Crossing the Charging Desert (NM)

[highmesa]

You wouldn't have to go to Flagstaff. You could turn south in Winslow. This would make your total drive about an hour longer but might make it less stressful.

That's the route we go to visit my in-laws in Scottdale.

But all the way to Tucson? It's well over 2 hours longer. And longer still if I'm forced to stop and visit the in-laws.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

That's the route we go to visit my in-laws in Scottdale.

But all the way to Tucson? It's well over 2 hours longer. And longer still if I'm forced to stop and visit the in-laws.

Your map says ~9 hours. My ABRP map says ~10 hours to go through Winslow and down the 87 through the Phoenix area to Tucson.

 

[highmesa]

Your map says ~9 hours. My ABRP map says ~10 hours to go through Winslow and down the 87 through the Phoenix area to Tucson.

Oops. I was forcing a slower charging station to get the route to go through Payson instead of Flagstaff. That said, the image I posted before was also off as it had me going 55 all the way to Deming. I updated some info in ABRP and ran both routes again. It's 8 hours through Deming and 10 hours through Winslow + having to visit the in-laws.

 

[highmesa]

I am driving to Santa Fe and back tomorrow, which is a 120 mile round trip. I usually drive at it at 80 mph. We'll see what the usage is, and if is near 3 mi/kwh I think I will survive the desert.

 

[karioka]

Don't forget to take your own charger.

 

[iCarol]

In Denver and very interested in Southwest charging and trips - new owner (extended range RWD) last month and have not done a long road trip yet. Took the gas hog Denver to Phoenix just in case to scout it out. We crossed NM and noticed there is charging but it is very scare. South Colorado the same. Am wondering if there are regional forums etc. I think we'll try Denver to Santa Fe early summer - 6 hours will just need to find charging in the desert south of Pueblo! Wyoming where we travel frequently likely even worse.

 

[highmesa]

As a follow up, I did manage to cross the desert. I did a measured trial run to Santa Fe and back, and decided I could get the required 3mi/kwh on the highway if I checked my speed and limited the climate control..

A week ago Sunday, fully charged and pre-conditioned, we set out from Corrales, NM and made it all the way to Deming without a stop. It was 45F when we started and 70F when we finished. I set the cruise at 65 mph, and made it with 19 miles to spare. Easier to do on a Sunday with little traffic.

I would not want to try the trip in reverse going uphill with only being able to charge 80-90% on the road. I think you would have to stop for some level 2 charging until they open the DCFC station in T or C. We came home from Scottsdale and went through Winslow.

 

[highmesa]

In Denver and very interested in Southwest charging and trips - new owner (extended range RWD) last month and have not done a long road trip yet. Took the gas hog Denver to Phoenix just in case to scout it out. We crossed NM and noticed there is charging but it is very scare. South Colorado the same. Am wondering if there are regional forums etc. I think we'll try Denver to Santa Fe early summer - 6 hours will just need to find charging in the desert south of Pueblo! Wyoming where we travel frequently likely even worse.

Along I-25, there are chargers in Trinidad, Wagon Mound, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. From there you can go west on I-40 without much trouble. There is a EA station opening in Show Low, AZ today, which should save time going from Albuquerque to Phoenix (and maybe Tucson).

 

[zhackwyatt]

Just to provide another NM story. I recently went down I-10 from Phoenix to El Paso. Stopped at Benson, Lordsburg, and Deming. I probably could have gotten away with 2 of the three but was nervous about broken chargers so stopped at all three.

Plug & Charge worked great, no problems really the whole way. Went 80mph which hurt efficiency but it was about 3mi/kwh. Had strong winds on the way back home so was closer to 2.7 if memory serves.

Because I don't go 80 in Phoenix area for more than 10 mins at a time, my car's GOM was optimistic about the route. On the way back it smartened up a lot more.

 

[ZuleMME]

I was planning to go visit my folks in Los Alamos from Denver using the route through Selida and Alamosa as chargers and see just how bad it gets with those slow 62kw dcfc's! Granted I'll likely relent and go Trinidad and Wagon Mound to use up free EA kwh's...

 

[highmesa]

I was planning to go visit my folks in Los Alamos from Denver using the route through Selida and Alamosa as chargers and see just how bad it gets with those slow 62kw dcfc's! Granted I'll likely relent and go Trinidad and Wagon Mound to use up free EA kwh's...

I'd say that's definitely doable. I didn't have the balls to take the EV from here up to Salida in the dead of winter, but in the Summer I'd do it. It would just take an hour to charge instead of 1/2 an hour.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

As a follow up, I did manage to cross the desert. I did a measured trial run to Santa Fe and back, and decided I could get the required 3mi/kwh on the highway if I checked my speed and limited the climate control..

A week ago Sunday, fully charged and pre-conditioned, we set out from Corrales, NM and made it all the way to Deming without a stop. It was 45F when we started and 70F when we finished. I set the cruise at 65 mph, and made it with 19 miles to spare. Easier to do on a Sunday with little traffic.

I would not want to try the trip in reverse going uphill with only being able to charge 80-90% on the road. I think you would have to stop for some level 2 charging until they open the DCFC station in T or C. We came home from Scottsdale and went through Winslow.

thank you for closing the loop on this thread as it were - I'm sure your experience and information will be useful for others in the future.

(also I hope I get Internet Points for not making an Eagles song reference or a Family Matters family name reference here)
(oops)

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