Fellow members:
I took my first road trip with my RAV4 EV this past weekend from my home in Menlo Park, CA down to the Monterey/Carmel area. The trip was about 98 miles, so I knew I would have to charge down there to get back home. My wife was game, so there was no reason not to go electric.
After completing an extended charge at home (40A/240V Leviton), my range showed 110 miles. My presumption was at reasonable speeds (70mph or less), I should be able to make it down there with no problem (I used Tony's range chart to confirm this). That was the case, as I had about 18 miles left of charge upon my arrival.
In advance, I scoped out a few different charging options. My first choice was a Blink charger, installed by the the city of Carmel in 2011 (http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm/residents/city-services/environmental-information/), and two blocks from my hotel. It was supposed to be free charging, and the photos I had showed a swipe card on a chain hanging from the charger. In preparation, I also downloaded the Blink app to my iPhone, just in case. As a backup, I found multiple Chargepoint chargers in Monterey, just a few miles away, but I hoped they wouldn't be needed.
As it turned out, the BLINK charger worked perfectly. The pay lot where the charger was located was free after 6pm, so I figured the charging might not cost a thing. Upon arrival, I noticed that the provided swipe card was actually cracked/broken and didn't work. I reverted to the BLINK app on my smartphone, entered my CC info to request a guest charging code, received the code a few seconds later, entered it into the charging station, then started charging. Nice! (No, my CC wasn't charged.)
From the hotel, I monitored the charging with the Entune app. At about 11pm, the charging was done, so I went over to the charger, unplugged, and parked on the street. The next night, I did an extended charge to get enough juice to get back home... again, no issues.
Here are a few photos:
Got back home today with about 14 miles to spare. I'm not sure why I was so pleased with the experience, but I was. I saved a whopping $40 in gas and didn't pollute the environment, but there was more to my enjoyment than just that. I don't think I can put my finger on WHY this was so satisfying, though. Sure, my wife thinks I'm a bit loopy, but she appreciates being green.
I took my first road trip with my RAV4 EV this past weekend from my home in Menlo Park, CA down to the Monterey/Carmel area. The trip was about 98 miles, so I knew I would have to charge down there to get back home. My wife was game, so there was no reason not to go electric.
After completing an extended charge at home (40A/240V Leviton), my range showed 110 miles. My presumption was at reasonable speeds (70mph or less), I should be able to make it down there with no problem (I used Tony's range chart to confirm this). That was the case, as I had about 18 miles left of charge upon my arrival.
In advance, I scoped out a few different charging options. My first choice was a Blink charger, installed by the the city of Carmel in 2011 (http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm/residents/city-services/environmental-information/), and two blocks from my hotel. It was supposed to be free charging, and the photos I had showed a swipe card on a chain hanging from the charger. In preparation, I also downloaded the Blink app to my iPhone, just in case. As a backup, I found multiple Chargepoint chargers in Monterey, just a few miles away, but I hoped they wouldn't be needed.
As it turned out, the BLINK charger worked perfectly. The pay lot where the charger was located was free after 6pm, so I figured the charging might not cost a thing. Upon arrival, I noticed that the provided swipe card was actually cracked/broken and didn't work. I reverted to the BLINK app on my smartphone, entered my CC info to request a guest charging code, received the code a few seconds later, entered it into the charging station, then started charging. Nice! (No, my CC wasn't charged.)
From the hotel, I monitored the charging with the Entune app. At about 11pm, the charging was done, so I went over to the charger, unplugged, and parked on the street. The next night, I did an extended charge to get enough juice to get back home... again, no issues.
Here are a few photos:
Got back home today with about 14 miles to spare. I'm not sure why I was so pleased with the experience, but I was. I saved a whopping $40 in gas and didn't pollute the environment, but there was more to my enjoyment than just that. I don't think I can put my finger on WHY this was so satisfying, though. Sure, my wife thinks I'm a bit loopy, but she appreciates being green.
