First video post: Macon trip with new Georgia Power stations

So it's been some time, but I wanted to start the New Year out with a video post. Georgia Power has  been busy expanding the charging infrastructure. This is a huge help, especially in the winter when battery miles decrease. So check out my trip to Macon and be sure to "LIKE" the Georgia Power Electric Transportation page.


RJ and Evie Macon Run with Georgia Power Stations

Road Trip: 1st run to Savannah and Tybee Island

At some point this summer, I had hoped to make it down to Savannah, my favorite coastal spot, with Evie. Never made it. Just so happened I had a business conference that coincided with Tybee Island's annual Pirate Fest. Perfect!

If you take a quick glance at PlugShare, you will see the charging options are limited coming from Atlanta area to Savannah. Most of the chargers along the routes are L2 and the QCs are too far apart to make it a QC only ride (if you're in the 100 mile range like Evie). Also you have to check the comments for each charger because I found many to be out of order or powered down.

I decided to try one route down to Savannah and a different route home.

1st Route: Conyers 212-S to Milledgeville then 441-S to  Dublin then 16-E to Statesboro to Savannah
2nd Route: Savannah to Statesboro then 16-W to Dublin to Macon then75-N to Locust Gove to Conyers

As always my main travel tools are: PlugShare, Google Maps and a calculator. I use maps to track actual remaining miles as compared to what the Guessometer is saying. I use the calculator to monitor my ration of actual miles to GOM miles. I also use it to determine what percentage charge is needed to make my next jump.


CONYERS to SAVANNAH:

Key: y = GOM departure miles, z = GOM arrival miles m=total distance in miles,  * = Segment distance to GOM miles used, d=Driving time in minutes

Conyers>  98y at 4:36p Monday
Milly>  36z 6:00p 63.0m (63/62*) 84d

NOTES:
This is a very hilly segment and I expected to do more coasting/regen to stretch miles. However, the uphills were enough to eat away at any coasting/regen benefits.

Childre Nissan is the QC location BUT, according to PlugShare comments, they are not very friendly to non-Leaf owners. I've been told by other non-Leaf drivers that it's best to come here after hours. I arrived at 6p and they didn't close until 7p.

If you drive to the rear of GCSU West Campus (120 W Campus Dr, Milledgeville, GA 31061), there's a car wash canopy that has a 120V plug. After you enter, drive around to the right of the complex (next to the soccer field). Sign says for residents only so I didn't post it to PlugShare. Still a nice place to pull in and walk around.

Trickle charged at GCSU until 7:30p and drove over to Childre. There were still some staffers and security around. I got a few looks but thankfully wasn't asked to leave. I only took what I needed to get to Dublin and got out of there.

Milly> 56y 8:32p 73.9m
Dublin> 10z  9:31p 122.3m (48.4/46*) 59d

NOTES:
Dublin Nissan is my kind of spot. Charging is on the side of the complex so you don't interfere with operations. Convenience stores and restaurants right across the street. Nissan branded QCs have overheated on me in the past and that happened here. Just throw the circuit breaker to off and move over to the L2 to charge while you wait for cool down. If it's cool at night, then 15 minutes should do the trick. Turn the breaker back on and it should be good to finish your QC charge. If it's during the day in direct sunlight, it may take as much as 30 minutes to cool down.

I had hopes of making it all the way to Savannah from Dublin. After I topped off with the L2 to 100%, my GOM showed 95 miles. There just weren't enough good coasting/regen spots on 16-E to stretch the miles so I figured I should break for Statesboro for one last charge before Savannah.

Dublin> 95y 11:28p
Statesboro> 10z 1:06am Tuesday 204.8m (82.5/85*) 98d

NOTES:
I wasn't sure if Vaden Nissan charger would be powered on at this time of the morning. I was also beat so I decided to grab a hotel and head into Savannah in the morning.

Statesboro> 82y 4:00pm 208.1m

NOTES:
Vaden Nissan in Statesboro. Only an L2 but excellent service and close to every store/restaurant you'd want. Took the girls to the movie theater across the street and had a bite to eat while we charged.

Jason Ward is in sales and the social media guru for Vaden. We had a chance to chat and he agreed that dealers should support EV charging regardless of which model you pull in. Jason is originally from LA with some cool stories to tell. He's developing a new blog and I expect we'll heare more from him soon. Good luck Jason!

Savannah> 27z 5:02p 262.1m (56/55*) 62d

Total Distance: 262.1 miles  // MPH: 51.9
GOM Miles: 248
Total Driving Time: 5 hours, 3 minutes
Total Trip Time (includes hotel stay): 24 hours, 26 minutes
Charging Costs: $0

Tybee Island:
Took a side trip to Tybee for Pirate Fest, shopping and to get ice cream at The Sugar Shack! No stats but, other than finding a trickle plug somewhere, plan on enough juice to get in and get back to Savannah.

