Electric Roadtrip: Kona to California - 10,500km across North America and back

The US/Canada land border was closed, so we shipped the car to Detroit and flew there to pick it up. We stayed at the airport, but all the public chargers were in use, and the valet-only charger was inaccessible even to the valet! So we started with less than 90% charge.<br><br>It was an awkward, emission intensive way to start the trip, but not as intensive as flying round trip to California. We offset the emissions through <a href='https://app.planetair.ca/?lang=english' target='_blank'>Planetair</a>.

The valet did not know about this charger, and it was located in a currently inaccessible part of the parking lot, so we started the trip with less than a 90% charge.

Went shopping, ate lunch

kWh and time estimated

The hotel's valet lot was full, otherwise we would have used that and charging would have been free. Also, note that the total kWh delivered exceeds the official Hyundai Kona battery capacity (64 kWh). Interesting.

The charger started but then stopped and would not restart. Very fortunately, there was another charger a block away. This was the only time on the whole trip when a charger would not work.

Cut out early, could not restart, and we were never billed

https://www.plugshare.com/location/294449

Had a snack, went for a walk

https://www.plugshare.com/location/158470

hotel (under construction)

https://www.plugshare.com/location/318518

https://www.plugshare.com/location/158456

https://www.plugshare.com/location/186840

kWh and time estimated

https://www.plugshare.com/location/196552

Took a detour for shopping on our way out of Denver, so the distance is greater

https://www.plugshare.com/location/169441

A free Electrify America session, thanks! kWh and time estimated

Went for a walk, had a snack

A free Electrify America session, thanks! kWh and time estimated

https://www.plugshare.com/location/169443

A free Electrify America session, thanks! kWh and time estimated

Got a drink, went for a walk

https://www.plugshare.com/location/169442

A free Electrify America session, thanks! kWh and time estimated

kWh estimated. We stayed four nights at the hotel, and charged each night at the only outside plug available, in the entrance driveway.

Installing an app and making a new account just to start the charger was too much work. Charging companies: make everything work off a credit card!

It was too time consuming and complicated to install their app and sign up for an account on the spot, so gave up and did not charge. All chargers should be usable with only a credit card!

A free Electrify America session, thanks! kWh and time estimated

Two different charging sessions with a small drive between, which contributes to the extremely high total kWh delivered

https://www.plugshare.com/location/156061

Charger crashed, kWh and time estimated

kWh and time estimated

https://www.plugshare.com/location/188014

Charger suddenly stopped, while we were eating dinner in a restaurant. The Hyundai Bluelink app showed me there was no charging happening, so I was able to interrupt the meal and go switch the car to a different charger at the same station. kWh and time estimated

Went for a walk, and shopping

kWh estimated, charged only the first night at the hotel, at a level 2 charger inside the staff-only garage

Went to the museum

Activated the BC Hydro charger using a Flo card. Cool.

kWh and time estimated

https://www.plugshare.com/location/309066

Co-op chargers bill credit cards through a company called Soda-Snack Vending?! Very confusing.

Caught up on messages

https://www.plugshare.com/location/251665

Charger stopped, needed restarting

kWh and time estimated

kWh estimated. Used an outside wall plug, since the official hotel charger wasn't working, and is beyond awkardly located and cannot be used overnight anyway!

Had a snack, talked EVs with a bystander

Charger stopped, needed restarting

Charger stopped, switched to another charger at same station

It was a long trip! 10,583km. But only $426.03 for electricity, and only 542kg of CO₂ emitted from making that electricity. Burning gasoline would produce up to five times the emissions or more! And it would cost at least five times as much at current prices.<br><br>You can see all the details in <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lm0ep3QKGgEXvPkG-6B_s5mkuO44Tn_irfRsE9QWqSs/edit#gid=0'>this spreadsheet</a>.

As a percentage of the CO₂ from driving the Hyundai Kona Electric

Drive 10,583km in a gas car that burns 8 litres / 100km

Drive 10,583km in a gas car that burns 10 litres / 100km

Drive 10,583km in a gas car that burns 12 litres / 100km

Two people flying Toronto to California, round trip

Approximately 2,500 kg CO₂

(Air travel emissions are difficult to estimate precisely because there are a lot of variables, such as altitude and how full the plane is. But they are really high in general.)

