First long voyage charging advice needed

[TheFlyingDutchman]

Hey gang

Long time lurker. Picking up Rivian R1S Tuesday and then on Friday headed to Kiawah Island, SC from Atlanta, GA.

general advice on charging would be greatly appreciated. I also would like to spend the least amount of time charging on the road, which I understand can be done at certain chargers, with higher fees.

Is the Tesla super chargers with magic dock the way to go? Can Rivian find Tesla SC w/ magic dock? Is there an adapter I can purchase to speed things along at other chargers?

Take it easy on the new guy! Thanks!

Flying Dutch

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[mikehmb]

Welcome! I haven’t driven through your particular neck of the woods, but here’s some best practices that’ll hopefully simplify your life based on feedback from the good people of the forums.

1) Check for Magic Dock locations - they are not universal at every Tesla SC. If it’s available near you, awesome, but last I looked it was in clusters in NY, a couple in CA, and then sprinkled throughout the west but sparse. That may have changed.
2) Download All The Charging Network Apps. I have EVGo, Electrify America, Chargepoint, Shell, EV Connect, Chargeway
3) Get ABRP and Plugshare so you’re familiar with chargers along your route

Also, the RIvian nav range estimator tends to run conservative so you don’t end up running out of juice before your destination. Many (myself included) find that it’s too conservative, and I can often blow past charging stops, but that’s not a strategy for success unless you really know you can make it.

 

[mikehmb]

Oh - and far as adapters go, you may want to get an L2 Tesla -> CCS adapter for destination charging, but do not get a claimed high speed Tesla (NACS) -> CCS adapter. It’s a waste of money as it’s unsupported AND Rivian will be shipping us one when the Tesla network is actually ready … purportedly in 2024.

 

[TheFlyingDutchman]

Oh - and far as adapters go, you may want to get an L2 Tesla -> CCS adapter for destination charging, but do not get a claimed high speed Tesla (NACS) -> CCS adapter. It’s a waste of money as it’s unsupported AND Rivian will be shipping us one when the Tesla network is actually ready … purportedly in 2024.

Mike, you are the man. Thank you for this info! What does the L2 Tesla-> CCS adaptor do/allow for?

 

[Marchin_MTB]

Welcome! You will want feedback from people in that area so they can comment on specific chargers they know to work well. Ideally someone will chime in on that route specifically. When planning my trip to Texas, forum members were extremely helpful. In addition to that, pre-plan your charging stops using ABRP and the Rivian app and check out the nominal chargers on PlugShare to make sure you haven’t included any duds.

I like to make sure that I always have a backup charger in mind if the nominal choice fails for whatever reason. I rarely have to use the backup but knowing about it reduces the stress. Sometimes the backup is to have margin going into an isolated DCFC and slowing down to skip it and eke it out to the next one. Absolute worst case backup is an L2 at an overnight hotel.

If there are Magic Dock locations (Tesla) on your route, I would recommend them, the reliability is good but you’ll have to park funny to get the cable to reach.

when using ABRP, you can have it select for trips with shorter charging times vs having less stops overall. The fastest charging is below 80% but there are situations where you just really need/want that extra 20%.

Have a great trip.

 

[mikehmb]

Mike, you are the man. Thank you for this info! What does the L2 Tesla-> CCS adaptor do/allow for?

Apologies, I meant the NACS -> J1772 (which is the low-current charger like you’d have at your house, or the kind you find at a hotel/etc).

A company called Teslatap (I think?) makes one that people here seem to like a lot.

NACS = Tesla (both DC fast charge and Level 2 low-current)
J1772 = this thing, but low-current only:

 

[KBabione]

Welcome - you'll love your R1S. This was our first EV as well and we experienced some angst on our first trip that required charging in route. In your case you have it made...There are RAN (Rivian Adventure Network) chargers in Augusta, right off I-20! A quick look at ABRP has you stopping at the RAN chargers for a 33-minute charge and you'll get to Kiawah Island with around 10% charge.

