Reflections on a long trip

[hobbit]

I'm on my way back from a visit to southern climes, for which I'm driving
the Prius because there was NFW I was going to try and charger-hop 1600 miles
in the Kona. Maybe next year, if infrastructure drastically improves. But
while slogging my way through the rain today I was noodling a little of the
math to compare trips in an electric vs. an efficient gasser.

In general, taking the Kona would inflate most aspects of a long trip by about
4/3. Drive for 3-and-some hours, particularly in cold weather, and charge
for an hour that could otherwise be spent driving farther in the Prius. The
three days I usually take for the trip would likely bloat to four, and be
an additional night of motel cost [esp. since the Kona would *not* be easy
to set up a sleeper berth in and boondock at walmart lots]. The "fuel" cost
would probably be closer to double in today's fast-charging environment,
and all of it would require additional planning time spent beforehand.

4/3 also happens to be the factor by which data expands when it gets
base64-encoded for email transport. And to top off this geeky stream of
consciousness or numerology or whatever it is, the Kona has a 64 kWh pack.

Why did I buy this thing, again? Not for the long haul, at least not yet. That's
why it's been sitting mothballed back home for the time being. I left it about
half-charged and shut off the memory "fuse switch", so it'll be interesting to
see what state things are in when I go to reboot it all.

_H*

 

[hieronymous]

I concur, different energy cost relativity for me means about 7.6 cents/km in the Kona, versus 8.6 cents/km in my PiP but double the range, so fewer motel nights. But no hair shirt, the Prius has SCC, satnav, HUD, heated leather seats and efficient climate air, so I'm not quitting my PiP any time soon. Instead I'm moving the Nexens to the Prius for a little better handling, and putting PS4's on the Kona - sports mode here I come! However, the Nexens will be on multi fit rims and will also bolt straight back on the Kona with just a centre bore spacer change, so not burning my bridges ..

 

[ericy]

I have played with ABRP to "plan" a long (1200 mile trip). For me, it can be done with just one motel stop (same with EV and ICE, really). But you are stuck using EA chargers. ABRP has you charging to 90% in some cases which seems like a bug in ABRP - the charging rate would be quite low, so getting from 80 to 90 would take quite a while, and thus be quite expensive. There are other chargers along the way, so there is no good reason to do this.

Taking a long trip in the winter seems like it would be more painful. Reduced range coupled with potentially lower charging rates, both leading to more frequent and longer charging. The thing I am not sure about is that the Kona does capture some amount of heat and the batteries do warm up - I think I saw a roughly 10 degree increase after a 2 hour drive.

In the summer it would be a different story.

If EA fixes pricing for the Kona, I might be willing to give it a go.

 

[Fastnf]

Last summer I did one 2200 mile trip in the Kona. About 4/3 is right. In driving from Southern California up through Oregon and back the the charging infrastructure is fairly strong along the main freeways so charging was not an issue. By planing my stops to coincide with breakfast, lunch, and diner I could travel and charge with no significant delays. Usually it took me longer to eat than the charge to 80%. I traveled 600 mile on the first day with no issues. Of course I had no schedule to keep so I wasn't concerned if I would have been delayed but I never was. It was mostly an experiment to see how well long distance travel worked in the Kona. For me it worked well

 

[ericy]

By planing my stops to coincide with breakfast, lunch, and diner I could travel and charge with no significant delays.

That's probably the key. If your approach is to just nibble on snacks while driving, you will probably find charging the EV to be a nuisance. But if your approach in an ICE car is to stop for meals somewhere, then you can combine with charging and get to the destination in roughly the same time as you would in an ICE.

On long road trips, I need to either switch drivers or pull off and rest. Otherwise my mind turns to mush.

 

[TheLight75]

ABRP has you charging to 90% in some cases which seems like a bug in ABRP - the charging rate would be quite low, so getting from 80 to 90 would take quite a while, and thus be quite expensive.

I don't know if you know this, but while ABRP defaults to 80% max charge at each stop, it will let you set whatever max % you'd like. I usually go with 75% since that's a more realistic level when the Kona starts to taper.

 

[ericy]

I don't know if you know this, but while ABRP defaults to 80% max charge at each stop, it will let you set whatever max % you'd like. I usually go with 75% since that's a more realistic level when the Kona starts to taper.

If the default is 80, then why is it suggesting 90? And I don't even see this setting in the mobile app. I can set the starting charge, and I might charge to 90 on a L2 at home. But not DCFC.

I have my doubts that ABRP even has the correct tapering curves. Going from 80 to 90 ought to take 20 minutes or so, and on an EA charger, that would be another 12$. I cant think of any way that doing this would make sense unless there were literally no other chargers.

I guess I would just view the thing as a starting point that I might tweak.

 

[hobbit]

I have now returned the Kona to its normal state. Before I did, though,
I measured the dead-dead quiescent 12V drain with the fuse switch still
off and everything closed up: 5 milliamps. After close to a month of total
inactivity, it was still solidly above 12V and could boot everything just fine.

When I went to reboot, neither the RKE clicker *or* the doorhandle button
would work, I had to use the metal key, but once I opened the door that
triggered various systems to come on and then the smartkey operated
normally. Having the memory switch off didn't seem to lose any settings
except where I'd left the climate. Radio settings were untouched, it still
had the previous charge/precondition schedule, and the "star" key still jumps
to the energy screen like I'd set up. And the pack was at 60%, just about
where I'd left it.

Nice to get back to fully silent mobility! I'll have to remember to take the
Prius out every so often, because its NiMH pack seems happiest when it
*doesn't* sit around idle. Over the first couple of roadtrip days I watched
it basically rebalance itself, with one cell-block looking a little iffy at first
but then bouncing right back and no longer being reported consistently
low. The high and low reported blocks were more and more random as
things progressed, as indeed it should be. I can still stuff over 90A of regen
into the thing at normal / human-comfortable temps -- not bad for a 15+
year old pack.

_H*