BitWrangler wrote on 2022-07-03, 16:14:

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-07-03, 14:18:

Tesla was supposed to open up the super charger network to non tesla EVs but apparently that hasn’t happened yet. Bummer, because like I said they have a dcfc route through there.

You wonder if that may have been a contingency thing to stop the shareholders asking "why are you spending so much money on this network, what if you don't sell enough cars?" So fallback was to open it up.

So what 19th century motorists used to do before there were gas stations was to go to the pharmacy and buy a can of spirits of petroleum... Yeah nah, that ain't gonna work for you. 🤣

I believe the protocol for avcon, j1772 ccs, tesla are all very similar so it makes adapters easy to make. Chademo is I believe different. But I think there are still adapters for it to ccs. Probably active translation in that adapter.

Anyway, I think I mentioned at some point that I didn’t think plug share could filter by station mfg. I found that setting while messing with plugshare just now.

Like I said, going through this one particular area is kinda like going back in time ten years 🤣. The following updates are not going to be typical experiences most people will have today.

It’s also worth noting that there are fast charging routes around this area. I don’t have to do this. Few more miles though.

In Montana now, I’ve been using free slow chargers since Seattle. There are still fast chargers around but I decided to relax and save “more” money. Pace is still pretty decent though.

Not nearly as fast as fast chargers though obviously.

The free L2 chargers are usually 5-10?kw (my car maxes out at 33a 240v, about 8kw)

The fast chargers are 50-350kw (my car maxes out at 55kw)

Update: went through yellowstone, cody, buffalo, now on to Gillette and Minneapolis.

Still haven’t had to pay for a charge. But pace has been slow due to the decision to use free level 2 chargers. During a section there they were the only option (level two that is)

So, this basically concludes me traveling through possibly the worst area in the USA for electric vehicles pass through and not only did I make it I made it without spending any money at all.

Here is a funny screen grab of my dash btw. After a long down hill section from
Yellowstone and bighorn? mountain.

The estimated range is inflated but the miles/kwh is on point

😀

^ yeah, the new EVs are nuts…

Made it to indiana, the other day. Gonna hang here a while. Went through Minneapolis on the way, so a bit of a detour.

Sorry for the lack of updates.

So far still going on free level 2 chargers. 😀 it’s slowed things down significantly but hey, free. Level three would be much faster.

Wait. How many miles on a charge can your car go? Come to my state, except you'll need an alignment from the pothole infested roads.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2022-07-12, 01:59:

Wait. How many miles on a charge can your car go? Come to my state, except you'll need an alignment from the pothole infested roads.

Oh my gosh, chicago about totaled my car between the pot holes and the drivers 🤣

I can get about 300 miles.

But when on a road trip you usually look for a charger after about 150-200 it keeps a safety margin and actually gets you to your destination faster believe it or not.

I bought a cheap mountain bike a few weeks ago. Used it to get to work this past week. 6 miles round trip. Haven't ridden a bike in 40 years. Except for a couple hours on a stationary bike. It wasn't out of concern for anything in particular. I have a tranny leak and didn't want to deal with it.

Ah talking of bikes, I just remembered something relevant to the aero improvement mentioned with the hitch carrier box. A decade or so back I was driving a compact wagon, and although I could get 34mpg out of it on long summer trips with care, that was about the highest I saw, until one trip with a strap-on, hatch mount bike carrier with two bikes on, 38mpg... that made me scratch my head a bit, I finally got to figuring the bikes acted as a wake diffuser, only thing that makes sense.

Speaking of, back in July of 2014, I had to strap my bike to the rear rack I had installed on my car so I could drop off my car at the shop to get the camshaft and crankshaft sensors replaced along with the engine mounts. One summer, some of the coating melted on my trunk (back in 2008) and I've yet to fix that.

My 7 year old mountain bike is less reliable than my 30 year old truck. The X just needs a tune-up, my bike - Kent Terra 2.6 - freewheel grenaded and the axle was bent for god knows how long. Got parts coming in from Amazon but it's taking awhile, pissing me off though because they just repaved the trail, and I really need to get out of the house and get some exercise.

Might have to try the bike rack thing on my old Explorer......might be neat to see if it is acting as some kind of diffuser, could gain a MPG or two, and have a reason to hit the bike trails after work without having to bike through rush hour traffic to get there.

