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My First Run thru Mid-Atlantic Corridor
- Thread starter NOLA_Mike
- Start date
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- Mid-Atlantic USA
HankLloydRight
No Roads
Probably not!!
That's likely a data-entry error on my part (time) either leaving Fayetteville, NC or arriving at Rocky Mount, NC.
@NOLA_Mike - Little late catching your thread, but I've done western NC to NJ many times already. Just avoid Bethesda at all cost. Avoid Woodbridge in favor of Glen Allen or Newark if it is a high traffic time. South Hill is a nice stop that's super easy to get to. In an 85kWh in decent weather and normal driving: Woodbridge to Hamilton is possible; Burlington, NC to Glen Allen, VA is possible; Glen Allen VA to Newark, DE is possible.
Basically there are a lot you can skip if you charge sufficiently. Even Charlotte to South Hill is possible if you drive a little under the limit.
Basically there are a lot you can skip if you charge sufficiently. Even Charlotte to South Hill is possible if you drive a little under the limit.
Thanks Jason. Made it to Glen Allen (where I'm spending the night). The "Trip Planner" had me fully charging at South Hill, skipping Glen Allen, then charging at Woodbridge and skipping Bethesda (which is fine, I have no intention of going to Bethesda). Turns out since I decided I was tired (and the NAV showed a big long red traffic line northbound just north of Richmond) I'm staying in Glen Allen and will hit that charger in the morning. I may stop in Woodbridge just to say I've charged there but after that it's Newark, DE.
1,050 (~) miles so far. It's been fun, the next gen seats are comfortable, it's a long way. And I just realized I have to drive back at the end of the week...
Mike
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I could not make the CHAdeMO charger work today. Kept getting the following error. Tried a few times then gave up (didn't really need the charge because I range charged in Decatur, GA and realized I could make it all the way to Charlotte driving the speed limit or 5 MPH below (65 MPH). I grabbed about 10 miles of charge at the BMW factory in Greer, SC.
Funny thing is that there was someone who reported on PlugShare just yesterday that it worked with his Model S. YMMV.
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Made it from Atlanta to Glen Allen today (~550 miles). I determined that today, with a full range charge on my P85D and traveling 65 MPH, I could've made it from the Decatur, GA Supercharger to the Charlotte, NC Supercharger with no additional charging (249 road miles up I-85). Note this was in warm weather and with no discernible wind.
While the shopping center in Charlotte was fairly busy, no ICE'ing of the Supercharger spaces:
Spent about an hour at the Atlanta (Decatur) store this morning range charging. No one was there since it was Memorial Day. While not shown in this picture, there were quite a few CPO models on the lot (I'm guessing maybe a dozen).
Tomorrow I reach my destination of Basking Ridge, NJ. Been a great "supercharged" trip so far.
Mike
Thanks Jason. Made it to Glen Allen (where I'm spending the night). The "Trip Planner" had me fully charging at South Hill, skipping Glen Allen, then charging at Woodbridge and skipping Bethesda (which is fine, I have no intention of going to Bethesda). Turns out since I decided I was tired (and the NAV showed a big long red traffic line northbound just north of Richmond) I'm staying in Glen Allen and will hit that charger in the morning. I may stop in Woodbridge just to say I've charged there but after that it's Newark, DE.
1,050 (~) miles so far. It's been fun, the next gen seats are comfortable, it's a long way. And I just realized I have to drive back at the end of the week...
Mike
Ah yeah.... traffic north of Glen Allen is generally horrible during the day and peak times.... and this is a holiday weekend.
For Glen Allen direct to Newark keeping with traffic with a slight headwind took 95% of a charge the last time. I left with 96% and arrived in Newark with 1%. Generally I just 100% charge in Glen Allen whiling hanging out at Barnes and Noble when I want to skip Woodbridge on the way north (almost always). I've done the trip over a dozen times now, so I'm pretty comfortable cutting it a little closer than I would in uncharted territory. The good thing is, if it looks like you're using too much power you can always just make the stop in Woodbridge. Also, if the 95 "Express" lanes are open in your direction around the DC area it *is* possible to get to the Woodbrige supercharger exit from them. Not sure if you have EZpass or not, though.
Stopping in Woodbridge is certainly the range anxious way to go, though. Only needs a brief stop in Glen Allen to make it there, and a brief stop in Woodbridge to make Newark. It just takes too long, in my opinion, to get from the highway to the Woodbridge chargers and back than I'd like.
Lots of options, at least, on this route.
In other news, I'm probably making this trip again sometime this week, so we'll be in NJ at the same time
Good luck!
