shrink
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2021
- Threads
- 67
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- 1,062
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- Location
- Phoenix, AZ and Kailua-Kona, HI
- Vehicles
- '23 R1S (x2); '22 R1T; '14 Jeep Cherokee
- Thread starter
- #1
It's finally time to execute my long planned transport of my 2023 Quad Large Red Canyon R1S (affectionally named Pele 
) to the Big Island of Hawaii.
First, thanks to @domoplaytime for the trip report from Seattle to Maui a few months ago. Great notes. Learned a lot and I know it can be done successfully. I hope Pele's journey goes as smoothly.
I was hoping to write this upon successful transportation, but I'm instead going to document the legs and progress.
As @domoplaytime mentioned, shipping is via Matson. I'll be shipping from Long Beach, CA. There are some large annoyances with Matson, but there are no other options. Most notably:
- Charge level must be between 45% and 65% for an EV.
- There is a $300 EV surcharge!
It would be much more cost effective to pay the $1800 Rivian destination charge and take delivery directly in Hawaii, but there are reasons I did not do that and I'm comfortable with my decision (for now). I'll explain that later.
For anyone else planning to do this, I wanted to try to minimize idle time because of vampire drain, so I took a look at Matson's fleet and realized the Mokihana lists a capacity of 1323 autos (and 1994 TEU's whatever that means). So I looked up the sailing schedule and found the Mokihana is schedule to leave LA/Long Beach on Saturday, 1/20/2024:
I emailed Matson (they don't answer the phone) and they confirmed Mokihana is the correct vessel for auto transport and that the vehicle would have to be dropped off by Tuesday, 1/16/2024 @ 4pm to make the 1/20/2024 sailing. So that's the target drop off date. However, when I sought enclosed shipping quotes from Phoenix to the Matson Long Beach harbor, the quotes were outrageous - $2000 to $2850. I found that to be ridiculous for 400 miles of transport, so I'm driving it myself and with my work schedule, I hope to drop off by this Friday, 1/12/2024.
Some notes on that:
- Windshield cannot have any cracks or large chips, so I hope the drive goes smoothly. I literally just completed a drive from the LA area to Phoenix in an R1S a couple weeks ago and that went very quite well. I hope it goes well again.
- Vehicle must be clean inside and out; charge level must be between 45 and 65%; and drop off hours are from Monday to Friday from 8:00am – 11:30am, 1:00pm – 4:00pm.
- So there are a lot of moving parts. I have to find a car wash, get the charge level as close to 65% as possible, and have to work within their drop off hours. I think I have all that figured out, but we'll see if I can execute it. I'll be posting about the journey here.
As far as pick up, this is a moving target as well. Aside from potential weather factors, according to the schedule I posted above, the Mokihana is scheduled to arrive in Hilo on Tuesday, 1/30/2024. However, my booking sheet lists a 2nd vessel voyage on what I think is a Young Brothers auto transport ship and an estimated pick up of Monday, 2/5/2024. I'm guessing the vehicle will need to sit in Honolulu for a bit for inspection, then get loaded for transportation to Hilo. We shall see.
I have shipped 2 vehicles from the mainland to the Big Island previously. I think one took 21 days and the other 28 days. Again, we shall see.
Some questions for the community:
1) Any suggestions of minimizing vampire drain? This is my current plan and feedback is welcome:
- Shipping mode (of course)
- Service mode (because why not?)
- Data and Privacy - going to turn everything off
- I already dropped an AirTag in the car
- Turn off Hot Spot, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth (I know the latter two may come back on when a door opens)
- Turn off all Proximity Lock/Unlock
- Turn off Climate Control
- Turn off all Gear Guard Options
Any other suggestions?
2) If anyone from Hilo is reading this, what are the most reliable charging stations in the area? I know HECO has a 50 kW L3 that is hit and miss. Any other reliable L3 or even L2 charging stations? The Target L2's look decent per PlugShare. I don't mind killing time in Hilo if I have to. If all goes well, I'm guessing my SOC will be around 30% at pickup. I can take the South Point route back to Kona rather than Saddle Road. It's longer, but slower speeds. I know there's an L3 at Punalu'u in Naalehu, but I don't know how reliable that is. Does that parking lot lock after hours? I can also take the northern Hamakua Coast route into Waimea as well if there are reliable charging stations along the way. Again, suggestions would be helpful. I'd like to be around 50% SOC for some cushion to get all the way back.
