Trip to Telluride, Colorado

USMA81 said:

Here are some thoughts after my first long trip in the Macan.

Route: from Prescott, AZ to Telluride, Colorado, 472 miles. First 134 miles was on rural, mountain and high desert highways. Next 127 miles was on US interstate. Final 211 miles was again on mountain and high desert highways. I reversed this route several days later. There was some significant elevation changes on the route, with more uphill on the outbound trip. Both trips were at about 62 mph and 3.1 mi/kWh. The higher consumption was attributable to higher speeds on the interstate (maybe 85-ish mph) and attributable to ascending/descending and curving roads in the mountains.

Charging:
Stop #1, Winslow, AZ, Electrify America, only EV there. Good speed, no issues.

Stop #2, Gallup, NM, Electrify America, only EV there at first, but other three stations filled while there. Good speed, first cable faulted out. Restarted using the second cable on same cabinet and it was fine.

Stop #3: Cortez, CO, Tesla MagicDock. New station, good speed, no issues (had app set up prior to departing on the trip). Charged to higher SOC than required to get to destination (good decision, see below)

Stop #4, Telluride, CO, Tesla, not a MagicDock, but listed as open to non-Tesla (Photos in PlugShare of Rivians, Fords charging there). Not able to charge there. Station didn’t show in Tesla app (you need it to show up in app to initiate charging at the location). Finally realized it was being filtered out by vehicle make (the station showed up if I changed my make to “Rivian” in the app, but it still wouldn’t work). Spent 15 minutes on hold with Tesla and 30 minutes troubleshooting, but the rep was powerless. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it working.

This was a problem because EV DC charging is sparse in Telluride. There are many destination chargers, most at hotels, but not one at my hotel. One public destination charger was out of service due to local construction on an adjacent building (I was planning on using this one, but no). I couldn’t find a couple of public destination chargers in two different parking garages (although I presume I just didn’t look hard enough). One DC charger didn’t show in PlugShare; I only saw it in the ChargePoint app too late to be of use. I ended up plugged into a free 6.5 kW charger across the street at a grocery store (but was limited to two hours per visit). With an arrival at 41% SOC and a couple of visits to the grocery over three days, I had enough to get back to Cortez on my return trip.

The charging stops on the route were about every 2-2.5 hours and the vehicle was charged and ready to go again before I was. I have to laugh at ICE owners who say EV DC charging is too slow. Not for me in in the Macan.

Planning the charging stops was especially necessary on this trip because there are so few DC chargers in southwestern Colorado mountains once you get off the Interstate. Even so, it was a non-event, other than the issues at the destination, which eventually worked out ok. The various apps, however, need more accurate data.

Innodrive mostly was great. It depended on three things: how curvy the roads are, how well the traffic engineers matched the posted speed to those curves, and how well I adhered to the posted speeds. If I did the posted speeds, Innodrive was really good on these mountain highways. If I didn’t, or if occasionally, rarely, a curve was too tight for the posted speeds, it struggled. Straight Interstate highways were great, of course. I described Innodrive to a friend, saying, “If I do the driving, I have to pay attention at 10 out of 10. With Innodrive, I feel I can be at maybe a 7 out of 10, especially on the straight roads.” It helped reduce fatigue.

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USMA81 said:

Here are some thoughts after my first long trip in the Macan.

Route: from Prescott, AZ to Telluride, Colorado, 472 miles. First 134 miles was on rural, mountain and high desert highways. Next 127 miles was on US interstate. Final 211 miles was again on mountain and high desert highways. I reversed this route several days later. There was some significant elevation changes on the route, with more uphill on the outbound trip. Both trips were at about 62 mph and 3.1 mi/kWh. The higher consumption was attributable to higher speeds on the interstate (maybe 85-ish mph) and attributable to ascending/descending and curving roads in the mountains.

Charging:
Stop #1, Winslow, AZ, Electrify America, only EV there. Good speed, no issues.

