Grapevine question

[boatbum11]

Has anyone made the trip from the fast charger in Bakersfield to the charger in Santa Clarita in one shot? I am thinking of taking a trip south and that looks like the only hurdle to getting to LA.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Has anyone made the trip from the fast charger in Bakersfield to the charger in Santa Clarita in one shot? I am thinking of taking a trip south and that looks like the only hurdle to getting to LA.

There was one driver post a while back in which the driver claimed, by careful slow driving, he could make it from Bakersfield to Valencia (Santa Clarita) and back and he had done so a few times. The distance from the EVgo DCFC charger South of Bakersfield to the EVgo DCFC charger in Santa Clarita is 73 miles.

I recently drove my truck over that route and carefully tried to assess if I could make it both ways in my Spark EV. I concluded I probably could but it would be a white knuckle ride both ways although it might be easier going from Bakersfield to Santa Clarita that from Santa Clarita to Bakersfield. I decided I was not willing to give it a try until a DCFC is installed at Wheeler Ridge and possibly another one at Frazier Park. I definite want to make a trip to Los Angeles when I feel I can do it.

 

[boatbum11]

Hi MrDRMorgan,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I was afraid of that, the distance from Bakersfield to Castaic Corners (AKA Santa Clarita) is on the extreme edge of Spark EV range with the massive climb involved. I am hopping a CCS charger goes in at Gorman (there is a CHADEMO only charger there, or so plugshare says) so we Sparkies can make the Gravevine 500 run..lol

I just bought my 2014 2LT and love, love, LOVE, this car!! The more I drive it the more I want to drive it. Yep, I've gone crazy down the road a piece. :lol:

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Hi MrDRMorgan,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I was afraid of that, the distance from Bakersfield to Castaic Corners (AKA Santa Clarita) is on the extreme edge of Spark EV range with the massive climb involved. I am hopping a CCS charger goes in at Gorman (there is a CHADEMO only charger there, or so plugshare says) so we Sparkies can make the Gravevine 500 run..lol

I just bought my 2014 2LT and love, love, LOVE, this car!! The more I drive it the more I want to drive it. Yep, I've gone crazy down the road a piece. :lol:

I share you affection for this little car. I leased my 2015 Spark EV 2LT with DCFC in May of 2015 and followed three months later by purchasing a used 2014 Spark EV 2LT that did not have the DCFC option. I have an L2 EVSE at home so I can handle most all of my charging needs at home. However, I do use DCFC stations for my 2015 when I travel further than my full-charge range will allow me.

My wife and I did take a trip to South Lake Tahoe via HWY 50 just to see if we could do it. We did and the ride down HWY 50 was an E-ticket ride all the way to Folsom. I drove in L to maximize regeneration so we made it from Heavenly Village to Folsom without having to stop to charge. We have also made trips to Gilroy and Casa De Fruta near Hollister. An adventure trip to LA and back via HWY 101 may also be in our future.

Both vehicles have been absolutely free of any problems.

Enjoy your Sparkie!

 

[boatbum11]

Thanks for the report on the trip to Tahoe, was wondering if one could make that trip up with out running out of juice, good to hear I can. What speed were you able to make on that trip?

Just getting ready to head out on a jaunt up to Yuba City and back, will give a report when I get back how it went. A trip down the coast to LA sounds like fun, maybe we can meet up and do an EV caravan trip out of it, could be a lot of fun. :idea:

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Thanks for the report on the trip to Tahoe, was wondering if one could make that trip up with out running out of juice, good to hear I can. What speed were you able to make on that trip?

Just getting ready to head out on a jaunt up to Yuba City and back, will give a report when I get back how it went. A trip down the coast to LA sounds like fun, maybe we can meet up and do an EV caravan trip out of it, could be a lot of fun. :idea:

Drive up to South Lake Tahoe:

