248 mile leg on 20 AT?

[Joe schmoe]

I’m on day 5 of R1S ownership, on the factory 20” AT wheel/tire setup.

The first day was driving 800 or so miles home, with strong headwinds, cold temps and heavy rain. Maximum realistic range in those conditions was probably 230-240 miles.

I have a trip I’d like to make from Memphis to Destin, FL. It’s trip I make several times a year, usually in an ICE vehicle. My Tesla can make it easily, but the ICE car shaves a couple of hours off for charging.

The R1S has -much- more room than the Tesla, which is roomier than our ICE Vehicle, and we’ll have a load for this trip so I’d like to take the Rivian.

The problem is the first leg from Memphis through Birmingham. It’s 248 miles to a Walmart/
CCS in Alabaster, AL. The rest of the trip has shorter legs.

There is (maybe) a two station fast charger at 236 miles, but less info available about it.
a KIA dealer in Tupelo, MS (roughly halfway) has a CCS charger, but is only available during weekday business hours. I called them about access returning on Sunday and the answer was a hard “no.” The only other options are wall plugs or very slow level 2 chargers.

Weather should be good, and the route is mostly flat, 4 lane interstate highway in excellent condition. Temps this time of year typically 60s to 70s

I wouldn’t attempt it in my 8 year old model S (265 miles nominal range) if I had to use the CCS, although there are plenty of superchargers.

Am I being too ambitious in planning this, or would those who have more experience feel comfortable?

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[Dark-Fx]

Doable, but the return trip might be harder since you have to charge to such a high level.

 

[Kuro-Rivian]

I think you'll make it no problem. Find a couple semis along the way and draft!

 

[DaveA]

68 mph and conserve mode in lowest ride height. Should make easily.

 

[mikehmb]

Speed kills … your range. I haven’t done extensive measurements of range impact by speed, but my truck clearly takes a hit over 75mph, and sweet spot seems to be at 65 or even 60 for maximum range without getting out to walk. Headwinds drop that number linearly.

 

[JJE]

I agree - you should be fine. I drove from DC to Long Island about six weeks ago in cooler weather in my 20ATs in one shot and had no trouble. That was 240 miles. If you keep your speed to 65 mph or thereabouts you should have no trouble getting 300 mile range.

The key is keeping your speed down (as someone mentioned) and in Conserve. I also saw a significant improvement in efficiency by setting the Driver + and following a tractor trailer at what the car considered a safe distance. It improved efficiency by 10-15%.

 

[Smithery]

I have an R1T with 21"s so I don't have ownership experience on this.
But a buddy from work has an R1S with 20"s, and I've been on a longer road trip with him.

We needed to go 202mi and had no truly convenient DCFC along the route.
Conserve mode and cruise set to 63 - We used only "185mi of range" to go 202mi.

You should be fine as long as you have self control with the go pedal.

 

[Joe schmoe]

I appreciate the responses (and still eager for more if you have experience)

I have no feel yet for the accuracy of the “guessometer.” Right now, it estimates 217 miles at 70%, which would translate to 310 at 100%.

On the trip from Detroit, it was wildly optimistic, by at least 15% on most legs, but that was in heavy rain and heavy headwinds.

my 2015 Tesla 85D rarely achieves “rated“ range. The trip graph though is accurate to a bit pessimistic. I really like Tesla’s graph with the predicted comsumption overlaid with actual. You can adjust your speed to stay at or above the line with great confidence. I typically start a long leg predicting 8-10% at destination, and almost always have more when I actually arrive.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I appreciate the responses (and still eager for more if you have experience)

I have no feel yet for the accuracy of the “guessometer.” Right now, it estimates 217 miles at 70%, which would translate to 310 at 100%.

On the trip from Detroit, it was wildly optimistic, by at least 15% on most legs, but that was in heavy rain and heavy headwinds.

For what it's worth, we went on a trip last wednesday where the truck's navigation estimated we'd get to the next station from a 100% charge at "68 miles" left. We got there 180 miles later with 71 left doing 10 over the entire time (which is typically what I drive). Freezing temps out, and half of that trip was 85 mph.

 

[SDH]

Speed kills … your range. I haven’t done extensive measurements of range impact by speed, but my truck clearly takes a hit over 75mph, and sweet spot seems to be at 65 or even 60 for maximum range without getting out to walk. Headwinds drop that number linearly.

This ^

 

[CrazyOne]

Nav has been accurate for me. It even takes elevation change into account. Atleast, it did when I drove from Seattle to Leavenworth.

At a point in the drive I had about 20 odd miles to go, but try the range at destination was the same as I had at that point. Turned out, the nav was taking the downhill part into account and was spot on.

 

[Joe schmoe]

That’s exactly the type of feedback I’m looking for, thanks.

 

[rodhx]

BHM-MEM would be so easy if Tupelo & TVA would ever actually install the "coming s00n" level 3 that's been on Plugshare approaching two years.

To echo what someone else said the return trip may be the bigger challenge. The alternative route is considerably out of the way via the EA station in Athens AL.

The State funding program for charger development clearly had no one experienced with actual EV travel help with the planning. I-22 is a perfect place for a few of those 62kW Chargepoint units that have been slowly scattered around in some strange and less-than-useful locations.

 

[Ralph]

I've been looking at going from Memphis to Florida and have had the same concern about the Memphis to Birmingham leg. I've been particularly concerned about the return trip as prevailing winds would likely be opposing. And spring brings plenty thunderstorms, rain, etc. to the area.

One option I've considered is going from Memphis to Nashville and then south. That would add several hours to the trip. Not a good option at all.

So to get to FL from Memphis I believe I'm going to go south to Jackson, MS (209 miles) where there is a charger at a mall. @Wowme22 has traveled this leg and counsels to charge in Memphis to at least 90% and keep speeds down. And he was on 21" tires. I'm on 22".

Plugshare shows another R1T to have checked in at Jackson Feb 23, getting 80kw.

From Jackson to Covington, La is a little over 150 miles. From there coverage looks good along I10 East to FL.

 

[miasm]

This isn't your first EV, so I imagine you know most of the tricks and gotchas, so I think that you'll be fine.

I just did a 210 mile leg (with up and down hills, lots of cross wind), and went 78 the whole way. Nav said I'd hit the destination with 88, got there with 78. It always seems to lose about 10 miles for me on that trip; probably the winds.

There's a 230 mile trip that lots of people in our local group do often, and that includes lots of elevation change. They might arrive with some white knuckles on a day with lots of wind, but always make it.

The nice thing is that the Rivian is a true 300-mile rated. So, anything under 275 is likely not *too* challenging as long as you've pre-planned it well.

That means, being truly at 100%, having heated / cooled the cabin while on the charger, putting it in conserve mode, use the heated seats / steering wheel the most, managing speed, and watching the guess-ometer. If it's really dropping too fast (I usually see about a 5-10 miles drop and then recovery), then adjust speed / find someone to follow.

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