Utah to Vermont trip report - 2024 R1S Dual Motor Max over 2,835 miles

[Jabbahop]

We travelled 2835 Miles from St. george UT to the Champlain Islands in Vermont in 5 days of driving. Stopped in Denver (L2 Charge @ hotel), Independence MO (L2 Charge @ hotel), Columbus OH (L2 Charge @ hotel), Hedgesville WV (no charging @ son’s home).

We pretty much stayed around the speed limit - 75-80 UT and CO. 75 KS and MO, Mostly 70 the rest of the way though hit some significant traffic jams in Indy and South of Albany.

Weather was good overall - moderate temps and wind but did hit some torrential rains (scary) in Ohio.

Charging was great with one hiccup with the EVgo app/autocharge feature. Couldn’t get it to work so had to have phone agent start the charging after about 20 min of trying.

We used 6 Rivian network DC chargers - worked perfectly
We used 5 Tesla chargers (membership) with the A2Z adapter - worked perfectly
We used 5 EA charger (membership) worked with one strange 4 min slow down before recovering
We used the on EVgo (see above).

Very surprised and happy with charging options and speeds.

We did have one strange episode @ a Tesla charger where it charged quite fast high into the curve (70% or so). When we left the charger we saw the battery was very hot 131 degrees (just under the hot tick mark on the display) and we couldn’t hear much AC cooling fan noise like we usually do when charging. When we tried to accelerate in the parking lot the car would only go about 5 mph no matter how hard we pressed. We did a reset and the battery was a bit cooler (120’s) and accelerator worked normally - maybe some bug (reported it to service). It never happened again.

Another bug is we noticed the last two days, the preconditioning message would come on really far from the target charger (70-100 miles) even though the battery was pretty moderate temp (around 90 degrees) and outside temp was moderate - 70’s and 80’s. The temp of the battery really didn’t change more than a few degrees that entire 70-100 miles). Also reporting that though think it might be a a mapping bug.

We’ve driven this route with our tesla model S’s the past 6 years and it was as easy and stress free which was wonderful. I had heard so many bad experiences with EA charging and was happy to not have any issues nor waits for stops. I think one EA connector was broken - all the others were operational.

Here are our final stats. 2835 miles. 2.29 miles/kwh, 60mph. Our average speed was hurt a lot by close to 3 hours of 5mph stop and go traffic due to two accidents as well as local driving for charging, sleeping, and bio breaks.

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[jfoonly]

Thanks for the report, glad you had a good trip. What wheels and tires? OEM 20 AT (looks like it in the background of the picture)?

 

[Jabbahop]

Thanks for the report, glad you had a good trip. What wheels and tires? OEM 20 AT (looks like it in the background of the picture)?

no that was our truck which we traded for the R1S - now have the 21” AS

 

[Rivianready]

Did you use conserve mode? If so, any unusual wear on the tires?

 

[jplblue]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ikrcolt]

Curious what was the range on the max pack at highway speed?

 

[hunterj]

lol im from wv, weird to see hedgesville as a stop in btwn utah and Vermont

 

[Jabbahop]

Did you use conserve mode? If so, any unusual wear on the tires?

The dual has the automatic switch to front motor only which was used most of the time that I looked. We just rotated the tires @6K just before the trip but don’t notice anything that would indicate uneven wear so far.

 

[Yossarian]

Thanks for posting this. Hope you had a good time on Lake Champlain.

I'm actually debating about doing what is pretty much the reverse trip in our R1T (PDM/Large/20" wheels), Philadelphia to Salt Lake, with a substantial layover in Steamboat Springs, CO. The added twist for this potential trip is that it would be in February, and so we'd be unlikely to see similar efficiency numbers to those you achieved. With that in mind, I wonder if you would mind posting some more detail about your charging, particularly in the middle of the country.

Your precise route is not apparent, and your St George start point means you could either go a bit north through Nebraska or stay south and traverse Kansas. Since you mention stopping to charge in Independence, MO, I'm guessing you stayed south through KS. I'm a new EV owner, who has yet to take a long trip, but from my research, both NE of KS seem to present a bit of a challenge in terms of charging locations.

