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A long road trip in my VOLT this weekend got me thinking...

17K views 59 replies 27 participants last post by  Luke Warm 
#1 · (Edited)
So this past Friday, a family member on my wife's side passed away. As a result, my wife had to flight out on short notice to the west coast, leaving me by myself with the kids...probably through the end of next week. As leave is it a premium, I would not be able to take that time off of work. Luckily, my mother in CT offered to watch the kids for me next week, so I was soon off on a 320 mile road trip to grandma's house (MD to CT).

During the long drive, I was thinking, "How would this trip have worked out in the Bolt?". I was hauling tail driving at 75 mph with heat on 72 for much of the trip, so if I had been in a Bolt, I would have definitely needed to stop for a charge somewhere. I took to Plugshare, and had it list only CCS charging stations within 6 miles of my route (no time to wait for L2 with 2 kids in the back at night!).

Here's what the map looks like after restricting to just CCS fast chargers:



Upon first glance, you would think "Wow! No problem finding a CCS station on my route!". But after some closer looking, there are actually only a handful of stations that would work out for me on a 1-stop trip to CT. The ideal station would be about 160 miles away, splitting the trip exactly in half. According to GM specs, I would be able to recoup 160 miles in 1 hour. Assuming the same conditions as my trip in my Volt, I figure after 160 miles driving @ 75 mph with the heat on, I would likely be at 20% SoC or less, so a 1 hour fast charge stop should be enough to make it the rest of the way. So I would need to charge at a station that was 160 miles away, give or take 20 miles. Here's a list of stations that would make the trip possible with just 1 stop:


  • EVgo station at a hotel near Philly - 2349 Marlton Pike W, Cherry Hill, NJ (123 miles away)
  • EVgo station at a Wyndham Hotel in NJ - 1111 NJ-73 Mt Laurel, NJ (126 miles away)
  • CP station at a Walmart in NJ - 2106 Mt Holly Rd, Burlington, NJ (136 miles away)
  • EVgo station at a Holiday Inn - 4 Tower Center Blvd E Brunswick, NJ (175 miles away)
There is another CP station a little further up the road from the one in Brusnwick, NJ, but it is 24 kW, so I'm basically ignoring that one. Perhaps as an emergency backup.

So basically, there is exactly 1 station that is in my "sweet spot" as far as location...that being the EVgo station in Brunswick, NJ. Even at 175 miles away, getting there with charge to spare traveling at 75 mph should not be an issue.....I think.

If I were to stop at any of the first 3 stations, that would likely require much more conservative driving the rest of the trip in order to make it to grandma's house without another stop. The minimum time a trip to CT would take is 6 hours, as I can make the trip non-stop in the Volt in 5 hours in ideal conditions.

Long distance travel in the Bolt is possible, but definitely much more planning is required than a car with a gas engine. Hopefully the I-95 CCS network gets built out more in the near future!
 
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#2 ·
I would actually plan a trip like this with two ~1/2 hour stops.
Charge rate tapers as the SOC rises, and CCS DCFC will only take the battery to 80-90% full. At that point, DCFC is no faster than L2.

And dropping your speed to 65 may actually make for a quicker trip. The longer time on the road could be more than offset by the reduced charging time.
 
#3 ·
Unfortunately there is no station that is around 120 miles away. There is a CCS station in NE MD that is 67 miles from my house....but stopping there would really not help me too much. I would probably arrive there with 70% or higher SoC, making a fast charge stop almost pointless.

If I wanted to really push it, there is a CCS station 196 miles away (160 Frontage Road, Newark, NJ)...then a 1 hour stop (or less) would give me enough juice for the rest of the trip. That'd be cutting it close in the winter though. ;)

I'm really hoping they aren't still building 24 kW stations....those things are next to useless for the Bolt as far as long distance travel goes.
 
#4 ·
Why would you attempt such a trip in anything but a rental car, no matter what type of car you have? Suppose something goes wrong with the car. It could be a mechanical failure, or even an accident. Then you are stuck trying to deal with that, while caring for your children, at night, as much as 160 miles from either endpoint. You will need to arrange for transportation while your car is being repaired and get back there to pick it up when it is fixed.

Rent a car. If something goes wrong, call rental company. They will bring you another car and you are finished dealing with it. Yes, it costs a little more, but as an insurance policy, it is worth it.

