Memphis to Oshkosh to Memphis in R1S (warning, long )

Last week I drove the R1S from Memphis to Oshkosh for the annual Airventure airshow. It's roughly 800 road miles each way, depending on the exact route. ABRP has multiple options.

I've made the trip 3 times in a Tesla Model S since 2015 with zero drama. Tesla superchargers are plentiful along the route (and at each end, including one a couple of miles from the airshow campground). The superchargers were 100% reliable in my experience, and I never had to wait to charge. I had zero worries about sleeping in the car and using the AC, since I knew I could sneak out and charge quickly whenever I needed to.

For those who don't know, Airventure is an annual Airshow/trade convention/gathering of roughly 700K people. About 10,000 aircraft will fly in, and during the show over 40,000 people are camping on the airport grounds. It's easy camping, with well spaced shower buildings, portable toilets, sundry stores, laundry, etc. It's reportedly the world's largest campground. There are areas for RVs/campers, tents with or without cars, and areas for airplane camping.

The R1S is an excellent road car. It's quiet, comfortable, handles well and has huge reserves of power for passing, even in conserve mode. I generally ran about 5 over the posted speed limit, which I found to be a good balance between range and keeping up with traffic. Usually around 75 mph or so. My longest leg was I think around 188 miles, which gave plenty of cushion at highway speeds without having to dip into either the top or bottom 10% of the battery. If the charging infrastructure were in place (which hopefully it will be with the NACS switch next year) I'd make more trips in the Rivian instead of my wife's ICE SUV.

Which brings me to the hot garbage that is the Electrify America network.

I planned a route to intentionally avoid densely urban chargers, especially during rush hour or late at night. In the past I've planned poorly and gotten stuck in traffic (especially around Chicago) or felt unsafe at night at a supercharger station (eg. McComb, MS or Mobile, AL).

My route took me past 7 EA stations each way, and a bunch of slower mostly 50kw stations with one or two chargers, mostly at car dealerships. My plan was to hit 4-5 EA chargers each way, and top off at a shell recharge station just outside of Oshkosh (Beaver Dam, WI) so I'd have plenty of buffer for using the battery while camping.

I left my house at 85%, and my first leg took me past the Memphis EA station (which has been completely offline since Memorial Day weekend), and Jackson, TN (which has been throttled for "active maintenance" since the first time I used it on 3/3/2023. I stopped at 188 miles in Paducah, Kentucky. I was able to get 190kw on a 350kw charger, which is mildly throttled but not too bad. I did have to switch cabinets to find one that worked. Paducah is a typical EA Walmart, and I was able to pick up some last minute items like extra tent pegs, sunscreen, and bug spray.

Next stop was at the Firefly grill in Effingham, IL after passing the EA station in Mount Vernon, IL. The Firefly Grill is a neat "farm to table" restaurant that has , among other thing, excellent burgers and clean bathrooms. I
was able to get just over 200kw which I called a win. Spent just enough time to get a "to go" burger which I ate in the truck as there was a significant wait for a table.

Next stop was Bloomington/Normal, very close to the Rivian factory. Unfortunately, it was after hours so no possibility for a tour. One cabinet was down, but I got one of the 350kw cabinets to charge at 60kw after the first one was only about 30kw. long slow charge.

By this time I was beat, and pulled into a rest stop south of Rockford, IL for the night. Slept in the back of the Rivian on an air mattress.

At about 6 am, I got up and headed for my next stop at a Sam's club in Rockford, IL . First cabinet was throttled to 84kw, second one i tried was down, but the third one was 206kw. Topped off and headed for Beaver Dam, WI.

At the Shell recharge station (outside of a Piggly Wiggly grocery store) I wasted about 20 minutes finding out that both of the CCS chargers were dead. It took forever to get customer service on the phone, and they couldn't help, except to point me to nearby Level 2 chargers at 6kw. I gave up, but called a car dealership in Oshkosh (Bergstrom Toyota) and they graciously offered me the use of their 60kw CCS charger, which was across the highway from the airport/campground.

In an 800 mile trip, the slow/broken chargers, and talking to customer service (EA and Shell Recharge) probably added 2 hours to what ABRP predicted

Camping at the show in the Rivian was outstanding. I was by myself, and had thrown pretty much every piece of camping gear I own into the truck "just in case." I brought a tent and a comfortable cot, but wound up in the Rivian on an air mattress every night because of thunderstorms.

In the mornings I made coffee quickly with my Keurig, and had running water as well (DIY 12v "camp shower" made from a Specter jerry can). No fooling around with the propane stove to heat water and pour over or the french press.

Running the AC all night in warm, muggy condition used about 35-40 miles of range. I was a bit disappointed that this was more than the Tesla, but the internal volume was much higher. I also wasn't using the AC outlets in the Tesla because it didn't have any.

