Road trip 650km Langley, BC to Revelstoke, BC

[Chrispy294ss]

Hello again,
Going to brother in laws with our 2017 FFE.
I'll try and post a couple of video blogs along the journey.
Attached is a pdf of a spreadsheet I've created using infrimation from the web.
It shows my intended charging legs as well as the interim charging points in orange.
Plug share is quite good with elevation change information.
I've also attached the first leg elevation chart. It actually shows to next town.
This first leg is the greatest change of elevation.

I'll try and answer any questions you all may have.

Wish us luck.

Chris & Jennifer

 

[EVA]

Well that is super exciting taking a longer trip in your car.

This tool might just help you a little bit
https://www.evtripplanner.com/

I haven't tried this in a very long time. I think they have options for different cars (at one time it was a universal tool, it may have evolved to be more Tesla). If they don't, you can always use factors to get the battery size to match yours (the factors apply linear to the capacity).

A huge number of people swear by this tool.

 

[user 5595]

Very daring! I thought about doing a similar trip—not as far as Revelstoke, probably just Kelowna—but got scared by the scarcity of chargers within range beyond Hope.

Another thought I had was to see if I could make a one-way 150 km trip tomorrow morning (July 1, natch), which for me would mean ending up spending a few hours charging in Hope for the return trip. But 300 km in a day is really a lot, and I don't know any driver who'd want to share in my lunacy.

 

[Chrispy294ss]

Thank foe the evtripplanner reminder.
I looked at it so long ago Imhad forgot about it.

Regarding chargers past hope.
It's Hope that is for me the disappointment as there appears to be no CCS charger there.
So I'm topping up in chilliwack to get to manning.
Once past Manning I'm planning on topping up enough to skip chargers if necessary do to Canada Day business in a couple of the towns were chargers are in the centre of town.

However I might just stop more frequently an top up with enough to provid the ability to skip a charger.

My only real fear is climbing up and out to Manning Park, the first leg.

Tomorrow we roll.

Happy Canada Day for tomorrow everyone.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Chrispy294ss]

Made it to Revelstoke.
Memory in my phone is too full for the amateur video I was planning on creating.

So I think it would be best to move to the battery section on this forum.

I've created a link to the filled in speadsheet.
When I do the reverse trip and get home I'll prepare a cleaned up version with the green lot charging information that they automatically send after each charge.

If you use the plug share app I posted some thoughts and pictures there too.

Items of note:
Uphill climbs take more than the factor I mentioned earlier.
Although I arrived with 12% at Manning park the percent left at the top of the last peak before desending into the park was 8%. With the guess o'meter warning me that there was less than 15km left to go. The remainder of trip was stress free.
Here's a link to the hand filled in form
https://goo.gl/photos/Hq6zEsZ4e2GUMpbo7

Cheers
Chris

 

[user 5595]

Can we assume you made it back safely, Chris? I'm curious about your experience, lessons learned, etc.

I'm particularly curious about the numbers, like how much allowance (kWh) one should make for elevation gain, how much to expect from regen for elevation loss.

 

[Chrispy294ss]

Hi,
Yes we made it back.
Sorry, but my family visited and I parked the speadsheet until today.
I'll post the spreadsheet with all the stats in a couple of days.

But a couple of observations for now.
I did Skip every other charger there and back.
Vernon and Penticton if you keep an eye on plugshare you'll see they seem to be used the most so I skipped those places.
Stayed longer at stops than I needed to, but would probably do that again as what's an extra 10 Min's per stop. For me the 650km 5 stop trip from Langley to Revelstoke would amount to an additional 30min. I can live with that for the buffer gained.
Respect the up Hill climbs. I will find the actual figure based on this trip but it will be well north of the 1.5kwh penalty per 1000' more than a fellow Leaf owner quoted in their forum.
AC was used on the trip to Revelstoke once I was past Manning Park. It doesn't seem to use all that much additional juice, 5% maybe.
When high speed charging in a warm environment 32C + on the trip to Revelstoke that car will be in full AC on mode in the car during charging. With the dash fan full blast. There was no way to adjust this as the car was not on.... I never tried turning on the car during charging as I didn't want to interupt charging.

I'll include more observations with the speadsheet in the coming days.

Cheers
Chris
2017 & 2013 FFE
Langley BC

 

[user 5595]

Respect the up Hill climbs. I will find the actual figure based on this trip but it will be well north of the 1.5kwh penalty per 1000' more than a fellow Leaf owner quoted in their forum.

