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Seeking advice on charging stops for LA to Fresno round trip in a day

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This discussion of whether to do the LA to Fresno roundtrip using 99 or 5 may have been rendered moot; the Tejon Supercharger is temporarily closed as of 4/23 while it undergoes what apparently will be a major expansion.

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This discussion of whether to do the LA to Fresno roundtrip using 99 or 5 may have been rendered moot; the Tejon Supercharger is temporarily closed as of 4/23 while it undergoes what apparently will be a major expansion.
I saw that on my nav couple of days ago (before yesterday‘s downtime). Interesting that they chose a total shutdown. There is still a chance that the improved site could open in 7 weeks by the time of my trip. My guess is that they are highly motivated to make quick work of this.
 
Looks like I now have to also plan a trip from West LA to Bakersfield and back in 1 day. Tejon being offline is very inconvenient. I could potentially make it to Bakersfield, with a stop at Santa Clarita on the way back, provided I keep my speed controlled and there are no major winds. Alternatively, I could drive straight to the Bakersfield SC, go to my destination in Bakersfield proper, then back home. That adds 27 miles to the trip. How annoying.
 
Looks like I now have to also plan a trip from West LA to Bakersfield and back in 1 day. Tejon being offline is very inconvenient. I could potentially make it to Bakersfield, with a stop at Santa Clarita on the way back, provided I keep my speed controlled and there are no major winds. Alternatively, I could drive straight to the Bakersfield SC, go to my destination in Bakersfield proper, then back home. That adds 27 miles to the trip. How annoying.
Talk about first world problems, even by Tesla standards.

Not that long ago I remember driving through Oklahoma to get from Phoenix to New Orleans.
 
When they put in the promised (in 2017) Downtown Bako SC, it will make a lot of people happy. Right now, a trip to NorCal has a strong I-5 bias in terms of SC availability. Too bad, 99 is really the preferred route for points east of Sacramento or most of the Central Vally cities..
 
Just completed round-trip #1. I took the Kettleman route and think it was the correct decision. I arrived with about 40 RM and got a perfect starting charge rate of 117 kw. We had a nice (unhealthy) breakfast at Denny's and charged to 240. I drove to the Fresno airport to drop off my son and, following the same route, made it all the way back to Buttonwillow with just a few miles to spare. Again, since I arrived with such a low SOC, I got an excellent charge rate, I returned to home with 65 RM to spare.

Some notes:
  • I think taking 99 would have been slower for a couple of reasons. First, I would have had to charge at Tejon, arriving there with a significant SOC, and hence, a slower charge. Next, I would have had to drive out of my way (and yes, Kettleman is in of itself a bit out of the way) to the Fresno Supercharger. From there, I would have to get a significant charge, and hence take a long time, to make it back to Tejon. I would then have to charge again there: three charges in total. Now if Tulare was open (on the map for a future location), that would have been a perfect solution.
  • Taking highway 41 was interesting. The way there was easy and I made most of the lights. The way back, my luck was not quite as good, but not awful, maybe because of people leaving Sequoia and Yosemite on a Sunday. Speeds were fine overall. I found it annoying that when there were 2 lanes, often both were taken by people driving side-by-side and below the speed limit. Idiots. I don't like to drive next to anyone no matter the speed.
  • I-5 coming back was a little frightening. Very congested/crowded, yet with speeds consistently over 80 MPH. There were people constantly passing each other on the right and left.
  • Kettleman was really cool and I am glad I visited. I saw three Model 3's charging there at the same time. Super clean bathrooms, which are much appreciated on a trip
  • Buttonwillow is a much better stop than Bakersfield., where I was a couple of weeks ago. Much more food options to choose from in Buttonwillow, and the choices there were also much much cleaner.
I have to make this same trip next week. I think I will take the same route again.
One final note: 470 miles in total. All made doable due to Driver Assist. While I was focused on the road the entire time, I was able to do so in a much more relaxed state.
 
Glad your journey went well.

The question that I have for you concerns your statement that if you were to stop at Tejon Ranch on your way north, that you would arrive with a much higher charge; therefore your charging rate would be slower.

Why not leave home with a lower charge in your battery? I do precisely this when I leave on a trip. On my northern journeys, I would leave home with 55% to reach Manteca with ~15% instead of leaving with 90% to arrive with 50-ish percent. Similarly, when heading to El Lay, I leave home with about 70% to reach Tejon Ranch with 12-15%.

Not trying to be argumentative, just curious! :)
 
Glad your journey went well.

The question that I have for you concerns your statement that if you were to stop at Tejon Ranch on your way north, that you would arrive with a much higher charge; therefore your charging rate would be slower.

Why not leave home with a lower charge in your battery? I do precisely this when I leave on a trip. On my northern journeys, I would leave home with 55% to reach Manteca with ~15% instead of leaving with 90% to arrive with 50-ish percent. Similarly, when heading to El Lay, I leave home with about 70% to reach Tejon Ranch with 12-15%.

