3000 miles $10, Crossing the Great Illinois to Kansas Supercharger Wasteland

CJS2 · Nov 18, 2014

November 5th set out to drive my newly purchased used second Model S 85 from Maryland to Arizona. I did not want to take the northern route due to weather worries, so decided to cross the great wasteland from Normal, Illinois to Topeka, Kansas. Here is how I did it...

Started Baltimore Washington International Airport
SC; Somerset, PA
SC; Wheeling, WV
HPWC; Columbus, OH Tesla HPWC Mall, Overnight at Residence Inn
SC; Dayton OH was not up yet would have helped
SC; Indianapolis, IN (new)
SC; Normal, IL

Range Charged in last Supercharger in Normal, IL

Stopped at Double J Campground, 9683 Palm Road, Springfield, IL; bought 3 hours of a 14-50 connector for $10

Headed out for Columbia, MO

Used the J1772 at the
Boulder Springs Apartments
2260 Bennett Springs Dr, Columbia, MO, 65201

Ran across the highway at night (minimal traffic) to stay at the
Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center
2601 South Providence Road Columbia, Missouri 65203

In the morning, was not fully charged but enough to get me to the Raphael Hotel in Kansas City, MO for an amazing lunch.

The Raphael Hotel has a HPWC charger and got 50 Miles of charge (dual chargers) for the jump to Topeka, Kansas.

Then back on superchargers all the way to Tucson.

3000 Miles, 5 Days, $10 total electric cost, 1 Megawatt hour of power, 325 Wh/Mile, Speed limit + 5mph the whole way. Priceless trip.

Botbldr45 · Nov 18, 2014

Will make that trip (Annapolis to Phoenix) in late spring. Hope a few more SC are up and running by then. Nice story, continues to show that EV is the way to travel....... with a little planning.

MyJoule · Nov 18, 2014

I'm in Tucson too and considering a trip to Indiana in a few weeks. I was hoping the Supercharger somewhere in the middle of Missouri would be on line by now. But I don't think it's happening anytime soon. The route you took is what I've been considering as well as those stops.

I do have a question- did you cut the corner from Blanding to Flagstaff or did you go via Grand Junction to Farmington or some other route to get to Flagstaff? The range from Blanding to Flagstaff is pretty iffy in any cold weather or wind...

Cottonwood · Nov 18, 2014

Although close in Rated miles in the battery, the optimum time to depart a Supercharger heading off to slower Level 2 charging, is a couple of miles before the 100% charge is complete. Because of the taper, that is many minutes earlier, if you are the obsessive optimizer (OO). Besides, waiting for the end of the taper is worse than waiting for a pot to boil.

The optimum time to leave the Supercharger is when the charge rate on the Supercharger drops below the charge rate at the L2 in your future.

If your next charge point is a 240V L2, then in an 85: The optimum time to leave the Supercharger is when the DC Supercharger Current is about half of the AC current at your next stop. If your next stop is a 14-50 with 40 Amps, move on when the Supercharger is down to 20 Amps; if your next stop has an HPWC with 80 Amps and you have dual chargers, move on when the Supercharger is down to 40 Amps; etc.

For a 60, increase all of those numbers by 8/7, the ratio of fully charged voltages, or don't obsess over 14% and use the half ratio, also. For the OO 60's out there: 40 Amp L2 -> 23 Amp Supercharger departure; 80 Amp L2 -> 46 Amp Supercharger departure; etc.

If course all of this assumes that you have enough miles to make it to the L2 in your future. Also, if your next charge point is 120V/12A, just wait for the Supercharger to finish; even at the end of the taper, a Supercharger is faster than 120V/12A...

Happy EV trails to you!

Gory details:

Final Charge Voltage in an 85 is about 400 Volts. The AC Voltage is 240 Volts, but the AC charger is only about 90% efficient, so that is the equivalent to 216 Volts. Power into the battery is V*A, so if the equivalent AC Voltage is about half the Supercharger DC Voltage, then for equal power, the Supercharger current needs to be half the AC charger current at the cross over. After that, with the taper, the Supercharger charge rate is always slower than the future AC charger.

