I thought I might share with you one day in the life of my Niro EV. Last December I traveled by interstate from Socorro, NM to Fort Worth, TX in one day. The total distance was 808 miles in this one day, which was part of a 2,080 mile trip that I made in four days. I traveled the speed limit the whole way on that long day except for the first leg. The first leg was 201 miles and the temperature was well below freezing so I kept my speed down to 60 mph. I made six consecutive CCS fast charging stops, I typically charged from 10% to 60% and my charging rate always peaked out at about 75 kW after the battery warmed up. This would have been a challenging day even in a gas car but there wasn't a hint of the Niro EV traction battery getting hot. The Niro EV is definitely living up to it's billing. I have no regrets for abandoning my one year old 2018 Nissan LeafVisit the Nissan Leaf Forum and going with the 2019 Niro EV last year.
Thanks for sharing. So, I was just wondering about those six consecutive stops. Approximately how long did they take and were they at Electrify America chargers or just assorted networks that happened to be along the trip's path?
All charging that was limited to 60% where the taper starts took less than half an hour. All six charges were at EA stations. The trip would not have been practical and impossible to complete in less than a day without the EA station. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
That's a heckuva run, and makes me wonder what we should call the classic "iron butt", 1000 miles in 24 hours, translating bike lingo to EV lingo. Iron battery? No wait, that's a different chemistry... Point definitely taken about staying on peak charging current by not being tempted to wait around for a higher charge, though. I guess EA's density is such that you can do that. Unfortunately EA's density is also such that a lot of people will pay through the nose for their roadtrips. _H*
800 miles in a day, wow, that's a tough trip. i thought i'd share an interesting infographic and notes from the "fastned" charging network in the Netherlands, specifically for the Niro EV. it looks like 73% SoC might be the sweetspot.
I too accomplished a long drive - 956 miles in one-day trip. Just accomplished this drive a couple days ago. Drove from the SF Bay Area down to Palm Springs and back in 23 hours, including 7 charges and 3 stops to pickup supplies and visit friends. Planned using A Better Route Planner, and wondered why they were recommending only 103-136 mile drives between recharging at Electrify America stations. My 2019 Kia Niro EV has a 250 mile usable range and EA offers up to 78 Kw recharging rates during the middle of recharging, but I figured out that these shorter drives allow for shorter recharge stops. Here's the comparison of driving/charging times and levels: source Stop miles driving arrive leave charging ABRP A 136 2:12 22% 70% 0:26 (based on starting at 90%) down 169 2:34 24% 80% 0:48 (drove further to next EA station, since started at 100%) back 134 2:10 23% 80% 0:49 ABRP B 124 1:52 10% 65% 0:29 down 90 1:20 40% 79% 0:35 (shorter drive since first stop was longer) back 122 1:48 35% 77% 0:32 ABRP C 103 1:39 10% 64% 0:28 down 98 1:27 33% 77% 0:34 back 101 1:32 34% 75% 0:32 ABRP D 117 1:54 10% down 114 1:50 35% I do not recommend driving down to 10% before charging unless you can seriously guaranty arriving on time. Cold weather, head winds, uphill driving at the end and charge station availability can hamper your planning. My driving went over 3 passes, including the Grapevine, had cold California weather (40's during the night driving) and strong headwinds most of the way during the return drive. Kept up with the traffic flow, so freeway driving at 65-75+ mph. Pushing for on 30 minute recharge stops is also questionable. And sometimes the EA station doesn't get above 55 Kw charging, while most I experienced got over 75 Kw during some of the charging. The cooling fan turns on whenever the rate is above mid-50 Kw. Overall it would be nice to be able to charge the recharge profile to see how the rate varies (and suggestions on capture tools?). It was a great drive, and using ABRP achieves the goal of an overall shorter travel time.
I just tried EA for the first time yesterday and was surprised by a couple of things. Fisrt, the charging speed was capped at a maximum of 56 kw/h which I didn't expect as I was at a 150 kw/h station and not sharing. A message on my mobile and on the charging station screen said it was done to protect the battery. I'm guessing the battery temperature was too low for the full monty. I put in 24 kw which gave me an ending SOC of 61%. The other thing is that the price per kw in California has gone up from $0.31 to $042. This is pretty disappointing to me as I never got the $0.31 rate.
Robert - The max rate depends on battery and outdoor temperature. Some of the EA stations have problems, as I noticed at Countryside West of Bakersfield. The 01 station capped at 54 Kw, but when I moved over to 02 it quickly went up to 78 Kw. Also your state of charge makes a difference. I noticed it up in the mid-70s from about 40% through about 60% and then tapered down. Also experienced 54 Kw limit at the BofA in Palm Springs. If you give EA a call they can troubleshoot the connection and may even suggest disconnecting and moving to another station (charger) to get a faster throughput. EA's rates have changed. The default is $0.42/Kw but their premium package drops to $0.31/Kw with a monthly fee of $4. Since I was planning several recharges I opted to upgrade to premium, at least for a month, to get the lower rate. If you are going to recharge >36 Kw even for a single charging, you will recoup the monthly fee.