Not trying to be argumentative, just curious! :)
This is a good question, and now I am curious. Is there truly a benefit to staring with a lower SOC? Yes, you would get a faster charge rate upon arrival to a charger, but have a longer way to go to reach your goal. For example, if I have to charge to 200, and arrive with 150, or arrive with 30, I may get a slower charge at 150, but likely will hit my goal long before I would if I arrive low. The advantage to arriving low would be if I have something else to do while there, or skipping a loacaion, and was departing from somewhere where I did not have time to get a full charge. In my case of charging at Kettleman, I skipped Tejon, Bakersfield and Buttonwillow, and made it with a low SOC, charging rapidly until I had enough to make my next journey. By stopping sooner, leaving with a lower SOC, I just have to charge still to reach my goal. Now, if my goal is not much, say 120, that would also make sense. Just not if I need a larger range. Am I making sense at all?
 
You are making perfect sense.

My personal preference is to make shorter and more frequent stops if possible if I have a choice of charging locations the way you did for your journey north. And maybe because I drive more leisurely than most, I use about 45 kWh to make it from home to Fort Tejon, so a 95% charge at Kettleman City would be more than enough (for me) to make it to FAT and then back to Fort Tejon, especially if I take Clovis Avenue from the Airport and not get back on SR180 to SR41 to SR99.

And FAT is about 10-12 miles closer to Fort Tejon via Clovis Avenue than my home via Herndon Avenue and SR41.
 
Right. Making shorter more frequent stops, arriving with a low SOC, and charging just enough to make your next destination, is sound practice. Also, driving faster and charging more often is faster than driving slower and charging less often. That has been studied here a few times.

When I return to FAT this Saturday, I may actually try the 99 this time. If I leave LA with a full charge, I should arrive at Tejon with about 150 RM. With the way I drive, I will need 200 RM to make it to the Fresno SC. Charging from 150 to 200 at Tejon should not take me too long. However, once I arrive in Fresno, I will need to go from near empty back to 200+ to make it to FAT then back to Tejon. That will take some time. It may be worth it though. My son will be fairly exhausted from 7 days in the wilderness, along with a 3 hour bus drive to FAT that morning. I figure if I only have to make 1 stop in Tejon, that will make it a more pleasant experience for him.

BTW, I was really impressed with FAT. Beautiful airport when compared the the piece of s**t that LAX has become (or always was).
 
Glad your journey went well.

The question that I have for you concerns your statement that if you were to stop at Tejon Ranch on your way north, that you would arrive with a much higher charge; therefore your charging rate would be slower.

Why not leave home with a lower charge in your battery? I do precisely this when I leave on a trip. On my northern journeys, I would leave home with 55% to reach Manteca with ~15% instead of leaving with 90% to arrive with 50-ish percent. Similarly, when heading to El Lay, I leave home with about 70% to reach Tejon Ranch with 12-15%.

Not trying to be argumentative, just curious! :)
I don't think this makes sense at all. It's not as if starting his charge in Tejon at 10% will get him to 90% faster than if he starts at 60%.
 
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Just did the same trip again. I did not take the 99 for the same reasons as above. I had 2 charging stops only and it worked out just great.
FYI, the Fresno airport has free charging in the short term parking. You just have to pay for parking, which is $1 per 20 minutes. The L2 chargers there are weak though. I charged for 15 minutes and only gained 1 mile!!
 
Just did the same trip again. I did not take the 99 for the same reasons as above. I had 2 charging stops only and it worked out just great.
FYI, the Fresno airport has free charging in the short term parking. You just have to pay for parking, which is $1 per 20 minutes. The L2 chargers there are weak though. I charged for 15 minutes and only gained 1 mile!!
Good to know for the few occasions I’m there.
Interesting choice having L2 charging in short term parking tho, wish it was a ChaDeMo. SFO with plenty of L2 in the normal lots.
 
Just did the same trip again. I did not take the 99 for the same reasons as above. I had 2 charging stops only and it worked out just great.
FYI, the Fresno airport has free charging in the short term parking. You just have to pay for parking, which is $1 per 20 minutes. The L2 chargers there are weak though. I charged for 15 minutes and only gained 1 mile!!

Yeah the short term chargers are *barely* L2, something like 2.8kw. The chargers in the long-term lot are L1. Nice to have them there, particularly the L1s in long term which I use frequently, but the L2s in short term are worthless for a quick charge.
 
Just did the same trip again. I did not take the 99 for the same reasons as above. I had 2 charging stops only and it worked out just great.
FYI, the Fresno airport has free charging in the short term parking. You just have to pay for parking, which is $1 per 20 minutes. The L2 chargers there are weak though. I charged for 15 minutes and only gained 1 mile!!
That sounds more like L1 charging, which makes sense for an airport (at least in LONG-TERM parking). Either that or it was an L2 that was broken. What were the amperage and voltage readings in your car or app?