Took a trip to Death Valley...saw so many EVs

[dbsb3233]

In Florida, EVs are everywhere.

A bunch of Rivian owners met up this past weekend (even though it rained for 48 hours). 62 cars signed up but with the soaking weather half bailed.

That's a cool picture!

I hope it took place near a lot of their homes. I'd hate to see what a leaving-all-at-once gathering like that would do to a DCFC station if they were all far from home and needed a charge.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Took a drive up to Ubehebe Crater (a maar/volcanic explosion crater).

The winds were wild, so we elected not to do the hike, but instead went down to the Mesquite Sand Dunes where the winds were much calmer.

 

[azerik]

We probably shouldn't make fun. Every EV deserves to get out and see the world.

kW/Mi was through the roof I tell ya! The roof!

I'm throwing around the idea of getting something newer to replace my FFE. It's got to be dumb enough for my wife to drive (i.e. has a turn signal stalk and buttons where buttons should be) but good enough I could actually walk past my car and plug IT in without wincing. So far, and id4 is the top of that list. Mostly because I don't see one every single time I drive somewhere.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That in itself wouldn't make them "anti-EV luddites", unless you have other evidence of it. Sounds like they just don't want their breakers being blown.

I was half joking, but a circuit that can support an RV AC running all night in the summer can support an EV charging.

 

[azerik]

I was half joking, but a circuit that can support an RV AC running all night in the summer can support an EV charging.

Interestingly that's why I'm trying to find a travel charger that'll do 24 amps. Just in case.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

kW/Mi was through the roof I tell ya! The roof!

I'm throwing around the idea of getting something newer to replace my FFE. It's got to be dumb enough for my wife to drive (i.e. has a turn signal stalk and buttons where buttons should be) but good enough I could actually walk past my car and plug IT in without wincing. So far, and id4 is the top of that list. Mostly because I don't see one every single time I drive somewhere.

We tested the ID.4 when we were looking and ultimately both liked the Mustang better. She still likes the ID.4, and I'm pretty "meh" about it.

Now we're looking to replace the Tacoma, so we're looking at the F-150 Lightning and the Rivian R1T. We have appointments to test both this coming Friday. With the price cuts on the Lightning, I'm leaning toward it even though I like the size of the Rivian better. But a more capable (for our needs) truck for $15k less seems painfully obvious.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Interestingly that's why I'm trying to find a travel charger that'll do 24 amps. Just in case.

Through a series of miscommunications, distracted packing, and forgetfulness, we have three mobile chargers. The Ford mobile charger and two chargers that can go up to 16A. One of the 16A chargers has a half-dozen adapters for nearly any plug you can imagine (and then I added a pile of additional adapters).
I brought the 16A charger + adapters with me on my road trip to Houston. It was very useful at an overnight RV campsite where I plugged into their 50A outlet and charged to 100% overnight. Fun camping in the Mustang for a night, but I'm a bit too tall.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Looking back at the Tucki Mountain and the dunes parking lot, you can just see the Mustang peeking around a creosote bush.

 

[iam-s-Hon]

That's a cool picture!

I hope it took place near a lot of their homes. I'd hate to see what a leaving-all-at-once gathering like that would do to a DCFC station if they were all far from home and needed a charge.

Well I think that would only happen if they all lived in the same neighborhood together.

Anyone heard of an HOA that now requires new cars to be EV?

 

[dbsb3233]

Well I think that would only happen if they all lived in the same neighborhood together.

Anyone heard of an HOA that now requires new cars to be EV?

Doesn't need to be same neighborhood per se, just within range of a home charge covering the round trip.

 

[dbsb3233]

I was half joking, but a circuit that can support an RV AC running all night in the summer can support an EV charging.

From what I can tell, looks like even large RV A/C units max out around 16A. But of course lights and other things add to that. It's kinda like a house though where every device is almost never on at the same time, so they assume peak draw will never be the max of all devices at the same time. Whereas an EV charger pulls that full 32A continuously.

But yeah, they shouldn't advertise 50A if it can't really handle 50A continuous. Or even 32A continuous.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

From what I can tell, looks like even large RV A/C units max out around 16A. But of course lights and other things add to that. It's kinda like a house though where every device is almost never on at the same time, so they assume peak draw will never be the max of all devices at the same time. Whereas an EV charger pulls that full 32A continuously.

But yeah, they shouldn't advertise 50A if it can't really handle 50A continuous. Or even 32A continuous.

Yep. It's the 50A claim that's supposedly fine for RVs, but somehow EVs can't be managed. Makes no sense.

In Death Valley during the summer, pretty much every RV AC unit is running at close to 100% duty. That includes travel trailers with a single unit, 5th wheels with two units, bus-sized RVs with three units (I believe some of these run one or more off the diesel engine, but they've always been out of my price range, so I've never bothered to check). Yes, one AC unit is 16 Amps, but here in DV, some of these will run with nearly no down time, plus the oven, microwave, etc. We never stayed in DV with our travel trailer because it doesn't have good enough insulation nor enough thermal mass to stay cold for long and we didn't trust the AC unit not to fail on us--couldn't leave a dog in the trailer if we couldn't be sure the AC unit wasn't 100% reliable.

 

[iam-s-Hon]

Doesn't need to be same neighborhood per se, just within range of a home charge covering the round trip.

The events I’ve attended hardly anyone arrives from and departs in same direction. If everyone needed dcfc they’d all likely be doing so at different locations.

it’s not an issue in so much as one could run into several other unrelated EVs charging where capacity is low.

I showed up at one location when traveling through a city and had to wait for a bunch a city-based bolts to do their periodic fill up for lack of home charging

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

The most water I've ever seen in Badwater Basin is muddy salt flats. Now there's a lake that's deep enough for people to kayak on! Here's a photo from the Badwater "dock."

And here's a photo looking up at sea level (the little white rectangle marks sea level at 282 feet above the basin).

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Took a drive up to Ubehebe Crater (a maar/volcanic explosion crater).

The winds were wild, so we elected not to do the hike, but instead went down to the Mesquite Sand Dunes where the winds were much calmer.

It's hard to say what's more beautiful, the view or the Mach-E. Thank you for sharing these pictures!