[Ladogaboy]

I stopped in Bakersfield to charge up before heading over the Grapevine, and when I pulled up to the chargers, an i3 was parked and charging. No biggie. They have a second unit that is dual CHAdeMO and CCS. However, the latch on the CCS adapter is broken, so the vehicle cannot lock it into place.

I figured, I'd wait for the i3 to finish, but when I checked PlugShare, the charger was free. I walked over to the window to see the driver sleeping. I tapped the glass to wake him, and he got out quickly, "Sorry. I must have fallen asleep."

"No problem. I just noticed the charge was over, so I'd like to plug in."

He gets out of the vehicle, makes it two steps from his door, and pulls a Kramer. "Wow. What's that!?!"

"It's a Bolt EV."
"A Bolt with a 'B'? Not the Volt?"
"Yes."
"So it's pure electric?"
"Yes."
"Oh, so it's just like my i3. 2017 with no range extender."
"Ah. Cool!"
"Yeah. I'm driving to Texas, so I better get moving."
"Uhhhh."
"Yeah. I'm going to need to hit every fast charger along the way."
"Uhhhh. Have a safe trip!"

 

[freshcut]

First of all, not ALL of us in Bakersfield are that oblivious to the equipment our cars have.....secondly, that kind of trip in an i3 would give me insane range anxiety with only 180 miles total range.

 

[VikAiRious]

Wait,... What? My Chevy Volt has a Battery that can charge?

 

[Ladogaboy]

First of all, not ALL of us in Bakersfield are that oblivious to the equipment our cars have.....secondly, that kind of trip in an i3 would give me insane range anxiety with only 180 miles total range.

Haha! I think he was passing through... And he said his i3 did NOT have a REX. 0_0

 

[freshcut]

Yeah I caught that....Guess I'm used to all the usual comments about Bakersfield. That;s still a brutal drive to take in something like an i3. Would be like trying to drive in a Leaf!

 

[Ladogaboy]

Yeah I caught that....Guess I'm used to all the usual comments about Bakersfield. That;s still a brutal drive to take in something like an i3. Would be like trying to drive in a Leaf!

Yeah. I wasn't taking a dig at Bakersfield. It just happens to be where I stopped.

I honestly don't know how he is going to make it to Texas. That might take a week or more, and he'd have to stop at multiple RV parks because there just aren't enough chargers long the route.

 

[freshcut]

I've done the Bakersfield/Austin drive and that still takes a good 20+ hours in a gas car. Hopefully he's traveling alone otherwise his passenger will likely want to kill him before they get there. hehe

I know it wasn't a dig at Bakersfield....Heck, I'm a native here and I completely see how a lot of the jokes have a bit of truth in them. I will admit though that I HATE how limited the charging infrastructure is here. There are a few places, but not many options where you can park and do stuff. I'm assuming that you stopped either at the Nissan dealership, or it looks like they have a new one at Walmart.

 

[Henry_FL]

Yeah. I wasn't taking a dig at Bakersfield. It just happens to be where I stopped.

I honestly don't know how he is going to make it to Texas. That might take a week or more, and he'd have to stop at multiple RV parks because there just aren't enough chargers long the route.

Or stop for gas every 50 miles, like they did on Grand Tour

 

[freshcut]

yeah the 2 gallon tank is almost a joke. Even a 5 gallon tank would have been at least somewhat more useful, and likely really not that much additional weight to get somewhere closer to a more reasonable 300 mile total range.

 

[Dakster]

First, he didn't have the Rex according to the OPs post. Second, that stupid 2 gal tank was to make it compliant with EV rules. Supposedly the 2017 one has a little larger tank. On the old ones you could get a jump drive with the Euro programming and it would give you something like 2.4 gallons and more importantly let you turn on the range extender at whatever SOC you wanted, rather than having to wait until the car was almost out of charge. And to think I used to gripe about the Volt's small tank...

 

[freshcut]

I wasn't aware the i3 had the option to NOT have the REX.

correction, just noticed that it is available as an option. WHY?!?!?? might as well spend half that and buy a leaf with more passenger space.

 

[Ladogaboy]

I'm assuming that you stopped either at the Nissan dealership, or it looks like they have a new one at Walmart.

Yeah, I've been using the one at Walmart on 6225 Colony. It looks like most of the Walmarts in the area have been adding EVgo chargers. This one has two CHAdeMO/CCS dual stations, but the one farthest from the building is broken right now.

 

[freshcut]

It would be nice to see some restaurants put chargers in place around here. I talked to the owner where I work and she was looking into it but I don't foresee anything happening on that since the most practical place would be right next to the building and only room for a single unit. Ideally if she could put a couple 2 head units somewhere in the parking lot, perhaps one with j1772 and another with DCFC, but unfortunately we don't own the parking lot except right in front of the store and our "owned" spots are shared with 3 other businesses.

