Just came back from a 3-day roundtrip from LA to the Grand Canyon. It would have made more sense to wait a month for the Kingman and Flagstaff Superchargers but with Quartzsite coming online, I decided it was doable with conservative driving and a little bit of topping off at RV parks.
Day 1: LA -> Sedona
We initially went to the Palm Springs Visitor Center with a plan to kill an hour by taking this aerial tramway up and down the mountain. Except it's not within walking distance of the charger. There was another MS charging there, though. We ended up eating at the ACE Hotel and charging at one of their 14-50s.
Quartzsite: Ah, how I love Supercharging. No other MS charged while I was there and, from the stares I got from every passing car, it doesn’t seem many do. Looks like I got over 122 kW here. There’s also a cool rock store right by the charger.
Voyager Haven RV Park in Salome, AZ: Spent a couple hours here. Really nice manager, cost was $5-10.
Sedona Rouge Hotel: Spent both nights here. Nice hotel but we didn’t spend much time here. They have one 14-50 that charged at about 200V 40A. They didn’t reserve it for me but said it’s very rarely used and no one else used it while we were there. It’s in the side lot and the charge cable could probably reach 3 different spaces (in case of ICEing).
Day 2: Sedona – Grand Canyon roundtrip (110 miles each way; elevation: Sedona 4500 ft, GC 7000 ft)
We drove up in the morning to a couple of different viewpoints. Didn't do much else because it was really cold. After that, we picked up some food at the general store and went to Trailer Village, which is a huge RV park in Grand Canyon Village that was mostly empty. The manager didn’t charge but I gave him a few bucks anyway. We spent a few hours here and left with around 180 miles rated range, headed back to Sedona.
This is where it gets interesting. On our way down, it started to snow. Then it snowed more and started to accumulate, covering the lane markers. Visibility was very poor with no street lights, no other cars on the road, and the heavy snowfall. My speed was down to 5 mph and I felt like I was driving blind. Just as I was trying to figure out how much range we would lose running the heater overnight, we miraculously passed a Shell station and right next to it just happened to be a KOA. I walked over to the office but it was closed and the park was pretty much empty. I walked around examining the outlets and saw a NEMA TT-30 which I mistook for a 14-50. Brought the car around and realized my mistake, plugged into 110V and went to look for a 14-50. Found one on the other side of the park and plugged in, very relieved. A few hours later, the snow died down and a snowplow had cleared the street, so we were able to slowly drive back to Sedona. We took a detour to avoid a precarious mountain road and get to a lower elevation, so the extra juice came in handy.
Day 3: Sedona -> LA
Uneventful. Sedona to Quartzsite is easy because of the elevation decrease. We stopped in Palm Springs and picked up 10 rated miles but made it home with 20, so we could have done Quartzsite to LA without stopping, albeit driving really slowly.
Final Stats: 1218.3 miles, 359.8 kWh, 295 Wh/mi
Day 1: LA -> Sedona
We initially went to the Palm Springs Visitor Center with a plan to kill an hour by taking this aerial tramway up and down the mountain. Except it's not within walking distance of the charger. There was another MS charging there, though. We ended up eating at the ACE Hotel and charging at one of their 14-50s.
Quartzsite: Ah, how I love Supercharging. No other MS charged while I was there and, from the stares I got from every passing car, it doesn’t seem many do. Looks like I got over 122 kW here. There’s also a cool rock store right by the charger.
Voyager Haven RV Park in Salome, AZ: Spent a couple hours here. Really nice manager, cost was $5-10.
Sedona Rouge Hotel: Spent both nights here. Nice hotel but we didn’t spend much time here. They have one 14-50 that charged at about 200V 40A. They didn’t reserve it for me but said it’s very rarely used and no one else used it while we were there. It’s in the side lot and the charge cable could probably reach 3 different spaces (in case of ICEing).
Day 2: Sedona – Grand Canyon roundtrip (110 miles each way; elevation: Sedona 4500 ft, GC 7000 ft)
We drove up in the morning to a couple of different viewpoints. Didn't do much else because it was really cold. After that, we picked up some food at the general store and went to Trailer Village, which is a huge RV park in Grand Canyon Village that was mostly empty. The manager didn’t charge but I gave him a few bucks anyway. We spent a few hours here and left with around 180 miles rated range, headed back to Sedona.
This is where it gets interesting. On our way down, it started to snow. Then it snowed more and started to accumulate, covering the lane markers. Visibility was very poor with no street lights, no other cars on the road, and the heavy snowfall. My speed was down to 5 mph and I felt like I was driving blind. Just as I was trying to figure out how much range we would lose running the heater overnight, we miraculously passed a Shell station and right next to it just happened to be a KOA. I walked over to the office but it was closed and the park was pretty much empty. I walked around examining the outlets and saw a NEMA TT-30 which I mistook for a 14-50. Brought the car around and realized my mistake, plugged into 110V and went to look for a 14-50. Found one on the other side of the park and plugged in, very relieved. A few hours later, the snow died down and a snowplow had cleared the street, so we were able to slowly drive back to Sedona. We took a detour to avoid a precarious mountain road and get to a lower elevation, so the extra juice came in handy.
Day 3: Sedona -> LA
Uneventful. Sedona to Quartzsite is easy because of the elevation decrease. We stopped in Palm Springs and picked up 10 rated miles but made it home with 20, so we could have done Quartzsite to LA without stopping, albeit driving really slowly.
Final Stats: 1218.3 miles, 359.8 kWh, 295 Wh/mi
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