90 mile round trip commute

[JSK]

First day owning the car and just did 110 miles on standard charge. Wasn't intending to, but chargers at work were offline. When i got to work I had 64 miles left on the GOM and 55 miles to get home. I decided I could drive carefully and probably make it. Got home with 1 bar left and 8 miles on the GOM. The "charge immediately" warning was freaking me out though. I drove with a light foot those last 5 miles!

In any case, 90 miles would seem pretty comfortable to me. 110 miles on standard charge may be pushing it, but seems doable on occasion.

 

[madcow]

WOW. It takes a lot of discipline during the first few weeks, not to mention the first day, not to drive the car like a crazy person. I didn't have my car for the last week and had to fight the urge to put it in sport mode and accelerate like a madman.

 

[mhkp]

I had a similar experience a week ago. I unintentionally got my GOM to LO (less than 5 miles) just as I got home.

I had an extended charge in the morning because I was planning on driving 65 miles one way to a birthday party in Buena Park(BP) (from Simi Valley). But I had to go pick up some folks 15 miles away (30 miles round trip) before I drove to BP. I plugged in after i got home for about 45 minutes before heading out to BP and got some juice but not much because i was loading to 'extended range' which as we know goes much slower. My GOM was showing 108 when I left home for BP. Car was loaded with 4 people and AC on the whole time (95 degrees external temp). Got to BP with 55 on GOM and went to the Walgreen's charger I had hoped to use while the party was going on. It was a ChargePoint, and showed "Fault' - not working! Oh oh. Called Chargepoint and let them know it was malfunctioning. Then went back to party.

After party was over we drove 44 miles (65mph/AC on/4 people) until Grenada Hills(my planned charger location), and the GOM showed 12 miles (with 16 miles to my house left). However I had two major increases in elevation ahead of me and knew i had to get at least an hour of charge in to make it home. After 1 hour, and some shopping done, we showed 24 miles on GOM. The first elevation climb sucked up 1.75 GOM miles for every mile traveled and with 10 miles remaining to get home my GOM was showing 12! The second elevation change also sucked up valuable GOM miles, but with 2 miles to my home I was showing 5 on GOM. The last mile traveled showed LO and as I pulled into my garage I thought to myself that was pretty close. My wife placed her faith in my calculations the whole day but at the end gave me a look like, 'you would have been in major trouble if I had to walk home!'

Bottom line: Miles traveled that day 30 + 65 + 65 = 160 on an extended charge, 45 minute top off at home, and 1 hour charge in the wild. I think that's great for a BEV SUV!

 

[Sun2Drive]

I do my 103 mile commute on normal charges though Bay Area traffic, with 5-20 miles to spare (depending on how heavy my foot is). I have three moderate hills and use almost no climate control.

 

[rav4buyer]

I do my 103 mile commute on normal charges though Bay Area traffic, with 5-20 miles to spare (depending on how heavy my foot is). I have three moderate hills and use almost no climate control.

That's good to know. What is your commute if I may ask?

 

[n3ckf]

Last week i did 137 miles on the clock and arrived in Palo Alto with 8 left on the GOM. The drive was from my house in the Sierra's through the Central Valley, over the Altamont, via Fremont, across the Dumbarton Bridge (had 22 when getting on the Dumbo) and to the Bryant Street garage in downtown Palo Alto. I was never worried (i'd done pieces of this drive before in the EV but never the whole thing at once). I expected to arrive with 6-7 miles.

I was running climate on Eco Hi for about 75% of the trip (it got cool enough in the bay area to turn it off).

The important thing to doing a drive like this is to know your abort points. I could've stopped in Stockton, in Livermore, in Fremont (at my house), at the Hotel next to the Dumbarton Bridge entrance, or at Facebook and been able to charge if i needed to. (I've charged in all those locations except Facebook and i know an employee there). I'm not *positive* but Facebook's chargers show up as "public" on my display.

 

[miimura]

@n3ckf,

Your trip is not representative because you had a net loss of at least 2,000 feet elevation from start to finish. I thought it was more until I looked it up. If you had started and ended at the same elevation you probably would not have made it all 137 miles, all else being equal.

 

[n3ckf]

Yes that's right.

I often drive between Fremont and the house up there and going "up" i have to charge for about 60 minutes to make it. Coming down, i make it 25 miles or so left on the GOM. Specifically i have to add about 6KW (18-20 miles on the GOM) of charge when goign "uphill", whereas i have about the same left over when i go "downhill".

The 137 mile trip is the longest i've gone on any single charge though.

 

[Sun2Drive]

I do my 103 mile commute on normal charges though Bay Area traffic, with 5-20 miles to spare (depending on how heavy my foot is). I have three moderate hills and use almost no climate control.

That's good to know. What is your commute if I may ask?

El Sobrante to Milpitas via the Caldecot tunnel and highway 13.

