[emac1211]

I'm considering driving from St. Louis to Green Bay, which is about 500 miles. And then having to drive 500 miles back. I'm a little nervous about it because I don't know how many fast charging stations there are. I've used the various websites to calculate the drive (A Better Route Planner, etc.), and while they make it look doable with just a couple hours additional per trip, I wonder how reliable it is and if I can depend on these charging stations working and being fast enough and not being occupied.

So if you've taken any road trips with the XC40 Recharge, let me know how it was, where you went, and what advice you can give me for it!

 

[bluecar]

I’ve been up to Green Bay (actually via Sturgeon Bay) and back from the Chicago suburbs so as long as you can get up here you should be good to go. I hope you’re going to see a game!

 

[emac1211]

I’ve been up to Green Bay (actually via Sturgeon Bay) and back from the Chicago suburbs so as long as you can get up here you should be good to go. I hope you’re going to see a game!

Yes, I hope to go to one! My family lives in Green Bay and I usually try to make it up to a game a year. Just haven't decided if I can pull off that road trip. I'm actually pretty confident about getting there, but more nervous about getting back.

 

[bluecar]

I’d recommend bringing your Volvo supplied cable so you can fallback to charging at the family home. Enjoy the trip/game.

 

[arijaycomet]

You could do that trip with your eyes closed! Don’t even waste your time worrying about it. Here is what you need to do.

1- Create an account on the Electrify America app, add a credit card, and sign up for the $4 tier account. You will save more than $500 on this trip alone. After the trip, you can cancel the membership and fall back to a regular account, but trust me, you’ll see more than $4 benefit.

2- Use PlugShare to pull up all of the EA chargers along the route you’ll take. I’ll reply again in a second showing you that map, but you can actually skip about half the chargers b/c there are so many along your route.

3- Start off with 90-100% SOC as you leave your house. Go to the furthest charger that you can (your car will want you to arrive with 15% SOC at each destination, so follow those rules gives you buffer for cold weather, head winds, etc) (if this trip is during colder months this is also safer so even if you use 5-10% more you’re ok). You’ll then want to charge however long you need to get to each next charger.

4- While at a charger, plug in first so you can get that stated (anticipate 20-25min stops each). Plug in the NEXT charger you want to hit. Ideally you’ll charge from the ~15% you arrived to no more than 80%. So that means you are only actually using 65% or going about 130 miles. So the next charger you find should be no more than 130 miles away. Plug in that charger, and start the nav. And then it shows you arriving with 0% — just wait until that says you’ll arrive with 15% and then set off. Easy…..

Hope this helps but i may have left out details you Want. We did Cleveland, Ohio to the Tennessee Smokey Mountains, a similar distance as yours. It was 500+ miles each way. Do keep in mind that 9-10 hours of driving will carry around 2 hours of charging (4 stops at 25min plus some wiggle room = 2 hours) — cheers and safe travels!

 

[arijaycomet]

Okay so a few important notes here:

1- While this is the route I’d personally take, I have never used these chargers so please keep that in mind. That said, PlugShare data (recent check ins) are useful to make sure the terminals are working and what recent experiences other EV owners have had.

2- There is one step here showing you needing to travel ~136 miles so in that case 85% SOC is probably going to be reached/needed. The bummer is that charging past 80% is slow — but feasible. If you can time that charging stop to coincide with a food/meal that might be wise (The charger that you hit just before the 136mi leg)

3- This overall assumes you are charging at your final destination. Since one would assume you are spending the night, as others suggested, take your charge cable with you just in case. However, 99% likely you can find a hotel that has level 2 (240V) charging. So hopefully you use PlugShare to find hotels that offer L2 charging at/near your destination, so that you can wake up each day on your trip fully charged, same as you would at home/garage.

Hope this all helps you with the forthcoming travels! Should be an easy trip!

 

[arijaycomet]

One LAST reply —- reading your messages I now see your concern may have actually been more with the return trip. If you are not able to charge up at your family’s dwelling, you could always go here:

Alliant Energy
883 W Scott St, Fond Du Lac, WI 54937, United States
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

That would give you slower charging but at least an option. That said, don’t dismiss the Level 1 charging you get. You may be surprised just how useful that can be. For example, during our trip to the TN area, we arrived at our rental unit with around 40% state of charge, but most places we went were fairly close by. We spent a fair amount of time at our cabin, and we added about 3 miles of charge every hour. So in a 12 hour window you add 36 miles or about 15% of the charge.

