Gully
Active Member
- First Name
- Richard
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2022
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 44
- Reaction score
- 83
- Location
- Sacramento
- Vehicles
- 2015 GTI, 2022 R1T
- Thread starter
- #1
I just wanted to share some thoughts after my wife and I (and two dogs) made the 3,200 mile, 5 day trip from Sacramento CA to Warwick RI in our R1T.
We drove roughly 600 miles a day with the exception of 800 on the last day (we stopped for the night in Salt Lake, Denver, Kansas City, and Cincinnati (to visit relatives). We typically drove for 3 hours at a time and then recharged for 35-50 minutes ... repeating until we arrive at that days destination (which typically meant stopping twice a day). We didn't charge at hotels, but instead planned on using nearby fast chargers before ending the day or beginning the next ... typically charging to roughly 95% then. We drove between 65-80 miles per hour ... see second note below on how we chose our speed.
I used A Better Route Planner and Plug Share to plan the trip, and we stopped at about 15 fast chargers on the way with all but two being Electrify America. We had no problems with any chargers until the last day, when we had a problem starting a charging session and had to call EA at one stop. This was also the only day we ran into lines at chargers (twice, 5 min and 35 min waits) and it seems like eastern PA and NJ have this problem.
Things I discovered that I found helpful ...
– I always just plugged the charger into the truck and went to the phone App for the charging company and initiated the charge there. I avoided interacting with any of the screens on the charger's themselves ... when I deviated from this I always ran into glitches.
– The best way IMO to avoid range anxiety is to put the next charger into the Rivian system (in order to get the pre-charge prep on arrival) and then note how many miles you will have when you get there. Watch this number! If its goes down you need to slow down (this happened for us in Kansas with some strong headwinds) and if the number goes up then you can add speed or not need to charge as long at your next stop. This prevents any surprises along the way. BTW, you can't just rely on the efficiency graphic in the truck because you don't know what assumption the software is making for going up and down hill and its effect on your energy without looking at the mileage on arrival.
– The Rivian mapping system does not like you to arrive with less than 50 miles charge, if you want to arrive at a station with less than ~15% charge then you will need to be prepared to tell the truck to proceed without having enough energy ... in our case we always gained mileage as we went, so eventually the truck changed from the warning graphic to a mileage upon arrival. As noted in the previous entry, not having the mileage upon arrival to start with can make determine how efficient you are being difficult to determine, so we always started conservatively on speed until the mileage measurement kicked in.
Thats it, let me know if you any questions.
PS - We had the aero covers on, and also had a camping fridge plugged into the bed's 120V outlet the whole time. R1T, 21" , cover deployed.
edit: Conserve and High Regen
We drove roughly 600 miles a day with the exception of 800 on the last day (we stopped for the night in Salt Lake, Denver, Kansas City, and Cincinnati (to visit relatives). We typically drove for 3 hours at a time and then recharged for 35-50 minutes ... repeating until we arrive at that days destination (which typically meant stopping twice a day). We didn't charge at hotels, but instead planned on using nearby fast chargers before ending the day or beginning the next ... typically charging to roughly 95% then. We drove between 65-80 miles per hour ... see second note below on how we chose our speed.
I used A Better Route Planner and Plug Share to plan the trip, and we stopped at about 15 fast chargers on the way with all but two being Electrify America. We had no problems with any chargers until the last day, when we had a problem starting a charging session and had to call EA at one stop. This was also the only day we ran into lines at chargers (twice, 5 min and 35 min waits) and it seems like eastern PA and NJ have this problem.
Things I discovered that I found helpful ...
– I always just plugged the charger into the truck and went to the phone App for the charging company and initiated the charge there. I avoided interacting with any of the screens on the charger's themselves ... when I deviated from this I always ran into glitches.
– The best way IMO to avoid range anxiety is to put the next charger into the Rivian system (in order to get the pre-charge prep on arrival) and then note how many miles you will have when you get there. Watch this number! If its goes down you need to slow down (this happened for us in Kansas with some strong headwinds) and if the number goes up then you can add speed or not need to charge as long at your next stop. This prevents any surprises along the way. BTW, you can't just rely on the efficiency graphic in the truck because you don't know what assumption the software is making for going up and down hill and its effect on your energy without looking at the mileage on arrival.
– The Rivian mapping system does not like you to arrive with less than 50 miles charge, if you want to arrive at a station with less than ~15% charge then you will need to be prepared to tell the truck to proceed without having enough energy ... in our case we always gained mileage as we went, so eventually the truck changed from the warning graphic to a mileage upon arrival. As noted in the previous entry, not having the mileage upon arrival to start with can make determine how efficient you are being difficult to determine, so we always started conservatively on speed until the mileage measurement kicked in.
Thats it, let me know if you any questions.
PS - We had the aero covers on, and also had a camping fridge plugged into the bed's 120V outlet the whole time. R1T, 21" , cover deployed.
edit: Conserve and High Regen
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