WTF Utah?

[JeremyP]

I hope the nevi sites get completed after the recent funding freezes. I was excited to learn there's one planned for Thompson springs so if we tow our trailer out to camp north of Moab we won't need to detour into Moab or Green River to top up before going home again. It still would be great to see a fast charger in Hanksville, Boulder or Escalante but at least there's a number of L2 options in Escalante which allowed us to do our trip to southern Utah over New years.
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...thern-utah-slot-canyons-over-new-years.38519/

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[azbill]

I'm sorry to break it to you, but this is just more proof that Colorado is better than Utah. ?‍

Arizona is even better, check the map.

 

[SpikeyMikey]

I see you’ve been out to the Maze. I’m considering swapping my Tacoma for a Rivian and am concerned about infrastructure and range to get out to the Maze. Have you taken yours out into the Land of Standing Rocks as far as Doll House?

I plan to attempt exactly that Sep 20-22, and will post here what my experience was. I haven't found anything online anywhere of any R1 owners doing this.

I plan to charge fully in Green River, top up to at least 95% in Hanksville while grabbing a bite, and then take the Poison Springs Wash Rd route all the way to Doll House (<80 miles). I'm guessing that the 160-mile roundtrip would likely burn at least 200 miles of range, possibly as much as 250, especially if it's wet (though I've never had fuel efficiency even close to that bad, even when doing lots of off-roading). So worst case that leaves at least a 50-mile buffer, so we might actually have enough to get us back to Green River.

To add a small amt of additional buffer, I have a 2kwh portable battery, which will get me a few miles of range, and 300w of portable solar to recharge the 2kwh battery, so maybe a few more miles of range. Am thinking that at a minimum this should cover for the vampire drain.

If @Evergreendean or anyone else here has already done this, @cpm and I would love to hear about your experiences!

 

[cpm]

I plan to attempt exactly that Sep 20-22, and will post here what my experience was. I haven't found anything online anywhere of any R1 owners doing this.

I plan to charge fully in Green River, top up to at least 95% in Hanksville while grabbing a bite, and then take the Poison Springs Wash Rd route all the way to Doll House (<80 miles). I'm guessing that the 160-mile roundtrip would likely burn at least 200 miles of range, possibly as much as 250, especially if it's wet (though I've never had fuel efficiency even close to that bad, even when doing lots of off-roading). So worst case that leaves at least a 50-mile buffer, so we might actually have enough to get us back to Green River.

To add a small amt of additional buffer, I have a 2kwh portable battery, which will get me a few miles of range, and 300w of portable solar to recharge the 2kwh battery, so maybe a few more miles of range. Am thinking that at a minimum this should cover for the vampire drain.

If @Evergreendean or anyone else here has already done this, @cpm and I would love to hear about your experiences!

 

[cpm]

Sounds like a great trip, Spikey. We’ll be in the area earlier in Sept., but traveling by water this time, on the Green River
down Stillwater Canyon. We’ll end up right below the Doll House at Spanish Bottom. I hope all goes well with your trip. I’ll bet the R1 will cruise on that road.

 

[SpikeyMikey]

Sounds like a great trip, Spikey. We’ll be in the area earlier in Sept., but traveling by water this time, on the Green River
down Stillwater Canyon. We’ll end up right below the Doll House at Spanish Bottom. I hope all goes well with your trip. I’ll bet the R1 will cruise on that road.

Oh cool, enjoy! My son and I plan to hike down to Spanish Bottom from Doll House. A river-rafting excursion down the Green/Colorado Rivers is on my list!

 

[Evergreendean]

I plan to attempt exactly that Sep 20-22, and will post here what my experience was. I haven't found anything online anywhere of any R1 owners doing this.

I plan to charge fully in Green River, top up to at least 95% in Hanksville while grabbing a bite, and then take the Poison Springs Wash Rd route all the way to Doll House (<80 miles). I'm guessing that the 160-mile roundtrip would likely burn at least 200 miles of range, possibly as much as 250, especially if it's wet (though I've never had fuel efficiency even close to that bad, even when doing lots of off-roading). So worst case that leaves at least a 50-mile buffer, so we might actually have enough to get us back to Green River.