If you are able to hitch a ride with family while you are there, you can leave your car charging and regain a LOT of energy. If nothing else if you at least add enough energy each day to cover what you use each day (charging 8p to 8a will add 30+ miles as noted) you may be ok. Such that you may only need to go charge at that 50kW charger on the return trip, and only need to charge enough to get to Milwaukee area. G’luck!

 

[jankak]

I'm considering driving from St. Louis to Green Bay, which is about 500 miles. And then having to drive 500 miles back. I'm a little nervous about it because I don't know how many fast charging stations there are. I've used the various websites to calculate the drive (A Better Route Planner, etc.), and while they make it look doable with just a couple hours additional per trip, I wonder how reliable it is and if I can depend on these charging stations working and being fast enough and not being occupied.

So if you've taken any road trips with the XC40 Recharge, let me know how it was, where you went, and what advice you can give me for it!

We drove from Los Angeles to Portland, OR and back - close to 2000 miles and it was great. Took longer because of charging - about 25% longer - but less tiring because of the more frequent stops. Charging was not an issue and we never had to wait. Either free charging at several CA interstate rest stops or mostly Electrify America - fewer at Charge Point. Plug Share was the best charging location site.
Advice is to plan out stops and allow for extra time. We usually went to about 20% charge left and charged to 90% [last 10% is so slow]. Car was very accurate about distance and remaining charge. The cruise control was great and one pedal driving a dream.
Enjoy your trip [I lived in Milwaukee and went to college in Appleton many years ago - pretty country].

 

[SeattleCat]

640 there. 600 back.
Was a wonderful road trip and made me love the P8 even more.

Driving in mountains was relaxing (opd rocks). Passing slow moving vehicles was only bad in that if a cop had been there … **** the acceleration still makes me smile.

Grips the road nicely on those mountain curves.

Charging was easy. Good to be forced to take a break. Only had one fail but found an easy replacement.
ABRP rocks.

Enjoy the trip.

 

[BikerBill]

We recently did our first "trip" in a BEV. It was with our Tesla X vs the Volvo XC40. Went 430 miles and our friends who we were staying with said, "Bring your charge cord. I've got a 20 amp outlet in my garage." We did NOT USE the Tesla route planner since it only wanted me to stop twice but spending over an hour at each spot. Instead, we used ABetterRoutePlanner and it calculated 4 stops and planned for arriving with 15%. Now keep in mind, at my age, my "route planner" is based on my bladder. So 4 stops in 430 miles is perfect for my body and the car. Sure the total "stop time" was in excess of an hour but it also allowed for lunch at one stop. When we arrived at our friends home, I pleaded into his garage circuit for 115v and from Fri at 5PM until Sunday at 9am we went from about 18% to 41% including using our car 3 times to go out for meals. Plugging into a 115v circuit is like "icing on the cake" since we were spending 2 days with them.

 

[Jezza]

This is why I couldn't buy an EV yet. St. Louis to Appleton is not that big of a trip and I just can't imagine sitting around waiting to charge four times. I used to have to drive between Chicago and Springfield for work pretty often and could make it in about 2.5 hours. Surprised to see I would have to stop and charge in the middle of that trip each way. No offense to those who aren't bothered by the charging. I'm glad it's working well for you!

 

[SeattleCat]

This is why I couldn't buy an EV yet. St. Louis to Appleton is not that big of a trip and I just can't imagine sitting around waiting to charge four times. I used to have to drive between Chicago and Springfield for work pretty often and could make it in about 2.5 hours. Surprised to see I would have to stop and charge in the middle of that trip each way. No offense to those who aren't bothered by the charging. I'm glad it's working well for you!

The journey you are talking about (Chicago to Springfield) is perfect for a single charge if you had charging both ends. Get to work. Park and plug it in. Get in swoosh home and plug it in. In that scenario you would save time as there would be no gas station stops for the week. Of course the infrastructure for work having charging is not there At most places and **** I do not even have charging at home (condo wa) but ….

