Has anyone done San Jose to Napa?

[katieandbrian]

Hi All,

Newbie here. My wife and I want to test out a longer trip with QC stops. I want to see how annoying it is to wait for 30 minutes to refuel in a real-world, "vacation," type experience. I could care less about spending half my lunch charging as I do emails and eat anyways, but we want to see if it's a total bummer when our objective is to get to Napa for a nice weekend.

So, my question is: Upon first look, I think getting to the Concord Nissan QC will be relatively painless at 56 miles from my house. The rest of the trip to napa is about 37 miles. How can we make it back to Concord? It seems like 74 miles would be extremely risky, especially with mostly freeway driving at 65/70mph. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[milesmutt]

Yeah, you'd really be pushing it by trying to do the round trip. Ours can do about 75 round trip, at the speed you're suggesting. You can always do 55-60
without using climate control to improve your range, but that would be excruciating (I'm a habitual 70-75 mpg highway driver, lol).

Where are you going in Napa, and what are you doing? Will you be stopped at any one place for a while? There are quite a few L2 stations in town, and a free one to use at Napa Nissan.
The Napa Outlets also have L2 charging stations, so if you go shopping there, you're set!

Check out plugshare. It lists a bunch that you can use. All you would need is probably an hour or two to replenish your charge, just enough to get
you back to Concord Nissan for a QC session.

Have fun! We've only done a Campbell to SF roundtrip so far, stopping at the Blink QC in South SF.

 

[katieandbrian]

Thanks, Miles!

We were planning to probably stay overnight somewhere in town, nothing too rural or away. Good to know there are L2's in town. I was filtering for QC on my plugshare, so those weren't showing up. Sounds great!

 

[planet4ever]

One way we've done it (though not in Napa) is to leave the car overnight at a Nissan dealer and stay at a motel within walking distance. It looks like the Napa Discovery Inn would work easily for that (<1/4 mile). I always call the dealer ahead to confirm that it is OK to charge overnight.

Ray

 

[peter]

Just make sure wherever you stay overnight allows you to plug in to 120V. You will get plenty of charge overnight. Most places are happy to do this - considering you are a paying guest. We have done this several times.

 

[Becky50]

Please let us know how your trip turns out. I am interested in going from San Jose to Calistoga in the fall. Thanks

 

[EVDRIVER]

Benzinger has a Blink, they have a great outdoor space and food there that is really good and they are very EV friendly. I believe there is a new QC in south SF so you can do 280 up to 19th and there are plenty of charge opportunities on the way up. Many ways to do this easily.

 

[milesmutt]

Benzinger has a Blink, they have a great outdoor space and food there that is really good and they are very EV friendly. I believe there is a new QC in south SF so you can do 280 up to 19th and there are plenty of charge opportunities on the way up. Many ways to do this easily.

You are correct, and they're free of charge! 280 E. Grand Ave, South San Francisco.

There are two QC stations, plus around four L2 stations. They are located in the back parking lot of the building.

 

[katieandbrian]

Hi Everyone:

Just got home from a great day in wine country.

Stats:

San Jose to Concord: 54 miles, average speed around 60-70mph. Started with 98%, got to QC station at Hilton with 34% left, charged to 80%.

Concord to downtown Napa: 35 miles, same average speed, but more off-freeway driving. Got there with about 50% left, charged at 5th street garage on L2 for 1:20 while enjoying local sights and wine rooms. Left with 80% charge.

Downtown to Silverado trail: not sure of exact mileage, but we strolled up about 10 miles and hit 4 good wineries.

Silverado trail to Concord: 45 miles, quite a bit of traffic. Got in with about 20% left. QC to 90% while eating dinner across the street.

Concord to San Jose: 54 miles, have about 20% left.

Overall, the stops were easy and ones that I probably would have done even in our ICE car. The charging spots were convenient, uncrowded, and I had 0 range anxiety. I was driving pretty conservatively, but I definitely had the climate control on for the mid-day sections and punched it more than once on the way back. Didn't pay a cent for charge, I would definitely do it again!

 

[milesmutt]

Awesome! Glad to hear it can be done, and done easily.
Might have to make a trip up there sometime soon.

Thanks for the update!