Road Trip: Atlanta to NJ and back. LONG post w/ Stats

Evie and I hit the road last week to NJ. I was looking forward to improving on my drive since the last trip to Boston. I learned alot more about what Evie could do and LITERALLY took her to the limit (see below). I've also become a fearless EV driver now. As long as I have plugshare, my charging cord AND time, we can get there. Some people just want the raw numbers so I'll just start with that and follow with the stop by stop stories that others enjoy. Please ask questions as it's the only way we learn and grow in this exciting new electric vehicle world! rj

Ok so I had the break down for my trip from GA to NJ, but the event was on Monday 9/28. By the end of the trip, I was completely focused on making it on time. (I JUST made it by the way) Anyway, I stopped recording data somewhere in Maryland. So for the data junkies, I'm just giving you the numbers for my trip home. By the way, even though Evie ran out of power in VA, this was really our best road trip segment ever. I was very efficient and strategic because I knew the stops and what to expect. I also took the time to use some different charging locations along the way. Remember FLEXIBILITY and ADAPTABILITY are key for long distance EV driving. When we hit 200-300+ miles as standard for all models, then we won't have to worry as much, but for now...

Trip Home Millville, NJ to Athens, GA

(811.2 miles, 17 hours, 2 minutes driving, 47.62 mph, 12 charge stops (11 Free!), Charging Costs - $6.99!!)

Depart 10:32am 9/29/15

Arrive 6:10pm 9/30/15

y- Departure Miles z- Arrival Miles m- Arrival Distance

> Millville, NJ 32y 10;32a
> Carney's Point, NJ 9z 11:22a 37.2m Told Blink to give 90% and I got 84%. Bonus!
> Carney's Point 75y 12:05p
> Columbia, MD 12z 1:49p 125.5m
> (88.3 / 63x = 1.3) Lady left unplug note but I still waited. She told me about 2016 Chevy Bolt that does 200. Gotta check that out.
> Columbia 74y 2:23p
> Stopped at Ford dealer to get some juice. If I can get 90 miles. I'm going to shoot for MAC's longest distance ever
> Columbia 93y 3:30p
> Doswell, VA Evie juiced out 6:40p
> Ashland, VA 0z 8:15
> Ashland 77y 9:29p 248.7
> (121.2 / 93 = 1.3)
> Colonial Heights, VA 47y 10:22p 285.0 Nissan
> Colonial Heights 90z 11:50p
> Roanoke Rapids, NC 31y 1:15a 353.00m
> Roanoke Rapids 66z 3:26a
> Wilson, NC 9z 4:21a 406.6m
> Wilson 73y 5:04a
> Raleigh, NC 38z 5:52a 448.7m
> Raleigh 82y 6:36a
> Burlington, NC 29z 7:39a 507.9m
> Burlington 73y 8:12a
> Salisbury, NC 24z 9:12a 575.1m
> Salisbury 76y 10:21a
> Gastonia, NC 36z 11:37a 630.2m Wow it actually went to 82!!
> Gastonia 80y 12:20p
> Greenville, SC 19z 1;59p 713.0
> Greenville 99y 3:51p
> Athens, GA 17z 5:33p 811.2
> Athens 82y 6:10p

GA to NJ

So I'm just going to hit the very high, highlights of my trip. Going up to NJ was kind of a blur because I was mostly focused on getting there for my event. I'll focus more on the trip home, but there were a few points.

Athens, GA to Greenville, SC (95 miles)

This is our first big jump on the trip. Last time, I had to make a side trip to Commerce, GA then make the jump to Greenville. This time I was determined to do it in one shot. We made it by staying off the highway, using hills and going slow slow. BUT I took a big time hit. 3 hours+. Now I know how to do it in little over 2 hours ON THE HIGHWAY. Learn as you go!

Greenville, SC - 66 Richardson Street

This is one my favorite charging stops at the Richardson Street garage. QC and L2 in one spot. Good food and art galleries while you charge. Greenville is doing it right.

Greenville, SC to Gastonia, NC

Gastonia, NC - 2525 Court Drive - Caromont Hospital

Eaton charger on the P2 level of hospital. Vending machine & restrooms on level 1 in surgery waiting room. I've never been able to get beyond 81% on this unit (see return trip note however).

Gastonia, NC to Charlotte, NC

Charlotte, NC to Concord, NC

Concord, NC - 967 Concord Parkway South - Modern Nissan

Located in front of a 24 hour Wal-Mart with both QC and L2 for top off. Thumbs up!

Concord, NC to Salisbury, NC

Salisbury, NC to Burlington, NC

Burlington, NC to Raleigh, NC

Raleigh, NC to Wilson, NC

Wilson, NC to Roanoke Rapids, VA

Roanoke Rapids, VA - 407 Premier Drive - Nissan of Roanoke Rapids

The jump from Wilson to Colonial Heights is just out of reach so I had to stop here and L2 for a couple hours. Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A and Wal-Mart nearby so it's not the worst wait. Also usually at this point, I'm happy to get a little nap!

Roanoke Rapids, VA to Colonial Heights, VA

Colonial Heights, VA to Ashland, VA

Ashland, VA - 308 England Street - Mac's Service Center

Got to speak with Mac. Cool guy who is very into EV and does all he can to support it. Check out his website:

http://www.macsservicecenter.com and stop through if you're ever in the area. Have a bite to eat at the Iron Horse while you charge. I'm a vegetarian and they have this awesome black bean quesadilla. Wow!!

