What I Learned About My Model 3 on a 3,409 Mile Road Trip

[jamnmon66]

Pikes Peak is nice, but if you want to go on THE highest paved road in North America you should head up the Mt. Evans Scenic Byway, which is only about 50 miles or so from Denver, and closer to your ostensible route through the area. Or better yet, jump off I-70 at US-40 and head over Berthoud Pass, and up and over Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park. The highest paved continuous highway in North America.

All 3 are awesome but Mt. Evans is my favorite of this list.

 

[tashtibet]

do you think it's possible to do a road trip from Northern Colorado to Mt Rushmore, SD in Tesla model 3 & Chevy Bolt-I am not worried of the Tesla but Bolt charging!

 

[ℬête Noire]

do you think it's possible to do a road trip from Northern Colorado to Mt Rushmore, SD in Tesla model 3 & Chevy Bolt-I am not worried of the Tesla but Bolt charging!

Pack a tow rope and it should all be good.

If you want to get an idea of what you'd be facing, try investigating the route with this:

PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

Good rule of thumb is charge at 1mile/hour for every 1A of the L2 charger you are using. Rando street corner, etc J-1772 chargers are usually 32A nominal (in practice more like 30A and change). That means that at highway speeds (highly recommend you don't drive above 60mph) you'll spend about twice as long charging as you do driving.

If your Bolt has the optional DCFast input, and there are some CCS (usually 50kW) that'll improve but even then you'll only be charging at or near 50kW for a relatively limited amount of the battery. It then tails off, in a similar fashion to Superchargers (but at this 1/2 lower scale). So, in my understanding, you're looking at a couple hours or so to take it from near the bottom to the very top.

Keep in mind I've not personal experience with the L3s. After gathering info on the charging curve I decided it, and road tripping in general, was not something that I wanted to futz around. It should be quite an adventure though, if you've got that itch for a pioneering experience.

 

[israndy]

18kW?? How long is that solar system going to take to pay off?

-Randy