Trip From Atlanta To Tampa And Back

[sdoo25]

Just recently completed my first road trip in the MME, a round-trip from Atlanta to Tampa, and wanted to share my experience with charging and BlueCruise.

BlueCruise was very effective and I used it whenever I could on I-75 once getting out of the Atlanta/Tampa city proper. Handled the car very well most of the time. It did tend to hug the right side of the lane so I had to nudge it over when passing semi-trucks. Also had some trouble on concrete (versus asphalt) when the white lines didn't have any black outlines or they were faded. I don't plan on using for everyday so wouldn't get the annual subscription but would activate it for the month if I was taking a road trip.

Fortunately, I had a great charge experience on the trip. Charged to 100% prior to beginning the trip down and back. I decided to stop about every 2 hours for quick top ups and stretch the legs, 4 stops going to Tampa and 4 stops going back to Atlanta, instead of the ABRP default of only 2 stops. The difference in extra time for charging 4 times instead of 2 wasn't material and usually I was done charging by the time I walked into Wal-Mart and back to the car.

Atlanta To Tampa
Stopped at EA in Forsyth, Ea in Cordele, FPL in Lake City, and EA in Lutz. The Gainesville EA station is very busy so I had planned to skip this stop unless there was availability when I got there. It was busy so skipped Gainesville and also skipped Bushnell as there are 50 kWh and 150 kWh chargers there. EA in Lutz has 6 chargers, all 350 kWh, and many restaurants so that was my dinner stop.

Tampa To Atlanta
Stopped at EA in Lake City, EA in Valdosta, EA in Cordele, and EA in Forsyth. Tried to stop at the FPL station in Lake City as that is off of I-75, EA is only 10 minutes away but on I-10, but all the stations were faulted. A little stressful as I was down to 15% but knew that the EA station would be a backup.

Charging sessions were 12 to 40 minutes usually. I did charge extra because I like to have more of a buffer than some. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait on any chargers and I got speeds of 85kWh and up at all chargers. I know that experiences differ so was thankful for not having delays or having to wait on a charger to open up (which is why I planned to skip Gainesville).

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[Ford Motor Company]

Just recently completed my first road trip in the MME, a round-trip from Atlanta to Tampa, and wanted to share my experience with charging and BlueCruise.

BlueCruise was very effective and I used it whenever I could on I-75 once getting out of the Atlanta/Tampa city proper. Handled the car very well most of the time. It did tend to hug the right side of the lane so I had to nudge it over when passing semi-trucks. Also had some trouble on concrete (versus asphalt) when the white lines didn't have any black outlines or they were faded. I don't plan on using for everyday so wouldn't get the annual subscription but would activate it for the month if I was taking a road trip.

Fortunately, I had a great charge experience on the trip. Charged to 100% prior to beginning the trip down and back. I decided to stop about every 2 hours for quick top ups and stretch the legs, 4 stops going to Tampa and 4 stops going back to Atlanta, instead of the ABRP default of only 2 stops. The difference in extra time for charging 4 times instead of 2 wasn't material and usually I was done charging by the time I walked into Wal-Mart and back to the car.

Atlanta To Tampa
Stopped at EA in Forsyth, Ea in Cordele, FPL in Lake City, and EA in Lutz. The Gainesville EA station is very busy so I had planned to skip this stop unless there was availability when I got there. It was busy so skipped Gainesville and also skipped Bushnell as there are 50 kWh and 150 kWh chargers there. EA in Lutz has 6 chargers, all 350 kWh, and many restaurants so that was my dinner stop.

Tampa To Atlanta
Stopped at EA in Lake City, EA in Valdosta, EA in Cordele, and EA in Forsyth. Tried to stop at the FPL station in Lake City as that is off of I-75, EA is only 10 minutes away but on I-10, but all the stations were faulted. A little stressful as I was down to 15% but knew that the EA station would be a backup.

Charging sessions were 12 to 40 minutes usually. I did charge extra because I like to have more of a buffer than some. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait on any chargers and I got speeds of 85kWh and up at all chargers. I know that experiences differ so was thankful for not having delays or having to wait on a charger to open up (which is why I planned to skip Gainesville).

Thank you for sharing your experience, Tom!

 

[Logal727]

Just recently completed my first road trip in the MME, a round-trip from Atlanta to Tampa, and wanted to share my experience with charging and BlueCruise.

BlueCruise was very effective and I used it whenever I could on I-75 once getting out of the Atlanta/Tampa city proper. Handled the car very well most of the time. It did tend to hug the right side of the lane so I had to nudge it over when passing semi-trucks. Also had some trouble on concrete (versus asphalt) when the white lines didn't have any black outlines or they were faded. I don't plan on using for everyday so wouldn't get the annual subscription but would activate it for the month if I was taking a road trip.

Fortunately, I had a great charge experience on the trip. Charged to 100% prior to beginning the trip down and back. I decided to stop about every 2 hours for quick top ups and stretch the legs, 4 stops going to Tampa and 4 stops going back to Atlanta, instead of the ABRP default of only 2 stops. The difference in extra time for charging 4 times instead of 2 wasn't material and usually I was done charging by the time I walked into Wal-Mart and back to the car.

