LA to Milford, UT in the RAV4 EV

Right now I'm sitting in the RAV4 at the Mojave AQMD in Victorville charging up and figured I'd post this while I wait. We're doing a 500 mile trip from LA to Milford, UT. We left LA this morning at 4:45A in order to do the first leg before it got too hot and before there was much traffic. We made it to Victorville at about 6:40A with 16.4kWh (8 bars) to spare.


From LA to Victorville we took the 405 to the 14 and then connected over to the Pearblossom Highway into Victorville. Here's the elevation profile for that part.




Next, we're going to head over and charge at an RV park listed on Plugshare in Baker. I'll get to give the OpenEVSE a workout here.




Then, we have one of the biggest climbs as we leave Baker and head towards Las Vegas. There are many chargers in LV so no worries there.




After Las Vegas, we'll be heading all the way to Littlefield, AZ where there is an EV-friendly RV park, once again using the OpenEVSE.




Then we have another big grade on the road up to Cedar City, UT but it's only 82 miles so shouldn't be tricky. If it looks like we're coming up short there's another RV park in between, but I think we'll be okay.




And then the last leg into Milford! We'll be able to use a dryer outlet with the OpenEVSE where we're staying so will be able to get around easily.




All in all it could probably be done with one or two fewer stops, but never having driven the RAV4 on a road trip I wanted to be somewhat conservative about it. Part of the reason we're doing this trip is to prepare for the BC2BC rally in August so that we have a good idea of the range on the RAV4 and can plan accordingly.

We also got a little Coleman SUV air mattress that fits perfectly in the back with the seats folded down. Tested that at home and it was comfortable for two. I picked up a heatshielf for the front windscreen and front side windows which will add some privacy as well as keep the heat down during charging sessions.

We've got a couple camping chairs, the OpenEVSE and various adapters, board games, luggage, and a full size cooler and still have loads of room to spare.

I'll update this thread as we go so you all can follow along. We wouldn't have had the confidence to do this trip if it weren't for the all the helpful info on this forum.

I also want to thank Chris and Glenn for helping me get the OpenEVSE built in time, ehelmholtz whose design I based mine on, pchilds and nsayer for their advice, as well as everyone else who's posted with information as I was working on it. You guys rock!

Wow, Devin! This looks like a fun trip. Take and post photos along the way if you can.

Sounds like a good plan! :mrgreen:

Just curious, did you consider getting a portable (gas) generator to take along just in case some of the places you are planning to recharge are, for some reason, unavailable? Even if you don't need to use it, would it be good to reduce (eliminate?) any degree of range anxiety?

GOOD LUCK and keep us posted on your progress!

Nice! I love the air mattress idea. I was wondering how you were going to spend ~5 hours waiting for a top off at the AQMD. I don't think I could suffer such a trip without at least dual chargers. I hope you find RavCharge helpful to estimate your range and charging speed during the trip!

Made it to Baker with 45 GOM miles to spare! Luckily the RV hookups were completely unoccupied and functional. The OpenEVSE is working like a champ. It's about 102 degrees and we have an excellent view of the giant thermometer from the car. We did manage to park under a tree which makes it more bearable, thanks to the 30' 14-50 extension cord.

Unfortunately the 3G service here is too slow to upload pictures but I've been taking them as well as logging the details of each leg in between charges. I also have been saving my dashcam footage to another drive and I'm planning to stitch it together and speed it up to make a time lapse of the journey.

Oh, and fooljoe - I forgot to thank you as well because Ravcharge is awesome and really helpful - especially with the new power averaging feature.

Now we're just trying to decide our Las Vegas charging point on Plugshare. There are too many to choose from - a luxury problem to be sure.

Can you tell if the battery is actively cooling using the air conditioner while you charge?

Sounds like an awesome trip. Good luck!

smkettner said:

Can you tell if the battery is actively cooling using the air conditioner while you charge?

Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to be, at least it's not making any noises during charging that it doesn't normally make - no sound like the regular AC compressor that I observed at least.

