Over the Santa Cruz mountains on a single charge (in theory)

I took a trip from Cupertino to just south of Santa Cruz and back last week. I decided to charge at my friend's house, but looking at the numbers, I could have made it on a single charge.

The overall details:

• I started off at 280&85, took 85S to 17S to 1S to a few miles south. On the way back, I did the reverse. It was about 60F outside. I had the fan on, no heat or AC. I also had the headlights and the music on.
• The details for the trip to the coast.
  41 miles, 4.8mi/kWh. I averaged about 47mph. In ECO the whole trip changed between D and B. During the trip I was never faster than 65mph and I spent most of 17 around 50. Started with a full charge and parked with the "fuel gauge" just barely higher than 5/8ths.
• The trip back was nearly identical, but the numbers where 41 miles, 4.8mi/kWh, averaged about 43mph.

By some rough calculations, the total energy used was 17.1kWh. Assuming a ~21kW usable capacity, I could done the whole trip on a single charge. Using regen on the down slope is critical.

I did 98 miles on a charge at a BMW dealership in Santa Ana, right at i-5 and the 57, all the way south on I-5 and I-805 to Fuller Kia in Chula Vista (San Diego) CA. I had 15 miles of range left. I did all freeway for that, never over 60 mph, as close to 55-56mph as much as I could. I was just over 1 tick above the red, average 5.6 miles per kwh, when I pulled in to recharge. I did not get the 18 miles of range left warning in my dash this time. YMMV, i've found 55 to 56 mph adds hugely to the number of miles that can be driven if the range is long between recharges. Driving 55 MPH also allowed my battery to take on the full 22kw recharge rate a ChargePoint 100 is capable of delivering, battery being cool enough in a passively cooled battery at 60 to 70F temps.

The trip, in one day, a long day.



Charge profile on a Charge Point 100 level 2 DC fast charger, 24KW capable.