You would also be driving a car designed for the task. If you have to replace a section of concrete in the sidewalk in front of your house, do you chip out the old section with a hammer and screw driver, or do you rent a jack hammer? Use the right tool for the job.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Because a rental car is immune to mechanical failure, flat tires, and accidents, right? Because the rental companies have this "guaranteed accident free, mechanical problem free, flat tire free" coverage they can offer. *rolleyes*

Anyways, I also have a VOLT I can use if I am traveling to middle of nowhere areas with 0 CCS infrastructure. Not like I don't have options. But your argument for a rental car is ridiculous.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Here's my take-away from this trip analysis, and a few others I've done over similar ranges, to optimize trip planning in the Bolt EV:

- The total trip durations do not vary considerably between 65 and 75 mph. Slowing down by 5-10 mph to make a longer leg (to get to a preferable charging station) only costs a few minutes of trip time.
- Intermediate charging stops should end near 70% SoC to avoid charge tapering.
- First leg should be between 125-165 miles
- Second and subsequent legs should be between 100-125 miles
 
#49 ·
I think the self-imposed hardship of attempting to (mis/ab)use a "long range" EV for interstate travel - especially when time is of the essence - is a great reminder of how fortunate we are to live in the 21st century and not 100 years ago, when the ICE car, the paved roads network - and refueling infrastructure were still wearing short pants.
 
#12 ·
That would be great! I'll start another thread about collecting data that would help calibrate my models.

I need to think through it carefully. GM makes it challenging since they don't provide direct battery State of Charge data. SoC can be inferred from the energy usage displays, but those numbers don't get reset when intermediate charges are stopped prior to the battery being full.
 
#13 ·
Nice charts, Zoomit!

I thought about another potential hurdle for travel in a Bolt to CT: the CCS stations mentioned in my original post all only have 1 CCS plug I believe. Not only that, but if some Leaf or Soul EV is using the Chademo plug, the CCS plug can't be used until the Chademo side is done charging. That is a limitation of the current dual head fast charging stations...only 1 side can be used at a time.

It seems the 2 stop plan is definitely the safer choice.
 
#21 ·
What are you using to estimate the driving efficiency at 75mph? The people at car and driver managed 190 miles on a full charge (~315.7 Wh/mi) so at 175 miles for the first stop there should still be an expected 9% or so left on the battery right?

At this point its all theoretical until there is more real world data though.
 
#22 ·
I'm currently using the EPA range data and a matchpoint of 62 mph to calibrate the model. It gives a range of 181 mi at a steady 75 mph, which is about 5% less than what C&D did. It's very possible my model is too pessimistic by that amount, but I need more real world data.

If C&D was in traffic or had even a slight tailwind, it could have easily affected the results more than 5%. The range at that speed is highly dependant on aerodynamic drag. For example, it only takes a 2.3 mph tailwind to increase the range from 181 mi to 190.
 
#31 ·
Agreed. Use the right tool for the job. At this point in time, BEVs are not really cross country machines. Of course it can be done but IMO, doing long cross countries in BEV for any other reason than a personal challenge, or adventure of some type is foolish. Like others have said, use your other car, or rent a car, or take another form of transportation.
 
#24 ·
I am mainly doing the road trip for fun (wife is out of town) and just to see what it's like. Worst case in the future we will probably have a gas car anyway for her, the Bolt is mainly for commuting, around town for me, and since I get preferred parking at work having an EV. :D
 
#33 ·
I know a couple that drives from SF down to LA about once a month and they *always* rent a car. They don't want to put the miles on their car (about 700-800 miles for the weekend). At the Fed reimbursement rate (supposedly gas+wear+depreciation costs) of $0.54/mi, a 700 mi trip 'costs' a bit over $350. So they rent, generally at a "weekend special" rate ($19/day or less) and pick a compact car that gets 40+ mi/gal on the highway. The daily rental cost is almost covered by their savings in gas costs for the trip.

It's pretty much a no-brainer for a 2-day (or 'overnighter') trip. For a week, it would be different.
 
#34 ·
Their scheme only works if you can write off mileage on your taxes and that's only businesses. Now many have home businesses, or other businesses where they can do this but a whole lot of other folks can't. In a "non commercial" situation, these folks are paying for rental on top of the fixed costs for the cars they own. Now if one leases a car and not really owns it, it may make sense to rent on long trips to avoid the milage penalties.
 
#35 ·
You can probably negotiate more mileage for you lease, but if you're taking weekend trips every week, then you may as well rent. I think the average cost of each extra mile is around $0.10 to $0.25 per mile, depending on the vehicle and the lease company. It may have changed over the years, but that's a hefty cost if you go a few thousand miles over.
 
#36 ·
I do the SF-LA-SF thing every weekend in the spring (Renaissance Faire). It's about 800 miles every weekend for 12 weekends. Renting a car has never made economic sense to us, nor has it from a logistical point. Then again, leasing has never made sense in the first place because of the mileage we put on our cars. Or the wear and tear. Whatever cost savings we might get from leasing would be eaten up by having to rent an SUV or minivan every weekend.

