jplblue
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- John
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2021
- Threads
- 14
- Messages
- 343
- Reaction score
- 788
- Location
- Upstate NY
- Vehicles
- 2003 Honda Element
- Thread starter
- #1
TLDR:
When we got the Rivian, our hope was that it would serve as the "do-it-all" vehicle for the family. That means shuttling kids to school, Costco runs, visits to family, etc. but also dispersed camping excursions and extended road trips. We'd been happy with our previous vehicle (a 2003 Honda Element) but it was getting small for our growing boys and, after driving across the country with the check engine light on, we wanted something more reliable. So far, the R1S has been a great replacement.
We'd taken the R1S on long weekend trips before, but this would be the longest to date, with more variables to account for. In all, we would travel 2,333 miles over 11 days through 8 states, from sea level to 3,700 ft., and encounter sub-freezing temps., torrential rain, and snow flurries along the way.
The first leg of our trip was from the NYC metro area to Hersey, PA, where we stayed at a hotel in preparation for the start of the "real" trip. After picking up the kids from school, we headed to PA and arrived without much issue. We stopped in Allentown to charge at EVgo since PlugShare showed that the nearby EA station was full. Autocharge+ worked fine and we charged enough to get us to the next fast charger (Hagerstown, MD) since the hotel did not have a charger.
We started the next day with a quick stop at the Hersey's Chocolate Factory, then headed to Shenandoah. We comfortably made it from the Allentown EVgo to the Hagerstown RAN, but it was annoying that 3 of the 6 stalls were iced. We did see another Rivian charging, which is always nice. After Hagerstown, we topped off at the Front Royal RAN, then headed to check out Skyline Drive and do a hike in the national park. We then pulled into the Shenandoah River State Park, where we made camp and charged for the next leg.
The next leg was the longest in terms of distance (450mi) but we were able to use 3 RANs (Roanoke, Meadows of Dan, Charlotte), all of which worked great. Saw a few other Rivians at each location when we arrived. We only did a small section of the Blue Ridge Parkway due to ignorance/laziness/lack of planning. If we were to do it again, I'd definitely make an effort to do the entire section from the Waynesboro RAN to at least the Meadows of Dan RAN. Our stop for the night was Sesquicentennial State Park in SC, which had the first Waypoint charger we encountered. Looking at the RAN map, it seems that SC state parks are filled with Waypoint chargers -- lucky for the folks in SC!
We hung out at Sesqui for two nights, making our way to Congaree National Park then doing a moonlight bike ride on the second day of our stay.
We then headed to Hunting Island, SC where the skies opened up and the poured for a day and a half. That limited our excursion opportunities, but provided unforgettable atmospheric scenery during our time there. Hunting Island also had an awesome Waypoint charger right by the water, nature center, and hiking trails.
We had a nice encounter with a gentleman at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. He said one of his sons owned 2 Rivians and another owned one. Happy to hear that in SC.
We also did a day trip to Savanah, GA while in Hunting Island, before making our way back north.
Our leg north was as smooth as the one south. We made stops in Charlotte, where we checked out the Marvel exhibit, completed the hike at Natural Bridge, and saw more of Shenandoah before making a stop in PA to see family.
The Rivian handled everything without issue and gave us confidence for future trips in our electric vehicle.
A few misc. notes:
- Averaged 1.99 mi/kWh over 2,333 miles (round trip) averaging 47 mi/hr with temps from low 30s to high 60s; mostly on All-purpose, but did use conserve to stretch certain legs (although probably wasn't needed ultimately)
- Fast charging was smooth -- charged at (1) EVgo in Allentown, PA (twice); (2) RAN Hagerstown, MD (twice); (3) RAN, Front Royal, VA; (4) RAN, Roanoke, VA (twice); (5) RAN, Meadows of Dan, VA; (6) RAN, Charlotte, NC; and (7) Electrify America, Carlise, PA -- total ~$180
- The worse part was RAN Hagerstown being iced and RAN Charlotte having insane traffic (both due to last minute holiday shopping)
- Remainder of charging was at campsites with hook-ups and random level 2 chargers
- Couldn't be happier with how the Rivian handled the trip
When we got the Rivian, our hope was that it would serve as the "do-it-all" vehicle for the family. That means shuttling kids to school, Costco runs, visits to family, etc. but also dispersed camping excursions and extended road trips. We'd been happy with our previous vehicle (a 2003 Honda Element) but it was getting small for our growing boys and, after driving across the country with the check engine light on, we wanted something more reliable. So far, the R1S has been a great replacement.
