1,250 mile family trip from South Florida to NYC in R1T. Would absolutely do it again!

[ccmun]

I just drove from South Florida on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) with my wife and 3 daughters, arriving in NYC late Tuesday afternoon. I spent hours anguishing about whether to take the Tesla or the R1T, and checked PlugShare to make sure none, of the CCS stations I need were totally out of service. The R1T‘s superior suspension and tires, less wind noise and overall comfort level won out over charging anxiety. Plus the kids voted for the R1T Over the Model Y.

I also crafted a strategy with a plan B for each non-functional charging station, and average hops between chargers of 150 miles with at least 80 miles range to find Plan B.

I charged 9 times, using 7 EA chargers and two EVgo chargers. After my prior horrible experience with EA, I have to admit, I was quite surprised at the lack of drama using EA chargers on this trip. @jjswan33 would be pleased. ‘

The Good: All of EA chargers were relatively easy to connect with the R1T. I had a few instances where I had to try a couple of times to connect, but no major drama. I think most of them were the new, recently updated ABB vintage. I did not have to wait for space, as most of the stations had at least one stall open. At two stations, I was the only user. I also got at peak 200+Kw from two 350 KW EA chargers and a peak 168KW from a 150KW charger, which was nice.

The Bad: 6 of the 9 chargers delivered sub optimal capacity. Maybe it was the record breaking low temps from the storm ? The 6 chargers including both EVgo chargers delivered 30-40% of advertised capacity. I got 65 KW from 150 and 350 kw stations routinely. While I expected low capacity charging, I was still annoyed, What should have been 15 or 30 min charges turned into 45 -70 min charging episodes. I even decided to book a hotel room to break up the trip but was so delayed, by the the slow charging, I just decided to press on. To sum up, a trip that should have taken 24-26 hours turned into a 30 hour trip due to the trickle charging. The RIT routinely blamed the chargers with a message that read” Charging limited by the station,” or something to that effect.

Would i do it again? Absolutely yes! I did not spend $80+K on the RIT to just run around my hometown. Obviously, I waited until after the storm had passed, and would not have taken the trip if it was still snowing. I even met another RIT owner in GA was was going camping in 20F weather, so a long distance trip to see family and ski in the Catskills is not so crazy for me. Hopefully, the charging infrastructure will improve, and RANs will proliferate.

Happy New year you‘all.

The chargers I used were the following:

Sams Club Cocoa Beach FL: Low
Volusia Mall Daytona Beach EVgo FL: Low
Walmart Brunswick GA: Low
Walmart Walterboro, SC: Low
Walmart Florence SC: Good
Carolina Premium outlets NC: Low
Walmart Rosedale, MD: Low
Festival at Manchester Lakes, VA EVgo: Low
Walmart Somerdale, NJ: Excellent

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[jjswan33]

Glad you had a good trip, this accurately represents what my trips have gone like. Some minor issues on a long trip are inevitable, cold temps seems to have hurt you too. Certainly don’t need a Tesla or a ICE to travel in the US, at least to most places.

 

[ccmun]

Agreed. It just takes a bit more prep. But it’s fun, and my girls are having a blast, even the extra hours did not affect them. Hopefully the trip back home will be smooth as well.

 

[RivianR1TinSFL]

Agreed. It just takes a bit more prep. But it’s fun, and my girls are having a blast, even the extra hours did not affect them. Hopefully the trip back home will be smooth as well.

Sounds like a fun trip with the family. Thanks for posting.

 

[skigramps]

I just drove from South Florida on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) with my wife and 3 daughters, arriving in NYC late Tuesday afternoon. I spent hours anguishing about whether to take the Tesla or the R1T, and checked PlugShare to make sure none, of the CCS stations I need were totally out of service. The R1T‘s superior suspension and tires, less wind noise and overall comfort level won out over charging anxiety. Plus the kids voted for the R1T Over the Model Y.

I also crafted a strategy with a plan B for each non-functional charging station, and average hops between chargers of 150 miles with at least 80 miles range to find Plan B.

I charged 9 times, using 7 EA chargers and two EVgo chargers. After my prior horrible experience with EA, I have to admit, I was quite surprised at the lack of drama using EA chargers on this trip. @jjswan33 would be pleased. ‘

The Good: All of EA chargers were relatively easy to connect with the R1T. I had a few instances where I had to try a couple of times to connect, but no major drama. I think most of them were the new, recently updated ABB vintage. I did not have to wait for space, as most of the stations had at least one stall open. At two stations, I was the only user. I also got at peak 200+Kw from two 350 KW EA chargers and a peak 168KW from a 150KW charger, which was nice.

The Bad: 6 of the 9 chargers delivered sub optimal capacity. Maybe it was the record breaking low temps from the storm ? The 6 chargers including both EVgo chargers delivered 30-40% of advertised capacity. I got 65 KW from 150 and 350 kw stations routinely. While I expected low capacity charging, I was still annoyed, What should have been 15 or 30 min charges turned into 45 -70 min charging episodes. I even decided to book a hotel room to break up the trip but was so delayed, by the the slow charging, I just decided to press on. To sum up, a trip that should have taken 24-26 hours turned into a 30 hour trip due to the trickle charging. The RIT routinely blamed the chargers with a message that read” Charging limited by the station,” or something to that effect.