1. I fully charged at Raleys in El Dorado Hills - 4 EVgo DCFC combo chargers plus many places to eat - nice stop.
2. I fully charged at the Crystal View Station in ******* Pines-nice stop with a Mini Mart, restrooms and a Subway. This station only has a slow ChargePoint DCFC. An EVgo DCFC just opened in ******* Pines not far from the Crystal View Station but I have not been back to try it. There are 2 EVgo DCFC chargers there.
3. The road starts to get steep between ******* Pines and Twin Bridges and really gets steep from Twin Bridges up to Echo Summit. There are no other charging locations until you get to South Lake Tahoe. I saw one DCFC station was to be installed at Twin Bridges but it no longer shows up on PlugShare. If a DCFC station is eventually installed at Twin Bridges, I would definitely fully recharge there before going over Echo Summit. You will want to maximize your range by turning off climate control, lights, etc. and not push the car too hard. I kept up with traffic without a problem but I was constantly watching my reserve range. It is downhill from Echo Summit into SLT. Put the car in L to maximize regeneration.
4. At South Lake Tahoe I charged the car in the Heavenly Resort parking garage. This location is tricky. There is only one slow ChargePoint DCFC and you have to pay for parking in the garage. If the charging space is occupied, you still pay for parking. I would suggest you park in the shopping center across the street and walk over to make sure the charger is available.
5. Be sure to charge to at least 85% before leaving SLT. You will gobble up power going back up to Echo Summit. Once you reach the summit, the E-Ticket ride begins all the way back to Folsom. Put the car in L to maximize regeneration and enjoy the ride!

NOTE: Stop at IZZYS in SLT on your way out and have a great hamburger. you will be glad you did!

NOTE: There are L2 charging locations available in SLT including at some of the resorts. Be sure you know where they are in case you need to use them in an emergency.

NOTE: Make sure you have a ChargePoint RFID card. You will need it and it is free. You will need to put $25 into your account to use to pay your ChargePoint charging fees. I would also suggest you sign up for an EVgo On-The-Go account if you plan to do a lot of DCFC charging. I pay $14.95 per month to get lower charging costs and no session fees. I call it my charging insurance policy.

Above all, be sure to log onto http://www.plugshare.com before you attempt any trip and check the status of all charging stations along your route.

Last Note: There is a plan to install 1 slow 24 kWh ChargePoint DCFC and 1 L2 EVSE at the Ramada Limited in Grapevine and at the Holiday Inn Express in Frazier Park. When they actually plan to install the chargers is not given but when they do, it will be possible to get Sparkie to LA via highway I-5 over the Tejon Pass(Grapevine).

 

[boatbum11]

Thanks for the detailed drive report on getting to Tahoe via Hwy 50! I have signed up for Evgo, Chargepoint, Greenlots and plugshare, first thing I did after my car purchase. Good to hear they are planning the chargers on I5, that will make the LA trip a reality. Hope they go in soon.

My trip to Yuba city hit a snag. Got to the charging station at Sac international airport plugged into the DCFC and it wouldn't charge. After multiple attempts, pluged into the L2 charger for 1.5 hrs to get enough of a charge to make it home. Looked at my charge port, to discover it didn't have the modification done (read about the mod here on the forum a few days ago, this place is a great resource). Got out a file, did some customizing and off to the near by DCFC in Citrus Heights (put in 17.5KW in 30 min). I have charged there before but had much trouble having to try 5 times in order to get it to charge. This time first attempt succesfull!! So hopefully, I have fixed the issue, will try the ariport charger again and see. I have to make several round trips to Yuba city next week, hence the recon missions this weekend to make sure Sparkie can make the trip (don't want to have to use the ICE back up car if I don't have to).

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Thanks for the detailed drive report on getting to Tahoe via Hwy 50! I have signed up for Evgo, Chargepoint, Greenlots and plugshare, first thing I did after my car purchase. Good to hear they are planning the chargers on I5, that will make the LA trip a reality. Hope they go in soon.

My trip to Yuba city hit a snag. Got to the charging station at Sac international airport plugged into the DCFC and it wouldn't charge. After multiple attempts, pluged into the L2 charger for 1.5 hrs to get enough of a charge to make it home. Looked at my charge port, to discover it didn't have the modification done (read about the mod here on the forum a few days ago, this place is a great resource). Got out a file, did some customizing and off to the near by DCFC in Citrus Heights (put in 17.5KW in 30 min). I have charged there before but had much trouble having to try 5 times in order to get it to charge. This time first attempt succesfull!! So hopefully, I have fixed the issue, will try the ariport charger again and see. I have to make several round trips to Yuba city next week, hence the recon missions this weekend to make sure Sparkie can make the trip (don't want to have to use the ICE back up car if I don't have to).

