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Colorado 550 Farmington <--> Grand Junction

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ahm

Member
Nov 11, 2013
255
170
I would like to hear from anyone who has driven Colorado 550 between Farmington, NM and Grand Junction, CO (both directions). I'm considering a trip in early September from Tucson to Fort Collins. EV Trip Planner routes me this way traveling north and then through UT on the return. I know there is a 30 Amp Charger in Durango. I have seen a report of a 14-50 plug in Ridgway, but there are no "check-ins" on this plug. I have a P85 with 19" wheels.
Thanks in advance for your knowledge on this route.
ahm
 
I would like to hear from anyone who has driven Colorado 550 between Farmington, NM and Grand Junction, CO (both directions). I'm considering a trip in early September from Tucson to Fort Collins. EV Trip Planner routes me this way traveling north and then through UT on the return. I know there is a 30 Amp Charger in Durango. I have seen a report of a 14-50 plug in Ridgway, but there are no "check-ins" on this plug. I have a P85 with 19" wheels.
Thanks in advance for your knowledge on this route.
ahm

I've looked at this route with EVTripPlanner and it looks doable. The 30 Amp J-Plugs in Durango work well, but are only 208 Volts. On the positive side, they are within easy walking distance of downtown Durango and many activities.

Also consider going directly from Farmington to Silverthorne via Pagosa and Salida. Incredible Pagosa Vacation Rentals in downtown Pagosa Springs, Colorado has some very nice cabins for rent, has a 70 Amp J-Plug, and is within walking distance of restaurants and the Hot Springs. If you do a 100%, overnight charge in Pagosa, then it is pretty easy to make it in an 85 to Silverthorne. If it looks close, or you want a nice break, Wood's High Mountain Distillery has a 70 Amp J-Plug as well, and is right in downtown Salida, making that a very nice stop.

Have fun!

Farmington to Silverthorne via Pagosa and Salida - Google Maps
 
I would like to hear from anyone who has driven Colorado 550 between Farmington, NM and Grand Junction, CO (both directions). I'm considering a trip in early September from Tucson to Fort Collins. EV Trip Planner routes me this way traveling north and then through UT on the return. I know there is a 30 Amp Charger in Durango. I have seen a report of a 14-50 plug in Ridgway, but there are no "check-ins" on this plug. I have a P85 with 19" wheels.
Thanks in advance for your knowledge on this route.
ahm

I did the 50/550 GJ to Farmington route in an S85, 19", with a starting range of 262 miles for a 216 mile drive. It can be done without a mid-course charge, but you have to drive very slowly over the 3 three high elevation climbs on this route. A lot of the those elevations climbs are 15 to 30 mph curves anyway, so speed isn't much of an issue going up. Going down hill, I chose to recover energy rather than "coast". For those down hill portions, I occasionally pulled over to let accumulated traffic pass me so I could regen my way down. I think the GPS said this route takes about 6 hours (?) and that's about what I ended up taking. I got to Farmington with about 50 miles range left. I think if I'd know about the elevation changes, I wouldn't have tried this route, but stubborness won out.

My earlier trip in the opposite direction, I tried the more westernly route which is much flatter and a quicker drive. It is almost all two lane road, and I was traveling so slowly (about 50 mph in 65 mph zones), that traffic kept accumulating behind me and I was becoming a hazard, so I chickened out after about 1/2 the route was driven and drove to Moab to charge. There was a lot more traffic on this route than I expected, including several semis, so while I think this route can be driven without a mid-course charge, I didn't prove it out. Hope this helps. Unfortunately, I just shredded all my notes on this trip, so if you need more info, PM me and I'll see if any more brain cells have survived that can provide more detail.
 
Just did this route on the way to Denver from CA. Very scenic but white knuckle in high elevations...would not do at night or in bad weather. Hyper-miled the way up and decided to take the northern route for the return trip!
 
Just did this route on the way to Denver from CA. Very scenic but white knuckle in high elevations...would not do at night or in bad weather. Hyper-miled the way up and decided to take the northern route for the return trip!

The temperature factor in the highest altitudes never ceases to cause me anxiety. Getting that battery warm can be a real energy drain. It gets cold quickly up there, even in July. I did a trip to Keystone in my 60 a few weeks ago. Stopped at Silverthorne to charge before heading home after dinner. That night (we're talking 9:00pm-ish), the temp dropped into the upper 30s.