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We have the 580 and were contemplating our first road trip. Northern NM, to Sun Valley, ID via Pagosa Springs, CO Durango, CO Moab, UT Salt Lake City. We would do two days up and two back stopping in Moab both times. Anyone familiar with this route and charging ability? How crazy is this?
TLDR, The Marriage is intact! We had some self induced issues, and there was an EA learning curve.
We left home with the intention of hitting Durango for dinner. The big issue we were working with was that we were traveling with two bicycles on SeaSucker racks attached to the back window. That made them easy to use and no chance of hitting the top of the garage if I was tired and forgot about them. However, we don’t feel comfortable leaving the bikes alone so a Charge Point picnic was on the menu. The was a “Non-networked” charger, which means “you pay” Plug Share said as much so it was $16. 30-40 min.
We then rolled onto Moab where the Hilton “downtown” across the street from the Love Muffin Cafe had a free Level 2 Clipper Creek charger. I think we left with about 90-95% due to arriving around 10pm and leaving early in the AM.
The car said the Sam’s in Salt Lake City would be the next stop but 45 min out of Moab the wife wanted more coffee so we did 10 min at the EA in Green River.
The Sam’s was the big learning curve. 30-40min
Once you plug in to 150kw don’t try to get a better deal when the 350 opens up. The time lost moving the car is not made up for the brief time you might be above 150kw.
With a little advanced planning we would have realized the food options were limited at that location, and it was a little further off the interstate then some other chargers.
We then pressed on to the EA in Heyburn, ID and the lesson from Sam’s paid off. The wife started looking at charging options in Ketchum/Sun Valley and noticed they were quite limited with really only a 62kw in Hailey, ID. We decided to charge to 90% so we could round trip it back to Heyburn.
Three days later we charged back up to 90% at Heyburn and had a much needed bathroom break and snack.
Again doing some research the wife suggested the EA in Spanish Fork, UT for our lunch stop as it had better food options. 30 min and we were good to go back to Moab.
Unfortunately for me I had run out of Hilton points so I used my Marriott points for a free stay at the Element in Moab. Six chargers out front 👍👍 .71¢ a KW. 👎👎 That was my first “gas” bill. However we did leave with %100. Yes, I could have driven the two miles into town and plugged into a 62kw charger for free, but we were tired and wanted to relax a little bit.
The full charge got us to Pagosa Springs where we had a nice lunch stop by the river and a Charge Point, things were going great at 125kw until a Tesla pulled up and used the supplied adapter and cut my charging speed in half. 🤷♂️ 30 min later we were back on the road for home.
For the round trip, trying to do 5 over the speed limit whenever possible we averaged 352wh/mile with the bikes.
We are now considering the SUV so we can put the bikes inside.
Ha! I remember that crazy lady.
Seriously, I did a road trip from Las Vegas to Vancouver BC a few months ago. Central Nevada had poor charging options, but once past that I knew I had "about" 300 miles on a charge (to be safe) and after each charge I still put my destination in the NAV and then clicked on Chargers Along The Route and filtered for Level3, then added a station that was 150 to 200 miles away. That always worked, but most times I had to call for Electrify America to assist with some sort of problem. I did always get charged though. Since I returned I have not had to call, but there are still many issues like some heads at a station are out or slow charge.
On my return I went through California rather then the middle of Nevada and found better chargers. The EQS driving experience and charging experience (when they work properly) is just fine. Even charging at 200 miles to be safe is about 3 hours of driving and I actually enjoyed a short 20-30 break to charge after that. Most stations did not have food in walking distance, but I streamed Peacock or HBOMax while sitting in my comfortable car, and the sound going through the Bluetooth sounded great.
I traded in a 2021 S-Class and am much happier with the EQS!
I've been planning a Wisconsin to Seattle through the country's largest EV charging desert the Dakotas and Montana. Maybe next year.
We are thinking of driving from Des Moines to Seattle (our son and his family live there) sometime in June when the range of the EQS580 is fantastic. I checked out the Electrify America gas charging stations for the trip and I believe it’s doable. Also, hopefully there will be more stations by then.
Was just reading this morning about the MB partnership with the US company Sila, investigating converting graphite based Li batteries to silicone based Li batteries, which are smaller, lighter and more powerful. The future is very exciting. Imagine an EQS with 40% more range than our's currently has! Wow.
TLDR, The Marriage is intact! We had some self induced issues, and there was an EA learning curve.
We left home with the intention of hitting Durango for dinner. The big issue we were working with was that we were traveling with two bicycles on SeaSucker racks attached to the back window. That made them easy to use and no chance of hitting the top of the garage if I was tired and forgot about them. However, we don’t feel comfortable leaving the bikes alone so a Charge Point picnic was on the menu. The was a “Non-networked” charger, which means “you pay” Plug Share said as much so it was $16. 30-40 min.
We then rolled onto Moab where the Hilton “downtown” across the street from the Love Muffin Cafe had a free Level 2 Clipper Creek charger. I think we left with about 90-95% due to arriving around 10pm and leaving early in the AM.
The car said the Sam’s in Salt Lake City would be the next stop but 45 min out of Moab the wife wanted more coffee so we did 10 min at the EA in Green River.
The Sam’s was the big learning curve. 30-40min
Once you plug in to 150kw don’t try to get a better deal when the 350 opens up. The time lost moving the car is not made up for the brief time you might be above 150kw.
With a little advanced planning we would have realized the food options were limited at that location, and it was a little further off the interstate then some other chargers.
We then pressed on to the EA in Heyburn, ID and the lesson from Sam’s paid off. The wife started looking at charging options in Ketchum/Sun Valley and noticed they were quite limited with really only a 62kw in Hailey, ID. We decided to charge to 90% so we could round trip it back to Heyburn.
Three days later we charged back up to 90% at Heyburn and had a much needed bathroom break and snack.
Again doing some research the wife suggested the EA in Spanish Fork, UT for our lunch stop as it had better food options. 30 min and we were good to go back to Moab.
Unfortunately for me I had run out of Hilton points so I used my Marriott points for a free stay at the Element in Moab. Six chargers out front 👍👍 .71¢ a KW. 👎👎 That was my first “gas” bill. However we did leave with %100. Yes, I could have driven the two miles into town and plugged into a 62kw charger for free, but we were tired and wanted to relax a little bit.
The full charge got us to Pagosa Springs where we had a nice lunch stop by the river and a Charge Point, things were going great at 125kw until a Tesla pulled up and used the supplied adapter and cut my charging speed in half. 🤷♂️ 30 min later we were back on the road for home.
For the round trip, trying to do 5 over the speed limit whenever possible we averaged 352wh/mile with the bikes.
We are now considering the SUV so we can put the bikes inside.
We test fit before buying, this is the larger of our bikes, we can get two in the back
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
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I remember that crazy lady.