My math and basic high school physics puts it around 5 Wh/m. For 1000', that would be almost dead on that 1.5 kWh estimate. (To be safe, I'd probably use total elevation gain, ignoring regen, because I imagine that you only regen 80% or 90% of what you put in to climb. So Langley to Manning would be closer to 2000 m than 1100 m for my own calculations. Google Maps helps with this when you ask it for cycling directions.)

When high speed charging in a warm environment 32C + on the trip to Revelstoke that car will be in full AC on mode in the car during charging. With the dash fan full blast. There was no way to adjust this as the car was not on.... I never tried turning on the car during charging as I didn't want to interupt charging.

I've noticed this as well, when the outside temperature was just around 20C. Plug into a fast charger and everything opens up full blast. Pressing the power button turns it off in the cabin, but I don't know if there's a risk to the battery by doing that.

 

[triangles]

I've noticed this as well, when the outside temperature was just around 20C. Plug into a fast charger and everything opens up full blast. Pressing the power button turns it off in the cabin, but I don't know if there's a risk to the battery by doing that.

The FFE has separate evaporators for cabin and battery cooling so turning off the cabin AC would have no effect on battery cooling.

 

[jmueller065]

I wonder if the fast charger heats the battery to such an extent that the interior cabin is heated so they run the A/C--alternatively they're using the cabin A/C to provide additional cooling for the upper battery?

 

[triangles]

jmueller065 I guess that makes sense. I was thinking it was more for user comfort. Using the logic that if you're at a quick charger you intend to continue your journey shorty and who wants to get into a hot car when you've stopped for a quick charge? Use grid power to precondition the car instead of using the battery to cool a hot car when you get under way again. Who knows maybe it's for both of these reasons?

 

[jmueller065]

jmueller065 I guess that makes sense. I was thinking it was more for user comfort. Using the logic that if you're at a quick charger you intend to continue your journey shorty and who wants to get into a hot car when you've stopped for a quick charge? Use grid power to precondition the car instead of using the battery to cool a hot car when you get under way again. Who knows maybe it's for both of these reasons?

Well that kind of is the same thing: Perhaps the fast charger does heat the car up.

Makes me wonder: Does it do that when its -10F out?

 

[triangles]

I was thinking a hot car from sitting in the summer sun not from the battery. I'm guessing it's probably like the remote start function where it turns on the AC if it's hot and the heat if it's -10F out.

 

[sonny917]

Interesting trip.

 

[Chrispy294ss]

Interesting trip.

Thank you.
I never had another trip last year to eclipse it.
Returned to Revelstoke at Xmas .
To chicken to try it with the FFE.
Registered my old 2002 Dakota Quad cab for the -17C journey.

/Chris

 

[Akua]

Chrispy and Ghiebert,

Seeing as you are local vancouverites, I am in Abbotsford just got a 17' FFE and was seeing if it was possible to do the drive up to Kelowna, I feel safe driving from Abby
to Hope, and Merritt to Kelowna, but that Coquihalla stretch has no Charge stations. (Crazy they don't have one at the toll booth.... There is power and restrooms up there)

Do you think it is possible to make the Coquihalla stretch with the steep hills (121K distance?)

Thanks,

Also, what year FFE you guys driving ?

 

[Chrispy294ss]

2013 FFE and 2017 FFE
In my trip Chilliwack to Manning is 120+- with the peak elevation closer to the end of leg.
Hope to Merrett is also 120+- with peak closer to start of the leg.
The Manning's peak is 100m higher.
I reached the peak of the Manning's leg with 8% remaining.

It should be do able Hope to Merritt.
Pro Tip: keep your up Hill speed to 80 Kph

Cheers
Chris

 

[Akua]

Chris,
being that the coquihalla stretch has the peak closer to the beginning like you say- I wonder how much battery charge I will regenerate down the steep hills into Merritt....
That hill heading down is very long and steep... Thanks for the pro tip.

On a side note do you have any thoughts on the Thule roof racks?

 

[Chrispy294ss]

Never seen a post on this forum about Thule.
However, Tesla forum can be searched. Fairly significant penalty
Are you getting a box?

 

[Akua]

I was planning on it for occasional use.... But now not sure...

On another side note: I have to silly questions-
1) In the trunk there is a cargo net, but I have no idea where its suppose to connect to at the 4 points? If you know show me a photo?
2) Under the hood at the top near the windshield are what appear to be 2 vents, what are they for? I may have accidently got water in one when I was washing the car...

Thanks again,