Update: heading back west. Stayed in DC for a while. Gonna go through TN and Mississippi on way back. Might swing down to space x if I have time.

So far still only free chargers since seattle.

On the east coast I have found several free fast chargers believe it or not. Which has been nice!

Saw the air and space museum while there! Suuuper cool stuff.

American history museum has a dx4 overdrive that is de-lidded (was never soldered)

Got a nasty old Peugeot 307 SW for transports. When it comes to actual driving, it's of course retro all the way:

BSA A10 "Golden Flash" anno 1956.

Fun fact. You'd think mostly old geezers would come up and talk whenever you stop, "used to have one of those back in the day" etc. That's never ever happened. It's really the opposite, they're all tattooed kids, driving completely insane 200 hp Ducatis etc. "What a cool bike, what is it? BSA? Never heard of..." and so on 😁

Update! Soon leaving Tennessse heading south.

This is my trip this far:
Phoenix to LA to Seattle to Yellowstone to Minneapolis to Indianapolis to dc to Tennessee next, on to Mississippi then to space x and on to phoenix.

Still haven’t had to pay for a charge since seattle. Though I am now thankful to a few buddies for donating some of their electrons to the road trip! Thanks guys! 😀

I’ve actually been able to find quite a few free fast chargers since getting to the east coast also. In fact I am at one in south west TN right now!

5k miles on the trip counter now that was reset somewhere in northern cali by gf trying to figure out cruise control 🤣.

Hit something of a milestone during a rare road trip recently. 333,333 miles on the odometer. Not really that much for a 40-year-old car though, especially considering that part of the instrument panel was replaced at one point with a junkyard part with higher mileage... if it still had the original one it would only be around 220K. Plus I rebuilt the engine in 2013.

My highest score so far was 485,000... km, so north of 300,000 miles, on a Ford Escort I got with 160/100k on it, ran it 10 years and it was basically serving 3 families at that time in amount of errands for it's mileage... poor thing, it was quite nice when I got it, and wanted to keep it nice, but it just got hammered to death really, just in time essential maintenance only, no time to be proactive. It's deeds were mighty though, I bet it moved more big stuff around than most personal driver pickup trucks.

But what repairs were done while in your possession?

I don't really want to talk about my present car woes. I just will say I am rolling again, and on 4 wheels 🤣. Got my tranny oil and filter changed. Not taking it for an extended drive until the weekend, to see if it starts to shift.hard. i'm elated just to get back and forth to work.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-07-25, 21:43:

My highest score so far was 485,000... km, so north of 300,000 miles, on a Ford Escort I got with 160/100k on it, ran it 10 years and it was basically serving 3 families at that time in amount of errands for it's mileage... poor thing, it was quite nice when I got it, and wanted to keep it nice, but it just got hammered to death really, just in time essential maintenance only, no time to be proactive. It's deeds were mighty though, I bet it moved more big stuff around than most personal driver pickup trucks.

The good ole' Ford Escort. When I worked in rental as one of my first jobs, I drove a lot of those '93s and '94s. They were peppy, roomy, and competent for sure. Those dastardly automatic over-the-shoulder seatbelts, though... Haha... good times...

I got a Canadian model which didn't have that stupidity. Regular belts and airbags.

chris2021 wrote on 2022-07-25, 21:56:

But what repairs were done while in your possession?

All of them, at least twice... by me... thousands of miles apart mind you... finally ran into the problem where the parts that were available inside of 2 weeks were only cheap chinesium with 90 day warranty... that you basically rented for 100 days... because they were old so places only kept the cheapy cheap parts in stock.

I would have run right out and bought another one, but the real stopper was unavailability of the adjuster in the rear brake drum, which up here caught the cancer real easily. South of the Mason Dixon line, you're probably okay to run one another 20 years.

Ok well went to thr bank and wallyworld. Not far from thr house on the return trip I heard at least 1 thunk when changing gears. I guess it's a fargone conclusion that this tranny is toast. It's said a fluid change can make a difference. With my luck mayne it's hastening it's demise. Don't know what other conclusiom I can draw. 1998 Grand Prix GT, 3800 v6, 187,500 miles. Paid 300$ US in early 2016.