Made it to Glacier Point, Yosemite (barely)!

First, I've go to thank High Sierra RV Park and Campground and give them a plug (phone 559-683-7662). They are very friendly and helpful.

I've been wanting to make it to Glacier Point since picking up my LEAF in January. Well, yesterday I made it. Barely. Here's my story.

Left home (elevation 200 feet) with 100% charge at 9:15am
Drove 10 miles to Lithia Nissan of Fresno, topped off to 100%, left at 10:00am
Drove 40 miles to Oakhurst (High Sierra RV, elevation 2,600 feet), had 3 bars remaining, charged 3 hours, left at 3pm with 11 bars showing.
Drove 50 miles to Yosemite, Glacier Point (elevation at highest point was ~7,600 feet). Left Glacier Point at 5:15pm. Had 1 bar remaining.
Arrived back at High Sierra RV park at 6:15pm with 0 bars and --- showing. It had been showing this for the past 15 miles downhill. Charged 3 hours again and left at 9:30pm.
Arrived home at 10:30pm with 1 bar remaining.

Total driven for the day: 197 miles, 5.5 avg m/kwh, 6.5 hours charge time in addition to starting with 100%.

Others have posted that there seems to be a 2:3 ratio for elevation gain. I agree. For instance, at 2,600 feet (Oakhurst), the car read 11 bars and 75 miles. Glacier Point is 50 miles further and ate almost all the miles (it was down to 3 miles).

When I arrived at the Yosemite Park South Entrance, I thought, "What the heck, I can always regen on the way back down, so who cares what the battery level is when I get to the top." Regen downhill is just not as robust as I had previously thought. The regen I gained was getting used up by the short uphills that came now and again. At the top of the hill, I had one bar and "3" miles remaining. The best it got on the way down was "12" miles and that was gone by the time I reached the park entrance. Shortly after leaving the park, I was at the "---" mark.

Doing this on a weekend day during the high season was a bad idea. Other drivers were very kind when I slowed down to get every bit of regen I could. But the roads were crowded and when I turned out to let them pass, the line of passing cars just never seemed to end.

So, if/when I do this again, I will charge to 100% at the RV park on the way up and go on a school day. I now know that Yosemite is do-able!

Congrats and thanks for the report. Was your charging done on 240 volt?

Do you have revision 1 or 2 or the modified EVSE, or an aftermarket one?

My longest to date is 140 miles with 3.5 hours of L2 charging.

Randy3 said:

Drove 10 miles to Lithia Nissan of Fresno, topped off to 100%, left at 10:00am
Drove 40 miles to Oakhurst (High Sierra RV, elevation 2,600 feet), had 3 bars remaining, charged 3 hours, left at 3pm with 11 bars showing.

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It took you 2 hours to drive 40 miles on this leg? Is it because of bad traffic or is it because you just wanted to take it real slow? Still, 20mph seems real slow to me. 40mph can still be a very efficient driving speed, in my opinion.

Randy3 said:

Others have posted that there seems to be a 2:3 ratio for elevation gain. I agree. For instance, at 2,600 feet (Oakhurst), the car read 11 bars and 75 miles. Glacier Point is 50 miles further and ate almost all the miles (it was down to 3 miles).

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You mean that the 2:3 ratio implies that you can get 2/3 of actual miles compared to the estimated miles? In this case estimated mile is 75 and you only get 2/3 or 50 miles of it due to the elevation gain? What is the elevation difference for this rule of thumb?

And finally, wow! I guess you're either so brave or don't know the meaning of "range anxiety" or both!

Way cool...thanks for the trip report. Did you check to see whether there was any place closer that you might have topped off (the Wawona Hotel or the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine RR)? And I wonder whether there's any place to plug into 240V in Yosemite Valley?

Maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness of EVs to the businesses en route to scenic destinations such as Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon. They'd have a virtually captive clientèle (as there aren't too many places to locate Level 2/3 EVSEs along the way) and forums like us could certainly encourage their use, if their prices were fair...

Would the Sierra Club endorse EV charging? Or are they anti-vehicle of any type going into Yosemite?
I think there was a plan to add electric into the vally campsites but that may still be held up by some group.

Randy3 said:

First, I've got to thank High Sierra RV Park and Campground and give them a plug (phone 559-683-7662). They are very friendly and helpful.

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Great trip report. Was there a charge to charge at the RV Park? 50 amp?

A few more details.

I have Phil's Rev. 2 upgraded EVSE with a home made 50amp RV plug.

I took 2 hours (approx) from Fresno to Oakhurst mostly because I took back roads (Road 211 to Road 200 then Hwy 41). It's much more relaxing then being pushed along a 55 mph Hwy by people trying to go 70. (funny, a few years ago I got a ticket for doing 72 on that same Hwy; how my driving attitude has changed!).

High Sierra RV didn't know what to charge me, so I suggested charging their normal dump fee, that's $10. I didn't think I'd need to charge on the way back down, so I didn't negotiate a second charge session in that. They were gone for the night when I came back so I put another $10 into their night drop. I plan to talk to them some more on this. Now that I know I'll need 6-8 hours of total charging time, maybe $15 would be reasonable (?). It's a small park (35 or so spaces) and it dates back to when RV's weren't so hugh, so their spaces are small. But their location within Oakhurst is great for walking around town.

I was too anxious to stop at Wawona and that area was very crowded. Even the parking lot at Glacier Point was nearly full. It reminded me about why I don't go to the park when school is out. Next time, I'll stop and check out more.