Colorado Checking In

[TollKeeper]

I listed a couple sets I had found on Craigslist on the for sale section... But some mod thought it needed to be deleted.. ?

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[Sgt Beavis]

Did some truck stuff last weekend. The week before my wife and I bought a new Mini Cooper as a toy. The problem with that is the Cooper had summer tires on it. So we trucked down to the dealership and bought some new wheels with winter tires. Just in time too..

One other thing. I’ve always said only about 10% of drivers in the USA are terrible. With God as my witness I swear every single one of them was on the road during last Saturday’s snow. My Rivian near got hit twice from vehicles going too damn fast and spinnin’ out of control.

OH, and we didn’t realize it until we got home but apparently we’ve now got a thing for green cars.

 

[COdogman]

Those first couple snow storms each year it always feels like every moron is out there right next to me. ?

 

[dgennetten]

Just finished my first Rivian towing experience. Although I did not get my hitch adapter to work, it towed this 1,000 lb bale of hay as if nothing was there.

The mud is from a delightful day trip up Cherokee Park Road and down Deadman Road.

Curious if there are any NoCo group events planned?

 

[5280mcs]

Just charged at RAN at Flatiron Crossings last Sunday (11/5/23). Still free....

 

[BrentInCO]

Just charged at RAN at Flatiron Crossings last Sunday (11/5/23). Still free....

Montrose and Salida were also free Sunday 11/5/2023.

 

[Aardvark]

Heads up, Colorado gang: if you're planning a trip on I-70 through Kansas, the EA station in Hays is completely down with no ETA on repair. Coming westbound, you gain about 1900' elevation, and a strong headwind like today makes the leg from Salina to Colby challenging. There's a 62 kW Chargepoint in Oakley that provides a good Plan B divert if needed. The R1 doesn't know the station is down and will still use Hays in the route planner.
I met an EA electrician in Salina today. He said the Hays issue is an installation problem. Aluminum wire was run from the transformer to the pedestals, but the pedestal lugs are sized for copper and are too small. He said EA is still deciding how to fix this, and no repair has begun.

 

[CUBldr97]

Heads up, Colorado gang: if you're planning a trip on I-70 through Kansas, the EA station in Hays is completely down with no ETA on repair. Coming westbound, you gain about 1900' elevation, and a strong headwind like today makes the leg from Salina to Colby challenging. There's a 62 kW Chargepoint in Oakley that provides a good Plan B divert if needed. The R1 doesn't know the station is down and will still use Hays in the route planner.
I met an EA electrician in Salina today. He said the Hays issue is an installation problem. Aluminum wire was run from the transformer to the pedestals, but the pedestal lugs are sized for copper and are too small. He said EA is still deciding how to fix this, and no repair has begun.

That’s interesting they were working on 11/7 according to folks on Pkugshare.

 

[richpike]

Heads up, Colorado gang: if you're planning a trip on I-70 through Kansas, the EA station in Hays is completely down with no ETA on repair. Coming westbound, you gain about 1900' elevation, and a strong headwind like today makes the leg from Salina to Colby challenging. There's a 62 kW Chargepoint in Oakley that provides a good Plan B divert if needed. The R1 doesn't know the station is down and will still use Hays in the route planner.
I met an EA electrician in Salina today. He said the Hays issue is an installation problem. Aluminum wire was run from the transformer to the pedestals, but the pedestal lugs are sized for copper and are too small. He said EA is still deciding how to fix this, and no repair has begun.

We did this drive through most of Kansas this past weekend (COS to Lawrence, KS and back). The wind and temps (and obviously the Hays EA being down) made it tough this go round. I normally drive at 84mph, but on the drive home I had to set the cruise at 65mph to make the Salina EA to Colby EA (202 miles) until we found a semi driving 75mph that we could draft (safely) behind. We went to 90% in Salina and made it with 10% (20” AT).

We’ve done this drive a couple times now since we got our R1S. There can definitely be some range anxiety with the west Kansas winds (even a cross wind seems to have a huge impact). As the Tesla chargers open up to us in 2024, this will hopefully become a much easier path to travel with superchargers in Colby, Oakley, Hays, Russell and Salina (although I’ve heard the superchargers on this route aren’t great either).

-Rich

 

[richpike]

For those of you on Facebook and in Southern Colorado (think Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Monument, Woodland Park, Cripple Creek, Cañon City, Salida, Buena Vista, Monte Vista, Alamosa, Walsenburg, Trinidad, etc) we created a FB Group specific to SoCo. Definitely not a replacement for the great Rocky Mountain Rivian FB group - more a complement with posts/recommendations more specific to SoCo.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/668192868523065/

-Rich

 

[zefram47]

...
until we found a semi driving 75mph that we could draft (safely) behind. We went to 90% in Salina and made it with 10% (20” AT).

...
As the Tesla chargers open up to us in 2024, this will hopefully become a much easier path to travel with superchargers in Colby, Oakley, Hays, Russell and Salina (although I’ve heard the superchargers on this route aren’t great either).

Yup...I've found that Conserve mode and following a semi with ACC / HWA set to the max follow distance makes a decent difference in efficiency.

As for the Superchargers...a ton of these along I-70 are still Version 2 installations and we'll only be able to use Version 3 and up chargers. You can see the difference here by toggling the filter for >=250 kW on and off.

https://supercharge.info/map

 

[richpike]

As for the Superchargers...a ton of these along I-70 are still Version 2 installations and we'll only be able to use Version 3 and up chargers. You can see the difference here by toggling the filter for >=250 kW on and off.

https://supercharge.info/map

Ugh... at least the V3 don't overlap with the EA chargers.

-Rich

 

[Aardvark]

Ugh... at least the V3 don't overlap with the EA chargers.

-Rich

I didn't realize the upcoming adapter only works on the v3 superchargers. That's an important piece of information. Thanks.

 

[AlexF]

Heads up, Colorado gang: if you're planning a trip on I-70 through Kansas, the EA station in Hays is completely down with no ETA on repair. Coming westbound, you gain about 1900' elevation, and a strong headwind like today makes the leg from Salina to Colby challenging. There's a 62 kW Chargepoint in Oakley that provides a good Plan B divert if needed. The R1 doesn't know the station is down and will still use Hays in the route planner.
I met an EA electrician in Salina today. He said the Hays issue is an installation problem. Aluminum wire was run from the transformer to the pedestals, but the pedestal lugs are sized for copper and are too small. He said EA is still deciding how to fix this, and no repair has begun.

Exactly what I was afraid of with EV ownership. ??‍

Whats the best plan to work around this? Full charge in Colby (headed east) or Salina (headed west)? Looks like there’s a 62kW charger in Oakley that may help a little bit. Planning on making this trip for thanksgiving and would love to take the Rivian.

 

[BrentInCO]

Exactly what I was afraid of with EV ownership. ??‍

Whats the best plan to work around this? Full charge in Colby (headed east) or Salina (headed west)? Looks like there’s a 62kW charger in Oakley that may help a little bit. Planning on making this trip for thanksgiving and would love to take the Rivian.

On holiday weekends, expect chargers to be occupied, and waiting lines to use them.

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