Bay Area (San Jose) to Arnold, CA

MikeS1971 said:

Anyone make this trip or somewhere close to Arnold? Like Murphys, Angels Camp, Dorrington, or all the way up to Bear Valley? Just purchased a vacation home in Arnold and will be making the trip up frequently. Doesn't seem like there are many places to charge once past the central valley. Not too concerned about making it back since its pretty much all downhill the first 40 or so miles. My concern is really those 40 miles going up. There's a few places in Tracy I can top off the charge, but would prefer not to.

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I have a friend with a cabin near Arnold. He has only 120V power, so I can't count on charging more then 25% or so overnight.

When I went up in February, I left home near San Mateo at 100% charge and stopped in Oakdale where I charged at the ChargePoint DCFC from 60%-70%. I then continued to Arnold where I arrived with ~20%. Most of the driving was at the speed limit, or a bit below, and the heat was off almost the whole way. It takes a decent amount of power to climb the 4,000+ feet to reach Arnold. I think without the intermediate stop I would still have made it, but probably with a much less comfortable buffer.

From Arnold to Bear Valley is another 26 miles or so. It took ~20% charge (50% to 30%), with the heat on (temperatures were around freezing). The 3,500 foot climb takes a good bit of power... The return trip to Arnold you basically use no net power (due to the decent).

If you drive up now, you should see somewhat lower energy usage than I did, as it's a lot warm now than it was in February.

Enjoy your new place in Arnold. It's a beautiful area.