 

Savannah:
Charging infrastructure is pretty good. There's a QC over by Johnson Square. Unfortunately, it was busted when I went so I had to drive out to Grainger Nissan in Garden City. Good location because the QC and L2 are pretty close to each other. There's not much to do in the area surrounding area though.

Whitaker Street parking garage has free L2 charging. I parked in the State Street garage and if you park in the compact spaces closest to the elevator (on the "W"est side), you can trickle charge.


SAVANNAH to CONYERS:

Key: y = GOM departure miles, z = GOM arrival miles, m=total trip distance in miles,  * = Segment distance to GOM miles used, d=Driving time in minutes

Savannah> 91y at 11:36a Friday
Statesboro> 44z 12:31p 53.6 (53.6/47*) 55d

NOTES:
Shopping/Lunch while we charged. Vaden Nissan was great again.

Statesboro> 92y 3:19p
Dublin> 24z 5:10p 136.0m (83.6/68*) 129d

NOTES:
Dublin Nissan QC was in the sun and overheated after about 12 minutes of charging. I shut down breaker switch and moved over to the L2 to allow for cooling. Unit did not reboot until 32 minutes later. It went from 60% to 80% without shutting down again.

From this point, I could have made for Milledgeville but I didn't want to deal with Childre Nissan (see above) since they would be open when I got there. Decided to head for Macon and L2 charge it the rest of the way home.

Dublin> 81y 6:29p
Macon> 38z 7:25p 186.0m (50/42*) 56d

NOTES:
Originally stopped at Bibb County Courthouse but I didn't like the activity in the area. Some guy was arguing loudly with his girlfriend in the park next door. Then a car of young guys pulled up next to Evie with a little too much interest. Plus it seemed like the charge was moving at a snail's pace.

Rolled out of there and moved on to the Medical Center of GA - Orange Deck. Much better! Parking attendant right next to charging area. McDonald's in the hospital. Had a good meal while we charged. Left in just under an hour so parking was free!

Macon> 57y 8:48p
Locust Grove> 9z 9:52p 236.0m (50/48*) 64d

NOTES:
Tanger Outlets chargers located in parking lot behind Denny's. Stores were closed, but stopped into Denny's for dessert. Walked around and window shopped to burn some calories. Lost some time because Chargepoint charger inexplicably shut off and I didn't realized it until later. Restarted and stayed within site of car to watch the blue light. It was late, but Tanger had a security guard and grounds crew the whole time.

Locust Grove> 36y 11:40p
Conyers> 13z 12:14a 260.8m (24.8/23*) 34d

Total Distance: 260.8 miles // MPH: 46.3
GOM Miles: 228
Total Driving Time: 5 hours, 38 minutes
Total Trip Time: 12 hours, 38 minutes
Charging Costs: $0

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

First Ride and Drive event in Rockdale

I wanted to make sure we did something for National Drive Electric week. So I pulled together a little Ride/Drive event. It ended up being mostly Rockdale EV drivers but it was good to swap tales and connect. We had a couple guys come in from surrounding counties. GA Power showed up along with Kia, Nissan and Dept. of Natural Resources. One guy came with a neat little EV called the e-Zone. It's from a company called CT&T but the driver said they don't make them anymore. I guess it's only for driving around town. rj

Finally! Evie meets her twin.

Well it's been nearly 6 months and I haven't seen another Soul EV in Georgia. I know they are out there but I haven't seen one. That all changed on Sept. 13th. I had just finished quick charging at the Georgia Power station in Lithonia and moved over to the L2 to top off. I was cooling off under a shade tree, when a Titanium Soul EV pulls in to the QC. I jumped up and started clapping and the driver gave me thumbs up.We exchanged stories and had a good chat. Evie got a chance to juice up with her twin. Yeah it was a real moment. ;) rj

National Drive Electric Week: Atlanta Kick-Off Event

Today was the start of National Drive Electric Week. Took Evie down because I saw some other Kias registered for the event. Alas Evie was the only one there and we were asked to be part of the lineup at Atlantic Station. Sure why not? Well it was lots of fun meeting other EV owners and talking to potential EV owners. As usual, there were lots of surprised "Oh I didn't know Kia had an EV!" Evie was shined up and did me proud. It was cloudy so that probably kept the crowd light but I think it was a good day! rj

Google Maps for the Coasters out there.

I know there's plenty of debate over coasting vs. regen when it comes to extending miles. In GA, we've got lots of long hilly roads so I'm quick to throw Evie into neutral. D mode can be a drag when I want to zip down a hill and B mode is like I'm towing an anchor. Of course, the regen ia nice if you have the right conditions.

Google Maps has a great feature that lets you see altitude changes during your trips. Just do your normal point to point search and click the bicycle icon. This will, of course give you time, distance, etc. but you also get a diagram showing uphills/downhills of your trip. So in planning my trip to Savannah, I can see what segments will be best for coasting/regen and maximize my miles. What tips do you have to stretch your mileage?