Planning a road trip and would like some charging advice

[NevadaTech]

So I'm planning a trip between Las Vegas and Los Angeles in a couple weeks.

Currently I'm charging at home and have not needed to any other source. I charge level 1 with the 120V AC adapter. Since my average weekly travel miles are low I can plug in a few nights + set the timer for the lower charging rate. It all works fine, eventually I get up to 80% and my 'low' for the week is 50%.

The trip between cities is about 270 miles, all highway, 80 miles/hr (in real world), desert > so AC will be on. I'm not worried about charging stations, from Las Vegas to Baker is about 100miles so I'm guessing I'll top off there then recharge in LA.

Some questions

• should I charge to 100% before I leave?
• can you recommend a good CCS to NACS adapter?
• if I plug into an 800V with a NACS adapter, the charger and car will negotiate that down to 400V?

One time my wife asked me why some yahoo was bouncing his car up and down while filling it with gas. I explained that he's trying to put more gas in by filling the voids/spaces in the gas tank that are left for gasoline/gas to expand. Generally, this is a bad idea unless he is immediately driving a long trip, and I mean immediately. With similar logic, is this when I should be charging my Kona to 90-100%? I'm using the juice immediately. Is my understanding that 'storing' the energy is not an issue, the concern is maxing the range of the battery/cells capabilities during charging is?

 

[BobNY13]

Yes, charge to 100%. This is the time to do it.

The car handles all the negotiations with the charger, so as long as the connection is good (and you can arrange payment), everything will work out.

As for an adapter, I don't have one presently, but make sure that you get the correct adapter direction. For my Kona electric, I'd need a NACS-to-CCS adapter. Also, note that there are separate adapters for DC and AC charging. Cars with NACS ports are smart enough to figure out whether they're connected to AC or DC, but these adapters are just simple devices with no smarts beyond temperature sensors.

I'd also suggest doing a test with a local DC fast charger. (the cables are much bigger, so get experience handling them and you want to shake out any car problems before you're on the road). If you've already picked out a likely few charging stations, preload the apps at home and maybe use one of those for your pre-test.

Also, don't forget the battery pre-conditioning. Probably will be cooling in your case, but proper temperature ensures better DC charging.

 

[BobNY13]

And note that while DC charging, the charging rate will drop dramatically when you pass 80% SoC. I don't remember details for Kona, but I remember someone doing a test with an Ioniq 5 and getting the advertised 10-80% in 18 minutes, but then taking another 45 minutes from 80% to 100%.