[Jonathan S.]

And now for the charge planning for a trip not to be taken ...

The NSP ED AMN (enough abbreviations for you?), 2022 website here:

2022 AMN Refresher — Winding Trails Farmington, CT | Eastern Division NSP -- Patroller School

www.patrollerschool.org

... will be held in 2023 at a ski area in northern NY.

I can do this in a daytrip with six hours of roundtrip driving.
(Yes, I often do things like that.)

But no way would I take the i4 for that, given all the charging time that would be added to a long day.

So just to amuse myself, I looked at PlugShare -- oh, the ski resort has six L2 plugs:

Gore Mountain | North Creek, NY | EV Station

3 shared power dual port ChargePoint L2's

www.plugshare.com

https://goremountain.com/the-mountain/sustainability/

... so I wouldn't need to stop at all to charge, just plug in during the day's training sessions!

Still curious, for a back-up plan, I looked at DCFC options along I-87, figuring that so far north the pickings would be just as slim as along I-91 and I-89 one state over to the east in VT, ditto re I-93 and I-93 another state over to the east in NH.
Hmm, here's one at a convenience store, must be a single 50kW unit.
No, quite fast, lots of units ... and lots of other locations as part of that same network:

Fast Charging Hubs New York, Plug In Electric Vehicle, Hybrid Charging

New York Power Authority is dedicating $250 million to the EVolve NY program, with the goal of making electric vehicles easy to own in the state.

evolveny.nypa.gov

"We will install fast chargers at average intervals of 50 miles along key interstate corridors [...]"​

If only VT and NH were like that!

Oh, and the trip isn't happening because I have to attend the overflow session that date for the NSP WMR OEC instructor refresher (need any more abbreviations?) since the main session is scheduled for the second day of the Jewish New Year (and no, I don't know how a religious calendar can have two successive new year days - my father must have taken me skiing during the Hebrew School class when that was explained).

 

[Mr. Widget]

I have a similar drive that I do several times a year. I live in the SF Bay Area and have a project (not retired yet) that is up at Lake Tahoe. I almost always make the run in one day in my Golf R. 405 miles round trip. In the Golf I can get there and almost all the way home on a full tank... 400+ miles and 7,000' -8,000' elevation change is not going to be easy in an i4.

There are CCS Tesla Superchargers in Placerville which is on the route and quite a few other charging stations along the way... but still adding an hour or so of charging to a 12-14 hour day doesn't seem appealing.

 

[Jonathan S.]

I’m spoiled with my A6 Allroad at over 500 miles between refuelings.

But stopping in Placerville to recharge has the major bonus of the In-N-Out Burger. My brother would always insist on stopping there after picking me up at SFO on the way to his ski rental house in South Lake Tahoe.

I see that it’s not within walking distance of either the EA or Magic Dock. But getting your food there first would make the charging time go by quickly as you savor those french fries cut on site from actual real potatoes….mmm, fond memories. (Plus the skiing too!)

 

[Jonathan S.]

Our i4 is parked right now in wonderfully charming downtown Portsmouth!
But in a nondescript parking garage, so not picturesque alas.

However, here’s L1 charging at the in-laws in Bedford NH last night for 16% SoC gain, which means we don’t need to bother with public charging.
Otherwise, Amherst MA > Bedford NH > Portsmouth NH > Amherst MA would have been right on the edge.
So the backup plan had been to stop at the Seabrook NH EA, which looks decent.
By contrast, the Manchester NH EA for months now has had two units broken and the other two units are at 50kW.
And the Bedford NH Whole Foods EVgo has been broken since February!

 

[Jonathan S.]

And it’s time for … EA success story!
Upon finally leaving Portsmouth, some combination of wife and daughter wanted to stop for some combination of food, coffee, and restroom at a Dunkin Donuts located at…Walmart in Seabrook NH.
Hmm, might as well get some free kWh.
Of the four units, two were occupied, and one of those drivers soon departed.
One unit had one broken plug. All others appeared functional.
Started at 38kW but that was at 66% SOC with only about 15 min preconditioning.
After 24 min of charging, now at 40kW. So probably a slow charger. But still, I’ll call it an EA success!

 

[Jonathan S.]

