How Long Will it Take to Get to Family Cabin, 143 miles?

[brp]

So, I am actively looking for a Rav4 EV and one of my main challenges is about making it to my parents cabin. It is not essential that I take the Rav, but it would be fun, we have a Prius also.

Here is the breakdown

Home: 0 miles
1st Plugshare Level 2 (appears to be a GE): 50 miles
2nd Plugshare Level 2: 106 miles
Cabin: 143 miles.

Average speed is probably 60 mph, the terrain is essentially flat. I probably would not take-on this trip in the winter (I have been told the range is about 1/2 at 0F), but the summer it should go pretty well I hope.

I don't know the amp ratings of the chargers.

I am hoping you experienced Rav4 EV'ers can tell me which charger(s) I would need to stop at an for how long, best estimates.

I hope this is useful to others as well and thanks a lot or any input.

 

[ehelmholtz]

With those numbers and details, you ought to be able to drive 150 miles on a full charge in a non-degraded battery. This is at least according to Tony's range estimations: http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=67

 

[brp]

I had never seen that chart before, thanks a lot. Since that chart is a best case scenario, I would likely stop at one of the chargers to bank a little safety net.

How many miles of range could I expect to gain, per hour, on a Level 2 with fairly depleted battery, not trying to top off that last, slow 20% or so?

Thanks a lot.

 

[brp]

Nevermind, I found the information I needed about the charging further down in the link supplied. Here it is in case anybody was wondering and thanks to Tony.

Miles Gained per Hour Charging @ 87.5% charger efficiency
70F Ambient temperature - hotter or colder will decrease miles gained
Amps/Volts -- Where ---- City Drive ----- 65mph
--------------------- 2.7 miles/kWh - 3.4 miles/kWh

12 / 120 ------- Any ------ 2.8 miles ------ 3.5 miles (supplied cable with car)
16 / 120 ------- Any ------ 3.8 miles ------ 4.7 miles (JESLA with NEMA 5-20)
12 / 240 ------ Home ----- 6.8 miles ------ 8.6 miles (EVSEupgrade.com mod)
16 / 208 ------ Public ----- 7.5 miles ------ 9.5 miles (2013 LEAF EVSEupgrade)
16 / 240 ------ Home ----- 8.9 miles ----- 11.2 miles (2013 LEAF EVSEupgrade)
20 / 208 ------ Public ----- 9.4 miles ----- 11.9 miles (2013 LEAF EVSEupgrade)
20 / 240 ------ Home ---- 11.0 miles ----- 13.9 miles (Clipper Creek LCS-25)
24 / 240 ------ Home ---- 13.6 miles ----- 17.7 miles (JESLA w/NEMA 14-30 or 10-30)
30 / 208 ------ Public ---- 14.8 miles ----- 18.7 miles (typical public J1772)
30 / 240 ------ Home ---- 17.1 miles ----- 21.6 miles (rare public J1772)
40 / 208 ------ Public ---- 18.5 miles ----- 23.4 miles (Tesla Roadster/Clipper Creek)
40 / 240 ------ Home ---- 22.7 miles ----- 28.5 miles (JESLA w/NEMA 14-50 or 6-50)

 

[pchilds]

I do a 145 mile round trip at 60 mph about once a month, with no charging. Usually have 20+ miles left on the GOM. Once when it was cool, I had to drop my speed to 45 mph on the way home to make it without charging, hit turtle at 149 miles, the battery heater really eats your range. If the temperature is over 60 deg f you should have no problem.

 

[smkettner]

I would sooner drive 50 mph and go nonstop.
Otherwise add miles at the second stop until you have 10 more than needed assuming all is going normal.
Headwind hurts more than a tailwind helps.

 

[pchilds]

1325'

 

[cwerdna]

Nevermind, I found the information I needed about the charging further down in the link supplied. Here it is in case anybody was wondering and thanks to Tony.

Miles Gained per Hour Charging @ 87.5% charger efficiency
70F Ambient temperature - hotter or colder will decrease miles gained
Amps/Volts -- Where ---- City Drive ----- 65mph
--------------------- 2.7 miles/kWh - 3.4 miles/kWh
...
30 / 208 ------ Public ---- 14.8 miles ----- 18.7 miles (typical public J1772)
30 / 240 ------ Home ---- 17.1 miles ----- 21.6 miles (rare public J1772)

Yep.