To add a small amt of additional buffer, I have a 2kwh portable battery, which will get me a few miles of range, and 300w of portable solar to recharge the 2kwh battery, so maybe a few more miles of range. Am thinking that at a minimum this should cover for the vampire drain.

If @Evergreendean or anyone else here has already done this, @cpm and I would love to hear about your experiences!

I have not been out into the Maze. I went as far as High Spur after leaving Boulder (UT) at 100% charge, and went to GR to top off. Mistake: I took the Lower San Rafael Rd for a more direct route to Hans Flat and that road ate battery. I would have been better off staying on Hwy 24 for range purposes I believe. When returning, I gamble by turning left on Hwy 24 north of Hanksville and trying to get home on my remaining charge. Arriving in Torrey with 5%, I had to eat a bad steak and sit on a level 2 Tesla charger for an hour to have enough to get up Boulder Mtn. All other ventures into the Swell, North Wash, Robbers Roost etc now have either a few hours in Hanksville or out of the way Green River top offs to get home. If O simply don’t use the truck once I arrive in these places, that might be different. Problem is I am camping and canyoneering so I want to use my outlets for the espresso machine, lights, hot plate etc and I end up burning 7-10% per day while I’m out there. Again a level 3 in Hanksville would aalleviate all of this I believe. It’s long overdue. (Jeremy…what gives? You listening?)

 

[SpikeyMikey]

I have not been out into the Maze. I went as far as High Spur after leaving Boulder (UT) at 100% charge, and went to GR to top off. Mistake: I took the Lower San Rafael Rd for a more direct route to Hans Flat and that road ate battery. I would have been better off staying on Hwy 24 for range purposes I believe. When returning, I gamble by turning left on Hwy 24 north of Hanksville and trying to get home on my remaining charge. Arriving in Torrey with 5%, I had to eat a bad steak and sit on a level 2 Tesla charger for an hour to have enough to get up Boulder Mtn. All other ventures into the Swell, North Wash, Robbers Roost etc now have either a few hours in Hanksville or out of the way Green River top offs to get home. If O simply don’t use the truck once I arrive in these places, that might be different. Problem is I am camping and canyoneering so I want to use my outlets for the espresso machine, lights, hot plate etc and I end up burning 7-10% per day while I’m out there. Again a level 3 in Hanksville would aalleviate all of this I believe. It’s long overdue. (Jeremy…what gives? You listening?)

Makes sense, Dean. Not sure if a portable battery w/solar is a worthwhile investment for you, but happy to chat about options there if helpful. I went high-capacity and high-$$, but there may be adequate lower-cost options that get you over the hump.

BTW, I just learned yesterday that the "Tesla only" charger in Green River is now open to non-Tesla EVs (Plugshare still marks it as Tesla only, even though there are non-Tesla check-ins posted there); also, right next door to that Rivian is installing a RAN. So I agree that Hanksville would have been a far better RAN location, but I guess I'll take having multiple options in Green River vs just the EA at Green River Coffee.

 

[BigSkies]

Makes sense, Dean. Not sure if a portable battery w/solar is a worthwhile investment for you, but happy to chat about options there if helpful. I went high-capacity and high-$$, but there may be adequate lower-cost options that get you over the hump.

BTW, I just learned yesterday that the "Tesla only" charger in Green River is now open to non-Tesla EVs (Plugshare still marks it as Tesla only, even though there are non-Tesla check-ins posted there); also, right next door to that Rivian is installing a RAN. So I agree that Hanksville would have been a far better RAN location, but I guess I'll take having multiple options in Green River vs just the EA at Green River Coffee.

Tesla has their "vote on Superchargers" process, and Hanksville came up for the first time in the last round. A few useful Wyoming locations came up too.

Hanksville is currently ranked 25 out of 600, so I think this will put it pretty high on Tesla's priority list.