Yep! That socket modification is a must do. Just after I leased my 2015 Spark EV, I read about the charge port socket modification so I did it before I ever charged at a DCFC. I haven't hand any problems since. I did have a problem with a charge connector not going fully into the socket on my car. I discovered there is an O-ring inside of the connector and it was binding on the part of the car's socket over which the O-ring had to slide. So I purchased a tube of HV spark plug grease and I used a Q-tip and a very small dab of HV spark plug grease to lubricate the part of my car's socket over which the plug's O-ring slides. Problem fixed! Occasionally, I clean the socket and re-lubricate it.

SMUD has a nice charging station at their HQ. It is operated by Greenlots.

 

[boatbum11]

Thanks for the tip about the dielectric grease!! Gon'a get me a tube and lube the socket..lol.. :lol:

The charger I use most frequently, only 2 miles from home, is in Citrus Heights off Antelope Rd and Hwy 80. It's a SMUD and Chevy Bolt sponsored charger run by Greenlots. I see 45KW to 80% then it tapers to 22KW for 5 min, then to 15KW down to 2KW finishing charge to 100%. I can go from 5 miles of range left to 80% in 12 min, 30min to 100%. Gotta love DC fast charging! When I was looking for a Spark, I made the sales person take a picture of the charge port on the cars they advertised and email it to me, to make sure it had the DC fast charge option as that was a deal killer for me. Funny how many sales guys thought their cars had it, but the pictures showed otherwise. To me it's a must have in an EV.

 

[fox]

Has anyone heard of anyone checking to see if DCFC was actually installed on all sparks and it's just covered up by that piece of plastic? I'd like to drill it out and check but don't want to die trying.

 

[emv]

Has anyone heard of anyone checking to see if DCFC was actually installed on all sparks and it's just covered up by that piece of plastic? I'd like to drill it out and check but don't want to die trying.

Dream on, the pieces are not there.

 

[nikwax]

Has anyone heard of anyone checking to see if DCFC was actually installed on all sparks and it's just covered up by that piece of plastic? I'd like to drill it out and check but don't want to die trying.

um, no

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Has anyone made the trip from the fast charger in Bakersfield to the charger in Santa Clarita in one shot? I am thinking of taking a trip south and that looks like the only hurdle to getting to LA.

Today I was reviewing PlugShare charging locations along Hwy 99 / I-5 and I now see there are 10 L2 EVSE stations at the Outlets at Tejon - Wheeler Ridge. A couple of DCFCs would have been nice too but the L2s will make it easier for Spark EV pilots to venture over the Grapevine. Fill up in Bakersfield and top off at the Outlets at Tejon. I may have to give this a try when it is cooler.

 

[Alcalira]

Just to add to the Tahoe trip up US 50: I took my 2016 Spark to go skiing at Sierra-at-Tahoe. Stopped at El Dorado Hills and ******* Pines. At the ski resort, they have a L1 outlet you can use, and it's a really primo parking spot. If you're there for the day you can easily pick up enough range to continue to SLT or head back toward Sacramento. The Spark is a great mountain climber with all that torque and no need for oxygen!

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Just to add to the Tahoe trip up US 50: I took my 2016 Spark to go skiing at Sierra-at-Tahoe. Stopped at El Dorado Hills and ******* Pines. At the ski resort, they have a L1 outlet you can use, and it's a really primo parking spot. If you're there for the day you can easily pick up enough range to continue to SLT or head back toward Sacramento. The Spark is a great mountain climber with all that torque and no need for oxygen!

WAY TO GO!! A couple of years ago, my wife and I jumped into our 2015 Spark EV, left our home in Manteca, CA and made the 300 mile round trip up Hwy 50 to SLT and back. At the time, only two ChargePoint DCFC stations were available after Folsom. One was at ******* Pines and the other was located in the parking garage at Heavenly Village. It was tight but we made it. Driving back down from Echo Summit was definitely and E-ticket ride. We made it all the way back to Folsom before having to add a little more charge to get home. Today, there are more DCFC stations available along Hwy 50 and in SLT to make this drive really fun.