New to eGolf and this forum, just purchased used ‘15 SEL

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bobby17

***
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
3
Hi people.
Checking in after my drive back from LA to Seattle in my first EV.
I had a great time driving the car back and am now seeing what it is like to drive around my city. The adventure coming back was tremendously educational, tedious at times making stops to charge, and in the end a complete win for me. Why did I do it and not just buy a car in the PNW? Price, and my wanting to see if I could do it. Finding an eGolf private party sale around here is near impossible. I am ready to dump another household ICE car and find another EV asap. Plugshare and the Iphone were so essential on the trip. If anyone has specific questions
about roadtripping in a “vintage 2015” eGolf, let me know; and I know you all are much more experienced with this amazing car than I am.
 
How many back to back DCFC did you do on your drive back to Seattle?

Read your owners manual about those. Car should be recharged with AC charger every other recharge. DCFC are to be used "sparingly" and not back to back.
 
bobby17 said:
Hi people.
Checking in after my drive back from LA to Seattle in my first EV.
I had a great time driving the car back and am now seeing what it is like to drive around my city. The adventure coming back was tremendously educational, tedious at times making stops to charge, and in the end a complete win for me. Why did I do it and not just buy a car in the PNW? Price, and my wanting to see if I could do it. Finding an eGolf private party sale around here is near impossible. I am ready to dump another household ICE car and find another EV asap. Plugshare and the Iphone were so essential on the trip. If anyone has specific questions
about roadtripping in a “vintage 2015” eGolf, let me know; and I know you all are much more experienced with this amazing car than I am.

Congrats on your purchase, and welcome to the forum. I have the same car and am still in love with it @47000 miles.

That drive must've been a lot of fun, and probably a bit unnerving at times I'd imagine.

Oh, and please feel free to ignore Joulesthief - he's our local curmudgeon. Only drives on city streets under 45mph achieving ridiculously high efficiencies and likes to scold people that enjoy driving it like a regular car. :lol:
 
Spektre said:
bobby17 said:
Hi people.
Checking in after my drive back from LA to Seattle in my first EV.
I had a great time driving the car back and am now seeing what it is like to drive around my city. The adventure coming back was tremendously educational, tedious at times making stops to charge, and in the end a complete win for me. Why did I do it and not just buy a car in the PNW? Price, and my wanting to see if I could do it. Finding an eGolf private party sale around here is near impossible. I am ready to dump another household ICE car and find another EV asap. Plugshare and the Iphone were so essential on the trip. If anyone has specific questions
about roadtripping in a “vintage 2015” eGolf, let me know; and I know you all are much more experienced with this amazing car than I am.

Congrats on your purchase, and welcome to the forum. I have the same car and am still in love with it @47000 miles.

That drive must've been a lot of fun, and probably a bit unnerving at times I'd imagine.

Oh, and please feel free to ignore Joulesthief - he's our local curmudgeon. Only drives on city streets under 45mph achieving ridiculously high efficiencies and likes to scold people that enjoy driving it like a regular car. :lol:
:ugeek: :ugeek: :ugeek: :twisted:
 
I’d love to know the details! What route you took, where you charged, how much it cost vs gas etc if you’re willing to share. I admire the sense adventure that must have gone into that trip
 
Wow that's awesome, congrats! I may be looking to sell my 2017 SEL soon in the SF area...would be an easy drive for a veteran like you ;)
 
Wow! Yes, please share some details of the trip. Most of the DC charging you likely would have used through Oregon in on 22kw chargers which probably helped keep the battery from melting on a drive like that. Very curious how to know how you crossed the 114 mile DC desert between Woodland and Tacoma, WA.
 
Welcome! Must have been an amazing trip. I can't believe you did it, and now I want to live vicariously through your adventures so please do share.

I am guessing we have similar tastes in cars. My air cooled Porsche years were in the 1980s and likely not coming back since values cranked up to 11, but I am definitely a life-long German car enthusiast. Mostly Audis for the past 30 years now.

My wife and I bought a used 2015 e-Golf SEL a little over a year ago and it has fast become one my favorite cars ever. We're closing in on 44k miles and the car is fabulous. I love the Mk7 e-Golf so much that I have casually looked at the Golf R as a range extender, but our 20 year old BMW 540i Touring keeps going for now and is a great road tripper (fuel thirst aside). Even though we drive an ICE car for road trip range extension, but the allure of long distance EV travel is strong. We recently spent a getaway weekend in my childhood home of Monterey and took the e-Golf since we're only ~45 miles away in Santa Cruz. That trip made me long for enough range to travel further in the future, but we will probably wait until we get a longer range EV before we venture much farther in the e-Golf.

If it were me I would probably have opted for buying in the SF Bay Area and having the car transported to Seattle. That said, perhaps the most pleasurable drive I had in our garage queen 1983 Audi Ur-Quattro was the drive home to Santa Cruz from Portland back in 2003 so I totally get the allure.
 
The drive was totally doable. Would a friend/partner have done it with me? Maybe not, plus the extra weight would have been a burden. Honestly to stay conservative i made sure come hell or high water i could charge as needed every 60 miles but often i went further, a couple of times down to 4-6 miles of charge left. I did a lot of DCFC and to actually get my ass home once i got to Yreka, i drove straight through and napped during charges. I also did several Level two charges. I tried to mix it up as time allowed. The manual states something a bit different than Joulesthief referenced ( i read the manual a lot). Ok i sense a highly technical argument coming :shock:
I will make an effort to count how many charges I did as this seems a common question. Plugshare App was indispensable. I think my biggest thing about charging would be the DCFC dont just let the charge go the extra 10 minutes because i ended paying for extra time to Evgo and Chargepoint that would have been better used finalling with level two.
I really now prefer driving electric i have to say, but again driving solo is easy on long trips if you have the extra time. Driving around the city is a different animal(easier), so next i want to pursue driving 100 miles or so to recreational and business destinations around Puget Sound.
 
bobby17 said:
Hi people.
Checking in after my drive back from LA to Seattle in my first EV.
.

Welcome, and congrats on the "golf cart".
Seattle is the most beautiful city on the West Coast. Your car is perfect for it.
 
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