I actually didn't bother to cook myself, since my friends around me were all cooking, and there was so much food available on the site it just didn't seem worth the hassle.

Good writeup. I have great memories at Whitman Field. Got to work the airshow as a Civil Air Patrol cadet summer of '97 I think it was. I soloed at that airport at CAP National Flight Academy event the following summer.

Agreed EA is a mess. They're really turning into a toxic asset situation. Chargepoint made a mess of their installs here too going to CP Express upgrades.

Tesla needs a proper rival for charging in North America, because there really is none.

The trip home was less successful/more of a hassle.

By friday afternoon late, I'd seen all my friends, seen the stuff I wanted to see and visited the vendors I needed to talk to.

With a forecast for yet another evening of thunderstorms, I decided to pull up stakes (literally) and start home. I'd topped off at the Toyota dealer at lunch, so I left for Rockford with a healthy charge, planning to arrive with about 100 miles of range. Same broken/throttled chargers s before, but able to get on the one "good" handle after a Hyundai pulled out and charged enough to get to Bloomington.

In Bloomington, the "good" charger (that had done 120kw on the way up) was locked up and customer service couldn't fix it. I tried all 4 cabinets but the best of the remaining ones topped out at 60kw. I was there for quite a while (started on the 30kw charger until someone moved from the "good one.")

I did talk briefly to someone with a launch green R1T who said his VIN was in the 170 range. I realized later that since we were in Bloomington with a low VIN he was almost certainly an employee.

The sky to the north and west was starting to light up with almost continuous (distant) lightning as I reached the 90 minute mark. I was in the truck watching YouTube videos, and packing on a little extra charge (since I didn't know what the next station would be like) when the truck was suddenly rocked heavily to one side. At first I though someone had run into me, but I realized it was a gust front from the approaching storms. I could see trash cans and shopping carts sliding and tumbling towards the downwind side of the lot.

I decide this was a really good time to leave, as my route was headed almost straight away from the approaching weather. I was running an aviation mapping app on my phone, and there were hail and rotation signatures in the radar returns which were building rapidly.

The next leg to Effingham was surreal. Very little rain, but gusty winds, debris flying across the road, and almost continous lightning in all quadrants. Huge dust clouds were blowing up from fields on either side.

Joe schmoe said:

Next stop was at the Firefly grill in Effingham, IL after passing the EA station in Mount Vernon, IL. The Firefly Grill is a neat "farm to table" restaurant that has , among other thing, excellent burgers and clean bathrooms. I
was able to get just over 200kw which I called a win. Spent just enough time to get a "to go" burger which I ate in the truck as there was a significant wait for a table.

Next stop was Bloomington/Normal, very close to the Rivian factory. Unfortunately, it was after hours so no possibility for a tour. One cabinet was down, but I got one of the 350kw cabinets to charge at 60kw after the first one was only about 30kw. long slow charge.

By this time I was beat, and pulled into a rest stop south of Rockford, IL for the night. Slept in the back of the Rivian on an air mattress.

At about 6 am, I got up and headed for my next stop at a Sam's club in Rockford, IL . First cabinet was throttled to 84kw, second one i tried was down, but the third one was 206kw. Topped off and headed for Beaver Dam, WI.

At the Shell recharge station (outside of a Piggly Wiggly grocery store) I wasted about 20 minutes finding out that both of the CCS chargers were dead. It took forever to get customer service on the phone, and they couldn't help, except to point me to nearby Level 2 chargers at 6kw. I gave up, but called a car dealership in Oshkosh (Bergstrom Toyota) and they graciously offered me the use of their 60kw CCS charger, which was across the highway from the airport/campground.

In an 800 mile trip, the slow/broken chargers, and talking to customer service (EA and Shell Recharge) probably added 2 hours to what ABRP predicted

Click to expand...

good write-up. It is pathetic that this corridor is so poorly served and that Rivian hasn't even installed one of its mythical RAN stations in its factory town.

The Bloomington DC options are often FUBAR or throttled down.

I've used the Recharge at that Pig a few times out of desperation. It is a sad grocery store and area to wait around for a slow charge.

I have a trip in a couple weeks down to southern IL and I am thinking about leaving the R1S at home because of problems on past trips along this path.

When I reached Effingham (by this time it was about 1:00 am) I was completely alone in the empty parking lot, but all of the cabinets were throttled. I stayed for a while, long enough to get a charge sufficient to overnight in a rest stop and still have the juice to go somewhere.

I spent the night in a rest stop 43 miles south of Effingham, just north of Mount Vernon. The weather caught me an hour or two later, so not much sleep with lightning and heavy rain. It was nice when I woke up though to have coffee and be able to brush my teeth with the water setup.

I had enough range to make Paducah, and then Jackson TN, retracing my route om the way back. Each of the chargers was of course throttled (because why not). The Rivian wanted to route me to the Memphis EA station, not realizing that it's been completely offline for months.

