anyone ever do Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo?

[caSteve]

Just curious if anyone here has experience with the same journey. I'm thinking of doing the reverse (San Luis Obispo to LA) and wondered how or if I could pull it off. I've been looking at plugshare to see what's available. The trip is about 200 miles, and the car is a 2015 with still rather spry battery. I'm suppose it will mean 3 full recharges.

This is really only a one-time journey, and I'm wondering if shipping or towing the car on rental equipment might be cheaper. I mean, it seems like it could be cheaper than four days of my time and three nights at hotels.

 

[jjeff]

.... I mean, it seems like it could be cheaper than four days of my time and three nights at hotels.

Wow, when you put it that way it really sounds terrible I mean when I drive cross country with my ICE I like to do 500 miles in just one day, couldn't imagine 4+ days and then as you said, hotels. You'd really be a good candidate for QC station, in and out in 30 minutes for a 80% charge which sounds like in your case might add close to 80 miles. Are there any QC stations in your route? Even a decent 27a level 2 charge is going to take you close to 4hrs, do that 3 times and you've added 12hrs to your journey
Luckily most of my Leaf usage is in town, the one time I really took it past the point of no return was a 90 mile summer trip to the country where I was able to bring my portable level 2 EVSE and recharge at my friends welder outlet for 4hrs while visiting and I was good to go back home. In your case, unless you can find level 3 chargers along the way or have all the time in the world, I'd really look into renting something to tow it yourself. That is if you have access to a vehicle that could tow the Leaf.
I feel your pain, in your case it would sure be handy to have something like a Bolt(or of course Tesla) where you could do the entire one way in one charge, recharge via a 8?? hr(or over night) level 2 charger and be on your way back home.
Hopefully someone else has a line on QC chargers along your route, trying to do it on level 2 chargers really seems like a undertaking, again unless you have a lot of time and money for hotels.

 

[LeafMuranoDriver]

I've done some research on it in the past. Plugshare will be your best friend.

Why would it take 3 nights and 4 days? Or are you trying to make it slow? You should be able to make the drive with QC's in 1 single day, 2 days if you want to go a little slower with 1 or 2 L2 charges.

You can take the 101 for most of the drive and I'd suggest going through Solvang.

San Luis Obispo has an EVgo QC which you may not need if you can charge at home there. There are some L2's in Santa Maria.

If you go through Solvang, there is an EVgo QC that I've visited a few times. You should be able to charge there and make it to Santa Barbara which now has 2 different EVgo QC locations.

Then there is an EVgo QC in Ventura and 2 QC's in Camarillo. Thousand Oaks mall has an EVgo QC. Canoga Park has an EVgo QC. Then you get into LA and there are many there.

 

[TonyWilliams]

This is pathetically easy to do, *if* you have a CHAdeMO port.

I just drove (with a Toyota RAV4 EV) from Sacramento to San Diego today (through San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles). There are not only enough chargers, but all the needed locations have multiples of chargers:

San Luis O - two CHAdeMO chargers
Buellton / Solvang - three CHAdeMO chargers
Santa Barbara / Goleta - at least four CHAdeMO chargers
Oxnard / Camarillo - at least four CHAdeMO chargers
Los Angeles / Thousand Oaks - oodles of CHAdeMO chargers

 

[abasile]

Even without a CHAdeMO port, this can very comfortably be done in two days. This was our experience back in April 2012, before the proliferation of CHAdeMO stations and with a newish battery. We particularly enjoyed one night of camping at Faria Beach Park, with RV spots (and hence overnight charging) right next to the beach, up the coast from Ventura. The caveat is that it's first come, first served. To extend range during the two days, one can find botanic gardens, museums, shopping, beaches, etc. within walking distance of charging. Totally doable with a relaxed attitude.

 

[paulgipe]

Agree with Tony and the others. I don't see any problem doing this in one day.

Study the advice here, study plugshare, study the route and as Tony says, "plan the drive, and drive the plan."

We just did Bakersfield to Palm Springs in one day and PS to BFL in one day and that's 250 miles each way. The route you're choosing is much, much easier.

Paul