Atlanta To Tampa
Stopped at EA in Forsyth, Ea in Cordele, FPL in Lake City, and EA in Lutz. The Gainesville EA station is very busy so I had planned to skip this stop unless there was availability when I got there. It was busy so skipped Gainesville and also skipped Bushnell as there are 50 kWh and 150 kWh chargers there. EA in Lutz has 6 chargers, all 350 kWh, and many restaurants so that was my dinner stop.

Tampa To Atlanta
Stopped at EA in Lake City, EA in Valdosta, EA in Cordele, and EA in Forsyth. Tried to stop at the FPL station in Lake City as that is off of I-75, EA is only 10 minutes away but on I-10, but all the stations were faulted. A little stressful as I was down to 15% but knew that the EA station would be a backup.

Charging sessions were 12 to 40 minutes usually. I did charge extra because I like to have more of a buffer than some. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait on any chargers and I got speeds of 85kWh and up at all chargers. I know that experiences differ so was thankful for not having delays or having to wait on a charger to open up (which is why I planned to skip Gainesville).

Gainesville is pretty slow early in the morning. I'm surprised the FPL chargers were offline, those are usually VERY dependable and I will search those out over EA.

 

[DadzBoyz]

Great post, and very helpful. I live in Tampa and did that trip (in reverse) many times in the ICE car that I had before my MME. I had resigned myself to cheap flights to/from Atlanta, but I liked your idea of making quick charging stops every couple of hours.

Regrettably, southwest Florida is a bit of a DCFC desert for Electrify America, or any other provider for that matter.
Type 2 chargers have not necessarily sprouted up well either.

I have a great EVSE at home, work from home, and generally stay around Tampa Bay (Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg) or over to Orlando, so it's not a big deal to me, but I would like to see the NEVI funds put to work in the area sooner rather than later. While I don't worry about running out of juice, having the options would just be one more backup and convenience.

 

[sdoo25]

Gainesville is pretty slow early in the morning. I'm surprised the FPL chargers were offline, those are usually VERY dependable and I will search those out over EA.

And the FPL chargers are cheaper than EA.

 

[Logal727]

And the FPL chargers are cheaper than EA.

The ones in St. Augustine at the Gate gas station were great and right down the street from Buc-ee’s

 

[RockwallRick]

It’s been a couple years since I tried to charge at Gainesville EA and that experience was a total disaster!! None of the chargers were working and the food at the Steak n Shake was horrible! Fortunately I was able to make it to the Lake City EA on I-10 and successfully charged there! Charged again at the Tallahassee EA on my way up to Panama City.

 

[RickMachE]

Lake City was awful for us in February, as was Cordele and Valdosta, GA.

 

[RockwallRick]

The ones in St. Augustine at the Gate gas station were great and right down the street from Buc-ee’s

The ones in St. Augustine at the Gate gas station were great and right down the street from Buc-ee’s

Did you stop by Fords Garage in St Augustine? I did a mini road trip up there which didnt require any DC charging since they had level 2 chargers at the hotel we stayed at. It was my first time using Blue Cruise and my Wife was freaked out by it! Lol
W

 

[Logal727]

Did you stop by Fords Garage in St Augustine? I did a mini road trip up there which didnt require any DC charging since they had level 2 chargers at the hotel we stayed at. It was my first time using Blue Cruise and my Wife was freaked out by it! Lol
W

Nah, I didn’t get a chance to stop by that one this time, it’s apparently the first one and it’s at an actual Ford dealership

 

[737flyer]

Did you stop by Fords Garage in St Augustine? I did a mini road trip up there which didnt require any DC charging since they had level 2 chargers at the hotel we stayed at. It was my first time using Blue Cruise and my Wife was freaked out by it! Lol
W

Great pictures.
North and south bound on I 75 from Redington Beach to Peachtree City I always stop at FPL Lake City and EA Cordele. Never had any problems. I always leave myself with 100 mile reserve and check the station status before I leave.

 

[RockwallRick]

Nah, I didn’t get a chance to stop by that one this time, it’s apparently the first one and it’s at an actual Ford dealership

Bozard Ford is next door and I took a Maverick out for a test drive there.

 

[JoeBeach]

Gainesville is pretty slow early in the morning. I'm surprised the FPL chargers were offline, those are usually VERY dependable and I will search those out over EA.

And the FPL chargers I have seen are $0.30 while EA is $0.41. I have run into faulted ones on FPL only two times.

 

[2FlyMache]

Nice write up. Once you get the Tesla NACS adapter the trip dynamics change drastically. I would skip any EA station if I can now.

 

[kevin_jazz]

Nice write up. Once you get the Tesla NACS adapter the trip dynamics change drastically. I would skip any EA station if I can now.

In general, I agree. But the taking-up-two-spaces is still a bit awkward with the Teslarati unless the usage is <50%.

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