All in all, a successful trip, but the state of public CCS charging is a absolute garbage, especially EA.

I have access to a very nice ICE SUV as well for travel, and I think I'm done with Rivian cross country until the NACS adapter is available. After 8 years with the Tesla, I sort of forgot that range anxiety was a thing.

Joe schmoe said:

When I reached Effingham (by this time it was about 1:00 am) I was completely alone in the empty parking lot, but all of the cabinets were throttled. I stayed for a while, long enough to get a charge sufficient to overnight in a rest stop and still have the juice to go somewhere.

I spent the night in a rest stop 43 miles south of Effingham, just north of Mount Vernon. The weather caught me an hour or two later, so not much sleep with lightning and heavy rain. It was nice when I woke up though to have coffee and be able to brush my teeth with the water setup.

I had enough range to make Paducah, and then Jackson TN, retracing my route om the way back. Each of the chargers was of course throttled (because why not). The Rivian wanted to route me to the Memphis EA station, not realizing that it's been completely offline for months.

All in all, a successful trip, but the state of public CCS charging is a absolute garbage, especially EA.

I have access to a very nice ICE SUV as well for travel, and I think I'm done with Rivian cross country until the NACS adapter is available. After 8 years with the Tesla, I sort of forgot that range anxiety was a thing.

Click to expand...

Great write-up that gives those of us who are still waiting for a Rivian a good sense of what we're in for on longer trips.

The all-too-frequent deplorable state of the non-Tesla charging network has made me thankful that my delivery is still some time in the future. Even though it's been more than three years, I'm now hoping that my R1S will be delayed until at least mid-2024 for a few reasons, the biggest of which is range anxiety for the longer trips we frequently take. I too have access to a very competent and comfortable ICE SUV (a Telluride that replaced a 13 year old XC-90) and use it for an annual winter pilgrimage from eastern PA to the snow gods of the Wasatch.

Since we're retired empty-nesters, we are now a one-car household, and I was hoping to trade or sell the Telly when the R1S arrived. Your experience with a non-Tesla vehicle on a longer road trip is far from unique, so that plan seems rather unwise at present. The situation should improve dramatically in the near future with access to the Tesla charging network, and I'm hopeful that delivery of the R1S and that landmark event will be close together.

The real question is: How were the cheese curd tacos??

Agree, the state of CCS charging is absolute garbage, it's amazing that CCS EV owners are brave enough to endure road trips especially lengthy ones. I can't imagine myself waiting 2+ hours just for a charge. Charging experiences like that would immediately ruin the trip for me, get my boiling blood and put me in a totally pissed off mood at everyone on the road.

The EV makers know this and have resorted to some disbanding CCS to protect their EV development plans and outlays, but it's going to be years before everything gets settled...It's not going to happen overnight.

Shill2801 said:

The real question is: How were the cheese curd tacos??

Click to expand...

I actually never got one--wasn't hungry when I saw it, and I was way on the other side of the field by the time I did eat.

I was a a bit wary--I love tacos, and I love cheese curds, but I'm not sure it's ok to mix the streams ;p

Nice write up! Central IL is a charging desert for CCS. Bloomington has 3 Tesla SC locations which two of them being V3.

When traveling south, we skipped the Mt Vernon (had bad checkins at the time) and used the EVgo at Fairview Heights, IL. Had really good luck with it both times. We had ok luck with the Paducah EA. The Buc-ees going in Paducah will help in the future as it will have Tesla SC's

When can I get my electric plane to camp in Idaho?

My S was scheduled to arrive ar service center today. Camping next weekend on the Oregon coast(Sans plane). Maybe the S will be ready.

Lil'Dave said:

Nice write up! Central IL is a charging desert for CCS. Bloomington has 3 Tesla SC locations which two of them being V3.

When traveling south, we skipped the Mt Vernon (had bad checkins at the time) and used the EVgo at Fairview Heights, IL. Had really good luck with it both times. We had ok luck with the Paducah EA. The Buc-ees going in Paducah will help in the future as it will have Tesla SC's

Click to expand...

Yep I've made the trip in a Tesla more than once--would skip at least every other SC, sometimes two. Never had a single issue with charging in eight years in the Tesla. A couple of times I felt like the site wasn't a good place to be

webfootdawg said:

When can I get my electric plane to camp in Idaho?

My S was scheduled to arrive ar service center today. Camping next weekend on the Oregon coast(Sans plane). Maybe the S will be ready.

Click to expand...

What a great looking campsite. The only place I've ever camped under a wing is Oshkosh (or Fond du Lac)

Joe schmoe said:

What a great looking campsite. The only place I've ever camped under a wing is Oshkosh (or Fond du Lac)

Click to expand...

looks like you get there a little quicker.

someone in Idaho had another Ted Smith design, 1000 commander. Did well on grass. Used beta to back into parking.