San Jose to Northstar California Ski Resort Trip Report 70D
1. Drove to Rocklin SuperCharger
Suggestions
1. Drove to Rocklin SuperCharger
- At Rocklin charged to 200 Miles
- Arrived at Northstar: 52 miles left
- The temperature was approx. 5 Celsius (40F) then was around 0 Celcius.
- Drove conservatively at speed limit mostly using Autopilot
- As you drive towards the village, near the premium paid parking they have a section of the destination chargers
- When we arrived they were all full.
- The attendant said there was a protocol to move the car voluntarily when full
- With the storm, the main highway was closed for a bit and the traffic was not moving.
- I just waited until 8:30pm to leave
- Drove to supercharger with 38 miles
- Since the car was cold it took a long time to get the best charging rates. The charging area was not plowed, but with the dual motor - no issue with getting stuck
- I was worried that we might get stuck with a road closure, but there were very few cars on the road. Chain control was in effect and the chain control officer ask if I had 4 wheel drive, I said yes and moved through.
- No issue with traction (M+S tires - yes fake snow tires) with the snow. But stopping distances were much longer
- Had to stop close to the peak in elevation as wipers had frozen ice (got as cold at -5 Celcius). I kept the wipers going regularly and defrost to prevent wipers from freezing.
- It was good that I could easily make it to Sacramento, and bypass Rocklin.
- There are fast food restaurants which are a few minutes driving distances away, so if you come outside business hours there is nothing at the supercharger.
- Left charger with 175 miles
- Arrived home with 19 miles of charge
- Started to drive at 65 miles, but got a message saying I needed to drive below 70 miles-- but I was. I dropped down to 60 mph and then returned to 65 mph.
- One a car is parked in the electric car charger at Northstar, there is no incentive to move your car. It is a prime parking area.
- Suggest to charge right after coming off the highway on the way to Northstar, for enough charge to your next supercharger (Reno/Rocklin) +10 miles. Since your car is warm you will be able to get the maximum KWH charging. If you charge on the way out your car will be cold.
- I wish I could have charged during the traffic jam -- I was waiting for the traffic to clear -- but getting to the charger was almost impossible. I parked in Peak area, there is no charger there.
- A traffic jam in a winter storm could result in you not having enough charge to your next supercharger. You will atl east need to have the front defrosters on. So plan accordingly in winter. Summer does not seem like an issue.
- Don’t expect to get charging at Northstar in winter unless you are there early. It was unclear to me if any hotel guests were there charging --so even if you do get there early you still might not get a spot to charge if you are a day visitor. But Truckee does have lots of superchargers so I suggest charge up before parking.
Suggestions
- I wish there a waitlist system for the chargers -- The charging infrastructure is getting behind for non-Tesla vehicles.
- I wish there was a simple plug system just to keep the car plugged in even it is just 2-10 mile per hour charging so you don’t lose too much charge while parking in the cold -- this should be in the Peak Parking area.
