JRT
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- Jul 18, 2023
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- Huntsville, AL
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So had a opportunity for a new road trip area for us Friday to Saturday to head south Alabama. My wife had business event Friday night in Montgomery, which in the past we have avoided EV travel as the options are limited. However Tesla Magic Dock opened in Prattsville, about 10 min north of our downtown stay. Seemed like a good time to try as I was basically just her Uber driver and arm candy at event lol.
The route was Huntsville to Montgomery, drop off wife, back to Prattville to charge, back to Montgomery for event on Friday. Saturday was a 6AM departure for my daughter's JROTC drill state competition in Jacksonville AL then home. Trip down was mostly I65 and as usual at no more then 70mph I got a consistent 2.0 m/kWh. This is ER XLT, 2 adults and very little luggage. The constant high m/kWh people report has to have the most amazingly ideal travel routes as I've never done better then 2.1 m/kWh. Regardless the ER made this a no stop ordeal at 185 miles, which I count as a victory as the SR Mach-e we moved up from would have needed a charge some where in Birmingham.
After wife drop off for event prep, I punched in the Tesla Prattville location and was off. This was easy to find and such a welcome to not be in Bolt hell Walmart EA stations for a change. Unfortunately I failed to read the Tesla app instructions operation of a magic dock and assumed I was lied to when I couldn't see an adaptor. After driving around the area seeing if I was in the wrong spot I came back, and took a breather and used the Tesla app. It walked the steps needed and 1st action was to push the button on the handle at the station, hold for 2 seconds, push up and then out with, TaDa! an adaptor on the end! Plug in and select charger number and seconds later 177kwh rate was humming along.
I originally planned a full 100% charge, but the station actually stops at 90%. The time was not bad, especially since this was a full blown shopping and dining area with tons of options easliy walking distance.
With no overnight charging options I'd leave my truck unattended in Montgomery, big blue sat at 88% SOC till our 6AM departure for Jacksonville AL. This route had a familer Walmart EA option and a couple of gas stations and a Ford Blink station. This was all 2 lane highway with mostly 55 to 65 mph, again my normal 2.0m/kWh was observed. EA Walmart hell was our stop in Oxford AL, was a good break for bathroom and a short charge back to 70%. We left and had to drive up to a McDonald's for breakfast stop and continued to Jacksonville AL. I noted the Ford dealership on the way was easily accessible.
As is all JROTC competitions our daughters 1st was at 9:20 and last was 2:40 lol. It was cold, mostly overcast and windy in the outside stadium they were using. We watched her first and a few others from her battalion, but my wife was too cold and wanted to go back to a charger and sleep in the truck to catch up. The previous night had us in bed at almost midnight so we were a bit low on sleep lol.
At first I tried the Ford Nav to find a charger, maybe a lvl 2 or even a Tesla destination one in a shopping/eating area. It did not see the blink at the Ford dealership we passed and tried to route us to a city further away that Plug Share said no fast charging. I knew this was BS and said we will try that dealership instead, if it didn't work it wasn't much further back to the gas stations or even EA Walmart.
Sunny King Ford was a smaller dealership but at the end of lot had 2 new Blink stations with a Ford Blue Oval Network sticker on them. I plugged in and nothing, lol. Ok tried the scan app for download, nope lol. I finally tried my Ford Pass App and it showed up to activate! My wife fell asleep with max heated seat on and warm cabin air for our 30 min charge. At 90% and now noonish we headed back, stopped for excellent local recommended grinder sandwiches in the truck, using the fold flat work area for a table. Followed up with coffee to go and back to Jacksonville.
We had a cold time watching my daughter's last drill, and then said we were bolting for the 91 mile drive home. All 2 lanes again and again 1.9 to 2.0 m/kWh at 55 to 65 mph. Temps were in mid 60s too for most of this trip and some headwind from watching tree tops and flags. I pretty sure the wind we felt at the stadium was in the 12 to 15 knt range, and the road trip home saw some areas about that based on flag blowing indicators.
