A Geek Goes Flying

Had company in from Texas, where they’re a wine club member of Graveyard . They wanted to visit the California location, which is in Paso Robles. It’s been a while since I’ve been up that far, and my Lab was craving a beach trip, and so I fired up A Better Route Planner ‡ and it seemed feasible. The original plan is below. But, you know ...  Anyway. Some errands and a lack of EV charging availability at the local public garage had us starting the trip at 89% charge, estimated range 175 miles. We left at 9:22 a.m., instead of 8:45 a.m., because Daylight Saving Time threw off my normal wakeup time and neither of us thought to set an alarm. (No big deal, I built in buffers.) Leg one was a straight shot up the 405 to the 101 to Hendry’s Beach, 98 miles, 1 hour 36 minutes expected travel time. We ended up arriving at 10:56, 1 hour 34 minutes later. Using adaptive cruise control in moving traffic, we averaged about 3.1 m/kWh for that leg, and arrived with 39% State of Charge (SOC) and 7...

This trip took a lot more than I thought it would... I got started a little later than I had originally planned, leaving West LA around 11:20 a.m., with a 98% state of charge (SOC) and 197 miles estimated range [with 3,821 on the odometer] . The plan for the trip, worked up using PlugShare, was to drive 126 miles to Rancho Mirage Marketplace, DCFC to 80% there, drive another 130 miles to Love’s Travel Stop Quartzsite, another charge to 80%, another 111 miles to Palm Valley Crossing in Goodyear, and then I’d be about 10 miles from my destination. Apple Maps was saying it was a 5 hour, 34 minute trip there (nonstop direct), and I figured, recharging to 80% twice en route would add a bit more than an hour to that trip time. After all, Subaru claims the 2024 Solterra’s “high-capacity lithium-ion battery charges from 10% to 80% as quickly as 35 minutes.” 🤣 ... 😡 By 1:20 p.m. I had made decent time, averaging 2.9 m/kWh with a fair amount of climbing (about 2500'), and using the cruise...

From Los Angeles to the Big Bear Mountain Resorts (Snow Summit specifically). Snow Summit winter trail map Bought parking in advance to park near the base, vs. having to get shuttled in from a remote lot. $40. Going up the mountain is about 110 miles and the Solterra is currently estimating it has a 192 mile range on 100% charge (outside temps in the high 50s, low 60s, °F). There are limited charging options in Big Bear, so I’m planning on charging to 80% at a DCFC before starting the climb. Using PlugShare, I found a municipal charging facility run by ChargePoint that is reported to have three (3) 62 kW CCS1 stations at $.35/kWh, which should match the Solterra more or less perfectly (I occasionally see 100 kW at higher speed charging stations, but that eventually settles into something around 50 kW).  That’s about 80 miles from my starting location – at 3.0 m/kWh for planning purposes, I should arrive with at least 50% state of charge (SOC) (I’m going to say 60%). Bumping back t...