GolferGeek

Day 1 of my trip from MN to Atlanta in an EV. With all of the negative press about cross-country travel in EV’s, I’ve really been focusing on preparation and mind-set. I have a growing number of EV apps that allow me to pay and find. The searching / planning apps all tie to Apple Maps (and Google, of course). The payment apps are easy to get and use. When I get to a new type of charger, I download the app and off I go!

How Did I Get Here?

I’m a perfect candidate for an EV. There normally isn’t much driving in my life. Winters in MN for me are pretty much me looking out the window and waiting for April while I code and read SciFi. When the beloved CT 200H failed, I went straight to the Toyota Dealer for their best deal. That turned out to be a leased BZ4X. Thank the great EV god that EV’s are failing the big push. Now people that can get deals and subsidies, we can switch over because we want to.

Before the switch, I happily agreed to spend a month and a half in Atlanta helping my nephew get to a slew of AJGA (golf) tournaments. His family has a house there for a base (they live in the Philippines), so there will be lots of day trips and bag carrying. And lots of practicing between competitive rounds. The new car should easily be up to the task.

Getting there will be fun for me. I have my laptop with me to code on while charging. I plan on driving 120 to 150 miles, with a charger in mind. If I stop earlier for a pit stop, I can hit an app, and charge earlier. Then start again. Put the charger on maps and stop earlier if I feel like it.

This pace would be very difficult for most people. My wife would never be able to stomach all the longer stops. She really doesn’t like the travel— she likes the arrival. With all that she has going, un-enjoyed travel needs to be efficient. When the kids were young and work was consuming, I was in that boat too.

But with semi-retirement and the ability to work anywhere with my laptop, I have traded earning money for maximizing time and freedom. Serious about chathat. I don’t have a lot of money; but I also don’t need a lot. So taking an hour to energize the car every couple of hours is actually kind of awesome!

chDay 1

I’m meeting my wife in Des Moines (239 miles from home). She has a hotel room as she gets ready for her half iron man in a couple of days. I started a few hours early because I didn’t know what to expect.

My planned stop was 179 miles from the stop. This car has a range up to 240 without too much air conditioning. I was watching the miles left with the amount in the tank to see how accurate the estimated miles was and it did really well. I could have easily made it to the planned stop; but as I was rolling into a rest stop, I hit the Toyota “find an EV charger” app and went straight there. Super easy. I was at 46% left at that point. Already had the payment app on the phone and it was charging in just a couple of minutes.

Took just 50 minutes to get me to 96%. I would have stopped earlier but there was nobody waiting and I was on the phone with my dad. And I was coding happily.

Just as I was finishing a nice, young couple showed up in their Rivian. This is their 3rd year of travel. They gave me great advice about patience and enjoyment. I think this will be a thing. Nice people enjoying nice people.

When I got to the hotel, I searched the closest charging station (fast charge) and was there in 3 minutes. Had to pull down the Shell EV app; but was charging in 5 minutes. Done to 91% in 45 minutes (again, nobody waited). While I was there, a guy came by and asked bunch of questions that I was happy to answer.

So a really great first day! :)

I’m sure that tomorrow will offer new challenges.