Boston to N.Conway w fam-bam (ABRP)

[31ectr0nicB0b]

Thinking about driving (Feb school break 2/18-25) from Boston area to N. Conway NH for some skiing w the family. I have the 135kWh battery.

Has anyone done this trip in colder weather? I think the closest ElectrifyAmerica charging station is in Portsmouth. I will also bring my portable charger with me so I can plug it in at the airbnb I reserve (no reservations yet) But being winter, efficiency will suffer.

Am I being too anxious or the charging stations I see on plugshare app be enough? Those are all mostly Level2 6-10kw chargers, I'll have to maybe spend 1-2 hours per day just trickle charging at those locations.

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[roberttatefan]

You should map this out on A Better Route Planner. When doing so, I would suggest modifying the default settings to a more realistic efficiency (I think it defaults to like 2.3 mi/kWH, which is too aggressive for my risk tolerance). For example, on a recent trip, I estimated at 1.6 mi/kWh given the frigid temps here in Wisconsin (and I was hauling a lot of gear/people and planned on average speeds of ~80MPH). I arrived home with greater than expected SoC, but had no real range anxiety on my trip.

In looking at it, it seems doable, albeit I'm not familiar with the charging infrastructure in that area to think through backup options/contingency plans if a charger is down/full etc.

As for mobile charging on 110V, I'd expect at most 10% charge over a full 24 hour period. Factor in any errands you might be running into your calculations.

Personally, I'd take an ICE vehicle unless you have some extra time to kill/are in it for the adventure.

As an edit, I'm pretty jaded on the charging infrastructure in the US for non-Tesla DCFC. This trip looks easily doable. I'm just not sure it's worth the hassle (to me, I have an ICE car that's great on roadtrips. The Rivian is awesome, but the charging risk/hassle isn't worth the tradeoff). I'm more jaded after some recent personal experiences as well as the Christmas charging debacle that Out Of Spec covered (reference)

 

[WSea]

You should map this out on A Better Route Planner. When doing so, I would suggest modifying the default settings to a more realistic efficiency (I think it defaults to like 2.3 mi/kWH, which is too aggressive for my risk tolerance). For example, on a recent trip, I estimated at 1.6 mi/kWh given the frigid temps here in Wisconsin (and I was hauling a lot of gear/people and planned on average speeds of ~80MPH). I arrived home with greater than expected SoC, but had no real range anxiety on my trip.

In looking at it, it seems doable, albeit I'm not familiar with the charging infrastructure in that area to think through backup options/contingency plans if a charger is down/full etc.

As for mobile charging on 110V, I'd expect at most 10% charge over a full 24 hour period. Factor in any errands you might be running into your calculations.

Personally, I'd take an ICE vehicle unless you have some extra time to kill/are in it for the adventure.

This reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask.
ABRP defaults to 245 Wh/mi.
Anyone use a more realistic Wh/mi on 22s?

 

[roberttatefan]

If you click on the blue portion where it says Wh/mi it will flip to kWh/mi

 

[31ectr0nicB0b]

I've been playing with ABPR all morning. The ref consumption is so subjective, but mid-Feb it should probably be close to 1.5 conservatively speaking.


Thanks for hijacking the thread.

 

[MAR1T]

I did the drive from central mass (just west of 495, south of 2) to N Conway in my R1T over the summer and will do it again on Friday.
You can make it there on one charge, but you use a lot of charge while there getting to the resorts, dinners, etc.
charging from a 110v is slow on the Rivian, and it might be slower in the cold (test it at home first).
if you can pull it of, rent an Airbnb or a hotel with a l2 charger. I‘m doing the former for this weekend.
N Conway grand hotel has 4 l2 chargers. non guests are allowed to use them (I confirmed with the front desk). You could even leave it there overnight if someone else in your group has a car. But it is expensive ($5/hr) via AmpUp.
Cranmore has 2 l2 chargers. Easy to get them in the summer (which is what I did), but I bet they are hard to get to get in ski season.
Finally, if you ski wildcat, continue north to Gorham to the only l3 charger in the area.
NH charging sucks. Good luck!

