[Nai3t]

With a small amount of trepidation after reading some reports here of out-of-service EA stops detouring road trips, and experiencing an EA station completely inoperative near my home, I set off this past week on a 1,700 mile trek from San Antonio to Oakland in a 150 mile range i3.

I'm pleased to report that with the help of the EA app, ABRP, and PlugShare, the trip went smoothly and -- critically -- all stations were in service along the I-10 corridor, where the only other option was a tow truck.

The one asterisks goes to the Harris Ranch EA stop in central California, a stop ABRP desperately wanted me to take, but which it showed "gray" i.e. "status unavailable." Bullcrap, says the EA app, "This station IS unavailable." Thankfully, unlike the I-10 corridor, I had other in-range options so this wasn't a factor.

On interesting data point to come from my trip, but something that is vehicle dependent: I was driving a BMW i3, a car that maxes out at 50 kW on a DC fast charger. Texas and New Mexico are on per-minute plans, and at 12¢ per minute I paid an average of 26¢ per kWh. Arizona and California EAs are unit based, 31¢ per kWh (AZ charges sales tax on electricity, so actually 32¢). In total, I paid $135 for 470 kWh of electricity, with a trip average of 29¢ per kWh. The ID.4 charges at a faster rate than the i3, pushing it into the 24¢ per minute tier, so the calculation would work out differently (possibly for the better).

If you're interested in my full write-up and a few photos, the link is here: 1700 miles in 48 hours -- 120 Ah BEV... - BMW i3 Forum

I'll leave you with this graphic trip log:

 

[Nai3t]

I think so!

This trip would have been much more enjoyable in an ID.4. It has much better road manners than an i3, superior cruise, more comfortable seats, and of course longer legs.

I thought about it though, even with 250 miles of range, along I-10 in an ID.4, would I have been ok skipping to every other charge stop, or would I have played it safe with the expectation that along my route, I might arrive at one out-of-service location and need enough charge to make it to an alternate 100 miles further down the highway.

In the i3 I didn't have that as an option - I had to stop at every single location.

I didn't see that in the configuration of ABRP for distance-based alternate planning, but especially if I had the family in the car with me, this would be an important trip-planning consideration.

I'm glad you enjoyed my write-up on the i3 forum!

 

[Nai3t]

Specifically with the two i3s, I'm going to swap the old car's 19" wheels, interior wood trim, Wokeby trunk bin, and maybe leather seats onto the new car, then sell the old i3 to Vroom.

My wife will continue to primarily drive the ID.4 and will continue to dismiss the i3 as a go-cart.

 

[Nai3t]

The only 350 kW unit I connected to was at the last stop, after the first 150 kW stand wouldn't initiate. Happily, no such problem on the i3, even though I probably used only 10% of its capacity.

 

[Nai3t]

Oh, I forgot to mention...

I've made comments previously that I don't think these charging companies are making enough money to self-sustain, that this is all just a huge money pit at the moment with the realization that the network needs to be in place before people are willing to buy into the notion of an EV as a road-trip worthy vehicle.

Well, I didn't have any data to support that position (the money losing part) previously, and I still don't, but of these 17 charging stops, only at the first in Junction, Texas did I have a charging companion. At the other sixteen? Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. And I noticed only one other EV on the road at some point on Highway 5, not counting a Prius changing a flat tire in... Tucson, maybe?

So thought that was worth mentioning, particularly in light of the complaints of broken equipment. It's one thing to build them. It's another to employ the nationwide army of technicians who have to cover hundreds of miles of territory to keep them in service.

I'll betcha none of them drive EVs.

 

[Nai3t]

Yeah but if the charger is down and they can't fix it... Whoo... And like I was saying, there's a hundred miles between the EA stops along I-10. That could be a trek, depending on how wide their regional coverage area encompasses.

 

[Nai3t]

It looks like a reasonable assumption for an ID.4 to go from NYC to Miami Beach is 26.5 hours with no additional stops aside from charging the vehicle.

Wow, what a difference 40 kWh and 3x faster charging rates makes!

For that same drive to Florida in my i3, total time gets upped to 30 hours due to nearly 8 hours of charging (17 stops).

Likewise, for my San Antonio jaunt, had I been driving the ID.4, I'd have decreased my total trip time by 6 hours, 4 fewer charging stops (7 hours instead of 11), and even a potential shortcut bypassing Tucson. Also missing are the speed-restricted legs.