duncan-s
Pinhead
Even though the wife and I agreed our Leaf would be for use within a certain radius from home only, reserving her RAV4 hybrid for road trips, I couldn't resist trying extended driving once. The trip was from the Des Moines area to Grand Rapids to visit my brother.
A number of factors came up unlucky for this one, including freezing temperatures and fairly constant headwinds, my new-user clumsiness with plugshare and other apps, and dense snow and slush for a ~1 hour stretch. I'd hoped to make it in one day but ended up stopping the first night at a hotel in the Joliet, IL area that provided a free L2 hookup for guests (La Quinta Inn). Showed off the car to my brother and to a cousin I visited west of Lansing, let each of them drive it, had a good time with everyone. Definitely need to make fewer assumptions the next time I try something like this, though I doubt I'd do it again at least at this time of year - and without a CCS converter. There were at least two different reportedly supporting stations that I couldn't manage a charge at including one I reported to plugshare because the CHAdeMO there wasn't just broken, it had been removed.
The return journey starts tomorrow. This time I'll probably avoid the extortion-priced stations in Benton Harbor MI and New Buffalo MI by avoiding that region entirely, instead taking a slightly longer route through Kalamazoo MI and South Bend IN, and plan for more stops in general. Forecast for tomorrow calls for tailwinds, at least through Indiana and Illinois.
.
A number of factors came up unlucky for this one, including freezing temperatures and fairly constant headwinds, my new-user clumsiness with plugshare and other apps, and dense snow and slush for a ~1 hour stretch. I'd hoped to make it in one day but ended up stopping the first night at a hotel in the Joliet, IL area that provided a free L2 hookup for guests (La Quinta Inn). Showed off the car to my brother and to a cousin I visited west of Lansing, let each of them drive it, had a good time with everyone. Definitely need to make fewer assumptions the next time I try something like this, though I doubt I'd do it again at least at this time of year - and without a CCS converter. There were at least two different reportedly supporting stations that I couldn't manage a charge at including one I reported to plugshare because the CHAdeMO there wasn't just broken, it had been removed.
The return journey starts tomorrow. This time I'll probably avoid the extortion-priced stations in Benton Harbor MI and New Buffalo MI by avoiding that region entirely, instead taking a slightly longer route through Kalamazoo MI and South Bend IN, and plan for more stops in general. Forecast for tomorrow calls for tailwinds, at least through Indiana and Illinois.
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