Thanksgiving Travel 2023: DC Charging Thread

[izgoy]

The US Department of Transportation Secretary has just said that this Thanksgiving travel will be the busiest in years.

How is your Thanksgiving DC charging experience in 2023? Please share your stories here.

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[Khaneric]

Guess I'll find out tomorrow LA to Phoenix.

Thankfully the Quartzsite RAN is in action, was hoping San Bernardino would be as well but guess not.

With my luck it will open one week after I return just like Vegas did.

 

[KingTodd]

Good idea to start this thread. I’m very curious how it turns out.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

Traveled from Northern Colorado to Central Texas. Mostly EA and one Tesla SUC. Lamar CO (Tesla), Amarillo, Sweetwater, Junction. Used EA in Seguin for a side trip. All chargers provided advertised rates. Didn’t have to move stalls. Smooth sailing so far.

Hoping it’s similar on the way back up this Friday. Temperatures will be dropping.

Good luck and stay safe out there everyone!

 

[jeeden]

Great thread idea. I'm interested to hear stories (good and bad) even though I'm not going anywhere. I am worried there are going to be some really bad stories out there the media will use as part of the recently news cycle that seems very anti EV lately.

 

[PeterSK]

Driving tomorrow from Boston northwest through NH and VT to get a ferry across Lake Champlain to a family home on the NY side. Over a decade doing this trip in Teslas, a few times I found myself delayed and pinched between charging time and making the last ferry of the day - I even requested and plugged in to a 120v plug on the 25 min ferry to pick up a critical extra mile or two in my Model S one early year before there were Superchargers on the route. After lots of warnings the car hit zero a couple miles from the house, but I was able to plug in at a shared barn a mile away.

I'm having the youngest skip her half day of school and we're leaving in the morning tomorrow, because I'm afraid there will be a line at the one decent DC charger at the drive's halfway point - and don't want to be charging on the ferry again!

 

[Friar_J]

We drove from the SF Bay Area to SoCal yesterday (415 miles total). Charged to 100% at home before leaving in the morning. Made a single stop at the Buttonwillow RAN around noon where 5 of 9 chargers were available when we arrived. It was my first time using a RAN charger and it was flawless. We added 88 kWh in 53 minutes while we had lunch. It felt much more convenient than the last time we took this trip on a non-holiday weekend using EA chargers. Not looking forward to when RAN chargers open to everyone.

Hopefully the return trip on Friday is as easy.

 

[Redline]

We're going from Minneapolis to Fargo this week.....Temps aren't looking great. Not sure if my in-laws will move out of their heated garage so I can plug in the mobile charger or not, so I'm trying to arrive in Fargo with a decent charge. The DC charging situation in Fargo doesn't exist. I do have two magic docs in between which is great though.

 

[Riv_Goat]

Started our trip from StL to Knoxville TN area today after work. 550 mile trip that we could do in one day, but decided to break it up to avoid some of the day before Thanksgiving chaos and I was most worried about charging in/near Nashville, which looks pretty bad based on PlugShare reviews. Doing the trip in 2 days makes it pretty easy with each day being about 4-5 hours depending on how long we stop.

At the hotel about halfway right now in Clarksville TN. Traveling with our dog and found a nice Hilton property with about 10-12 L2 chargers (combination Tesla and J-1772) that is also dog friendly.

Made one stop today/tonight at the Tesla Magic Dock in Marion IL. Went very smoothly other than waiting about 5 minutes for a spot to open up that had a free one next to it. With the location of the R1S charge port, unfortunately there’s only one spot on the end that you can park in (perpendicular) without blocking an additional space. That spot was already taken by a model S. . . The station wasn’t too busy, so after a PHEV Pacifica pulled out, we could charge while blocking the spot next to us, but only 3 out of 8 spots were occupied at that point. I still feel bad about blocking an additional spot, but I guess that’s the deal until Tesla either centers the charges in the spot and/or installs longer cables.

Tomorrow we’ll hit the new Rivian Charger in Cookeville TN and then another stop just west of Knoxville at a new Flying-J so we can arrive at the house of family we’re visiting with around 50% SoC where the R1S will sit uncharged until Saturday when we’ll drive home.

 

[Skeldog99]

Starting the trip at 4am from Annapolis MD to Augusta Ga. I will be heading down the blue ridge route. Stay safe all

 

[COdogman]

Don’t they say every year the upcoming holiday will be the ”busiest ever”? ?

I don’t take holidays with everyone else because we are taking care of everyone’s dogs while they travel.

Still a great thread. Good luck out there everyone!

 

[Kärsti]

Southwest VA to New England, ~700 miles with 0 issues. 3 charges (1 short 14kWh EA charge in Stephens City VA,, 90kWh RAN in Hagerstown MD, 88Kwh Tesla Magic Dock in Red Hook NY). I was very happy with the efficiency, 2.28 mi/kWh, with average speed of 66 mph (some long stins at 75-80 mph) over the 700 miles on the 20" AT tires. 75% conserve only on interstate rest was all purpose on secondary roads. Temps ranged from 29-42 F.

Much more enjoyable than traveling in an ICE vehicle.

 

[Lisa & Bob]

San Diego to Escalante, Utah on Tuesday 650 miles mostly on I-15. Used Conserve mode on the freeway. The added range (efficiency) is appreciated out here in the West. The last seventy miles are through Byrce Canyon National Park and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.Stopped at RANs in Barstow and Las Vegas. Fast charge, no wait, I was impressed with both locations.

 

[izgoy]

The fun is starting about now.

 

[manitou202]

Colorado Springs to Phoenix. No issues, no waiting, no problems paying. Only changed stalls once because it was limited to 90kW. Was able to reach expected charging speeds every time.

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