The bigger question is this: Is there a charger where you're staying on the island? If the answer is "no" you may need to charge a little more in Augusta. You'll have the portable charger that comes with your Rivian and it will add around 2 miles to your battery for each hour you're able to have it plugged in. I know that sounds like it's not worth it, but if you're there for a couple of days it adds up quickly. You'll want to get the charge back up to around 90% before beginning your drive back to Atlanta (via Augusta again).

 

[Ingo B]

Read through other members' road trips. They may have gone to different places, but concepts are pretty similar.

 

[ksurfier]

At a glance, you will want to go to 2 Electrify America stations (first in Grovetown 133 miles from Atlanta, second in Walterboro 112 miles from Grovetown). You could use the Rivian station in Augusta instead of Grovetown, only 5 miles away (as pointed out above). Make sure to setup your Electrify America app first, also don't plug in until you verify charge is activated, seen issues with that...

No Tesla chargers on the way, would have to go to Columbia adding 50 miles to your trip...

There aren't any EVgo as far as I can tell...

Drive time of almost 6 hours depending on traffic, should only be around 30 minutes at each charger (best if you charge to ~75% or so, beyond that is a waste of time unless you really need the range which looks like you wont)....good luck!

Total trip looks like 6.5 - 7.0 hours including charge time and depending on traffic...

 

[Lisa & Bob]

Use Plug Share app for scoping out chargers along the way.

 

[COdogman]

You got this!

Do a forum search for titles with “trip report” and you will find tons of very well written and documented info on road tripping in your Rivian. It may not be the route you plan on traveling but it will give you an idea of the planning required and tips on how to handle the inevitable SNAFUs that pop up.

As others have said, make sure you have all the EV charging apps on your phone and I would even recommend setting up payment for the ones you will see on your trip. Use ABRP to plot out your trip stops, check their status in Plugshare, and use the Rivian navigation to travel only from stop to stop.

 

[BCondrey]

315 miles, with a RAN charger (Agusta, GA) 112 miles in. Sweet. You could probably do it with one stop, but being your first trip I would plan for two stops.

Abetterrouteplanner.com says stop in Agusta, GA at the RAN charger, then hit the EA in Waterboro SC. Depending on how much charge you want to arrive with, you may want to get a good charge there at the EA. Download the plugshare app. Get an account on abetterrouteplanner.com. You will be fine.

 

[Deacon]

Hey gang

Long time lurker. Picking up Rivian R1S Tuesday and then on Friday headed to Kiawah Island, SC from Atlanta, GA.

general advice on charging would be greatly appreciated. I also would like to spend the least amount of time charging on the road, which I understand can be done at certain chargers, with higher fees.

Is the Tesla super chargers with magic dock the way to go? Can Rivian find Tesla SC w/ magic dock? Is there an adapter I can purchase to speed things along at other chargers?

Take it easy on the new guy! Thanks!

Flying Dutch

You should be good getting there. Note: there is an Electricfy America charger in North Charleston - no other fast chargers in the area. Make sure you have a place to charge while on Kiawah - I am not aware of any public chargers at Kiawah. If you are staying somewhere for the week you may want to consider plugging into a 110 outlet (or 220 if available) while you are parked at the place you are staying. If there is a 220 where you are staying you will need to make sure you have the correct adapter plug - your portable charger probably will not fit a standard dryer outlet. I plugged into a 110 outlet last fall at the beach and it kept me charged for the week. It's slow but works if you are not doing much driving.

 

[ads75]

When using plugshare.com for reviews, try to read some of the more recent reviews. I did a trip in November, and one EA site had great reviews (9.0 rating, and 6x150kw chargers, sounded great). When I got there, half of them were broken, I waited a little over 30 minutes just to plug in because of the line. Some users will make comments on the number of broken chargers when they check in on plugshare.

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