back - stop in Oxnard (recharged 85 - 165) range in 30 mins. Top up at Buellton (75 - 131 mi in 27 mins) (I was only getting 28KW for some reason - slowest stop), made it to Arrastadero with 35 miles left (had to drive at speed limit only). Great Korean BBQ there - fast recharge (35 - 232 miles in 56 mins - saw 119KW). I might have made it back to San Jose from there - but stopped in Salinas again (added 50 miles in 7 mins - bathroom break needed anyway) - drove 80+ most the way back - with 85 range remaining.
Autopilot makes trip much less tiring than with regular car. A couple of quick extra top-up stops allow you to drive faster and with less range anxiety (the stop time is mostly offset by the extra speed) - but at least one SC seemed slow (Buellton) compared to the rest. Overall no waits for SC, good facilities by most of these). Yeah, if you are in a rush, and have to do this sort of trip a lot, EV still has some limitations/tradeoffs - but in general - very impressed.