I'm also happy to see the Ivie Creek Rest Area charger now open. It will give a lot of flexibility on I-70, and hopefully reduce congestion in Green River.

 

[cpm]

Tesla has their "vote on Superchargers" process, and Hanksville came up for the first time in the last round. A few useful Wyoming locations came up too.

Hanksville is currently ranked 25 out of 600, so I think this will put it pretty high on Tesla's priority list.

I'm also happy to see the Ivie Creek Rest Area charger now open. It will give a lot of flexibility on I-70, and hopefully reduce congestion in Green River.

That Ivie Creek EA station is great! And what a perfect location. Hanksville is still the place we really need.

 

[Erik+]

That Ivie Creek EA station is great! And what a perfect location. Hanksville is still the place we really need.

You can charge at Duke's in Hanksville if you really need to on their RV plugs.

 

[JeremyP]

I plan to attempt exactly that Sep 20-22, and will post here what my experience was. I haven't found anything online anywhere of any R1 owners doing this.

I plan to charge fully in Green River, top up to at least 95% in Hanksville while grabbing a bite, and then take the Poison Springs Wash Rd route all the way to Doll House (<80 miles). I'm guessing that the 160-mile roundtrip would likely burn at least 200 miles of range, possibly as much as 250, especially if it's wet (though I've never had fuel efficiency even close to that bad, even when doing lots of off-roading). So worst case that leaves at least a 50-mile buffer, so we might actually have enough to get us back to Green River.

To add a small amt of additional buffer, I have a 2kwh portable battery, which will get me a few miles of range, and 300w of portable solar to recharge the 2kwh battery, so maybe a few more miles of range. Am thinking that at a minimum this should cover for the vampire drain.

If @Evergreendean or anyone else here has already done this, @cpm and I would love to hear about your experiences!

We went to the dollhouse three years ago, but in my 4runner, not the Rivian. Ironically my 12 volt battery died at the dollhouse 3 campsite with no one in the nearby sites! Luckily a ranger came by and was able to jump start us. We didn't take poison springs road but came in on the main dirt road to Hans flat, which was mostly smooth and fast. We took the south way out to Hite, which was long.

What battery pack do you have and which sites are you camping at?

 

[SpikeyMikey]

We went to the dollhouse three years ago, but in my 4runner, not the Rivian. Ironically my 12 volt battery died at the dollhouse 3 campsite with no one in the nearby sites! Luckily a ranger came by and was able to jump start us. We didn't take poison springs road but came in on the main dirt road to Hans flat, which was mostly smooth and fast. We took the south way out to Hite, which was long.

What battery pack do you have and which sites are you camping at?

Same thing happened to me a few years ago while camping somewhere remote (also in an ICE vehicle)...had to wait an extra day before a fellow camper showed up and jumped us. I'm self-employed, so there was no boss to get berated by, but I did lose a few hundred dollars of billable revenue, and had some explaining to do with that client. I now bring a charged jump box everywhere I go

I have the 135kwh pack. We're reserved for Doll House 3 the first night, and Standing Rock the second night (snagged the final campsite at each when reserving on Aug 21).

On a related note, I took advantage of a Labor Day sale and bought a 3kwh Jackery and a 500W portable solar panel. So now will have a total of 5kwh worth of portable battery and 860W of solar. Lots more remote getaways on the docket!

 

[JeremyP]

It will be interesting to see how much range you can add with the batteries. Looks like the jackery has a 30 amp rv plug; do you have the EV adapter plug for it? The BLM or NPS might be able to tell you the current conditions of poison spring road; I did see that the flow rate of the dirty devil River spiked a few days ago so the road may be bad, or maybe it will be freshly graded!

 

[VSG]

BTW, I just learned yesterday that the "Tesla only" charger in Green River is now open to non-Tesla EVs (Plugshare still marks it as Tesla only, even though there are non-Tesla check-ins posted there)

Actually, the old Tesla-only charger is still Tesla-only, and it always will be (it's a V2 charger).

But there's a new Tesla V4 charger that just opened across the river. That one is open to Rivians.

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