Recent road trip from CO to AZ

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Dominica81

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Hello, We just returned from a road trip from Fort Collins, Colorado to Sedona, Arizona. This isn’t our first road trip in our 2019 Niro, but I’m afraid it may be our last.
Temps were cold which had huge effects on the battery life as well as charging speeds at DC chargers (our longest charge from 30-80% was 112 minutes . Couple that with the elevation gains and we had to stop at almost every single opportunity. Turned what should have been 6 hr drives (stopping in Santa Fe) into 10+ hours. Just not at the level it needs to be for me to recommend the Niro to family and friends. Great for city driving but not so much for road trips.
 
I've had similar experiences - the miles on the dashboard went down way faster than the miles under the wheels. And the Niro is notoriously slow at charging, but I knew that going in. I am hoping to drive mine a few more times into Eastern Washington (~300 miles) but next time I'm going to slow down and leave plenty of extra time.
 
TheHellYouSay said:
I've had similar experiences - the miles on the dashboard went down way faster than the miles under the wheels. And the Niro is notoriously slow at charging, but I knew that going in. I am hoping to drive mine a few more times into Eastern Washington (~300 miles) but next time I'm going to slow down and leave plenty of extra time.
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Yeah going 75mph definitely doesn’t help!
We’ve driven from Chattanooga to Denver, and our longest trip was Chattanooga to Hilton Head and then all the way back to northern CO. For some reason this journey hurt more than the others.
 
Dominica81 said:
Yeah going 75mph definitely doesn’t help!
We’ve driven from Chattanooga to Denver, and our longest trip was Chattanooga to Hilton Head and then all the way back to northern CO. For some reason this journey hurt more than the others.
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YES! That's the thing everybody everywhere drives pretty fast on the interstate's now. In WA I haven't seen much enforcement until just lately, but the speed limit is 70 so 75 is not going to be a ticket generating event.

The time I got into trouble I was fighting a headwind, and as others have noted, this has a strong impact as well. A little uphill, a little wind, you only notice it a little in an ICE vehicle when you figure your MPG at the pump, which anal retentive people like myself do regularly. In the Niro, I find myself looking at Waze or Maps distances on Android Auto then glancing at the miles remaining and constantly comparing to see if they are moving in tandem. The last time I cut it close, there were plenty of charging stations nearby, but I wanted to get home. I slowed down some and starting following double decker buses and we finally got enough of a surplus that I felt comfortable driving it home.
 
TheHellYouSay said:
YES! That's the thing everybody everywhere drives pretty fast on the interstate's now. In WA I haven't seen much enforcement until just lately, but the speed limit is 70 so 75 is not going to be a ticket generating event.

The time I got into trouble I was fighting a headwind, and as others have noted, this has a strong impact as well. A little uphill, a little wind, you only notice it a little in an ICE vehicle when you figure your MPG at the pump, which anal retentive people like myself do regularly. In the Niro, I find myself looking at Waze or Maps distances on Android Auto then glancing at the miles remaining and constantly comparing to see if they are moving in tandem. The last time I cut it close, there were plenty of charging stations nearby, but I wanted to get home. I slowed down some and starting following double decker buses and we finally got enough of a surplus that I felt comfortable driving it home.
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Omg yes, obsessively checking google maps and counting down the miles until the next charger, watching your buffer go from 70 miles to 40 and feeling major range anxiety.
Speed limits on I-25 along that entire corridor are 75 so going slower means getting passed by semis and feeling like you might die at any moment.
 
Maybe I just have lower expectations than y'all but I've been happy with the niro for the time being until I get my aptera in a few years.

I've done about 5000 miles worth of road trips across Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, etc in the last 6 months and it's been fantastic. The niro always charges a little slow but it is very efficient and has fantastic range. It can even tow and get 150-180 miles of range while towing a 2000 lb sailboat. The biggest downside is the coldgating. I'd love to have double the range but this works for now.

On trips I run A Better Route Planner and aim for 20% remaining at the bottom and bump efficiency up until I roughly match the expectations. Worst stretch I've had was an extra long one in Idaho where I had to run it all the way up to 80%. Normally I'm off the charger and back on the interstate at 65%. I'm usually running 70-75 mph. If I'm in a hurry, 80 mph. Sometimes A Better Route Planner acts up and that's annoying.

I'm also an engineer and love to nerd out on battery temperatures and charge profiles so maybe that helps. :)
 
"On trips I run A Better Route Planner and aim for 20% remaining at the bottom and bump efficiency up until I roughly match the expectations. "
Good advice. I wasn't familiar with that app.
Thank you,
-Barry
 
I haven’t heard of that app either, thanks.
rcnesneg said:
Maybe I just have lower expectations than y'all but I've been happy with the niro for the time being until I get my aptera in a few years.

I've done about 5000 miles worth of road trips across Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, etc in the last 6 months and it's been fantastic. The niro always charges a little slow but it is very efficient and has fantastic range. It can even tow and get 150-180 miles of range while towing a 2000 lb sailboat. The biggest downside is the coldgating. I'd love to have double the range but this works for now.