Would i do it again? Absolutely yes! I did not spend $80+K on the RIT to just run around my hometown. Obviously, I waited until after the storm had passed, and would not have taken the trip if it was still snowing. I even met another RIT owner in GA was was going camping in 20F weather, so a long distance trip to see family and ski in the Catskills is not so crazy for me. Hopefully, the charging infrastructure will improve, and RANs will proliferate.

Happy New year you‘all.

The chargers I used were the following:

Sams Club Cocoa Beach FL: Low
Volusia Mall Daytona Beach EVgo FL: Low
Walmart Brunswick GA: Low
Walmart Walterboro, SC: Low
Walmart Florence SC: Good
Carolina Premium outlets NC: Low
Walmart Rosedale, MD: Low
Festival at Manchester Lakes, VA EVgo: Low
Walmart Somerdale, NJ: Excellent

Hope the skiing is great! Was the T the transportation to the hill and if so what about changing infrastructure there and back to New Jersey?

 

[ccmun]

Hope the skiing is great! Was the T the transportation to the hill and if so what about changing infrastructure there and back to New Jersey?

Base camp is in Brooklyn NY. Taking the kids to Hunter Mountain which should be a 3 hour drive from the city with one charging stop in Newburgh.

 

[brancky3]

I assume you have the EA pass, right? We have plug and charge on our Ford Mach E (as in, just plug and it charges without extra steps) but I was wondering if this same functionality exists on Rivians? I haven't needed to fast charge mine yet.

 

[ccmun]

I assume you have the EA pass, right? We have plug and charge on our Ford Mach E (as in, just plug and it charges without extra steps) but I was wondering if this same functionality exists on Rivians? I haven't needed to fast charge mine yet.

Yes. I have the EA pass. Took me a while to figure out how to use EA. But its easy.
1) Open the App. Pull up the station where you are charging
2) Plug in the charger to car.
3) Select and swipe the charger number to connect. Sometimes it connects and begins charging without step number 3.

It connect and charge automatically With these steps. You dont need to futz around with the tap to connect or credit card. Sometimes it takes two or 3 tries, but will eventually work.

 

[JACE]

The Bad: 6 of the 9 chargers delivered sub optimal capacity. Maybe it was the record breaking low temps from the storm ? The 6 chargers including both EVgo chargers delivered 30-40% of advertised capacity. I got 65 KW from 150 and 350 kw stations routinely. While I expected low capacity charging, I was still annoyed, What should have been 15 or 30 min charges turned into 45 -70 min charging episodes. I even decided to book a hotel room to break up the trip but was so delayed, by the the slow charging, I just decided to press on. To sum up, a trip that should have taken 24-26 hours turned into a 30 hour trip due to the trickle charging. The RIT routinely blamed the chargers with a message that read” Charging limited by the station,” or something to that effect.

Excellent summary!

For the chargers delivering suboptimal speeds, what troubleshooting did you do? Did you try different available chargers with same result? I wish EA gave an easy way to report these issues. I do my best to call them but the hold times are sometimes are just too long. I've been working hard to log all of my results in plug share.

I've been following Out of Spec Kyle and Branden Flasch this week , and clearly this is a widespread EA issue impacted by poor equipment maint and not properly tested in sub zero temps.

What was your overall trip efficiency?

 

[DrMario]

Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for charging for your trip?

 

[ccmun]

Excellent summary!

For the chargers delivering suboptimal speeds, what troubleshooting did you do? Did you try different available chargers with same result? I wish EA gave an easy way to report these issues. I do my best to call them but the hold times are sometimes are just too long. I've been working hard to log all of my results in plug share.

I've been following Out of Spec Kyle and Branden Flasch this week , and clearly this is a widespread EA issue impacted by poor equipment maint and not properly tested in sub zero temps.

What was your overall trip efficiency?

I changed chargers twice, to see if I would get better speeds. It worked once when I got a much better speed. I am planning a call to EA before I head back home to ask them about the slow charging. I am sure they will blame it on cold temps.

I averaged 1.95 m/kWh.

 

[ccmun]

Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for charging for your trip?

I got two free charging sessions and paid a total $150 for the other 7 stops. So averaged $21 per charge. I typically charged from 30 to 80% each time.

 

[TxBeachRivian]

Yes. I have the EA pass. Took me a while to figure out how to use EA. But its easy.
1) Open the App. Pull up the station where you are charging
2) Plug in the charger to car.
3) Select and swipe the charger number to connect. Sometimes it connects and begins charging without step number 3.

It connect and charge automatically With these steps. You dont need to futz around with the tap to connect or credit card. Sometimes it takes two or 3 tries, but will eventually work.

Did you get consistently billed by EA. I had a charger I used on a road trip that started charging prior to the swipe and I never was billed for the charge. This happened on the way out and on the return.

 

[Biturbowned]

Great perspective from a fellow Y owner who is also a little nervous about venturing out on the public charging infrastructure. Happy New Year!

 

[ccmun]

Did you get consistently billed by EA. I had a charger I used on a road trip that started charging prior to the swipe and I never was billed for the charge. This happened on the way out and on the return.

Actually EA billing sucks. There is no record of any of my transactions in the App. I have to check my credit card to see the bills.

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