[ref http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-800mi-Bolt-trip-w-EV-ignorant-Mom-amp-teen-angst-gt-20kW-ccs-EVSE-frustrated-td4686115.html EVLN: 800mi Bolt trip w/ EV-ignorant Mom& teen-angst> ~20kW ccs EVSE frustrated ]
I do not consider that an EV horror story. But a story of how to take an ill-prepared trip (of course they would have problems). I drove my EV on several long trips way, way back when public EVSE was just a glimmer in every EV'rs eye. After reading the mother's story, this EV-advocate old-timer had several things I would have done differently. I would have done my road-trip homework ahead of time. Chargepoint (using either their app or their web page) is a lousy tool to know what public EVSE is available when compared to the free-to-use https://www.plugshare.com I set plugshare to only show ccs level-3 (L3) and j1772 L2. After adjusting the map to show San Jose, CA at the top, it showed, highway 99 & highway 101 had ccs L3 charging to get to Pasadena, CA (the LA area). Since the amount of time charging was a complaint the mother had, I would have chosen the route that has as many full powered (50kW) L3 EVSE as possible. Looking at the L3 on Hwy 101, some were only half powered (24kW). But the L3 on Hwy 99 were full power. I would want most of the trip to be on Hwy 99. The EVSE were EVgo and plugshare showed that. The mother could have gotten an EVgo account before the trip. Clearly, she depended on Chargepoint to solve all her charging needs too heavily. I used google maps https://goo.gl/maps/se1HF6CZeEE2 to plan a route from San Jose east to Hwy 99, then south to a L3 EVSE in Visalia. Using the details on that map shows that Visalia is at the ~200 mile point. And Pasadena is another 200 miles. Meaning only one L3 charging would be needed to make the entire 400 mile trip, and only one L3 charge would be needed on the return trip. My mostly Hwy 99 route goes south from San Jose, cuts over east on Hwy 152 to Hwy 99 going south. Hwy 99 merges with Hwy 5 at Bakersfield. Hwy 5 will take the Mom& teen south to Pasadena. My route has the most full-power L3 charging to keep range angst to a minimum, and lets the couple only need one L3 quick charging stop. My complaint with this story is that the story was worded to leave the EV-ignorant feeling EVs are not-ready for prime time. If I drove a Bolt EV on that trip, my prep would have made for an easier time, with far fewer complaints (because when it comes to EVs on long trips, I know what I am doing). For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-800mi-Bolt-trip-San-Jose-LA-on-ccs-tp4686125.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)