On today’s TFLTalk podcast they half heartedly threw out a challenge to anyone that can make it to Vail in a Cooper SE on one charge. Think it can be done? They didn’t mention the start point but let’s assume somewhere in west Denver such as the EA charger at Colorado Mills.
Google Maps shows 87 miles between Colorado Mills and Vail. Vail is at 8,150 feet elevation and Colorado Mills is 5,759 feet high--not a huge difference. Knowing that some can extract 170+ miles from the SE's battery, it certainly seems Vail would be within within the SE's green bubble.
Plus you have to go up to 11,000’ down to around 9,000 and back to almost 11,000 before heading down to Vail. I think I could do it from Denver, probably not from Boulder.
I think it could be doable with aggressive use of the cruise control. Assuming 150+ miles of range that leaves 40 miles for climbing on the 110-mile trip. Also air is thinner at the higher altitudes, so lower resistance.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a time cruise control could be used in I70 traffic. However I know I can make it from Denver to Frisco with 36% left without any effort so in Green+ and maybe taking highway 6 out of Golden to avoid the first steep grade on I70 maybe the route from Boulder is achievable.
Yes it should be easy to do this. I did a trip from Colorado Mills to Dillon and back on a single charge, and the trip to Vail is similar but shorter. I wouldn’t do it without charging at Target first though. I may see if I can do this in the next couple of weeks and report back.
now it the time to do it. No AC, no heat, green mode. My suitemate did it with his Tesla last year. He lives just east of DTC. Charged the car at the public lot in Lionshead when he got there, drove around for the day, then drove back. The point of his story was the regenerative braking. Even with errands, he had more battery when he got home than when he got to Vail.
Maybe. I think I would be really nervous. I also don’t know how to drive really slow in a mini on the highway it’s like humanely impossible. But with the crazy I-70 traffic. There may be enough stop and go to regen ? Are they trying to rally a bunch of SE to do this? Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Maybe but if TFL put out the challenge it won't be easy they had a mini se that they did a bunch of testing with so they know what it will and won't do.
I have made the trip to Keystone/Dillon from Golden a couple of times and have been able to get back home with 20% battery remaining. That's with a lot of downhill driving on the way back. I would think going further west past Dillon, over Vail pass would bring the battery pretty close to empty but then going downhill from Vail pass into Vail would regenerate some energy, so it might be just barely possible to reach Vail under the right conditions.
It was more of an off topic comment by a guest host with a little discussion. Not an official challenge per se. It’s around minute 15-16 in yesterdays podcast. I was just curious if it was possible. One thing interesting to me on that road is I did not seem to regain as much battery percent as I anticipated coming out of the tunnel down into Dillon. For whatever reason they seem to get poor range with their SE compared to what I usually see. I do have the light cheap 16” wheels though.
If you keep the speed down, climate off, and are very smooth with your right foot and speed (use green mode) I can’t see why it’s not possible to safely do it.
