Drive from Menlo Park to Seattle

Thanks, that was an interesting read.

Interesting! I hope you don't mind me quoting your summary:

Driving and charging summary:
Menlo Park to Davis CA: 103.8 miles. Battery 250 to 141
Charging in Davis: HPC70A for 1:10 hours. Charge: 141 to 211
Davis to Redding, CA: 155 miles. Battery 211 to 40
Charging in Redding: 32A for 6.5 hours. Charge: 40 to 214
Redding to Yreka, CA: 98 miles. Battery 214 to 88
Charging in Yreka: 40A for 2.5 hours. Charge 88 to 168
Yreka to Grant’s Pass OR: 80 miles. Battery 168 to 42
Charging in Grant’s Pass OR: 32A/24A overnight ~9hours 42 to 250
Grant’s Pass OR to Eugene ( Coburg ) OR: 141.7 miles. Battery 250 to 90
Charging in Eugene: 40A for 3:40, Charge: 90 to 214
Eugene to Wilsonville: 88.1 miles Battery 214 to 98
Charging in Wilsonville: 40A for 2 hours Charge 98 to 155
Wilsonville to Portland: 25 miles Battery 155 to 127
Portland charging: 40A for ~3.5 hours. Charge: 127 to 245
Portland to Lacey: 118 miles. Battery 245 to 73
Lacey charging: 40A for 1.5 hours. Charge: 73 to 123
Lacey to Redmond: 70 miles. Battery 123 to 42

Click to expand...

That was a great write up, thanks!
I've not heard of any further day 0 trips. I'm impressed! I was sweating my 125ish mile trip home
Congratulations on the new car too.

That's an AWESOME write up! Great insight into long-haul trips in an EV. I loved the part about gaining range while driving down that mountain. Thanks Rich!

I too enjoyed your story.

I came to pick up my car that same Wed right after you and they told me of your plan to drive to Seattle with no real knowledge of charging sites and the Martin/James/Roadster Foundry Charger.

I thought my plan to take it to Reno the first weekend was bold but you topped that by miles.

I can confirm those freeway uphills do eat the range and fast.

My trip was Oakland to that same Davis charging station. Total of 70 miles.
That station if replicated throughout the west coast would make life so easy.

Then I drove from Davis to Montreux Golf Course (Dads house) via hwy 80 to Truckee then Northstar route to Kings Beach (Tahoe) and then at incline via Mt Rose highway (Mt Rose pass is 8,911 ft.) Total of 151 miles.

I got a little concerned on the way up to Donner pass as the est range began to get to the point that I would not make it. Slowed to 50 mph and drove like a grandma until coasting toward Truckee and thinking I would have to stop at an RV park and hope for a 15-40 plug. As you discovered cruise control downhill can get a lot of miles back on the range.

I had a plug installed at my Dads house and so no charging problems.

Now for the interesting trip home. I obviously charged in Range mode.

I then drove causiously through Tahoe and up Donner pass and then 70+mph downhill to Sacramento and when I got to Davis had 80+ miles est range.

I decided to go for it. All was well until I hit 680 and I was driving into 40+ mph winds and the miles started to evaporate again. Back to granma driving.

When I hit Laffayette and the est range went below 20 miles in range mode a warning came on and it said 0 miles left. Power reduced. Well I drove 50-55 miles an hour for the last 8 or so miles but I could feel it was in a reduced mode.

I made it 215 miles home according to odometer and although it was a lot of downhill it was mostly freeway at freeway speeds.

nice write up, thanks for posting. I love reading about roadster roadtrips.

Thanks Rich,

Great story. I tend to drive road trips in an ICE without breaks filling as fast as possible and shortening point A to B, My wife much prefers the leisure method you describe.

On Noob Lesson #1

Chronicling your trip and charging you mention old breaker and you mention shiny breaker. I submit if a breaker is not shiny then it must be classified as old. Breakers from 20 yeas ago can look clean and new ensconced in their metal boxes safe from the elements so bit of dust and a dull suface is sometimes all you have to define "old".

When I first plugged our car in the 20A breaker blew the 2nd day so I swapped it out. A week later we had the home AirCon acting up and the Tech swapped out the main breaker as a matter of course. There were other issues and he did not know about the car but before that happened I would have called both of those replaced breakers "new" looking and now after reading this tale I now know that "Shiny" is the operative word in defining "Not Old".