 

[cossie1600]

I drive like a total a-hole. In sport mode, 75mph cruising speed, hard on gas and brake, somehow car manages to do 90-95 miles on a tank consistently. or charge

 

[evbuddy]

I average 120 miles on standard charge in bay area commute. I do not use AC. No hills.

 

[TonyWilliams]

When you guys get serious, you can join the 200 mile and 300km Club.

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1335#p1335

 

[rav4buyer]

So I did the 90 mile round trip commute on 280 between Cupertino to SF twice this week, once on an extended charge, and the other on a standard charge. I was going approximately 70 mph each trip with no AC. Had the bluetooth to use Spotify and Waze on the phone the entire time but that's it.
Extended charge I had 40 miles leftover. Standard charge I had 15 miles. I am pretty sure during the winter I will have to do extended charge full time which is fine since I am leasing. At 15 miles there is a little bit of range anxiety, particularly if there is a lot of traffic. I should log my trips to check for battery degradation over time.

 

[miimura]

So I did the 90 mile round trip commute on 280 between Cupertino to SF twice this week, once on an extended charge, and the other on a standard charge. I was going approximately 70 mph each trip with no AC. Had the bluetooth to use Spotify and Waze on the phone the entire time but that's it.
Extended charge I had 40 miles leftover. Standard charge I had 15 miles. I am pretty sure during the winter I will have to do extended charge full time which is fine since I am leasing. At 15 miles there is a little bit of range anxiety, particularly if there is a lot of traffic. I should log my trips to check for battery degradation over time.

How much heat do you really need driving on 280? If there is traffic I would expect the additional time using heat would be more than offset by the greater range at reduced speed. Just make sure the ventilation is set to ECO HIGH with recirc on. If you turn OFF the ventilation system it lets in lots of cold air and there is no way to completely stop it.

 

[n3ckf]

SO i did an interesting test today.

Overnight extended charge, then drove from Fremont to the Renfaire (at Casa de Fruita on CA-152) which is 62 miles one way. And back, no charging. Had 4 miles left. (as in the display when to "LO" from 5 miles when i was 1.1 miles from home)

For those of you using CA-152, you can actually *charge* at the restaurant at Casa De Fruita by the way. They have a number of 50A/230V RV plugs plus some 110V 30 amp ones. (which your 110v charger will only draw 12 amps from). I didnt do that, but i'd looked it up in case when i go tthere i had way less range than i thought. I had 8 bars left on my display when i go there and 69 miles of range. So coming back was *slightly* worse than going (by 3-4 miles of range).

I did use the climate for part of the trip both ways but not the A/C (it was about 75 degrees out, a little cooler in the morning).

This is the longest trip i've made and then returned to the starting point in the car since i've owned it (and just about the longest trip i ever take from the Bay Area that isn't to someplace *very* far away.

I was wondering if that round trip was possible with the car (If i messed up, i knew of a charger about 10 miles from my house i could use). However it wsa no problem. the only "hypermiliing" thing i did was i limited my top speed to about 66 mph on 101. Used "B" mode when driving on 152 in the hills there for a little extra battery boost on the downslopes. (this wasnt a problem, there was some traffic goign faster but it wasnt unreasonably slow for traffic at any point).

I have about 5800 miles on my Rav4EV so its still fairly new.

 

[4EVEREV]

So I did the 90 mile round trip commute on 280 between Cupertino to SF twice this week, once on an extended charge, and the other on a standard charge. I was going approximately 70 mph each trip with no AC. Had the bluetooth to use Spotify and Waze on the phone the entire time but that's it.
Extended charge I had 40 miles leftover. Standard charge I had 15 miles. I am pretty sure during the winter I will have to do extended charge full time which is fine since I am leasing. At 15 miles there is a little bit of range anxiety, particularly if there is a lot of traffic. I should log my trips to check for battery degradation over time.

If you turned off the bluetooth and did not use the phone you would have gained about one extra inch in range, at best. Something to consider.

 

[TonyWilliams]

If you turned off the bluetooth and did not use the phone you would have gained about one extra inch in range, at best. Something to consider.

The Chevy Spark EV pops up with a screen a Low a Battery Warning that asks if you would like the radio off to save power.

I almost busted a gut when I saw that.

 

[BSki]

So I did the 90 mile round trip commute on 280 between Cupertino to SF twice this week, once on an extended charge, and the other on a standard charge. I was going approximately 70 mph each trip with no AC. Had the bluetooth to use Spotify and Waze on the phone the entire time but that's it.
Extended charge I had 40 miles leftover. Standard charge I had 15 miles. I am pretty sure during the winter I will have to do extended charge full time which is fine since I am leasing. At 15 miles there is a little bit of range anxiety, particularly if there is a lot of traffic. I should log my trips to check for battery degradation over time.

If you have a lot of traffic you will have great range.

I was in stop and go traffic for about 30 miles on the 5 and I got about 9 miles per kwh.