This tale starts with me taking a test drive as the mini is the first EV that I've really been excited about and seemed pretty affordable. Went for a test drive and didn't make it out of the parking lot before deciding I had to have one. A few months later, I picked up my new mini on July 30th. The only downside I saw to the mini was the range was pretty low. When I ordered it, I told myself I just wouldn't take it on long trips. So what's the first thing I do the day after I take delivery? I took it for a 500 mile road trip...
So to start with, after taking delivery, I went and showed it off... At the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what the charge was, but it was less than 50%. I don't have a level 2 charger yet so I plugged it in with the level 1 charger, figuring it would be ready to go by morning. (Note: I did not adjust the charging current to Max) When I went to leave the next morning, it was still less than 75% charged
Not a good start, especially because there aren't many chargers around me.
But before I get into the road trip, let me talk about planning apps. Everyone says how a better route planner is such a great tool. I had nothing but frustrations with it. I think if you just accept it's route and go with it, it's probably fine. But if you want to say not drive through Manhattan and over the GWB and instead go some other way, it's a PITA. Also it would be nice to say you'll charge up a little more at a particular stop so you can go further till the next. I dunno, I had nothing but frustrations trying to use the app. Normally I know which way I'm going and just let the mapping software recalculate as I go but I was concerned about range so I wanted to plan it out more carefully.
Plugshare on the other hand, has been awesome. It doesn't do route planning but it gives you a lot of really good info about where chargers are. I was able to filter by CCS stations and see where I could charge up quickly. So I ended up just using google maps combined with plugshare. It reminded me a little more of the old days when you would use a paper map and plan out a route.
Ok, so morning of the trip, I open up a better route planner, curse a bit and then just plug in my first destination into google maps. I'm a little concerned I won't make it (because I'm starting at a reduced charge) but according to the GOM, I think I can make it. Of course it's hot so I have the AC going and we're loaded a bit heavy because of bags but I'm gonna give it a try. As I get closer, the battery percentage makes me weary and I switch to green+ mode and lose the AC. We made it with I think about 10 miles to spare. This is a little too close to comfort for me because there aren't a lot of level 3 chargers around and if there were issues with this station, I don't know what I would have done.
So I pull up and there are two people there, one charging, the other waiting to charge telling me that the charger I pulled into wasn't working. Well I'm not one to take someone's word for it and I try it out and IT WORKS!!! Fortunately as I started charging the other person who was waiting was able to use the other charger. Using the charger wasn't so bad but I was confused about when I'd have to pay as it didn't prompt me for a card. I followed the instructions and started charging. Went for a walk around the shopping plaza and stopped into Home Depot to use the restroom. Got back and it was at about 80% charged and someone was waiting to charge. I estimated that we'd be fine to make it to our next destination with what we had so I finished up and it turns out for whatever reason, it didn't charge us.
Next stop we had the opposite happen where it seemed to just charge me ~$20 but it didn't make sense to me. There was no one else at the charging station and there were a bunch of them here though the first two I tried didn't work. It was a little off the beaten path again, in a shopping plaza. Went for another little walk while it charged up. Starting to feel a little better as there are more places to charge but I'm still reluctant to let it get too low.
Third stop had a Barnes and Noble which was nice. Because of this I ended up spending a little more time and got it up to about 95%. I don't remember the rest of the costs but I don't remember any of stops except for the last one being all that high.
Next stop was in a Target parking lot. I thought I might browse around but just stopped and topped up to around 90% because it was getting late and I wanted to get where I was headed so I relaxed in the car and played Breath of the Wild on the Switch.
Next stop was going to be at my Sister in Law's to pick up the key for the place we're ultimately staying at. I called to update them on our ETA and they suggested we spend the night there as it was getting late. (I had also started my trip later than I had hoped) So I agreed but after my experience with level 1 charging, I didn't want to show up almost empty so I figured one more stop to charge up to ~80% then I'd top off at their house while I slept.