So after my seven dollars worth of EA "success" (valued at our home charging rate), my wife and daughter called me to say that the Dunkin Donuts was deserving of sanctions by the local board of health, or something like that.
Hence I was directed to pick them up at the Panera Bread on the other end of the massive Walmart parking lot, at which was located ...
... oh wow, check it out, twice as many DCFC chargers, all of which work at their rated speed, and all of which will be open by May/June 2024 to CCS vehicles from ...
... companies other than BMW (as well as other than VAG, Kiundesis, and Toyota/Subaru).
Unless something changes. Which I sure hope it will.
(Sigh, even Captain Kirk usually had to put more effort into checking out some sort of alternative universe.)

 

[Jonathan S.]

That experience on Sunday evening cemented my decision for my Monday through Thursday MA > DC > VA > MA solo trip to take my Audi A6 Allroad instead of my (wife's) i4 M50.
She would have been fine driving her old Subaru Impreza while I was away since we would be Saving The Planet by assigning the EV to the spouse driving more miles.

But although I had add'l time on the two inner days of my trip for charging, on the drive down Monday I needed to arrive in time for dinner with some friends, and on the drive home Thursday I need to arrive in time for the arts festival of our daughter's summer day camp.
I calculated for the drive home on Thursday that with the EV I would have needed to build in a buffer of about two hours for potential ~50kW charging plus waiting.

And good thing I took the ICE, since the traffic was the worst I'd ever experienced on that route, causing me to blow through all my other buffers, and then some.
(Although oddly enough, GW bridge wasn't all that bad.)

Also a good thing that I didn't have anything to drink at breakfast, and that I had three Odwalla bars in my car for "lunch" ...
... because here it is, Richmond VA to Deerfield MA, with ZERO stops!
(Well, okay, I came to many full stops on I-95, plus stops at traffic lights on a detour around a closed section of I-95, but still, never got off the road.)

In return for that heroic performance, our 13 yr old daughter even let us sit with her and her friends in the auditorium.
At one point, she even snuggled up against me.
"I need to sit at this angle to see through the taller people sitting in front of us."
Oh.
(But she still let me put my arm around her, in public, with her friends nearby!)

 

[Jonathan S.]

I had originally planned to take my Audi A6 Allroad on an overnight trip for Amherst MA > Meadowlands Mall NJ > Greenwich CT > Amherst MA, especially since my wife and daughter were planning an overnight trip those same days for Amherst MA > Berkshires > Boston > Amherst MA.

But my wife would have needed to charge in public for the first time, and moreover during a portion of the trip when they’d be somewhat pressed for time.

Unfortunately I had kind of wigged her out by reading her some reviews of the two EA locations she would have to choose from for her trip:

“When it works. It's great. I visited one morning and all the plugs were thrown on the ground. It seems that the doomsday preppers are fighting against the eminent robot apocalypse that EVs are the beginning signs of. Great job guys. You're really making a difference.”​

​

“I've been using this station for a year now. It was nice at first. Now there are more EV cars on the roads and more demand for this station. It's the only bigger station in Western, MA and the stations rarely work. Typically one or two out of four work. Between waiting for a working station and charging, I typically spend 90 minutes here every time. This is unacceptable. When you call Electrify America they try troubleshooting over the phone but never come out to address the issue.”​

So she decided to take her Subaru. The i4 though would be perfect for my trip, since my only charging session would be on the return home when I wouldn’t be in a rush, especially since our daughter would be so happy to see me at any hour, given that I was returning with lots of Lego from the Pick A Brick walls at both the Lego stores in the Meadowlands Mall and Rockefeller Center, plus the used store in Southington CT.

Here’s packing up for inline skating (ski instructor continuing education clinic in the morning to maintain my certification), skiing in the afternoon (indoors, a somewhat disconcerting experience), and road biking (with a friend in Greenwich):

Note how the Vredestein Spacer Master spare fits in a rear seat passenger footwell – and with plenty of packing space inside the wheel, such that my wife hid a giraffe stuffie in there as a cute little prank:

 

[Jonathan S.]

I needed to charge on the drive home the next day. (My friend doesn’t have an EV, and L1 would not have been enough.)

