Kansas City to Denver Charging tips

[KansasGas]

Planning a trip from KC to Denver in a few weeks. This will be my maiden long-distance trip (around 600 miles each way).

I am becoming familiar with navigation and finding charging stations. I would however like to hear of others' experiences traversing Kansas and Eastern Colorado along I-70.

Stopped by a Fast Charger this afternoon (EvGo in Olathe) and saw another Mach-E charging. My wife and I talked with the couple (from Salina). Nice people, but he said as soon as his Bronco is built, he is selling his Mach-E. Loves the MME hates the current charging infrastructure.

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[KansasGas]

I found this video last night that put my mind at ease about crossing Kansas in an EV

 

[eStang]

I found this video last night that put my mind at ease about crossing Kansas in an EV

Today's news...

 

[KansasGas]

Thank you so much! This is excellent current information for my upcoming trip.

 

[KansasGas]

The wife took the Mach-E to Denver yesterday, and the trip did take longer than if she had an ICE vehicle. I would say an extra 2ish hours.
The range was not great for the drive out as she doing 78-80 MPH into a headwind with dropping temperatures. We know it is a GTPE, but the drop in range was eye-opening.

Her miles/kWh were as low as 1.8 for a few portions of the drive. In Kansas City around town, we have seen as high as 3.1.

If she is lucky, she will have a tailwind and moderate temperatures on the return trip. And dropping 5,000 feet of elevation should help.

Thank you again to eStang, as your pictures were very helpful. My wife used every charger you listed on her trip yesterday.

 

[eStang]

The wife took the Mach-E to Denver yesterday, and the trip did take longer than if she had an ICE vehicle. I would say an extra 2ish hours.
The range was not great for the drive out as she doing 78-80 MPH into a headwind with dropping temperatures. We know it is a GTPE, but the drop in range was eye-opening.

Her miles/kWh were as low as 1.8 for a few portions of the drive. In Kansas City around town, we have seen as high as 3.1.

If she is lucky, she will have a tailwind and moderate temperatures on the return trip. And dropping 5,000 feet of elevation should help.

Thank you again to eStang, as your pictures were very helpful. My wife used every charger you listed on her trip yesterday.

Actually your thanks should be directed to @dbsb3233

 

[dbsb3233]

Actually your thanks should be directed to @dbsb3233

Team effort! Thanks for reposting here to help him.

We've made our way to New Orleans so far. No serious problems getting any EA charges. Just the standard stuff -- moving to a different charger at the station maybe a third of the time. But most have been perfect on 1st attempt. I think we're up to 16 EA charges on this trip so far, nearing the halfway point. Plug&Charge makes it so easy and eliminates a few potential failure points.

 

[KansasGas]

Thank you for the correction! Again, thank you to dbsb3233; the pictures of the I-70 stops were very helpful for my wife.

 

[KansasGas]

My wife returned from Denver, and the return trip was much better.

The weather was in the 50s to the '70s, the trip was downhill (from 6,000 ft to 800 ft), and the wind was not blowing that bad. Her Kw/hr ran between 2.3 and 2.7 for the trip as opposed to as low as 1.8 on the way out.

I know she is now more confident in the charging across Kansas. But she over-charged at each stop in case she found a charge station with issues.

 

[dbsb3233]

My wife returned from Denver, and the return trip was much better.

The weather was in the 50s to the '70s, the trip was downhill (from 6,000 ft to 800 ft), and the wind was not blowing that bad. Her Kw/hr ran between 2.3 and 2.7 for the trip as opposed to as low as 1.8 on the way out.

I know she is now more confident in the charging across Kansas. But she over-charged at each stop in case she found a charge station with issues.

We just drove KC to Denver a few days ago. I was only getting 2.1 to 2.5 MPK most of the way too. No problems charging though.

4100 miles for the whole trip, thru CO/KS/OK/TX/LA/MS/TN/AR/MO. 2.7 MPK overall. We charge to 80% nearly every stop. 3-4 more minutes is well worth the extra safety buffer and peace of mind.

 

[RickMachE]

Slow that speed from 80 to 73 and you'll notice an improvement...

 

[dbsb3233]

Slow that speed from 80 to 73 and you'll notice an improvement...

I was surprised my MPK wasn't better than 2.7 on this trip since the speeds were slower and the temps were mild most of the way (70's). Max speed limit was 75 (and I usually stick to that). And many stretches were 65-70. Yet our 10+ trips across UT/NV the last 2 years (mostly 80 MPH on those) usually averaged 2.8 MPK, going 3-5 MPH faster on avg.

Ever since they did that GOM update last fall, I've noticed lower MPK (and that's comparing to the same seasons on the previous 2 years for similar weather). Could just be coincidental, but seems like a pattern so far. Be curious to see what I get this summer for the same drives. May just be flukes but in 3 long trips this year, they've all been down a few points from previous averages. Not sure if the GOM calculation changes might have affected that too. Or more wear on the tires is effecting it (I would have thought that would actually improve mileage slightly though). Or I'm just getting battery degradation (39k miles now). Would that actually affect mileage? I know it would degrade range, of course, but not sure about mileage (MPK).

 

[RickMachE]

I was mostly referring to @KansasGas' wife.

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