 

[BikerBill]

This is why I couldn't buy an EV yet. St. Louis to Appleton is not that big of a trip and I just can't imagine sitting around waiting to charge four times. I used to have to drive between Chicago and Springfield for work pretty often and could make it in about 2.5 hours. Surprised to see I would have to stop and charge in the middle of that trip each way. No offense to those who aren't bothered by the charging. I'm glad it's working well for you!

When I was shopping for a Tesla, I wanted the 3 model. Too small for me. The Y, was uncomfortable for over an hour ride and the S was hard for my size and age to get into also, and I did not want to spend the money for the X. The Sales Associate said "Tesla's aren't for everyone." (I bought an X) So to use her phrase, "Electric cars aren't for everyone."

PS: On a drive of over 2 hours, I need bathroom breaks, so charging is a very easy thing to do.

 

[Rat]

I didn't buy the P-8 for road trip purposes, but my son and his wife just bought a house in Olympia, WA and will be moving up there from the Bay Area. I have a gas car, but it's my wife's and she won't drive the Volvo. She can't fly or take a long road trip for health reasons, so if I decide to drive, I'll be going solo and taking the Volvo. If anyone has had experience with the charging infrastructure along I-5 between the Bay Area-Oregon-Puget Sound, what should I know? Which charging networks are the most/least reliable and the fastest? My son and his wife drive it one day (with a dog) but I'd take two days as I'm retired and not in any great hurry. It's about 800 miles. I don't have anything planned yet, but just thinking about the future. My daughter-in-law is due to give birth in March. I'll definitely want to visit at some point. Feel free to answer with experience from other EVs if you have it, but I'm mainly interested in CCS fast charging now, not Tesla or ChaDemo. With my Leaf using ChaDemo I found that it was often the case that the fast chargers didn't work so it was only possible to get L2 charging. I've only charged the Volvo once on a public charger, as a test. It was an EvGo and it worked fine, but was somewhat slower than I expected.

 

[arijaycomet]

If anyone has had experience with the charging infrastructure along I-5 between the Bay Area-Oregon-Puget Sound, what should I know? Which charging networks are the most/least reliable and the fastest?

Ignore what your car says. Just connect the dots with EA chargers (Electrify America), and you'll be fine. Sign up for the $4/mo subscription before you leave (the math works out that after about 2x or 3x sessions, you'll have saved more than $4 and justified the cost, saving on charges there-after; unsubscribe after your trip if you are so inclined).

There are other chargers along the way (I'm not from area, but PlugShare shows me this data). But to ensure you get max kW charging, you are best to try to arrive at the "next furthers charger" with around 15% SOC (state of charge). As per my replies above -- you should leave your house and get to the next furthest most charger possible, at the lowest SOC possible (10-15%). Charge only for as long as needed to then get to the next furthest charger you can (expect 120-150 miles between chargers; but if you're not in a rush you can always stop at more chargers).

You should be able to skip a few chargers, as it appears mane of them are only 60-100 miles apart -- so you can frog jump a few of them along the way. There may be some other networks (ChargePoint etc) that have decent chargers, but if they are only 50kW you may not want to bother hitting them. G'luck!

 

[SeattleCat]

We did that journey rat. It’s way. EA will as the person above said hold you in its loving grasp all the way.

ABRP is a great way to plan it. We did crescent city ca to Seattle. Easy . We did scenic one direction and non scenic the other. The scenic I was 85% covered (we had to miss a little of 101) non scenic was trivial.

enjoy the trip. Are you doing it in one go or 2? I would suggest 2 but stupidly I did it in one.

 

[Rat]

Are you doing it in one go or 2? I would suggest 2 but stupidly I did it in one.

No way I'd do it in one day. I might even stop along the way to visit a friend and stay over a night or two. This is all distant planning. My son just bought the house and doesn't plan to move right away. I probably won't go until after the baby is born ~March.

 

[SeattleCat]

No way I'd do it in one day. I might even stop along the way to visit a friend and stay over a night or two. This is all distant planning. My son just bought the house and doesn't plan to move right away. I probably won't go until after the baby is born ~March.

Smart. I did mine in one day. Ended up 14 hours of driving. And of course the only challenge in the drive was a failed charge station 12 hours in easily resolved but not appreciated at 1am

Hope you have a super journey and get to love your car even more