Final stop of the day was at a mall. It was late but the Electrify America chargers were lit up like a spaceship. There were lots of places to eat at the mall so I figured we'd grab a bite to eat while it topped off. Well guess what closed 5 minutes before we got there? That's right... the mall did. So while I was charging, we looked for where we could grab a bite. Shake Shack wasn't too far but they closed in 30 minutes. Car was close to 80% so I placed an online order and picked it up on the way to my sister in law's.
Final stop for the day we plugged in and spent some time with family and then got some rest. If we had gotten an earlier start in the day, I think we could have made it all the way.
Day 2... Got on the road earlyish and we were around 90%. We had about 100 miles to drive today and I was figuring on making two stops, one soonish to top off (because there's a bit of a dead zone with no chargers), the other just so we didn't arrive almost empty.
First stop was at a Shop Rite (grocery store chain up here in the north east) and I played some more on the switch. I got it back up to around 95% which didn't take long. After that we got back on the road and started getting hungry so we stopped at a diner. No electric charging here but we had plenty to get to where we were going.
Final stop before our destination was a charge point that was behind a brewery. It's the only level 3 charger in the area. There was a Hyundai Kona there charging and we chatted for a bit. Turns out there are two plugs but only one car can charge at a time. They had about 15 minutes left and we weren't in a hurry so it wasn't a big deal. Once they were done we charged up. I thought about seeing how high I could get it but it told me it thought it was done at around 98% so I decided to just head on our way and figure out the charging situation when we arrive. Also I had to sign up for a ChargePoint account in order to use the charger as there was no card reader. All the other stops I was able to just plug and and swipe my credit card. Fortunately the couple that was there told us about this so I did it while we were waiting for them to finish up.
Finally, we got to our destination but there was no outdoor outlet anywhere near the parking area. Long story short, I ran a heavy duty extension cord (I brought with me just in case) out the window and plugged in that way. Letting it sit like this finally allowed it to get to 100%.
I've already mapped out the route home (We're going a different way home) and if there's interest I can share that adventure as well.
The big takeaway I got from all this is that Level 1 charging takes forever. Also, I'm still uncomfortable letting it get below 20% just in case there is something wrong with a charging station, I might still be able to get to another one. Fortunately I was able to charge up at all the stops without waiting too long but I passed a lot of gas stations trying to get to some charging stations. I think it will only get better (especially if Tesla really does open up their network) but I still had range anxiety.
So to start with, after taking delivery, I went and showed it off... At the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what the charge was, but it was less than 50%. I don't have a level 2 charger yet so I plugged it in with the level 1 charger, figuring it would be ready to go by morning. (Note: I did not adjust the charging current to Max) When I went to leave the next morning, it was still less than 75% charged
Not a good start, especially because there aren't many chargers around me.But before I get into the road trip, let me talk about planning apps. Everyone says how a better route planner is such a great tool. I had nothing but frustrations with it. I think if you just accept it's route and go with it, it's probably fine. But if you want to say not drive through Manhattan and over the GWB and instead go some other way, it's a PITA. Also it would be nice to say you'll charge up a little more at a particular stop so you can go further till the next. I dunno, I had nothing but frustrations trying to use the app. Normally I know which way I'm going and just let the mapping software recalculate as I go but I was concerned about range so I wanted to plan it out more carefully.
Plugshare on the other hand, has been awesome. It doesn't do route planning but it gives you a lot of really good info about where chargers are. I was able to filter by CCS stations and see where I could charge up quickly. So I ended up just using google maps combined with plugshare. It reminded me a little more of the old days when you would use a paper map and plan out a route.
Ok, so morning of the trip, I open up a better route planner, curse a bit and then just plug in my first destination into google maps. I'm a little concerned I won't make it (because I'm starting at a reduced charge) but according to the GOM, I think I can make it. Of course it's hot so I have the AC going and we're loaded a bit heavy because of bags but I'm gonna give it a try. As I get closer, the battery percentage makes me weary and I switch to green+ mode and lose the AC. We made it with I think about 10 miles to spare. This is a little too close to comfort for me because there aren't a lot of level 3 chargers around and if there were issues with this station, I don't know what I would have done.