Based on distance and energy consumption recorded by the car

Percent of total GHG for trip

Lunch in Ann Arbor, and then a brief stop in New Buffalo to top up before driving into Chicago. Valet parking was full at the hotel so we had to park and charge in a garage a couple blocks away.

Today we learned that the effective range of the Kona in summer at highway speed is about 350km. By the time we got to Coralville, we only had 4% left, and the first charger we tried didn't work!<br><br>It's better to stop after 200-250km, instead of trying to use up the whole range. Your charging stops will be shorter, because you aren't starting near zero, and you don't need to get to 100%. Plus, fast chargers aren't so fast after you hit 70% anyway.

There are almost no chargers between Ogallala and Denver, so we had to get close to 100% in Ogallala. But what if the charging station wasn't working?<br><br>That's why we stopped briefly in North Platte, to make sure the car had enough energy for a plan B. Fortunately chargers were working in Ogallala and plan A worked.

Nebraska, Colorado

The most beautiful day of driving, and lots of power regeneration going down hill, as much as 8km recharged into the battery at once! (Electric cars generate power from the rotation of the wheels when coasting.) This made the day extremely energy efficient, despite the up hill sections.

The speed limit is 130km/h on some parts of I80. At that speed, the energy efficiency goes way down. But level 3 fast chargers work best when your battery is mostly empty, so there wasn't much point in going slower.<br><br>Fortunately, one of the few charging spots in the hotel parking garage was available. In a full garage, gas cars often take up charging spaces. Grrrr.<br><br>Special thanks to Electrify America for free charging today!

We could have done today without charging at all. But the hotel where we were going to stay for four nights did not have a level 2 charger, just a wall socket in the driveway, so I wanted to top up a little on our way there so we would have more energy for the next leg.

When are charging companies going to learn that activation on the spot with a credit card is really the only way to go? The first place we stopped required an app, and an account sign up, and on and on. Forget it!<br><br>At the end of the day, we were going to hit 0% before our destination unless we slowed down a lot. Fortunately, there was a charger about 70km from our destination and five minutes was all it took to give us more power than we needed.

Oregon is beautiful. Charging was plentiful too. Although during dinner, the Hyundai app on my phone showed that the car was no longer charging and I had to go restart the charger. That was annoying but at least I could see what was happening on my phone, otherwise we would not have been ready to go after dinner.<br><br>At the hotel in Seattle, another full parking garage with an available charging space, but some others had gas cars parked there. Grrrr.

Oregon, Washington

Back across the border into Canada, including a random COVID test on top of the one we paid for in California, and then a lovely, short drive to Kelowna. At one point while heading downhill into the Okanagan valley, the power regeneration hit 10km!<br><br><a href='regen.html' target='_blank'>Interesting bug in the Kona dashboard software:</a> 10.23km is the maximum value it will show for the amount of distance gained from power regeneration. A Hyundai engineer decided 10 bits would be enough. Nope.

A lovely day for a drive through the mountains, and a shorter distance today so only two stops necessary, and we got to take in the museum in Revelstoke on one of them.

British Columbia, Alberta

Only two stops today, on account of the long dinner break in Swift Current so there was 100% charge for the last leg to Regina. Fortunately the Co-op charger was working, because the other fast charger in town (Petro-Can) was not in service.

Alberta, Saskatchewan

An uneventful trip from Regina to Winnipeg. Only two stops necessary after a long first one that brought the car back to 100%.

Saskatchewan, Manitoba

The first of three days in enormous Ontario. Charging extra plentiful thanks to IVY (Ontario Hydro) and Petro-Can.

The charger at the hotel was inside the building! They had to run a cable up the stairs and out the front door in order for anyone to use it. And it wasn't working anyway! They did have an outdoor wall socket that I could use instead. Better than nothing.

After the level 1 charge last night, today started with a fast charge before leaving town. Pretty routine after that, and finally home.<br><br>It was a long trip! 10,583km. But only $426.03 for electricity, and only 542kg of CO₂ emitted from making that electricity. Burning gasoline would produce up to five times the emissions or more! And it would cost at least five times as much at current prices.<br><br>You can see all the details in <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lm0ep3QKGgEXvPkG-6B_s5mkuO44Tn_irfRsE9QWqSs/edit#gid=0'>this spreadsheet</a>.

Total driving time:

Average kg CO2 / kWh for trip

The car did not record the km and kWh / 100km for Sep 13 properly. Those values are deduced from the totals for the trip.