CA--OR Road Trip

[Anonymous]

Hello. I am planning a road trip from Tarzana CA to Corvallis OR in mid-September to accompany my daughter to college at OSU--approx 900 miles. Assuming 240-250 miles per charge, I need a plan the trip around DC charging stations--if I want to spend less than a week on the road. I would appreciate any route/charging station suggestions from other road trippers. And if GM would like to sponser the trip--for research purposes of course, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't hold your breathe waiting for GM to sponsor you!

If you are staying overnight, look for hotels/motels that have Level 2 chargers. Overnight will get you back to a full charge and save you the time at a DCFC in the morning!

So not expect there to be a DCFC every 230 miles where you need it to be!

Put the Plugshare app on your iPhone/Android and plan ahead your stops and look at the Comments to see if anyone is complaining about outages!

Have you really achieved 240-250 miles per charge? It is doable depending upon the elevation, speed, weight, etc., but I strongly doubt you will achieve it on your first try when you do not know where the DCFC's are.

Don't try to stretch the distance unreasonably and be a hero and be at the side of the road with no juice! These are 3-4 hour stretches, so stop before then at a DCFC and get a meal, take a break, etc.

Interstate 5 does NOT have any DCFC after Newhall/Valencia, and I am not an expert for Northern California, so I do not know what happens up there! So you will either be taking Hiway 99 north or 101 north!

Others on this forum up North, will jump in soon...

Here is a screenshot from Plugshare (some of these are useless Chademos and Teslas). Looks like its 99 back to I-5:

 

[WetEV]

Here is a screenshot from Plugshare (some of these are useless Chademos and Teslas). Looks like its 99 back to I-5:

Hint: filter out the other two kinds of DCQC stations.

Click the settings icon, looks like a gear.

Then have only CCS and J1772 selected.

 

[WetEV]

Hello. I am planning a road trip from Tarzana CA to Corvallis OR in mid-September to accompany my daughter to college at OSU--approx 900 miles. Assuming 240-250 miles per charge, I need a plan the trip around DC charging stations--if I want to spend less than a week on the road. I would appreciate any route/charging station suggestions from other road trippers.

Sounds like an adventure. Allow extra time. Train tickets might be a better choice, also an adventure.


You can't plan on 240 freeway miles per charge. To maximize the charging rate, and minimize the charging time, you would want to stay on the bottom of the battery as much as you could while leaving enough margin for unforeseen events. So look at more like more than 7 charging stops. 200 miles initial run, then ideally 100 mile runs. Longer runs will increase the charging time as charging rate slows above 65% on a 50kW charger

Average charging rate on a 50kW charger is ~42kW below 65%.

A lot of the stations north of Sacramento are slower ChargePoint Express 100 (24kW, 62A) stations. Average charging rate ~20kW below 80%. This means more time charging, but longer runs are reasonable.

Do plan stops at a hotel with a L2 or at least nearby, as suggested by MichaelLAX.


Some resources if you decide to drive:

http://boltev.blogspot.com/2017/01/dc-fast-charge-data.html

http://insideevs.com/planning-a-long-journey-with-your-chevrolet-bolt-ev-or-opel-ampera-e/

http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4889&p=8998#p8998


I doubt if GM would be interested in sponsorship, but a well written trip report might get published by the EV car press, or even the car press and maybe even the general press.

 

[Anonymous]

Here is a screenshot from Plugshare (some of these are useless Chademos and Teslas). Looks like its 99 back to I-5:

Hint: filter out the other two kinds of DCQC stations.

Click the settings icon, looks like a gear.

Then have only CCS and J1772 selected.

Nice tip on the Settings icon; thanks!

However when I tried it a couple of times, it kept leaving out the known CCS stations on Hiway-99, including the Holiday Inn Express at Selma, just south of Fresno, for some reason. I am not sure what I am doing wrong...

 

[redpoint5]

Nice tip on the Settings icon; thanks!

However when I tried it a couple of times, it kept leaving out the known CCS stations on Hiway-99, including the Holiday Inn Express at Selma, just south of Fresno, for some reason. I am not sure what I am doing wrong...

Others have reported that PlugShare doesn't show some CCS stations, so I doubt you're doing anything wrong. They just need to update with current information. They should make the app like Gassbuddy so that users can update new stations, pricing, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

Plugshare has the Selma CCS station when you specifically search for it. It is just not catching it on Trip Planner; there is a big gap of all of Highway 99!

My recollection is that users can update Plugshare.

 

[SparkE]

My personal recommendation is to rent a car for a 900-mile trip (or use the ICE you already own). But then, I really don't want to stop every 200 miles for an hour or more. If I owned an airplane, I wouldn't use it to go 40 miles or for grocery shopping. Pick your tool. My EV is used 96+ % of the time, but I have an older, fuel-efficient, low-polluting ICE for trips (that spends a LOT of its time on a battery maintainer since it is usually parked).

Edit: most of the stations north of Sacramento are 24 kW stations - half the speed of the 50 kW DCFCs. Caveat Chargor.

 

[WetEV]

If I owned an airplane, I wouldn't use it to go 40 miles or for grocery shopping. Pick your tool.

File under amusement and off topic:
I know someone that does basically both during the summer. Lives on an island for the summer. Google maps shows flight to nearest shopping is about 15 miles. Keeps car at airport on mainland. Yes, there is a private ferry, but flying is about the same cost.

 

[sgt1372]

OP: Can't help you but will be interested in reading your trip report after you get back.

I'm planning a trip to Portland from SF during the 3rd wk of September w/stops at Crater Lake, Eugene, Mt Lassen and Tule Lake but I'm taking my V6 MB SUV that I can drive about 500 between fillups.

Sorry, just not THAT committed to "going green" when it comes to long distance travel by automobile. I'd do the same thing even if I had a Tesla and could use their Supercharger network.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello. I am planning a road trip from Tarzana CA to Corvallis OR in mid-September...

If you're willing to cover the costs of replacement for all hazards, I would be happy to loan you my "travel kit" of "just in case" for charging purposes: Ability to charge at any 120/240 volt outlet you may encounter.

No sense you buy any of this stuff for one trip!

A fellow San Fernando Valley EV driver. Send me a PM if you are interested.

All of the equipment shown in the photograph, except the original GM OEM 120v charger, linked below:

http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6875&p=23959#p23959

 

[SparkE]

Wow! Thank you MichaelLAX!! You're a gem ! Seriously!