They're supposed to be putting a Ross into the old Vons building that dominates the shopping center (as well as who owns the main parking lot) so perhaps they'll see the benefits of putting in a charging option.

 

[Coppersnowboarder]

Last winter, I passed an i3 with Texas plates that was stranded in a snowstorm east of Vail Pass in Central Colorado with a dead battery pack. The driver apparently had failed to consider that battery range drops with low temperatures and snow-covered roads. Furthermore, he had failed to do adequate research, since he was seven miles past the free charging station that was within range and one mile short of the next free charging station that could have assisted him if he had coasted a bit more on the descent from Vail Pass.

 

[llninja]

I wasn't aware the i3 had the option to NOT have the REX.

correction, just noticed that it is available as an option. WHY?!?!?? might as well spend half that and buy a leaf with more passenger space.

As an ex BMW driver, we're a bit crazy when it comes to cars. I had a BMW 535i, but I could have bought a Tercel for far less. My real reason was that this was the biggest car at the time with a manual transmission. If you get behind the wheel of one, you'll understand why they call it the ultimate driving machine. Today, I'm struggling to find anything with a stick shift that isn't an econobox, but maybe my ICE days are over anyway. The volt is a great stepping stone to a full EV.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Last winter, I passed an i3 with Texas plates that was stranded in a snowstorm east of Vail Pass in Central Colorado with a dead battery pack. The driver apparently had failed to consider that battery range drops with low temperatures and snow-covered roads. Furthermore, he had failed to do adequate research, since he was seven miles past the free charging station that was within range and one mile short of the next free charging station that could have assisted him if he had coasted a bit more on the descent from Vail Pass.

An example of why I will never own a BEV. There is too much planning involved with knowns and unknown unknowns to ever allow me to use a BEV on a cross-country road trip. My Volt serves me well for these road trips and provides all-electric driving for local trips. The best of both worlds for me.

I can see the attraction for someone who is young and carefree who likes a challenge and can deal with the risks. I'm way beyond wanting to experience that in my life.

 

[JStrnad]

About the i3 driver... wow. I'm not sure he can even DO that, get from Bakersfield to Austin. Between Palm Desert CA and Phoenix AZ there doesn't seem to be anything he can use, according to PlugShare. That's 250-300 miles and nothing but Tesla superchargers in between. Similar situation from Tucson AZ to Austin, which is almost 900 miles, with only Level 2 chargers along the way and a good gap in west Texas with nothing, nothing, nothing.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think it's going to take a flatbed truck to get him there.

 

[Ladogaboy]

I can see the attraction for someone who is young and carefree who likes a challenge and can deal with the risks. I'm way beyond wanting to experience that in my life.

Aw, you called me young.

Seriously, though, I think it has way more to do with the charging infrastructure. Everyone says they "need" a BEV to have 400, 500, a 1,000 miles of range to be viable, but they never drive that far in an ICEV. The difference is the infrastructure. If every store and every highway stop had at least one 100 kW to 400 kW charger, that anxiety with long range BEVs would be gone.

 

[llninja]

Aw, you called me young.

Seriously, though, I think it has way more to do with the charging infrastructure. Everyone says they "need" a BEV to have 400, 500, a 1,000 miles of range to be viable, but they never drive that far in an ICEV. The difference is the infrastructure. If every store and every highway stop had at least one 100 kW to 400 kW charger, that anxiety with long range BEVs would be gone.

There would still be anxiety of whether you can find a working and available EVSE as when every store and highway stop has one, invariably more people will be driving EVs. I think it will be the gas stations who will need to adapt or die as they already have the storefront, but don't have the transformers or plugs yet. Or some new EV entrepreneur could start buying up failed fueling locations and create a regional or nationwide brand with Ev charging, a food court, convenience store, etc. if they charge reasonable rates for the electricity and make it up with the convenience store items, they could do OK, as opposed to Chargepoint who ask for something like $2 per hour where I'm at. The ability to service gas and electricity, but be known to be EV friendly could be the key.

 

[Ladogaboy]

Or some new EV entrepreneur could start buying up failed fueling locations and create a regional or nationwide brand with Ev charging, a food court, convenience store, etc. if they charge reasonable rates for the electricity and make it up with the convenience store items, they could do OK, as opposed to Chargepoint who ask for something like $2 per hour where I'm at. The ability to service gas and electricity, but be known to be EV friendly could be the key.

That is actually something that I am considering. My understanding of CharegPoint is that the rates are set by station owner (ChargePoint processes the payments, and transfers it to the station owner). Right now, EVgo is very cheap. ChargePoint and GreenLots range from reasonable to very expensive. However, as EV owners, we have no assurances that prices will stay that way. Right now, long range driving is only marginally more expensive than charging at home. Five years from now, you could see stations in the middle of nowhere charging $1/kWh just because they can.