Greetings from scenic Leeds, UT! We are currently charging up at the Zion West RV Park which is very EV friendly. The owner only asks $5 to use any vacant 50A spot and she provided the WiFi and restroom codes and there's an air conditioned laundry room we can sit in if we're so inclined. It's actually nice out, only 91 degrees with a breeze and the park is filled with trees that provide shade. It's surrounded by fields and picturesque mountain ranges and is a pretty nice place to spend a couple hours. I'll post some pictures of that later.

For now though, here's how the rest of yesterday panned out.

First, photos from Victorville and Baker...







We left Baker at about 3pm and made it to Las Vegas in about 2 hours. Our first choice to charge was closed for the day so we wound up going to the Trump International Hotel, which was the ideal choice. The valets were eager to help even though we weren't staying at the hotel and plugged the car in using the OpenEVSE to a NEMA 14-50 outlet they have on the top floor of their parking garage. There was no fee for the valet parking so we made a point to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant and tip the valet.



We left Vegas a little after 9pm and I decided to alter the plan a little. We arrived at the Valley of Fire State Park a little before 11pm and found several vacant RV sites with 50A service at the Atlatl Rock Campground. We paid $30 (by cheque) using the self-pay envelope/kiosk ($10 park entry + $10 camping fee + $10 RV hookup fee).

We set up the OpenEVSE and inflated the air mattress. It was still pretty warm (about 90 degrees out) and I wanted to use pre-climate to cool the car down a bit using the mains power but since there was no cellular data service I couldn't do it. We cracked the windows and enjoyed a warm night. It occurs to me now that we should have just left the car on and unplugged with the AC running overnight (we had over 50% SOC) and charged up fully in the morning.

When morning came the park's beauty was revealed. This is an absolutely amazing place - and a worthwhile destination in and of itself.





There were nice, clean showers at the campground which didn't require any additional payment so we had a leisurely morning getting up and ready. On our way out we stopped by the park's visitor center which is really well-designed and informative. We scoped out some of the other interesting sites within the park (Elephant Rock, Mouse's Tank, Petroglyphs, etc.) and have already decided that we will stop here on our way back home and spend a day in the park exploring.

Once we left Valley of Fire we used the north road to exit the park and connect back with I-15. After about 110 miles from the campsite we arrived in Leeds and this will be our last charging stop before Milford.

Wow!!! Sounds like a great trip so far! Thanks for the pictures and all your feedback. In picture #2 (above) it looks like you are charging on a 120V cord. Are you finding that L2 charging is "catch as catch can" in some less traveled places? Doyou know if most places allow ChargePoint members to charge?

Definitely not 120. He's done all his charging from RV parks / hotels with 240v / 50a hookups, except for the first stop at a 208v / 30a J1772 station at the Victorville AQMD.

By the way, why'd you choose the AQMD over the Desert Willow RV park? Looks like it's a tiny bit out of the way, but charging 50%+ faster at an RV park is nice, no?

fooljoe said:

Definitely not 120. He's done all his charging from RV parks / hotels with 240v / 50a hookups, except for the first stop at a 208v / 30a J1772 station at the Victorville AQMD.

By the way, why'd you choose the AQMD over the Desert Willow RV park? Looks like it's a tiny bit out of the way, but charging 50%+ faster at an RV park is nice, no?

Click to expand...

Yep, that's true. All 240V/50A NEMA 14-50 RV hookups. The only one I was a little worried about was the one in Baker as there wasn't a good plan B if it didn't pan out. When I was at Victorville, the woman who is in charge of the EV program for the Mojave AQMD came and chatted with me for a bit. She told me about some of the other sites they've been working on getting setup and I suggested a site in Baker which she thought was a good idea and said she'd look into it - so hopefully that pans out. Apparently a J1772 charger is supposed to open shortly in Barstow close to the Tesla Supercharger.

As to the choice of AQMD over the RV park: AQMD was more convenient for the route I wanted to take, CA-14-Pearblossom Hwy. Going to the Desert Willow would have involved either some backtracking or taking the 210 which would add about 10 miles. Plus I intended to get there between 6A and 7A and would have to wait for the office to be open. Timewise it was starting to look like a bit of a wash - so I went with AQMD which I knew would be reliable, free, and available 24/7.