In the end this trip could have a been a 1 stop charge adventure, but it was nice to just warm up and nap while the schedule for events allowed it. Total cost for the 3 stops was $32 at Tesla, $5 at EA and $23 at Blink. Although Tesla was more, I'll pick magic docks going forward and 250kwh stations once I receive my adapter from Ford just to avoid EA Chevy Bolt hell lol.
The route was Huntsville to Montgomery, drop off wife, back to Prattville to charge, back to Montgomery for event on Friday. Saturday was a 6AM departure for my daughter's JROTC drill state competition in Jacksonville AL then home. Trip down was mostly I65 and as usual at no more then 70mph I got a consistent 2.0 m/kWh. This is ER XLT, 2 adults and very little luggage. The constant high m/kWh people report has to have the most amazingly ideal travel routes as I've never done better then 2.1 m/kWh. Regardless the ER made this a no stop ordeal at 185 miles, which I count as a victory as the SR Mach-e we moved up from would have needed a charge some where in Birmingham.
After wife drop off for event prep, I punched in the Tesla Prattville location and was off. This was easy to find and such a welcome to not be in Bolt hell Walmart EA stations for a change. Unfortunately I failed to read the Tesla app instructions operation of a magic dock and assumed I was lied to when I couldn't see an adaptor. After driving around the area seeing if I was in the wrong spot I came back, and took a breather and used the Tesla app. It walked the steps needed and 1st action was to push the button on the handle at the station, hold for 2 seconds, push up and then out with, TaDa! an adaptor on the end! Plug in and select charger number and seconds later 177kwh rate was humming along.
I originally planned a full 100% charge, but the station actually stops at 90%. The time was not bad, especially since this was a full blown shopping and dining area with tons of options easliy walking distance.
With no overnight charging options I'd leave my truck unattended in Montgomery, big blue sat at 88% SOC till our 6AM departure for Jacksonville AL. This route had a familer Walmart EA option and a couple of gas stations and a Ford Blink station. This was all 2 lane highway with mostly 55 to 65 mph, again my normal 2.0m/kWh was observed. EA Walmart hell was our stop in Oxford AL, was a good break for bathroom and a short charge back to 70%. We left and had to drive up to a McDonald's for breakfast stop and continued to Jacksonville AL. I noted the Ford dealership on the way was easily accessible.
As is all JROTC competitions our daughters 1st was at 9:20 and last was 2:40 lol. It was cold, mostly overcast and windy in the outside stadium they were using. We watched her first and a few others from her battalion, but my wife was too cold and wanted to go back to a charger and sleep in the truck to catch up. The previous night had us in bed at almost midnight so we were a bit low on sleep lol.
At first I tried the Ford Nav to find a charger, maybe a lvl 2 or even a Tesla destination one in a shopping/eating area. It did not see the blink at the Ford dealership we passed and tried to route us to a city further away that Plug Share said no fast charging. I knew this was BS and said we will try that dealership instead, if it didn't work it wasn't much further back to the gas stations or even EA Walmart.
Sunny King Ford was a smaller dealership but at the end of lot had 2 new Blink stations with a Ford Blue Oval Network sticker on them. I plugged in and nothing, lol. Ok tried the scan app for download, nope lol. I finally tried my Ford Pass App and it showed up to activate! My wife fell asleep with max heated seat on and warm cabin air for our 30 min charge. At 90% and now noonish we headed back, stopped for excellent local recommended grinder sandwiches in the truck, using the fold flat work area for a table. Followed up with coffee to go and back to Jacksonville.
We had a cold time watching my daughter's last drill, and then said we were bolting for the 91 mile drive home. All 2 lanes again and again 1.9 to 2.0 m/kWh at 55 to 65 mph. Temps were in mid 60s too for most of this trip and some headwind from watching tree tops and flags. I pretty sure the wind we felt at the stadium was in the 12 to 15 knt range, and the road trip home saw some areas about that based on flag blowing indicators.
In the end this trip could have a been a 1 stop charge adventure, but it was nice to just warm up and nap while the schedule for events allowed it. Total cost for the 3 stops was $32 at Tesla, $5 at EA and $23 at Blink. Although Tesla was more, I'll pick magic docks going forward and 250kwh stations once I receive my adapter from Ford just to avoid EA Chevy Bolt hell lol.
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