Zarwin
Member
Thanks for the update Mike! The error with the CHAdeMO charger in greenville is making me re-think my plan. I didn't want to sit and wait for a 100% charge in Charlotte, but that might be the best/safest option. I did see that someone was able to clear the "Error: 13" previously by twisting some knob to reset it in the plugshare history.
I don't know .. I'm still willing to live dangerously and try to shave 30 minutes off the overall trip, while risking a 2 hour penalty!
Edit:
If you want to help me decide, go to the trip report page below and vote. I know, this is stupid, but fun...
https://plus.google.com/u/1/collection/M71Tc
I don't know .. I'm still willing to live dangerously and try to shave 30 minutes off the overall trip, while risking a 2 hour penalty!
Edit:
If you want to help me decide, go to the trip report page below and vote. I know, this is stupid, but fun...
https://plus.google.com/u/1/collection/M71Tc
Last edited:
Zarwin
Member
Oh yeah, the parking lines are bunk. Obviously, from the pic, when I got there I was the only one. Before I left there were three of us total. Watched one pull in an out about 3 times because of the fubar'd lines...
Mike
Zarwin
Member
Sorry, yes it was obvious from the pic. The second pic didn;t show up for me until I refreshed the page. I sent an email to telsa about the screwed up lines last summer and they said they would get it fixed "soon". If you look closely at those spaces, it looks like there were lines properly painted, which were removed and the original, incorrect lines, were repainted.
I was planning on running through this corridor (NJ to South VA) in a few weeks, and I'm now a bit worried about it. It sounds like there are significant issues with all of the SCs on the route. Woodbridge is a significant detour, Bethesda is only two stalls and apparntly doesn't give much more charge than an HPWC, and Delaware is slow and very crowded. Should I be worried about this, or is it mostly overblown?
HankLloydRight
No Roads
I've stopped at Newark a dozen times, never waited, and got full charging rates.
Woodbridge isn't that far off the highway, but the two times I was there, once was a Sat afternoon, and the mall was packed and 2/8 stalls were ICED, the other time was fine.
The only one to really avoid is Bethesda, which is easy to do.
You're hearing all the complaints, but not the thousands of times people had no problems. It's a little bit of confirmation bias.
Woodbridge isn't that far off the highway, but the two times I was there, once was a Sat afternoon, and the mall was packed and 2/8 stalls were ICED, the other time was fine.
The only one to really avoid is Bethesda, which is easy to do.
You're hearing all the complaints, but not the thousands of times people had no problems. It's a little bit of confirmation bias.
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Zarwin
Member
There aren't any real issues here. In fact Deleware seems to be charging at much higher rates now and seems to have been upgraded. AFAIK the only true error/failure that Mike ran into was in Greenville, SC, and it was a CHAdeMO, not a supercharger. I've started to think that CHAdeMO means "broken". Also for Bethesda, thats a full blown supercharger. I charged there at a very high rate last year. The only issue with Bethesda is that its in a crowded parking garage and there are only two stalls, so I'd avoid that one. There really isnt any required reason to go to that supercharger with the other options on that route.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
I just looked, and Woodbridge is one mile off 95 heading south, and 1.5 miles off 95 heading north. In other words, a couple of minutes. I'm not sure where people got the idea that Woodbridge was such a big detour or problematic to get to.
I've used Woodbridge quite a few times and traffic can be quite heavy around the side streets surrounding the mall. On a busy Saturday you might have to sit through multiple traffic light signals at more than one intersection. It could easily take you 15 minutes to cover the distance, especially northbound. Southbound the traffic is much less of an issue. The nav system also always wants you to make the stupid turn by the Silver Dollar diner instead of just staying straight on Gideon, which costs you time.
The first time I went to use Woodbridge station it took me just under 40 minutes total on and off highway time to get to/from the charger. Other times not much better with easily 10-15 minutes each way. For Newark that time is ~90 seconds total. For Glen Allen that time maxes at ~10 minutes total if you don't consider Rt 1 a highway...
I prefer to just relax in Newark or Glen Allen while charging to ~97% and just skipping it (like I did before it was built).
FUBAR Newark SC lines: If I knew that I would not get in trouble I would gladly seal and repaint the lines at this SC as I live about 10 minutes from it and could sneak over at night. The charge rate at Newark was upgraded months ago. I stop there often, usually not to charge, just to 'sell Tesla' when my wife and daughter are shopping at the close by mall. While many times there is no one there I have seen all stalls full and 3 people waiting on a holiday weekend. It needs to be enlarged or have another 4 bays placed on the north bound side.
Hopefully we can do the same. However with a full car on a hot day its gonna be pretty close if we can make it all the way to Newark going North. We only live 50 miles or so from Newark, so I'd perfer to skip it going South. I think we will end up stopping in DC on one of the trips though, so we're going to be stuck using either Bethesda or Woodbridge.
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