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Long road trip - 1360 Miles in 5 days

4K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  Vertiformed 
#1 ·
We recently vacationed in the mountains of western North Carolina and used the Bolt


1360.1 miles / 309.4 kWh


We used EA stations in Walterboro, Columbia, Asheville, Commerce, Forsyth, Valdosta, and Lake City. Of those, maybe two were non-derated. That doesn't make a huge difference except for the ones REALLY derated (max charge rate at Lake City was around 20!)



In addition we used a free fast charger near Savannah and an EVGo near Spartanburg


Local driving was covered by free public L2 stations in Sylva, Dillsboro, and Highlands - one a block from one of the hotels we stayed.



Aside from regen, EVs rock on twisty hilly roads...the absence of a transmission and "L"l mode made driving much easier. I don't recall ever using the brake pedal...just the paddle on a couple really steep slopes / turns.


I find long distance 75 mph interstate driving very tedious with the Bolt - having to stop every 60-90 minutes for 30 minutes is a bore, and there are only so many things to look at in a Walmart.


Don't get me wrong - I'm thanking for the EA network; couldn't have made the trip without it - I would just much rather drive 3+ hours on back roads between each charge session, and it would be nice to be able to use more of the battery's capacity, say 10-80% at each stop, but the networks and the Bolt's tapers don't fully support that yet.


Wanna go green (with envy, that is)? Go onto Plugshare and filter everything except Tesla superchargers and then drool over the plugscores (pretty much all 10s) and the charge rates posted by users.


On balance, great trip, aside from losing my wallet (literally, not figuratively)
 
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#2 ·
Thanks for the report. Sounds like you came up from the "low state" to the mountains but 4.4 miles/kWh average is pretty good for the overall trip, especially driving at freeway speeds with (I assume) the A/C on.
How was the EA charger at Walterboro? Plugshare seems to indicate it has been reduced to around 24kW.
And which EA charger did you find that wasn't reduced?
FWIW my wife and I drove from upstate South Carolina to Mt. Mitchell last week. Got around 2.0 miles/kWh on the way up but the meter maxed out at 51.1 on the way down. At one point we drove 30 miles but the GOM increased 60 miles. We stopped at the EA at Sam's Club in Asheville which was charging around 45kWh (instead of the full 55).
 
#3 ·
Freeway mi / kwh was down around 3.75 at 75 mph. AC definitely on. HVAC portion of energy used was 4%, 0% battery conditioning.


EA station Walterboro behaved as a "normal" derate - max rate 44 kW - better than expected given the plugshare report Lake City was the real loser.


Stations Commerce and Forsyth were not derated...I created checkins wherever we stopped.


We had similar experiences in hill country - slow speeds and less / no AC gave up to 6 mi / kWh. Long downhill stretches produced the garbled "252 mi kWh" bars I have read about elsewhere.


As we all know, the GOM is only accurate when driving pattern is consistent.
 
#4 ·
Fill me in... what is this "derating" that you speak of? I thought just about all EA chargers were 150 or 350A which should make the Bolt charge at it's maximum 55 kW at least on the low end of charge. If there is some sort of derating where it can't charge at it's maximum, I'd have to factor that in (if/when I ever take a long trip which is rare for me).

Thanks,
Mike
 
#6 ·
#5 ·
Congratulations! Sounds like you had a good trip. I wish I could interest my wife in doing a road trip with me. I enjoyed my BRP trip, but three days alone was my limit.

You are absolutely right about Tesla envy. Ben Rich is possibly the luckiest guy alive. He is a science teacher, with summers off. I met him for lunch back in 2015 while he charged his Zero electric motorcycle in Waynesboro, Virginia. He was already an EV legend then, having traveled by Vectrix VX-1, an i-Miev, a Volt, and several Zeros. This summer he has already put thousands of miles on his third Zero, and is now in Alberta, Canada, after visiting Glacier Park, in his Model 3.

https://www.facebook.com/BenRidesElectric/
 
#8 ·
I have pointed out to EA that even as new as their stations are, the outer jackets on the cables have turned from black to grey-white on portions exposed to sunlight. This is a bad sign - UV protection may have been omitted in the formulation...my guess is that the sun-exposed jackets may soon exhibit cracking as the sun beats down.


