swogee
Well-known member
I recently decided to take the RAV4 EV from San Luis Obispo to Sunnyvale (South SF Bay area) and back to see how long it would take to drive and charge. Our RAV4 EV has 7K miles on it now. The total distance is approximately 195 miles with most of it on US101. It's fairly flat with one 1300 ft climb out of SLO up Cuesta grade going Northbound and 500 ft climb going Southbound.
When I left SLO on Thursday (11/27) morning it the temperature in the high 40's to low 50's. I figured since traffic was lighter I could get away with going 50 mph so I set the cruise control to 50 mph except for when I was climbing Cuesta grade and I went 45 mph. My one charging stop was in Salinas at 129 miles at the Rabobank on N. Davis Rd. I arrived there with 4 bars left on the SOC meter. The average efficiency for the trip was 4.3 miles/kWh. It took about 5 hours to fully charge the battery. Theoretically, I could have left after getting 12 bars SOC since I had only 66 miles left to go to Sunnyvale but the Rabobank EVSE would be faster at charging than the dryer outlet at my mom's house. The last 66 miles I averaged between 60 to 65 mph and the avg efficiency was about 3.0 miles/kWh. The outside temp was about 72 degrees when I left Salinas. There were ten bars left on the SOC indicator when I arrived in Sunnyvale. I turned the climate control off during the trip. The whole trip northbound took about 8 hours, 35 minutes to go 195 miles. If I had cut the charge time in Salinas to about 3 hours it would have been 6 hours and 35 minutes.
On the trip back south on Saturday afternoon (11/29) to SLO I again averaged about 60-65 mph before stopping in Salinas to charge. The SOC meter had 10 bars left on it and the avg efficiency was about 3 miles/kWh. It took about 3 hours to fully charge the battery in Salinas at the Rabobank on N. Davis. At the start of the trip the temperature was about 65. On the last leg of the trip is when things got a little more interesting. I decided set my speed on the trip to SLO from Salinas at 55 mph. I was only averaging about 3.1 miles/kWh for some reason which I thought was lower than usual. This worked out to roughly 7 miles per/bar on the SOC meter. When I got to Atascadero I was down to the last 4 bars on the SOC meter. I noticed the SOC was dropping faster for some reason since it seemed as though the 3rd bar vanished after 6 miles and the 2nd bar disappeared after 5 miles. The terrain was mostly level with a few rolling hills. Once the SOC got down to 4 bars I reduced speed to 50 mph since I wanted to make sure I made it home. (Its hard to go much slower than that on a freeway and even at 55 mph the big rigs were all passing me.) Just before I got to Cuesta Grade, just south of Santa Margarita/Hwy 58, the SOC dropped to one bar. I was able to make it back home with only one bar left on the SOC meter. The temperature in Paso Robles/Atascadero was in the mid 40's and it climbed back up to the high 50's in SLO. The climate control was off the whole trip. The total return trip was 6 hours and 20 minutes.
So at this point it will take about 6.5 hours to get from SLO to Sunnyvale with one charge stop. I'm thinking it's not that practical since I need to make one stop to charge. This also assumes that the one 70A Tesla Roadster EVSE in Salinas is available (which it was for this trip). If there was a L3 charger in Salinas it would cut the trip down to about 4.5 hours which is better but the long distance between SLO and Salinas makes it tough. The only L3 charger north of SLO and south of the SF Bay area is in Monterey which is a 40 mile detour.
The other odd thing was that the RAV4 EV seemed to be getting less than the expected efficiency on the last leg of the return trip. I was thinking it would be closer to 3.7 at 55 mph. The rapid drop in the SOC on the last four bars also was peculiar since terrain was not much different than earlier in the last leg of the trip. I'm not sure why the last 4 bars had less range per bar.
Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.
When I left SLO on Thursday (11/27) morning it the temperature in the high 40's to low 50's. I figured since traffic was lighter I could get away with going 50 mph so I set the cruise control to 50 mph except for when I was climbing Cuesta grade and I went 45 mph. My one charging stop was in Salinas at 129 miles at the Rabobank on N. Davis Rd. I arrived there with 4 bars left on the SOC meter. The average efficiency for the trip was 4.3 miles/kWh. It took about 5 hours to fully charge the battery. Theoretically, I could have left after getting 12 bars SOC since I had only 66 miles left to go to Sunnyvale but the Rabobank EVSE would be faster at charging than the dryer outlet at my mom's house. The last 66 miles I averaged between 60 to 65 mph and the avg efficiency was about 3.0 miles/kWh. The outside temp was about 72 degrees when I left Salinas. There were ten bars left on the SOC indicator when I arrived in Sunnyvale. I turned the climate control off during the trip. The whole trip northbound took about 8 hours, 35 minutes to go 195 miles. If I had cut the charge time in Salinas to about 3 hours it would have been 6 hours and 35 minutes.
On the trip back south on Saturday afternoon (11/29) to SLO I again averaged about 60-65 mph before stopping in Salinas to charge. The SOC meter had 10 bars left on it and the avg efficiency was about 3 miles/kWh. It took about 3 hours to fully charge the battery in Salinas at the Rabobank on N. Davis. At the start of the trip the temperature was about 65. On the last leg of the trip is when things got a little more interesting. I decided set my speed on the trip to SLO from Salinas at 55 mph. I was only averaging about 3.1 miles/kWh for some reason which I thought was lower than usual. This worked out to roughly 7 miles per/bar on the SOC meter. When I got to Atascadero I was down to the last 4 bars on the SOC meter. I noticed the SOC was dropping faster for some reason since it seemed as though the 3rd bar vanished after 6 miles and the 2nd bar disappeared after 5 miles. The terrain was mostly level with a few rolling hills. Once the SOC got down to 4 bars I reduced speed to 50 mph since I wanted to make sure I made it home. (Its hard to go much slower than that on a freeway and even at 55 mph the big rigs were all passing me.) Just before I got to Cuesta Grade, just south of Santa Margarita/Hwy 58, the SOC dropped to one bar. I was able to make it back home with only one bar left on the SOC meter. The temperature in Paso Robles/Atascadero was in the mid 40's and it climbed back up to the high 50's in SLO. The climate control was off the whole trip. The total return trip was 6 hours and 20 minutes.
So at this point it will take about 6.5 hours to get from SLO to Sunnyvale with one charge stop. I'm thinking it's not that practical since I need to make one stop to charge. This also assumes that the one 70A Tesla Roadster EVSE in Salinas is available (which it was for this trip). If there was a L3 charger in Salinas it would cut the trip down to about 4.5 hours which is better but the long distance between SLO and Salinas makes it tough. The only L3 charger north of SLO and south of the SF Bay area is in Monterey which is a 40 mile detour.
The other odd thing was that the RAV4 EV seemed to be getting less than the expected efficiency on the last leg of the return trip. I was thinking it would be closer to 3.7 at 55 mph. The rapid drop in the SOC on the last four bars also was peculiar since terrain was not much different than earlier in the last leg of the trip. I'm not sure why the last 4 bars had less range per bar.
Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.
I had planned to charge at a Wallgreens along the way, however, when I got there, the EVSE handle was missing ( got to love our all eggs in one basket, unreliable, infantile charging situation in the country, plus I drove right past a bank of Tesla Superchargers on the way, jealous, and a Chademo).
