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San Jose, CA to Mendocino and back

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  greendave 
#1 ·
With a partial break in the rain, I took the opportunity last weekend to drive up to Mendocino (on the northern coast) for hiking and sightseeing - roughly a 200 mile drive each way. It was well worth the trip - the rain had scared off the usual hordes of tourists and the drive along US 101 and CA 128 was very nice. I camped at a park that had an L2 charger. A few notes re: charging.
  • 0 miles. Left San Jose with 100% charge.
  • 160 miles. Stopped at Cloverdale ChargePoint DCFC. 35 minute stop to get from 30% to 70%.
  • 240 miles. Arrived in Mendocino. ~40% charge remaining. Charged to 100% overnight at L2 (thanks California state parks!)
  • 420 miles. Stopped at Millbrae EVGO DCFC. 10 minute stop to get from 18% to 30%.
  • 460 miles. Arrived in San Jose. 14% charge remaining.
For the whole trip I used ~110kWh. I wasn't sure how much power the heater/defogger would suck up, so I charged more than I needed to on the drive north. I think this is basically the perfect length for a trip with the Bolt - with a few less detours (or less need for the defogger) I could have avoided charging entirely along the way. The ability to charge cheaply (free in this case) overnight at the L2 was great. Total charging cost for the trip: $12.50...

I did have a brief scare with the Clipper Creek L2 at the campground. When I first inserted it, it seemed not quite seated right, so I released the latch as I was trying to fit it in more securely and heard a 'pop'. Charger then showed a blinking red fault LED and car showed nothing (no amber or green indicator). Fortunately there was a second unit next to it which worked fine. The fault LED on the first charger was still blinking when I walked away 10 minutes later. In the morning it had stopped (I did not try that charger again though).
 
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#5 ·
Thanks for sharing your trip. This is one of those trips my family loves to do, and I may be planning another one soon on the Bolt EV.

edit: found your check-in on plugshare...looks like you stayed at Russian Gulch
Yes, I highly recommend it (particularly when the summer crowds are gone)! We actually stayed at Van Damme but I topped off at Russian Gulch during our dayhike. BTW, only one of the 2 L2s at Russian Gulch was powered on (both of the 2 at Van Damme were).

Good trip report. Thanks for posting.

Did you do any planning before hand? Use ABRP or other software?
Thanks. I mainly used Plugshare and Google Maps for planning. Because the distances weren't too large, I didn't use ABRP (also, no DCFCs on the Mendocino coast).

Had the same thing happen at a Clipper Creek in a town parking lot this summer, on our trip to Rochester, NY. Came back out of the restaurant, after ordering, and the charger had reset...under a half hour. Worked fine on the second try.
Thanks, good to know it doesn't take very long to reset. Initially I was worried I had damaged it!
 
#4 ·
I did have a brief scare with the Clipper Creek L2 at the campground. When I first inserted it, it seemed not quite seated right, so I released the latch as I was trying to fit it in more securely and heard a 'pop'. Charger then showed a blinking red fault LED and car showed nothing (no amber or green indicator). Fortunately there was a second unit next to it which worked fine. The fault LED on the first charger was still blinking when I walked away 10 minutes later. In the morning it had stopped (I did not try that charger again though).
Had the same thing happen at a Clipper Creek in a town parking lot this summer, on our trip to Rochester, NY. Came back out of the restaurant, after ordering, and the charger had reset...under a half hour. Worked fine on the second try.
 
#7 ·
I've had our ClipperCreek reset too. I wake in the morning after charging overnight and see a message that the Bolt is not charging then a little later a post that says the charge is complete. ;)
That's interesting. Probably 90% of my charging is done at the office at one of 3 Clipper Creek units, and I'd never seen that behavior before last weekend. I guess they're not as bulletproof as I'd assumed...
 
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