We'd taken the R1S on long weekend trips before, but this would be the longest to date, with more variables to account for. In all, we would travel 2,333 miles over 11 days through 8 states, from sea level to 3,700 ft., and encounter sub-freezing temps., torrential rain, and snow flurries along the way.
The first leg of our trip was from the NYC metro area to Hersey, PA, where we stayed at a hotel in preparation for the start of the "real" trip. After picking up the kids from school, we headed to PA and arrived without much issue. We stopped in Allentown to charge at EVgo since PlugShare showed that the nearby EA station was full. Autocharge+ worked fine and we charged enough to get us to the next fast charger (Hagerstown, MD) since the hotel did not have a charger.
We started the next day with a quick stop at the Hersey's Chocolate Factory, then headed to Shenandoah. We comfortably made it from the Allentown EVgo to the Hagerstown RAN, but it was annoying that 3 of the 6 stalls were iced. We did see another Rivian charging, which is always nice. After Hagerstown, we topped off at the Front Royal RAN, then headed to check out Skyline Drive and do a hike in the national park. We then pulled into the Shenandoah River State Park, where we made camp and charged for the next leg.
The next leg was the longest in terms of distance (450mi) but we were able to use 3 RANs (Roanoke, Meadows of Dan, Charlotte), all of which worked great. Saw a few other Rivians at each location when we arrived. We only did a small section of the Blue Ridge Parkway due to ignorance/laziness/lack of planning. If we were to do it again, I'd definitely make an effort to do the entire section from the Waynesboro RAN to at least the Meadows of Dan RAN. Our stop for the night was Sesquicentennial State Park in SC, which had the first Waypoint charger we encountered. Looking at the RAN map, it seems that SC state parks are filled with Waypoint chargers -- lucky for the folks in SC!
We hung out at Sesqui for two nights, making our way to Congaree National Park then doing a moonlight bike ride on the second day of our stay.
We then headed to Hunting Island, SC where the skies opened up and the poured for a day and a half. That limited our excursion opportunities, but provided unforgettable atmospheric scenery during our time there. Hunting Island also had an awesome Waypoint charger right by the water, nature center, and hiking trails.
We had a nice encounter with a gentleman at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. He said one of his sons owned 2 Rivians and another owned one. Happy to hear that in SC.
We also did a day trip to Savanah, GA while in Hunting Island, before making our way back north.
Our leg north was as smooth as the one south. We made stops in Charlotte, where we checked out the Marvel exhibit, completed the hike at Natural Bridge, and saw more of Shenandoah before making a stop in PA to see family.
The Rivian handled everything without issue and gave us confidence for future trips in our electric vehicle.
A few misc. notes:
- If parameters permit, it's best to charge at 24 amps or less while using campsite plugs/pedestals. A couple of sites acted funny when we charged at higher current, and the issue seemed to go away when we reduced the amperage. We typically charged from 10-15% to 80-90% overnight depending on the need for the next day, and lower amperage was generally able to accomplish that.
- The MVP of the trip was our little space heater, which not only kept us warm on sub-freezing nights, but help dry things out after the rain and reduce condensation in the tent.
- Really happy about the ~2.00 mi/kWh efficiency in winter on a hilly trip. There were times when regen was limited, and it wasn't clear whether that was because of the battery temp. or sustained downhill.
- Driver+ was great for us on the interstate(s), except there were sections where it was unavailable for a few hundred feet. Really enjoyed the new lane change feature.
- Our roof top tent has 200W of solar, which we typically use to keep our 1500kWh power bank full. Due to the weather + winter, solar was not able to keep up with energy demand and we ran out towards the end of our trip. We'll probably experiment with leaving the power bank behind in future trips since plugging into the Rivian's 12v seemed to work OK and didn't really impact the vehicle's energy needs. We'll also try switching to an induction cooktop, since using gas when it's cold and windy is a pain.
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