I arrived at the Stratford CT EA w/o only ~15 min preconditioning since I had stopped first to check out a 4CT.

Initial panic at what appeared to be four or five charging EVs turned into confusion when I noticed empty units … then I realized that the PlugShare listing for 8 CCS plugs instead of the usual EA configuration of 7 CCS plugs across 4 units was not a typo but instead this location had 8 units, 7 of which had one CCS plug each, then the other had 1 CCS and 1 CHAdeMO.

Whew!

Then the first unit I pulled up to was broken.
Fortunately the second unit I tried was working.

I stayed the full 30 min freebie session even though I didn’t need that much mainly out of curiosity, plus of course it was free.
From 16% to 68% averaged 88kW, but that includes a slow start in the high 40s that must have been b/c of the insufficient preconditioning, since eventually I was in the low 100s.
Total savings from the freebie session was $16 compared to charging at home, or about $23 in equivalent ICE refueling.

Only two downsides were that the adjacent McDonald’s had a problem with its ice cream machine (imagine that, 7 out of 8 EA units working, but the McD’s ice cream machine not working!), and that I got a full frontal view of two side-by-side iX – usually I don’t care about vehicle appearances, but that design really design combine the worst of BMW oversized kidneys and EV futurism.

Note though that if this location had the usual EA configuration, with the same broken unit, and the same number of cars, that would have meant five vehicles for three chargers, and that’s not even taking into account the dynamic effects of working through the backlog that would have accumulated.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Only two downsides were that the adjacent McDonald’s had a problem with its ice cream machine (imagine that, 7 out of 8 EA units working, but the McD’s ice cream machine not working!), and that I got a full frontal view of two side-by-side iX – usually I don’t care about vehicle appearances, but that design really design combine the worst of BMW oversized kidneys and EV futurism.

Glad to hear you were able to get the semi-functional EA to work out.

Too bad about that visual spectacle... I share your love for the aesthetic choices BMW made on the iX.

 

[david594]

Only two downsides were that the adjacent McDonald’s had a problem with its ice cream machine (imagine that, 7 out of 8 EA units working, but the McD’s ice cream machine not working!), and that I got a full frontal view of two side-by-side iX – usually I don’t care about vehicle appearances, but that design really design combine the worst of BMW oversized kidneys and EV futurism.

Google McBroken.

Somehow the McDonalds ice cream machines are one of the few things less reliable than EA.

 

[Jonathan S.]

Google McBroken.

Somehow the McDonalds ice cream machines are one of the few things less reliable than EA.

We need that for EA:

mcbroken

is the mcdonald's ice cream machine broken?

mcbroken.com

Then again, EA would be pretty easy, since the default could simply be set so that at least one unit at each EA location is broken or derated, then people could report the rare EA locations at which all chargers are fully functional.
So far, of the five EA locations I have visited or planned to visit (if they were fully functional), only one has been fully functional, and that was on only one of out two visits to that location.

My favorite has been an EA at which an abandoned Leaf was reported to blocking one out of four units.
Check out this timeline:

• July 21 = latest date at which the abandoned Leaf starting blocking the station (might have been earlier)
• July 31 = sticker placed on abandoned Leaf notifying that car will be towed
• August 7 = abandoned Leaf finally no longer there
• August 30 = date by which abandoned Leaf would have been towed

Yes, that's right, would have been forty days (at least) from abandonment to towing!

And check out this video someone filmed of a driver whose car was still there 80 minutes after finishing a charge:

The guy filming the video sure looks upset!
If only he was in a position to do something about it ...

 

[generic.user]

The guy filming the video sure looks upset!
If only he was in a position to do something about it ...

While I share your frustration, you never know the circumstances. The driver may have gone in for a bathroom break, slipped, and needed to take an ambulance to a hospital or something. I do think idle fees should actually be charged so that this situation really does become an emergency only thing. However, from my experience, I have never seen anyone block a fast charging station for more than 5m after their charging session concluded.

Oh, and I wanted to reiterate how much I enjoy your entries here! How did your bike ride with your friend go? Surprisingly, I have yet to put my bike in my i4

 

[Jonathan S.]

True, could have been an excusable idle, eligible for idle fee forgiveness, had idle fees been imposed.
And at least they are now finally being imposed. And the CEO started only this spring.