Ashland, VA to Jefferson Heights, VA

Jefferson Heights, VA - Cowles Nissan

I've stopped here before without a problem, but this time the GM came out to say the QC was only for Leafs because he wasn't running a community service. I told him that it was very short-sighted of him to take that approach especially because I'm also a Leaf owner. No big deal because I had gotten enough power for my next jump anyway. Later chump!

Jefferson Heights, VA to Camp Springs, MD

Camp Springs, MD - 6210 Allentown Road - Royal Farms Store

Love it. EV charging station at a gas station convenience store. I wish Georgia could do this. Found out that the MD Attorney General funded these stations from a power company case settlement. Nice!

Camp Springs, MD to Baltimore, MD

Baltimore, MD to I-95 Delaware Welcome House Stop

I-95 Delaware Welcome House Stop to Carney's Point, NJ

Carney's Point, NJ - 326 Slapes Corner - Flying J Truck Stop

Check this huge Blink network charger with the wide screen video. Once you start charging it plays charging tips and local attraction videos. It has two QC handles but you can only charge one at a time. However, it will automatically switch over once one car is done.

Carney's Point, NJ to Millville, NJ

Made it! Left GA at 10:25am on Sun. 9/27 and arrived at 6:30pm on Mon. 9/28. There's one place I want to point out here in Millville that's worth a mention.

Millville, NJ - 1517 S. Delsea Drive - Rossi Honda

The owner here is a big clean energy guy and he built a huge solar canopy on his lot. The charger is run off of solar power! First time ever using one of those and I really liked it. Didn't get a picture, but pulled some from plugshare.

NJ to GA

See detailed breakdown with stats at top of post. 

The big highlight was that Evie completely ran out of power in Doswell, VA. It was quite an experience and on top of that it was pouring down buckets!! Even so, it taught me plenty. Heck I didn't even know where the towing loop was or how to attach it. Thank goodness for car manuals in the glove box!

Coming home I was not under as much time pressure so I wanted to see if I could run the trip really tight. I wanted to limit the stops and make the biggest jumps I could between stops. Also I wanted to explore some new stops. Going over my numbers I could see that if I traveled at certain speeds I could generally predict the ratio between what my mile indicator said and actual miles traveled.

For Evie here's the sweet spot - Cruise control at 57 mph. If I set her at this level, I found that I could multiply the mile indicator by 1.3 and get my actual mileage. I originally thought the factor was 1.4 and this error left me totally screwed in VA when I ran out of juice.

Try it for your vehicle by resetting your trip meter and drive until your indicator is reduced by 10 miles. (Of course, I don't suggest you do this with only 10 miles remaining on your meter!)  Highway would be easier so you can burn 5 miles out and then return home.  Keep your speed below 60. Coast neutral and Regen as much as possible throughout the trip. When you get home, divide your actual mileage by 10 (or however many miles were burned). You should be somewhere around 1.6 or maybe even 2. But you've got to remember over long distances the factor will lower. My guess it will settle out somewhere around 1.3. Whatever the factor, you can then use it to plan how far you can go on the meter miles remaining. Don't play it as an exact amount, but use it as a rough guide.

Here's where I goofed. I left Columbia, MD with a mile indicator read of 93. An earlier calculation gave me a factor of 1.4 so I multiplied that by 93 and came up with 130.2. The trip from Columbia, MD to Ashland, VA came back as 128 miles. It was extremely close, but I figured that with coasting/regen I could ease my way into the station.

BUT later I realized that I made a calc error and the factor should have been 1.3. Had I used 1.3, I would have come up with 120.9. That would have told me I couldn't make the trip without an extra boost in between. Evie conked out at 121.5, 8 miles short of where I was headed.

NOTE: I was checking my progress all along and everything seemed to be on track until I reached the last 20 miles on the miles indicator. In that last 20 miles, the miles just seemed to melt away. I'm not sure if this was my own anxiety but I was doing everything in my power to stretch it and even regen would not stop the downward spiral. So I say this as a warning to give yourself at least a 20 mile buffer in your calculations. Knowing what I know now, there is no scenario where I would not have made an extra stop with the 93 miles I started out with. The only other thing I could have tried was to trickle charge somewhere to squeeze a few more miles onto the indicator. At the time, I had just finished off with an L2 charge and 93 was at 100% which leads me to this...

Layered charging:

Just remember that 100% is usually not 100% if it wasn't reached with the slowest charging method. Before a big road segment, I often will QC, followed by L2 and top off with a trickle charge for the maximum charge.

Things that can effect your 100% miles:

I've been seeing lower miles when I'm charging on cold mornings. Also if I push the QC charging beyond 83% I don't ultimately get the max miles when I top off with an L2. Some of you may be seeing other things, please share.

Some shout outs:

Thanks to Fields Towing for getting us out of Doswell, VA to the next charging station. Very professional.

Thanks to Structural Technologies in Doswell for letting me pull into their loading area to put Evie on trickle charge. I was in rural VA and it was pitch black. Their warehouse was the only light I could see for miles so I headed for it. The workers did all have a good laugh over the whole thing as I plugged Evie in. Still the supervisor said I could charge as long as I needed. It would have taken 4-5 hours for me to get up enough miles to move on. That's why I called for the tow truck in the end, but I still really appreciated their kindness. See Evie below with the pathetic one blue light trying to come back from 0 on a trickle. Poor thing!

Shout out to the BBG - Kevin Murphy at Ben Mynatt Nissan in Salisbury, NC. He's the Nissan Leaf sales guy there and we had a good chat about EV sales and charging. He also creates these funny sales videos and it was a much needed laugh for a tired EV road warrior. Thanks Kev!

That's all I have for now. Stay tuned for our next trip coming up to Savannah... with the teenage daughters. Aaaarrrrrgghh!!!  rj