Seattle to Reno

[Owner]

The car's navigation will get you there without fighting it much, its a wee bit complicated as the roads change but not really. I think I only fought the navigation out of Corning as it wanted me to get on I-5 but after that was correct.

What is considered the scenic route? A Google map screen capture like above would be awesome or simply describing the route taken of course. Didn't see it listed in your blog post.

Ah, never mind. I see the comments section below your post from curtis on August 29, 2014
at 10:57 am

 

[dsm363]

Yep. You should be able to go the speed limit and only use about 72 kWh. That's averaging 66 mph. To play safe, drop 10-15 miles below the speed limit. Donner summit is about 7000 ft elevation, Truckee (after the summit) is about 5500 ft above Corning.
Going faster would only save you about 15 minutes. BTW, I was being very conservative with EV Trip Planner, using outsite temp of 20 F and inside temp of 72 F.

Thanks. Barely made it. I wasn't the one driving the first half so wasn't paying as close attention as I should have to speed and we left Corning with a 90% charge. Made it with only 7 miles left and going very slow the last 20 miles.

This should have been obvious to me but definitely do a 100% range charge for this leg.

 

[Cottonwood]

Thanks. Barely made it. I wasn't the one driving the first half so wasn't paying as close attention as I should have to speed and we left Corning with a 90% charge. Made it with only 7 miles left and going very slow the last 20 miles.

This should have been obvious to me but definitely do a 100% range charge for this leg.

Or drive a little more conservatively at the start. Doing a 95-97% charge and driving a little slower is often the least total time when trying for a mild hypermile away from a Supercharger. I have way too much practice at this scenario...

 

[dsm363]

Or drive a little more conservatively at the start. Doing a 95-97% charge and driving a little slower is often the least total time when trying for a mild hypermile away from a Supercharger. I have way too much practice at this scenario...

Thanks. Yes, speed was a definite factor the first half of the trip. By the time I noticed the 50 mile buffer shrinking to 30 at the start of the mountain climb I knew it was going to be close. I'm just not used to mountains. Even though you read all the advice here it didn't click I guess. Definitely learned someone on that leg of the trip. The spacing really is on the outer limit and they should put one somewhere in between especially for 60kWh owners.

 

[Cottonwood]

Thanks. Yes, speed was a definite factor the first half of the trip. By the time I noticed the 50 mile buffer shrinking to 30 at the start of the mountain climb I knew it was going to be close. I'm just not used to mountains. Even though you read all the advice here it didn't click I guess. Definitely learned someone on that leg of the trip. The spacing really is on the outer limit and they should put one somewhere in between especially for 60kWh owners.

A good rule of thumb is 6 rated miles per 1,000 feet. If you know the elevation of the destination (6,453 ft for Truckee) there are several free apps for smart phones that will give you your GPS elevation. The Roadster will give elevation to you, but the MS hides the elevation from you. I call Rated Miles corrected for the potential energy difference to the destination, Cottonwood Rated Miles. For example, the elevation of Corning is 285 feet. At the start, because it is 6,168 feet uphill to Truckee, you need to subtract 37 from the Rated Miles in your display to get your Cottonwood Rated Miles; if you left with 260 rated miles on the display, then your Cottonwood Rated Miles were 223 at the start. Look at your margin based on Cottonwood Rated Miles and you will have much better estimates in the mountains. Downhill it works for you!

Supercharger.Info has the elevation of all the Superchargers. Click on the red dot, then click on "details" to get the elevation.