But he’s been at EA since 2018. His line in the video about increasingly widespread EV adoption only recently is no excuse. Even if idling was not widespread until recently, the software implementation of idle fees should have been trivial from the inception, even if perhaps rarely imposed years ago.

All of this just seems to speak to EA’s apparent indifference towards its revenue stream. But then again, its business model is mandated infrastructure spending, not profitability. Low priority seems to apply to any attempts to achieve operating profit (or minimize operating loss) via maximizing charger use (whether via increasing reliability or reducing idling).

On happier topics, glad you’ve been enjoying the meandering travelogue. I’ve definitely been enjoying the i4, both for solo adventures and family trips. The charge planning appeals to my personality, and so far I’ve haven’t gotten skunked- although I did take the ICE instead on my big DC/VA trip, and I haven’t dealt with cold temps yet.

Road bike fits well with the front wheel removed. (By contrast, with my A6 Allroad, I can leave the front wheel on, although then again, I could probably do the same with the i5 Touring, hypothetically equipped with the larger i7/iX battery, with hypothetical U.S. availability and hypothetical Supercharger access.)

Our original plan for a long ride Monday morning was scuttled by a wet weather forecast so we pivoted to a short evening ride.
Old Greenwich has great biking routes on twisty county lanes amidst mansions. (Not McMansions, just mansions!).
We didn’t have time for that, so we did casual laps on a beach loop with spectacular views:

 

[Jonathan S.]

Yesterday’s trip was interesting (at least for me!) from the perspective of EV trip planning and the eventual outcome.

First, the planning:

• So far we’re averaging about 280 miles with the i4 M50, stock 19” tires, ~8500 miles in three months with no noticeable SoH loss yet, and optimal weather this time of year for max interstate range.
• Google calculated 264 miles for our itinerary of (all MA) Amherst > Boston (brief appt) > Peabody (North Shore Mall) > Gloucester (Hamonasett Beach & Hammon Castle) > Marblehead (relative visit) > Amherst.
• Didn’t seem to allow much of a margin, so researched EA in Boston metro north. But as previously posted here: Is EA deliberately reducing power to save $$$? … they were all EA at its worst.
• Since I didn’t need much add’l buffer from a charge, I looked into L2 options. One of the Boston parking garages we’d be near had L2 charging, but only two units, with low PlugShare scores, and I had scheduled a time-sensitive work call during the appt, so I didn’t have the time or focus to try to obtain a L2 charge for what might be only a 30-min stop. Neither Gloucester nor Marblehead had any good options.
• The Peabody North Shore Mall though had two 50kW units, and the timing would be perfect for our quick stop at the Lego store to check out any enticing bins at the Pick A Brick wall.
• Just in case that didn’t work out (especially given the potential for both 50kW units to be occupied during our brief stop), I looked into taking a route home that would be 10-15 min slower, along the Mass Pike (instead of Rt 2), and the EA at the Auburn Mall looked pretty good.

Second, what actually happened:

• The Boston appt ran way longer than expected, so my wife announced that we didn't have enough time to stop for Lego in advance of hitting the beach and visiting the weird faux castle. Or was that her way of getting back at me and our daughter for converting the dining room table into a Lego sorting venue for the past few weeks? (Only a few more weeks and we’ll be finished – maybe.)
• Arriving at my aunt’s house in Marblehead, with just one leg remaining, hmm, maybe we can away with not charging in public? To add a little more buffer, I plugged into an outdoor outlet for L1 charging.
• During the two hours of our visit, L1 added 2% SoC, for a GoM 9% projection upon our arrival home. The L1 boost removed any range anxiety on the drive home, which is quite hilly along Routes 2 and 202, so the SoC fluctuates on that drive. Heavy rain at times, although that also reduced speeds, so might have been a wash (both figuratively, and also for the car exterior on net).
• Arrived home with 12% SoC (as opposed to the 9% GoM projection), yay! Total mileage for the day was a lower 251.5, as compared to the 264 I had calculated with Google beforehand, possibly b/c the parking was in slightly different locations, and we didn’t detour to North Shore Mall for Lego.
• Running the #s, 251.5 miles divided by [100% initial SoC minus 12% arrival SoC plus 2% L1 gain SoC] equals 279.4 miles for a full charge. That will of course go down in the future with colder temps, some inevitable SoH degradation, and an eventual switch to Vredestein Quatrac Pro tires. But for trips like this that require at most only a brief partial charge, I’m quite pleased with the range.
• Had we needed to stop at the Auburn Mall EA for a partial DCFC charge, including highway on/off, parking lot maneuvering, activation, charging time, etc., probably only 20 to 30 min total, with free kWh, although probably $20-30 for our teenage daughter to buy more clothes at some store in the mall (which might have added yet another 20 to 30 min).