(Edit) there’s also several BnBs with chargers. Find hotels/BnBs with plugshare. And in Airbnb, you can filter for rentals with ev charging.

 

[TheIglu]

NH charging sucks. Good luck!

As someone who lives within a mile of the NH border and does most shopping in NH, it's shocking how few chargers there are compared to all the other states nearby. NH has a hatred of EV's apparently. Florida with foliage.

 

[JGard18]

So of course I just booked a little trip for my family up there in August. It's at a campground, but we're in a cabin, so I'm probably not going to have a 240v hookup available. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do. Sure, I could plug into a 110v, but I'm only there for like 4 days, that's not long enough to charge this thing up! haha

 

[31ectr0nicB0b]

I had an Airbnb w a 110v connection reserved but cancelled and instead reserved N Conway Grand since they have chargers. 110v charging isn't much even overnight. I’m not sure how it’s going to play out w Feb break and ski season with charger availability.
I wish they would give priority to hotel guests or if there was a way to give priority to someone with very low reserve (<10% SoC).

 

[31ectr0nicB0b]

Another thought is to hit up the Seabrook NH Walmart on the way up just in case. ElectrifyAmerica, I believe they would be 150kW.

 

[31ectr0nicB0b]

Completed my trip. The chargers at the North Conway Grand Hotel deliver 11kW and of the 4, only 2 were working. Luckily it was still 40s temps so my batteries were still somewhat efficient. I was able to plug in night and top up. There are a couple of other options for charging in the area, but most of those are 5-6kW. If not staying at hotel, it costs $5 per hour, have to use "Amp-up" app to charge.
I didn't bother stopping at Seabrook or Portsmouth on my way up, I was at 50% when I arrived in N. Conway.

 

[DB-EV]

Thinking about driving (Feb school break 2/18-25) from Boston area to N. Conway NH for some skiing w the family. I have the 135kWh battery.

Has anyone done this trip in colder weather? I think the closest ElectrifyAmerica charging station is in Portsmouth. I will also bring my portable charger with me so I can plug it in at the airbnb I reserve (no reservations yet) But being winter, efficiency will suffer.

Am I being too anxious or the charging stations I see on plugshare app be enough? Those are all mostly Level2 6-10kw chargers, I'll have to maybe spend 1-2 hours per day just trickle charging at those locations.

I don't know if it is out of the way, but there is a high speed charger on the VT / NH border at a Walmart on I 89 right near white river junction I believe. You've got this. Check out plug share, Chargeway, ABRP, Shell Recharge, and Rivian App.

Just did a 500 mile trip to the Adirondacks no problem but NY took the diesel gate money and put in its own network that was built either by shell recharge or EA depending on region.

 

[Thanksgramps]

Driving from Northboro MA to Sugarbush (~210 miles) the only time I didn’t make it on one charge the temps were below 0 and we kept the heat rolling. 15 minutes at the EA chargers in Lebanon was enough on 20’s. I think our efficiency was around 1.7 until I realized we wouldn’t make it, then dropped to 1.2 as the truck prepped the battery for charging, we cranked the heat and I went from 74 mph to ~80.

One tip, preheat the truck at home while it’s plugged in before you leave. It makes a difference.

 

[31ectr0nicB0b]

Driving from Northboro MA to Sugarbush (~210 miles) the only time I didn’t make it on one charge the temps were below 0 and we kept the heat rolling. 15 minutes at the EA chargers in Lebanon was enough on 20’s. I think our efficiency was around 1.7 until I realized we wouldn’t make it, then dropped to 1.2 as the truck prepped the battery for charging, we cranked the heat and I went from 74 mph to ~80.

One tip, preheat the truck at home while it’s plugged in before you leave. It makes a difference.

how does one condition the battery at home while plugged in?

 

[Thanksgramps]

how does one condition the battery at home while plugged in?

I haven’t tried that yet, I meant warming the cabin. I have an unheated garage, so getting into a 70 degree truck extends range if it warms off the house electric.

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