We made it! We arrived in Milford a little before 8pm local time, with over 40 GOM miles to spare. Where we are staying I had a choice of hijacking connections from the stove (NEMA 10-50 that appears to be on a 40A breaker - eep!) or the dryer (NEMA 14-30). I chose to utilize the NEMA 14-30 since it was a newer installation, has a real ground, and all I would need to do is cut the neutral pin off my 14-50 extension cord. Two minutes with a hacksaw and I was in business charging at 240V/24A.

I've got more photos to upload and am working on compiling the dashcam video. I may end up waiting until I get home to finish the video on my proper Avid workstation because Windows Movie Maker on my laptop doesn't quite cut it.

I did make a little time lapse of the raw footage from the first leg (LA-Victorville) at 32x speed. Here that is for your viewing pleasure: http://youtu.be/kOajgztsjuk

DevinL said:

40 GOM miles to spare

Click to expand...

Congrats on arriving with little fanfare, however you wasted time by charging too much!!!

When all you need is an overnight charge in one of these "RV Parks" will they let you use a NEMA 14-50R (RV hookup) outlet without paying for an overnight stay in an actual "RV"? Sleeping in back of a RAV4 is not exactly spacious or comfortable, so a nearby motel or RV Park cabin rental within walking distance would be nice. Of course, if you are traveling on a tight budget, sleeping on air mattresses works too. :mrgreen:

There isn't a "one size fits all" RV park charging policy.

I've been turned away, paid $65, paid by the meter, paid $5 -$10, been parked in an RV spot, been put out behind "the shed", been near a restaurant / things to do, been nowhere close to anything, had 50 amp breaker trip repeatedly, had breakers trip after I was an hour away, had people seriously question why I was in "their" RV park, had people who loved the concept of EV's, etc.

Don't walk away from an RV park whilst pulling 40 amps until at least 10 minutes have passed.

Tony, thanks for the "education". I have never RV'd or been to one of those places, but now considering attempting a trip of several hundred miles in my RAV4 EV and want to be prepared. Also, while I'm thinking about something you said in my thread about generator for EVSE use on the road, please elaborate on what you meant by portable gas powered generators (not inverter type) needing 100k ohm bypass resistors from each side of the line to ground to function properly. How do you wire these into the circuit? And are they necessary to cut down on electrical noise in the AC output?

The 100k 1/2 watt resistor go from each "pole" to ground in any NEMA 5-15 plug that you can plug into a spare outlet on the generator.

This will show that your EV is grounded, and not get a fault. You won't have any electrical noise with an inverter generator.

Is this so the GFCI doesn't complain in the "Level 2" EVSE protection circuitry? I plan to use a 240Vac L14-30R outlet in a gas powered generator. The generator manufacturer recommends hooking up its frame ground terminal to a copper wire connected to an Earth grounding rod. Will that be enough or are the pair of grounding resistors still going to be necessary?

From what I've read most inverter style generators are generally too underpowered for a portable "Level 2" EVSE application. I'm not worried aobout finding a spare 120V outlet where ever I might be going, but rather "HOW LONG" it takes to recharge. A few more miles of range by the next day is not going to be nearly enough to prevent the onset of range anxiety.

Dsinned said:

Is this so the GFCI doesn't complain in the "Level 2" EVSE protection circuitry?

Click to expand...

EVSEs typically perform a ground check and refuse to work if no ground is detected. Since most people using a generator on the road don't carry a grounding rod to drive into the ground, you have to "trick" the EVSE into thinking there's a ground with the aforementioned method.

As far as your other ideas about charging from a generator, many people here have warned you that it might not work unless you get a fancy inverter-style generator. I have no idea whether that's the case or not, but I'd strongly advise you to find a way to try charging from the specific generator you're considering (unless someone here or at TMC can vouch for it) before you buy.

Anyway, can we move the generator talk out of this thread?