Mucho aloha! Wish Pele and me some luck!
) to the Big Island of Hawaii. First, thanks to @domoplaytime for the trip report from Seattle to Maui a few months ago. Great notes. Learned a lot and I know it can be done successfully. I hope Pele's journey goes as smoothly.
I was hoping to write this upon successful transportation, but I'm instead going to document the legs and progress.
As @domoplaytime mentioned, shipping is via Matson. I'll be shipping from Long Beach, CA. There are some large annoyances with Matson, but there are no other options. Most notably:
- Charge level must be between 45% and 65% for an EV.
- There is a $300 EV surcharge!
It would be much more cost effective to pay the $1800 Rivian destination charge and take delivery directly in Hawaii, but there are reasons I did not do that and I'm comfortable with my decision (for now). I'll explain that later.
For anyone else planning to do this, I wanted to try to minimize idle time because of vampire drain, so I took a look at Matson's fleet and realized the Mokihana lists a capacity of 1323 autos (and 1994 TEU's whatever that means). So I looked up the sailing schedule and found the Mokihana is schedule to leave LA/Long Beach on Saturday, 1/20/2024:
I emailed Matson (they don't answer the phone) and they confirmed Mokihana is the correct vessel for auto transport and that the vehicle would have to be dropped off by Tuesday, 1/16/2024 @ 4pm to make the 1/20/2024 sailing. So that's the target drop off date. However, when I sought enclosed shipping quotes from Phoenix to the Matson Long Beach harbor, the quotes were outrageous - $2000 to $2850. I found that to be ridiculous for 400 miles of transport, so I'm driving it myself and with my work schedule, I hope to drop off by this Friday, 1/12/2024.
Some notes on that:
- Windshield cannot have any cracks or large chips, so I hope the drive goes smoothly. I literally just completed a drive from the LA area to Phoenix in an R1S a couple weeks ago and that went very quite well. I hope it goes well again.
- Vehicle must be clean inside and out; charge level must be between 45 and 65%; and drop off hours are from Monday to Friday from 8:00am – 11:30am, 1:00pm – 4:00pm.
- So there are a lot of moving parts. I have to find a car wash, get the charge level as close to 65% as possible, and have to work within their drop off hours. I think I have all that figured out, but we'll see if I can execute it. I'll be posting about the journey here.
As far as pick up, this is a moving target as well. Aside from potential weather factors, according to the schedule I posted above, the Mokihana is scheduled to arrive in Hilo on Tuesday, 1/30/2024. However, my booking sheet lists a 2nd vessel voyage on what I think is a Young Brothers auto transport ship and an estimated pick up of Monday, 2/5/2024. I'm guessing the vehicle will need to sit in Honolulu for a bit for inspection, then get loaded for transportation to Hilo. We shall see.
I have shipped 2 vehicles from the mainland to the Big Island previously. I think one took 21 days and the other 28 days. Again, we shall see.
Some questions for the community:
1) Any suggestions of minimizing vampire drain? This is my current plan and feedback is welcome:
- Shipping mode (of course)
- Service mode (because why not?)
- Data and Privacy - going to turn everything off
- I already dropped an AirTag in the car
- Turn off Hot Spot, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth (I know the latter two may come back on when a door opens)
- Turn off all Proximity Lock/Unlock
- Turn off Climate Control
- Turn off all Gear Guard Options
Any other suggestions?
2) If anyone from Hilo is reading this, what are the most reliable charging stations in the area? I know HECO has a 50 kW L3 that is hit and miss. Any other reliable L3 or even L2 charging stations? The Target L2's look decent per PlugShare. I don't mind killing time in Hilo if I have to. If all goes well, I'm guessing my SOC will be around 30% at pickup. I can take the South Point route back to Kona rather than Saddle Road. It's longer, but slower speeds. I know there's an L3 at Punalu'u in Naalehu, but I don't know how reliable that is. Does that parking lot lock after hours? I can also take the northern Hamakua Coast route into Waimea as well if there are reliable charging stations along the way. Again, suggestions would be helpful. I'd like to be around 50% SOC for some cushion to get all the way back.
Mucho aloha! Wish Pele and me some luck!
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That is what I am hoping and I agree that Hawaii should be an excellent EV area. Lots of sun, lots of solar, expensive gas, short trips. The Rivians should be perfect as you need 4WD for a lot of interesting places.