I have also pointed out that they may come to regret omitting canopies over charging stations.


Many (most?) EA stations are presently derated to 50 kW regardless of listed capacity. That has translated to an indicated max rate of 44-45 kW delivered to Bolts at SOC < 50%. That means only a few extra minutes at stations, but it is still annoying.


Uptake has been slow - We never encountered another vehicle using any EA station for the entire trip, and the Plugshare checkins are few.


We are considering an even longer trip in fall - Jax to Boston. On the way up, I'd like to see how much ground we can cover in a day. On the way back, I'd like to run the lengths of both Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
 
#10 ·
We are considering an even longer trip in fall - Jax to Boston. On the way up, I'd like to see how much ground we can cover in a day. On the way back, I'd like to run the lengths of both Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The interstate is the place for insane speeding. Chill out driving the BRP, and Skyline Drive. It is be the best three days ever spent in a car. Speed limits are 35-45 mph, plus stops for scenic overlooks.
 
#14 ·
The cables from the socket to the HPDM are about 3 feet...from the HPDM to the battery about 2 feet, and possibly thicker than those in the charger cable. The charger cables are 10-12 feet long. They could do without cooling by increasing cable size, or using silver or gold cables, but I am sure they looked at the trade-offs in price/weight/flexibility.
 
#11 ·
I don't consider myself a timid driver, but in NC hill country I was happy to set cruise 5-10 below speed limit, and I was constantly finding driveways and shoulders to allow others to overtake.


I'm looking forward to SLD and BRP - combination of no transmission, L-mode and cruise control should make for happy driving
 
#22 ·
Just returned this morning from a trip 1,180 miles driveway to driveway; Virginia to Maine and return. Took the "short" route going up via the New Jersey Turnpike (673 miles), and the "long" route returning via I-84/87/287/78/81 (735 miles). For the return trip only, the car reports 734.8 miles and 175.7 kWh used. Used mostly EVGo charge stations; one grattis outlet at the marina where we took our cruise (highly recommend Windjammer Cruises, and specifically the boat Angelique); one "bridge charge" at a Chevy dealership, and one Electrify America (much prefer the latter, for paid stations). Total paid charging cost $152.36. For completeness, would need to add the replenishment cost back home: arrived this morning with 127 mi showing (don't know how to translate that into current state of charge). We had some challenges with the EVGo chargers in that most were 50kW, and all of them stopped charging arbitrarily in the middle of the session. The first time this happened was irritating as we were sitting fat, dumb, and happy in a nearby restaurant, received no notification, and wasted a full hour, before working with customer support and completing 80% at a different station. The trip up took 16 hours, including that wasted time. The trip back took 20 hours - result of painful stop-and-go traffic coming out of Maine down to Boston, and additional stops for the longer distance.
My assessment is that the charging infrastructure largely exists to go pretty much anywhere in the eastern US - albeit with caveats.
 
#25 ·
Thanks for sharing this trip. I have taken similar trips (not quite as far). My conclusion is that the Bolt (as a car) is a great trip vehicle. Its Achilles heel is charging. The networks are not always well placed, and frequently out of order. When you do charge, even the max rate of 55kW is a little slow. It is liveable with proper planning, but having reliable, well-placed 100+kW charging would make a world of difference on a trip.

That said, I'm not willing to sacrifice all of the great things about a Bolt (hatchback, superior dash design, integrated roof rails, I could go on) to buy a Tesla for those occasional trips.
 
#26 ·
The charging network is absolutely the issue for non-Tesla EVs. And, if we had a car that charged at 100 kW we'd probably be even more frustrated by the network. A significant fraction of the chargers out there are “50 kW” chargers that are actually 100A or 125A, meaning that at 375V you get a paltry 37.5 kW and 46.8 kW respectively. That's pretty sorry in a Bolt, but it'd be super disappointing in a car that can charge at 100 kW and thus wants 267A charging — you'd be charging at less than half speed much of the time.
 
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