So I pull up and there are two people there, one charging, the other waiting to charge telling me that the charger I pulled into wasn't working. Well I'm not one to take someone's word for it and I try it out and IT WORKS!!! Fortunately as I started charging the other person who was waiting was able to use the other charger. Using the charger wasn't so bad but I was confused about when I'd have to pay as it didn't prompt me for a card. I followed the instructions and started charging. Went for a walk around the shopping plaza and stopped into Home Depot to use the restroom. Got back and it was at about 80% charged and someone was waiting to charge. I estimated that we'd be fine to make it to our next destination with what we had so I finished up and it turns out for whatever reason, it didn't charge us.
Next stop we had the opposite happen where it seemed to just charge me ~$20 but it didn't make sense to me. There was no one else at the charging station and there were a bunch of them here though the first two I tried didn't work. It was a little off the beaten path again, in a shopping plaza. Went for another little walk while it charged up. Starting to feel a little better as there are more places to charge but I'm still reluctant to let it get too low.
Third stop had a Barnes and Noble which was nice. Because of this I ended up spending a little more time and got it up to about 95%. I don't remember the rest of the costs but I don't remember any of stops except for the last one being all that high.
Next stop was in a Target parking lot. I thought I might browse around but just stopped and topped up to around 90% because it was getting late and I wanted to get where I was headed so I relaxed in the car and played Breath of the Wild on the Switch.
Next stop was going to be at my Sister in Law's to pick up the key for the place we're ultimately staying at. I called to update them on our ETA and they suggested we spend the night there as it was getting late. (I had also started my trip later than I had hoped) So I agreed but after my experience with level 1 charging, I didn't want to show up almost empty so I figured one more stop to charge up to ~80% then I'd top off at their house while I slept.
Final stop of the day was at a mall. It was late but the Electrify America chargers were lit up like a spaceship. There were lots of places to eat at the mall so I figured we'd grab a bite to eat while it topped off. Well guess what closed 5 minutes before we got there? That's right... the mall did. So while I was charging, we looked for where we could grab a bite. Shake Shack wasn't too far but they closed in 30 minutes. Car was close to 80% so I placed an online order and picked it up on the way to my sister in law's.
Final stop for the day we plugged in and spent some time with family and then got some rest. If we had gotten an earlier start in the day, I think we could have made it all the way.
Day 2... Got on the road earlyish and we were around 90%. We had about 100 miles to drive today and I was figuring on making two stops, one soonish to top off (because there's a bit of a dead zone with no chargers), the other just so we didn't arrive almost empty.
First stop was at a Shop Rite (grocery store chain up here in the north east) and I played some more on the switch. I got it back up to around 95% which didn't take long. After that we got back on the road and started getting hungry so we stopped at a diner. No electric charging here but we had plenty to get to where we were going.
Final stop before our destination was a charge point that was behind a brewery. It's the only level 3 charger in the area. There was a Hyundai Kona there charging and we chatted for a bit. Turns out there are two plugs but only one car can charge at a time. They had about 15 minutes left and we weren't in a hurry so it wasn't a big deal. Once they were done we charged up. I thought about seeing how high I could get it but it told me it thought it was done at around 98% so I decided to just head on our way and figure out the charging situation when we arrive. Also I had to sign up for a ChargePoint account in order to use the charger as there was no card reader. All the other stops I was able to just plug and and swipe my credit card. Fortunately the couple that was there told us about this so I did it while we were waiting for them to finish up.
Finally, we got to our destination but there was no outdoor outlet anywhere near the parking area. Long story short, I ran a heavy duty extension cord (I brought with me just in case) out the window and plugged in that way. Letting it sit like this finally allowed it to get to 100%.
I've already mapped out the route home (We're going a different way home) and if there's interest I can share that adventure as well.
The big takeaway I got from all this is that Level 1 charging takes forever. Also, I'm still uncomfortable letting it get below 20% just in case there is something wrong with a charging station, I might still be able to get to another one. Fortunately I was able to charge up at all the stops without waiting too long but I passed a lot of gas stations trying to get to some charging stations. I think it will only get better (especially if Tesla really does open up their network) but I still had range anxiety.