On trips I run A Better Route Planner and aim for 20% remaining at the bottom and bump efficiency up until I roughly match the expectations. Worst stretch I've had was an extra long one in Idaho where I had to run it all the way up to 80%. Normally I'm off the charger and back on the interstate at 65%. I'm usually running 70-75 mph. If I'm in a hurry, 80 mph. Sometimes A Better Route Planner acts up and that's annoying.

I'm also an engineer and love to nerd out on battery temperatures and charge profiles so maybe that helps. :)
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It sounds like we are driving two completely different cars! What year is yours?
 
Yes, keeping speed down at about 70 on the highway makes a big difference from my experience. Not optimal when the speed limit is 75... but doable. In cool conditions (40-50 F) I was able to get 180+ miles on one leg (starting at 100% from home) with about 15-20% left keeping speed mostly near 70. Usually I've seen 20-80% charge taking about 40 minutes at Electrify America stations (150 or 300 kW), about an hour to 90+%. This was for a 480 miles trip with two charging stops. I'd also recommend using the heated seats and steering wheel (if you have it) rather than the main heating system if possible...
 
JasonG said:
Yes, keeping speed down at about 70 on the highway makes a big difference from my experience. Not optimal when the speed limit is 75... but doable. In cool conditions (40-50 F) I was able to get 180+ miles on one leg (starting at 100% from home) with about 15-20% left keeping speed mostly near 70. Usually I've seen 20-80% charge taking about 40 minutes at Electrify America stations (150 or 300 kW), about an hour to 90+%. This was for a 480 miles trip with two charging stops. I'd also recommend using the heated seats and steering wheel (if you have it) rather than the main heating system if possible...
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That's accurate!

For what it's worth, if I'm towing a sailboat I'll run 65 mph - for safety and trailer rating, but it helps consumption a lot too. 100%-0% range at 65 mph with the 2000 lb boat is 180. Range at 70 mph is 150 miles. But yes - US drivers are recklessly fast on highways.
 
The range has always been fine for my needs. I don't frequently drive distances that are further than my car's range, but when I do, I find that the car's range is quite adequate (so that I can complete my trip with only 1 top-up). My main gripe is the charging speed. When the car is warm, charging speed is acceptably slow, but when the outdoor temperature is near freezing, the car's charging speed is unbearably slow.
 
We kept our speed under 75 but sometimes out on the open roads in NM/AZ it felt dangerous to go 70 or less as there were semis going over 75 and will tail you aggressively.
Yup, temps were around or under freezing for a lot of the trip so charging was extremely slow.
We have the very first Niro EV also (2019 EX) so maybe there have been improvements since then?
 
Also, there aren’t a ton of chargers in those two states (compared to many other states we’ve driven through), so it felt more dire when miles were running low.
 
Dominica81 said:
We kept our speed under 75 but sometimes out on the open roads in NM/AZ it felt dangerous to go 70 or less as there were semis going over 75 and will tail you aggressively.
Yup, temps were around or under freezing for a lot of the trip so charging was extremely slow.
We have the very first Niro EV also (2019 EX) so maybe there have been improvements since then?
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I have the 2019 one as well, but I drive in CA/NV. More charging infrastructure here, I think.
 
I just purchased a 22 Niro EV in the beginning of March froma dealership by Milwaukee Wisconsin. I live in Phoenix, AZ. The Milwaukee area dealership was selling at 500 below MSRP while local dealerships were charging 2-5k over MSRP here. I originally was planning on having the car shipped here arranged through the dealership for 1,000 which would have put me below the local pricing. I have family in Wisconsin and my grandmother passed away at that time, so I ended up picking up the car after the funeral and driving it all the way back to Phoenix.

I had never driven any EV before, so I was a bit worried about the trip, but it ended up going really well. I was traveling with my wife and 23 year old daughter and we took turns driving. We used ABRP to plan charging stops. Most of the stops didn't seem too bad as we had a chance to get a snack and stretch our legs for a bit before continuing on with the drive. This is about a 2000 mile trip and we did it over three days, staying overnight at hotels twice along the way. I found that ABRP was quite conservative with distances between stops and I never got below 18% charge the entire trip to Phoenix. Total driving and charging time while on the road over the three days came to 37 hours, whereas google maps estimates the time at 27 hours in a regular ICE vehicle. I have made the trip before several times in an ICE vehicle and I would come in between 30-32 hours of driving + stops for food and bathroom breaks. So this only added about 5-7 hours of stopping time compared to my regular driving habits with an ICE vehicle which I find not bad at all for a 2000 mile trip.
 
FYI - Here are the charging speed limits based on battery temperature. If I drive 80mph in 10°F weather the battery will get down to around 60°F before I get to the next charger so I usually see 56kw. The slower you go the colder the battery gets. If you're out camping in the cold it can get down into the 40s pretty easily after 5+ hours.

Battery temp < 1 degC : max power 18 kW
1 degC > Battery temp > 5 degC: max power 25 kW
5 degC > Battery temp > 15 degC : max power 40 kW
15 degC > Battery temp > 25 degC: max power 50 kW (50kW chargers) or 56 kW (>100kW chargers)
Battery temp > 25 degC: max power > 70 kW (>100kW chargers)
 
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