The Final Charge Voltage in a 60 is about 350 Volts. Because of this, the cross over current need to be increased by 400/350 or 8/7.

cpa · Nov 18, 2014

Slightly irrelevant, but I will throw it out there...

I made the trip from Blanding to Flagstaff in early June (yes temperatures a lot warmer!) I drove at 59MPH in the 65 zones and 53MPH in the 55 zones until about 15 miles east of Tuba City, when I ramped up my speed to 72 the rest of the way into Flagstaff.

I range charged at Blanding, and took the US163 route through Monument Valley and Kayenta. I arrived with about 30 miles of range.

There are two campgrounds with 14-50 plugs en route: Monument Valley Resort (not too sure of the name) right on the Utah-Arizona line and an RV Park in Tuba City behind the Quality Inn. I seem to recall that you can charge for free at the Quality Inn if you eat in the restaurant, but don't quote me.

I did not check to see if Holbrook was accessible from Blanding--that might be a tad shorter.

CJS2 · Nov 18, 2014

I took the long way, going to Farmington, Gallup, Holbrook then my friend has an hpwc at his house in pinetop arizona, topped off and drove to Tucson. Since he helped me drive back, it was an easy decision. Blanding to Holbrook is probably more doable then flagstaff at any time. We stayed in Gallup for the night - trying to make pinetop for the night but it was getting too late.

matthelm · Nov 19, 2014

We live near Cave Creek, Arizona and travel to Moab, Utah several times a year. Our Northbound route is always Home, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Gallup, Blanding, Moab. When Southbound it is Moab, Blanding, Gallup, Holbrook, Payson, Home. Back in the day when we had a gas powered car, we would use the Flagstaff to Blanding route through the Navajo Nation, however with only the prospect of RV park charging and the usual plethora of stray dogs while hanging out in Tuba City, Kayenta, or Monument Valley, we now avoid that route.

stevezzzz · Nov 19, 2014

cpa said:
Slightly irrelevant, but I will throw it out there...

I made the trip from Blanding to Flagstaff in early June (yes temperatures a lot warmer!) I drove at 59MPH in the 65 zones and 53MPH in the 55 zones until about 15 miles east of Tuba City, when I ramped up my speed to 72 the rest of the way into Flagstaff.

I range charged at Blanding, and took the US163 route through Monument Valley and Kayenta. I arrived with about 30 miles of range.

There are two campgrounds with 14-50 plugs en route: Monument Valley Resort (not too sure of the name) right on the Utah-Arizona line and an RV Park in Tuba City behind the Quality Inn. I seem to recall that you can charge for free at the Quality Inn if you eat in the restaurant, but don't quote me.

I did not check to see if Holbrook was accessible from Blanding--that might be a tad shorter.

The Monument Valley campground with 14-50 service is Goulding's. I've used it twice for 10kW booster charging, to go from Blanding to Flagstaff and back again (thus avoiding the big supercharger 'S' curve through Gallup). Nice to know that if temperatures and winds are favorable you can do the uphill direction (Blanding-Flagstaff) in an 85 without the booster charge.

Cottonwood · Nov 19, 2014

stevezzzz said:
The Monument Valley campground with 14-50 service is Goulding's. I've used it twice for 10kW booster charging, to go from Blanding to Flagstaff and back again (thus avoiding the big supercharger 'S' curve through Gallup). Nice to know that if temperatures and winds are favorable you can do the uphill direction (Blanding-Flagstaff) in an 85 without the booster charge.

The Tuba City Quality Inn was a painless top up for an hour or so at lunch; good solid 240V. I probably could have made it from Flagstaff to Blanding without the top up, but with that stop, it only took a little bit of care with energy use. Bluff, UT is just before a big climb to Blanding, and the last chance before Blanding for some Joules. I called CadillacRanchRV.com there and they were very friendly last March about letting me use a 14-50, but I did not need it and did not stop.

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3000 miles $10, Crossing the Great Illinois to Kansas Supercharger Wasteland

CJS2

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Botbldr45

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MyJoule

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Cottonwood

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cpa

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CJS2

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matthelm

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stevezzzz

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Cottonwood

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