Pictures, alas, I forgot to get the i4 with the McCastle in the background (and the beach parking lot was not very interesting, although the beach was beautiful, even though beaches aren't my thing, or our daughter's thing, unless she can create a TikTok video while there, or just watch TikTok).
So here’s L1 charging at my aunt’s house, with the outdoor outlet so conveniently located:

 

[Jonathan S.]

Family beach visit to Connecticut coastline - no public charging required!

 

[Jonathan S.]

Biked to lunch with my family:

Bike to family lunch at 110 Grill | Strava

The Hadley location would have been far more convenient. (And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I'm aware that far better routes must be available for Amherst to Worcester. However, I didn't have time to plan this, so I just followed Waze. The various town centers weren't great riding, but fun...

www.strava.com

... then to botanical gardens:

Bike to botanical gardens family outing | Strava

Initially some slow and rough riding getting out of downtown Worcester, but then some better rural roads closer to the botanical gardens. Kind of slow moving though immediately after lunch! | Strava

www.strava.com

... after which I had no desire to bike all the way back home.

Fortunately, loading my road bike into the i4 is quite easy, especially with how the Vredestein Space Master spare can be quickly moved from the cargo into the unused rear passenger foot well:

 

[Jonathan S.]

Family trip to Springfield for Lego show.

Pulling into the casino parking garage, noticed a bank of eight EV chargers.
Then saw a security guard issuing a warning ticket.
Of the four cars in the EV parking spaces, only one was an EV.
He too was puzzled why anyone would park illegally in a massive parking garage with vast areas of empty parking spaces.
And of course the punchline is that half the EV chargers are broken.

 

[Jonathan S.]

And now for another i4 family road trip!

First up, Tuesday, from Amherst MA to Bedford NH, 88 miles, easily within range of the i4 for a roundtrip.

Except, I rode my bike:
Bike to in-laws for dinner & overnight stay - Jonathan S.'s 88.1 mi bike ride

Wednesday morning, from Bedford NH to Canobie Lake Park, 27 miles.

Road my bike again:
Bike to Canobie Lake Park, w/ bonus signs - Jonathan S.'s 26.8 mi bike ride

Wednesday evening, from Canobie Lake Park back to Amherst MA, ~100 miles …
… I packed up my bike in the i4!

Along with, let’s see, my wife’s large roller bag (i.e., checked luggage size), our daughter’s small roller bag (reminder of a long-ago Shopkins obsession), a fan (my wife’s idea of a white noise machine), my wife’s blanket (not sure what’s wrong with the blankets at her parents’ house), our daughter’s blanket (ditto), a large food bag, a smaller food bag, 4 umbrellas (for 0% chance of rain), my laptop bag (which sure seemed sufficient for an overnight trip despite what the two of them brought), bike floor pump (just in case), and the Vredestein Space Master spare.

Fit quite nicely, with plenty of room to spare.
Also had plenty of battery to spare, arriving home with 23% (having started the trip at 100%).

 

[Jonathan S.]

Daughter and I biked an easy eight miles on the bike path to visit her cousin. Then biked partway back to meet my wife for dinner.

Long wait for a table.
Long wait for food.

Sun set. No lights. Had only prescription sunglasses. No bike locks either.

Fortunately, not a problem with the i4: easily loaded up both our bikes in the i4, wife and daughter walked to the adjacent Target (to buy makeup supplies for our daughter, ugh!), while I drove back home a few minutes (in my sunglasses, at night, but the i4 does have lights!), unloaded the bikes, then drove back a few minutes (with regular glasses!) to pick them up.