Most public L2 EVSEs (at least ones that aren't Blink/Ecotality) are 30 amp @ 208 volts. If you need to charge, I would make sure you identify several backups/alternatives, esp. if there's only a single EVSE at the locations you identified. You never know if one's down, ICEd, unavailable or whatever.

If it's something on the Blink network, do NOT depend on it actually working. I wouldn't EVER make anything from Blink my 1st choice for charging, if I needed it.

Blink also turned down the output a bunch of their public and private EVSEs from 30 amps down to ~16 (IIRC) due to faulty Rema handles. Tony Williams had firsthand experience w/that on his Rav4 EV (http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=79). In some cases, the defective handles were replaced but I doubt that was done universally. They can't seem to keep their infrastructure running as it is.

 

[mikegerard]

We do a trip in the summer to take boys to and from camp. It's about 140 round trip with some rolling hills in between. With an extended charge you should be able to make it no problem.

Here's my advice. The first time stop at both chargers. Make sure you can connect and do so for 5-10 minutes. See what's there (bathrooms, food, fun stuff to do). If you get to the second one and you are worried about range then stay a little longer. Check your remaining range at the cabin and subtract off the miles you added at the chargers. Now you'll know you can make it and what your backup options are.

Much more important is to have L2 charging at the cabin. If you had to do L1 there it could be a long trip.

Mike

 

[fooljoe]

Much more important is to have L2 charging at the cabin. If you had to do L1 there it could be a long trip.

Excellent point. I'd worry more about this than the getting there part. If you're stuck with L1 at the cabin and you've got to recharge an almost fully-depleted battery that will take at least 2 full days of continuous charging (~50 hours!) If you're going to be staying there a while, and don't plan on driving anywhere, I guess that'd be fine, but it's certainly not ideal.

You could reduce the time spent charging at the cabin by charging longer en route - stop for a nice long leisurely lunch at one of those charging stops (hopefully there are restaurants and/or other things to do nearby.) But do scout out the cabin as well. I presume you've been there before - do you know if there are any 240v outlets like an electric dryer or range outlet, or perhaps a 50 amp RV hookup? If not, your best bet would be to buy/build a quick220-type device to get 240v from two out-of-phase non-GFI'd 120v outlets. And you'll also need an adjustable or low-power portable EVSE that can stay at or below 16 amps (12 amps if you can only find 15 amp circuits.) And bring lots of quality extension cords (at least 12 gauge.)

You might also find a public charging station somewhere within walking/biking distance to the cabin, but if it's really a "cabin" like a cabin in the woods that's highly unlikely. Since it is your parents' place and you'll probably go there fairly frequently you might just want to invest in getting a charging station or 240v outlet installed if there isn't one already.

 

[n3ckf]

so i have a similar situation. what i did was develop a list of places i could charge (there are 4 on my list: 1 fairly close to where i start (which i can use on the *return* trip if i think i'm not going to make it, 2 about in the middle (i use one or the other not both, but one is a "faster" charger than the other), and one fairly close to the "endpoint" of the trip.

Then what i did was actually drive it, stopping at all 3 and writing down the milage at each. I still keep a log of all charging etc. when its more than an "around town" trip. Its on paper and i keep the log in the center console with a pen and my fastrak.

Then you will develop an idea of "what you need to have to leave each charger". If you don't have that much when you pass it, you stop and get that much before proceeding. (I have these values for the middle and "end" chargers for each direction.) In your situation, i suspect you'll *always* make the 106 mile charger if youre at all careful and it'll just be "how many miles do i need to have at that charger to make it to the end point".

So i know for instance that when i leave my primary midpoint charger, i have to have 78 miles of range or 10 bars, in order to make it all the way to the destination. I *also* know i need to have 28 miles or 5 bars, to make it from the endpoint charger to my house. (I usually bypass the end charger with a couple of miles to spare). I've gotten it so that i'm consistently at 4-5 miles of range when i arrive and i only turtled once (but i still made it).

Once you've done the trip 3 times you'll be fine with it.

Once you have the milage/bars you need to "bypass" a charger and you've proved it to yourself a couple of times, you'll feel confident enough to actually bypass that charger.

It also gives you a pretty sensitive gauge of battery degredation too. (I'm seeing a little degredation at about 14K miles) but normally the difference in temperature is more than the amount of degredation you'll see for the first year or two.

And yes, i have a 40amp L2 charger at my house in the mountains. The car is completely recharged to a full standard charge in 4 hours and 6 to 12 minutes when i get there. with a 40amp charger the car is really useful for around town trips. i can drive down to down and back and have the car ready to do it again in 90 minutes. Thats awesome.