Of course, I could be completely wrong about the location of the greatest charging challenge - and my other assumptions about the potential trip. I'm sure that more detail of your experience would be very helpful, as would any suggestions or recommendations you care to make.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

Another bug is we noticed the last two days, the preconditioning message would come on really far from the target charger (70-100 miles) even though the battery was pretty moderate temp (around 90 degrees) and outside temp was moderate - 70’s and 80’s. The temp of the battery really didn’t change more than a few degrees that entire 70-100 miles). Also reporting that though think it might be a a mapping bug.

My understanding is that the target for preconditioning is a battery temp of 75F (this is the center, middle line in the battery temp gauge image). The outside air temp is irrelevant.

I've noticed that the vehicle may start preconditioning up to about an hour away from a charger, sometimes. This has been true for both my Rivian and Tesla.

Great report. Thanks!

 

[Jabbahop]

Thanks for posting this. Hope you had a good time on Lake Champlain.

I'm actually debating about doing what is pretty much the reverse trip in our R1T (PDM/Large/20" wheels), Philadelphia to Salt Lake, with a substantial layover in Steamboat Springs, CO. The added twist for this potential trip is that it would be in February, and so we'd be unlikely to see similar efficiency numbers to those you achieved. With that in mind, I wonder if you would mind posting some more detail about your charging, particularly in the middle of the country.

Your precise route is not apparent, and your St George start point means you could either go a bit north through Nebraska or stay south and traverse Kansas. Since you mention stopping to charge in Independence, MO, I'm guessing you stayed south through KS. I'm a new EV owner, who has yet to take a long trip, but from my research, both NE of KS seem to present a bit of a challenge in terms of charging locations.

Of course, I could be completely wrong about the location of the greatest charging challenge - and my other assumptions about the potential trip. I'm sure that more detail of your experience would be very helpful, as would any suggestions or recommendations you care to make.

Our route
- day 1 was i15 to i70 (charged @ EA in Salida UT then Rivian in Grand Junction, EA in Edwards CO, Hotel in Denver).
- day 2 was i70 with charges @ Colby Ks (EA), Abeline KS (Tesla) Hays KS Rivian) EV Go (I can’t remeber where) Columian MO (rivian) & hotel in Columbia MO
- day 3 was i70 charging @ Effingham (Tesla), Terra Haute IN (EA), Cambridge OH (EA), Hotel Columbus OH
- Day 4 was to WV so not your route but mix of tesla and EA chargers.

Overall we typically came in with 10-20% charge remaining and would leave when we were between 70 and 80% or when charging dipped below 100kw. charging below 15% seemed to be slower than coming in around 20%

We were driving mid week (monday - Friday) and rarely saw more than 1 other car charging at any of the chargers so lines were never an issue that they might be on weekends/holidays - especially closer to urban areas.

Hope that helps.

We were lucky with wind as that has a big impact on range in the plain states (Mo, KS, CO). Winter will be tougher with cold temps and potential for wind/snow though if you L2 charge @ night @ hotels, your battery/cabin could at least start warm which should help with efficiency.

 

[Yossarian]

Thanks very much @Jabbahop, very helpful.

I've done the winter PA to UT via CO (or WY, or MT) drive many times over the years. Some trips were relatively uneventful (there's always some drama in winter cross-country travel) but have battled vicious headwinds that reduced gas mileage considerably, and blizzards that resulted in interstate closures and unplanned hotel stays. I think it's obvious why that kind of trip in an EV, even one as capable as the Rivian, gives me pause.

Your helpful info will go into the planning and ultimately, the decision, about how best to get out west this coming ski season.

 

[Fencer]

I am planning the same route to Maine in November. Doing my homework the same daily driving mileage. Would you mid sharing the hotels enroute with chargers you used?

 

[Jabbahop]

we went a bit different route because we stopped @ my son‘s in West Virginia but we stopped @

1) Tru by Hilton Denver Airport (a more expensive but nicer hotelis The Golden Hotel in downtown Golden CO.

2) Candlewood suites in Independence MO

3) South wind motel - Columbus OH (Highly recommended) remodeled hotel in beautiful part of Columbus OH

On other trips we also liked the Element in West Des Moines IA and the Moonrise Motel in St. Louis MO.

It is a bit more work since we look for EV charging & dog friendly hotels. If you are just looking for EV friendly, you can use PlugShare and click on the Lodging button and it will show you chargers at hotels. You can also read people’s experience with the chargers which is REALLY helpful since some just don’t work well.

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