PCA Rocky Mountain Region "Quadruple Bypass" drive this past weekend

On Saturday, August 16th, I participated in the annual PCA Rocky Mountain Region “Quadruple Bypass” drive. Turns out that I was the first Porsche EV owner ever to attempt this. I had some qualms about driving about 300 miles including my drives to the starting point (Wheat Ridge, CO) and back home from the ending luncheon (Dillon, CO). (I live in Littleton, CO.) Of course, the real challenge was climbing (and descending) four beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountain passes, each higher than 10,000 feet. I decided to drive toward Wheat Ridge at the start and charge to 100% at an Electrify America 350 kW charger nearby. There were about 60 Porsches (and one Aston Martin) participating. We were divided into four groups. I was in the first group. We’d been provided with a file we could load into Google maps that included all the driving directions, and I was able to pull that up easily with ApplePlay.

The drive was absolutely beautiful, and the weather held for most of the drive except for the occasional brief rain shower. I’ve lived near Denver for the past 45 years and yet I’d not driven on some of the roads or over some of the passes we included in this drive. Can’t wait to return to some of them once the leaves change this fall.

So how did my Macan 4 EV do on this casual outing? I never needed to bail to a charge station during the drive. I observed a lot of beautiful scenery and beautiful Porsches and enjoyed the very twisty roads leading up and down the passes. AND. . . I returned home with 49% charge! I guess regeneration does actually work (or whatever Porsche calls it). Wish I’d thought to take pictures.

Sandy

Sounds like a fun day! Did you track how many miles you drove between the EA charge and getting home at 49%? I show it as about 200 miles on Google Maps but of course depends on just where in Wheat Ridge and then where in Littleton.

Still though, ~200 miles in 51% is exceptional. Especially in a 4 rather than the longer range RWD. But the slower speeds on much of the route make a big difference.

We do the 271 mile drive from our home (Frederick) to the Grand Junction EA in about 85% (RWD). But it also took us 89% to do a 254 mile drive from Vegas to Bishop at even slower speeds. So it's not totally predictable.

Good points. I was using the mileage from the description of the ride when they announced it. Apparently this year the route must have changed because my car tells me I drove 215 miles from Wheat Ridge through the planned ride and then from Dillon to my home. So, not as impressive that I had the level of charge left that I did. Also the leader of our group was fairly conservative in their adherence to speed limits. And we did have some bumper to bumper traffic during some of the ride. All told, I wound up at the end of the ride with a 3.4 mile/kW consumption figure.

Sandy

Range has bee shockingly good for me, even with 22" wheels. The 4S is rated at 288 miles, but I'm regularly projected at 320 and 340 (if I behave myself). Temperature is 70-80F and AC blasting. I expect after a year and initial battery degradation hits, I'll be more on par with the 288.

Final number for today was 55 miles of driving and only used 13% battery. So 4.23 miles per percent of battery (theoretically 423 miles @ 100% . Yes I know it’s not that simple, but a boy can dream…). Highest speed today was 65mph. Mostly highway. So you can squeeze if needed!