When I inquired about leasing the Bolt, it would cost 20 cents an extra mile (20% discount) if I pre-purchased the extra miles I would need. I'd need an extra 9000 miles a year on a 15K lease, which is 27,000 miles, or $5400 dollars added to the lease. An extra $150 a month, plus taxes. On top of a ~$435 a monthly lease, plus taxes. That brings it into range what a 5-year loan would cost me, especially if I intend to buy the car at lease end.
 
#40 ·
The only time I have rented a vehicle in the past year was a minivan I rented for a trip to to NYC (needed to transport 6 people). Pretty sure I didn't save any gas money driving that behemoth. Lol

Though the MPG per person stat may have actually been OK.
 
#43 ·
It's interesting to do a retrospective. I think Brian understands the Bolt EV a lot better now. Even in a 320-mile trip, the Volt would be faster (faster than any pure electric, really), and it would require almost nothing in the way of planning.

However this trip is quite doable. Actually, Brian's initial assumptions of wanting to stop about 160 miles out (under those conditions) was about right. If he was getting harsher winter weather at the time, even the 120 mile leg could be a valid, but conservative) first stop. However, for best trip speeds, you don't want to charge the Bolt EV past 65% (car on, heater blasting on HIGH from 55% to 65% battery).

Take one long stop for about 40 to 50 minutes, ideally starting somewhere between 10% and 20% battery. And another short, 15 to 20 minute stop (starting around 30% to 40% battery), and you'd get to your destination no problem. Even at 75 mph in average winter conditions.
 
#44 ·
It's interesting to do a retrospective. I think Brian understands the Bolt EV a lot better now. Even in a 320-mile trip, the Volt would be faster (faster than any pure electric, really), and it would require almost nothing in the way of planning.
This might not apply to all Volt owners, but I'm pretty sure that if I was doing a long distance trip in a Volt I'd be disappointed as heck every time the gas engine came on and I'd be looking for opportunities to get some juice back into the batteries. So I might as well just buy a Bolt and be done with it. And I did. And I am.
 
#47 ·
I actually just did almost exactly this road trip over the weekend. Baltimore, MD to Marlborough, MA and back. 805 Miles.
Tried to keep a log of the charging stats.
Temps were in the 50's so about 8% of the power went to "climate"
It was my first long trip in the BOLT so I would only go about 120-140 miles before charging to be conservative. I didn't want to be stranded. I also didn't want to waste time on a lever 2 charger.
I also learned that EVgo chargers are nice and fast but very expensive. And charging by the minute means going much above 80% is wasting your money since the power goes way down.
I did find a free ChargePoint in Marlborough which was awesome.
Another thing I noticed is the "guess-o-meter" was never the same as the actual trip counter. I know it isn't exact based on many factors.
I tracked it better coming home For example....
.... when I drove 124.7 miles the "G-oh-M" counted down 153.
.... when I drove 110.7 miles the "G-oh-M" counted down 95.
.... when I drove 144.5 miles the "G-oh-M" counted down 121.


Anyway here is the charging information.

Network Where When Duration kWh Cost Cost/hWh Cost/min
EVgo Philly 11/16/18 7:00 AM 45 20.381 $16.70 $0.82 $0.37
EVgo NJ 11/16/18 9:00 AM 30 15.6 9.6 $0.62 $0.32
EVgo CT 11/16/18 12:00 PM 45 27.24 15.75 $0.58 $0.35
EVgo CT 11/16/18 1:00 PM 30 11.55 13.32 $1.15 $0.44
ChargePoint MA 11/16/18 6:00 PM 31 19.7 0 $0.00 $0.00
ChargePoint MA 11/17/18 6:00 AM 75 25.4 0 $0.00 $0.00
ChargePoint MA 11/17/18 6:00 PM 48 11.2 0 $0.00 $0.00
ChargePoint CT 11/18/18 7:00 AM 128 38.35 10 $0.26 $0.08
EVgo NJ 11/18/18 10:00 AM 60 33.4 20 $0.60 $0.33
 
#52 ·
I actually just did almost exactly this road trip over the weekend. Baltimore, MD to Marlborough, MA and back. 805 Miles.
Tried to keep a log of the charging stats.
Whoa, over $1 per kWh, is ludacris. $85.37 total! That was 5.5 hours of waiting for charging for 800 miles of driving. In a gasser, I'd have probably spent 1hr total not driving for that distance. My fuel bill in the Prius would have been $50.

I commend you for making the trip and logging your results. It's stuff like this that allows us to make informed decisions about what to expect when considering a particular drive using a particular vehicle.
 
#58 ·
i'm sure if someone wanted to really take the time they could use free chargers all the time.
There are a few of the DC chargers in my area that are free.

What is funny is one time after dropping my daughter at ice practice I went 5 miles down the road to a free charger. But then I bought a cup of coffee which more than offset any savings I got by using the free charger. :)
 
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