Got up on Tuesday and left the house (near San Fernando Valley) for a quick 2-day trip to Vegas.
Instead of taking the 210 to the 15, I opted to go North on the 14, and then Pearblossom across.
My MS-100D was in the shop, and a I had a loaner MS-75D (without EAP.)
I left the house at 100% charge, and took the 118 to the 405 to the 5, to the 14, to PearBlossom, to the 15.
Phew.
As I left "the valley" and headed up into the high desert, my Wh/mi sucked - often seeing 450. It was not that cold (55F) but was more a case of the slow and steady climb into the high desert.
I passed the first SuperCharger in Barstow, which is located in the Outlet mall, behind Chili's restaurant.
The car told me to keep going.
I stopped at the 2nd SuperCharger in Yermo after 142 miles and was down to 25%.
Yermo is AWESOME as a SC rest-stop, there is "Eddie's World". Basically a HUGE mini-mart (5 to 10k sqft.)
VERY CLEAN bathrooms (they put that on their billboard, and they're not kidding.)
Also, they have fresh pizza, sandwiches, sushi, grill, Pete's coffee, icecream, etc. This place is HUGE and clean.
I passed the next Supercharger (Baker, world's tallest thermometer) and continued to the state line.
I crossed the State Line at Primm, and pulled into that SuperCharger.
It's easy to find, but kind of in the middle of nowhere in a Casino parking lot. The only place close was McDonalds.
Charging here seemed slow.
I then went into Vegas, and got there with 40% - enough to get back to Primm on my way out.
My buddy flew into Vegas that night, and I went to the airport to pick him up.
While waiting for my buddy to arrive, I stopped at the Vegas South SuperCharger location.
This had ~10 stalls, and they were full. The stalls were in a busy mall, right next to the airport, but there was a "Lazy Dog" restaurant right there (my kids would love that.)
I waited about 2 minutes for a stall to open up and then charged.
It was kinda cool watching the airplanes go over the car, and would have been better during daylight with less internal reflection from the glass.
My buddy called when he landed; it took 10 minutes to drive to the airport arrivals, and it took him 15 minutes to walk out (no baggage) so this SuperCharger is an IDEAL location to wait for inbound arrivals.
I left Vegas the next evening, and thanks to my unnecessary top-off at LV South, I was able to make it to Baker instead of having to stop in Primm.
Crossing the state line there is a HUGE hill, and my Wh/mile went to 900 during climbing. However the 15 mile downhill grade before Baker made range anxiety go away fairly quickly.
Baker was HUGE, and only 2 other cars at 8pm.
This is not the Baker you stopped at as a Kid - no more Bobs Big Boy, but the Mad Greek is still there, etc.
The problem is that the SuperCharger is at the far (south) end of Baker, and the only thing with 1/2 mile is a Shell Station with a DQ restaurant.
The restaurant staff were really nice, but it was one of those places that when I dropped my straw on the table, I considered getting another one - it was a sticky, dingy gas-station restaurant. The bathroom was much the same.
This highlighted the real problem with SuperChargers is that you get "stuck" there, and cannot easily go into town to go to the Mad Greek, Alien Jerky, or something else.
If I had to go to Baker again, I would make a point of driving through and stopping to pick something up so that I could eat at the Supercharger.
After Baker, the car told me to stop at Yermo instead of Barstow.
Getting to experience Eddie's world again made this a no brainer.
Leaving Yermo, I had enough charge to get home.
I passed Barstow again, and now (10pm at night) the Outlets seemed like a Ghost Town. I'm not sure how safe I would feel there late at night.
Even though the car told me to take the 15 to the 210, I again detoured across the desert on Pearblossom. The ETA stayed the same with this detour, but my usage decreased.
I got home just before midnight with 25%, and did 600 miles and used 200kW of power.
I averaged 334 Wh/mile for the entire trip...
On the way home I did not even turn on the radio - it was pleasant to drive with just the quiet of the road.
Overall on Trip.
Range anxiety was dispelled by using the Trip view in the Power Usage on the Main MCU. It convinced me that the car knew what it was doing.
My favorite SuperCharger was Yermo.
Baker is huge, but you'll be stuck there while you charge.
Primm is a good place to top-off so that you have enough power to get into and out of Vegas.
Las Vegas South is good in a pinch, or if you're picking someone up from the Airport with time to kill.
Barstow might be nice during the day, but I'm not sure about the middle of the night.
Link to Eddie's World : Eddie World Yermo - Premier Travel Center - Gas Station - Restaurants
Instead of taking the 210 to the 15, I opted to go North on the 14, and then Pearblossom across.
My MS-100D was in the shop, and a I had a loaner MS-75D (without EAP.)
I left the house at 100% charge, and took the 118 to the 405 to the 5, to the 14, to PearBlossom, to the 15.
Phew.
As I left "the valley" and headed up into the high desert, my Wh/mi sucked - often seeing 450. It was not that cold (55F) but was more a case of the slow and steady climb into the high desert.
I passed the first SuperCharger in Barstow, which is located in the Outlet mall, behind Chili's restaurant.
The car told me to keep going.
I stopped at the 2nd SuperCharger in Yermo after 142 miles and was down to 25%.
Yermo is AWESOME as a SC rest-stop, there is "Eddie's World". Basically a HUGE mini-mart (5 to 10k sqft.)
VERY CLEAN bathrooms (they put that on their billboard, and they're not kidding.)
Also, they have fresh pizza, sandwiches, sushi, grill, Pete's coffee, icecream, etc. This place is HUGE and clean.
I passed the next Supercharger (Baker, world's tallest thermometer) and continued to the state line.
I crossed the State Line at Primm, and pulled into that SuperCharger.
It's easy to find, but kind of in the middle of nowhere in a Casino parking lot. The only place close was McDonalds.
Charging here seemed slow.
I then went into Vegas, and got there with 40% - enough to get back to Primm on my way out.
My buddy flew into Vegas that night, and I went to the airport to pick him up.
While waiting for my buddy to arrive, I stopped at the Vegas South SuperCharger location.
This had ~10 stalls, and they were full. The stalls were in a busy mall, right next to the airport, but there was a "Lazy Dog" restaurant right there (my kids would love that.)
I waited about 2 minutes for a stall to open up and then charged.
It was kinda cool watching the airplanes go over the car, and would have been better during daylight with less internal reflection from the glass.
My buddy called when he landed; it took 10 minutes to drive to the airport arrivals, and it took him 15 minutes to walk out (no baggage) so this SuperCharger is an IDEAL location to wait for inbound arrivals.
I left Vegas the next evening, and thanks to my unnecessary top-off at LV South, I was able to make it to Baker instead of having to stop in Primm.
Crossing the state line there is a HUGE hill, and my Wh/mile went to 900 during climbing. However the 15 mile downhill grade before Baker made range anxiety go away fairly quickly.
Baker was HUGE, and only 2 other cars at 8pm.
This is not the Baker you stopped at as a Kid - no more Bobs Big Boy, but the Mad Greek is still there, etc.
The problem is that the SuperCharger is at the far (south) end of Baker, and the only thing with 1/2 mile is a Shell Station with a DQ restaurant.
The restaurant staff were really nice, but it was one of those places that when I dropped my straw on the table, I considered getting another one - it was a sticky, dingy gas-station restaurant. The bathroom was much the same.
This highlighted the real problem with SuperChargers is that you get "stuck" there, and cannot easily go into town to go to the Mad Greek, Alien Jerky, or something else.
If I had to go to Baker again, I would make a point of driving through and stopping to pick something up so that I could eat at the Supercharger.
After Baker, the car told me to stop at Yermo instead of Barstow.
Getting to experience Eddie's world again made this a no brainer.
Leaving Yermo, I had enough charge to get home.
I passed Barstow again, and now (10pm at night) the Outlets seemed like a Ghost Town. I'm not sure how safe I would feel there late at night.
Even though the car told me to take the 15 to the 210, I again detoured across the desert on Pearblossom. The ETA stayed the same with this detour, but my usage decreased.
I got home just before midnight with 25%, and did 600 miles and used 200kW of power.
I averaged 334 Wh/mile for the entire trip...
On the way home I did not even turn on the radio - it was pleasant to drive with just the quiet of the road.
Overall on Trip.
Range anxiety was dispelled by using the Trip view in the Power Usage on the Main MCU. It convinced me that the car knew what it was doing.
My favorite SuperCharger was Yermo.
Baker is huge, but you'll be stuck there while you charge.
Primm is a good place to top-off so that you have enough power to get into and out of Vegas.
Las Vegas South is good in a pinch, or if you're picking someone up from the Airport with time to kill.
Barstow might be nice during the day, but I'm not sure about the middle of the night.
Link to Eddie's World : Eddie World Yermo - Premier Travel Center - Gas Station - Restaurants