Stop #2, Gallup, NM, Electrify America, only EV there at first, but other three stations filled while there. Good speed, first cable faulted out. Restarted using the second cable on same cabinet and it was fine.

Stop #3: Cortez, CO, Tesla MagicDock. New station, good speed, no issues (had app set up prior to departing on the trip). Charged to higher SOC than required to get to destination (good decision, see below)

Stop #4, Telluride, CO, Tesla, not a MagicDock, but listed as open to non-Tesla (Photos in PlugShare of Rivians, Fords charging there). Not able to charge there. Station didn’t show in Tesla app (you need it to show up in app to initiate charging at the location). Finally realized it was being filtered out by vehicle make (the station showed up if I changed my make to “Rivian” in the app, but it still wouldn’t work). Spent 15 minutes on hold with Tesla and 30 minutes troubleshooting, but the rep was powerless. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it working.

This was a problem because EV DC charging is sparse in Telluride. There are many destination chargers, most at hotels, but not one at my hotel. One public destination charger was out of service due to local construction on an adjacent building (I was planning on using this one, but no). I couldn’t find a couple of public destination chargers in two different parking garages (although I presume I just didn’t look hard enough). One DC charger didn’t show in PlugShare; I only saw it in the ChargePoint app too late to be of use. I ended up plugged into a free 6.5 kW charger across the street at a grocery store (but was limited to two hours per visit). With an arrival at 41% SOC and a couple of visits to the grocery over three days, I had enough to get back to Cortez on my return trip.

The charging stops on the route were about every 2-2.5 hours and the vehicle was charged and ready to go again before I was. I have to laugh at ICE owners who say EV DC charging is too slow. Not for me in in the Macan.

Planning the charging stops was especially necessary on this trip because there are so few DC chargers in southwestern Colorado mountains once you get off the Interstate. Even so, it was a non-event, other than the issues at the destination, which eventually worked out ok. The various apps, however, need more accurate data.

Innodrive mostly was great. It depended on three things: how curvy the roads are, how well the traffic engineers matched the posted speed to those curves, and how well I adhered to the posted speeds. If I did the posted speeds, Innodrive was really good on these mountain highways. If I didn’t, or if occasionally, rarely, a curve was too tight for the posted speeds, it struggled. Straight Interstate highways were great, of course. I described Innodrive to a friend, saying, “If I do the driving, I have to pay attention at 10 out of 10. With Innodrive, I feel I can be at maybe a 7 out of 10, especially on the straight roads.” It helped reduce fatigue.

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USMA81 said:

Here are a couple of thoughts to help possibly reduce charging anxiety.

First, the distance from Las Cruces to ABQ is about 223 miles. It appears to be within the range of the Macan, depending on driving speed. To test this without risk, you could charge the car to 100%, and enter the closes EA charger in ABQ as the destination (on Yale Blvd). Let the Macan software tell you if you can make it there - look at the estimated state of charge upon arrival. I trust the software. Once you start driving you can monitor the arrival state of charge, and slow down a bit to extend range if needed (your backup plan).

Another approach, without needing to charge the car, is to plan the trip in the app “A Better Route Planner,“ ABRP. It likely won be quite as accurate as the car software, but it is pretty good. I just used it to plan this route. With 100% SOC starting in LC, with no intermediate stop, it says you get to the closest EA charger in ABQ with 4% remaining (but likely more). If that is too close for you, it also says slowing to 70 mph will get you there with 11% remaining.

Remember that the car can do over 300 miles and that the planners tend to underestimate the range a bit. But, yes, a high speed charger in TOC or Socorro would be nice. Confidence in being able to make these trips comes from both good planning and a bit of experience.

As far as the EA charging goes, I now use the Macan backup camera to get close to the charger. The red line in the camera is a good guide (if you have parking guides turned on). I stop backing immediately when the audible tone goes continuous / the red line approaches the curb. At any point, stop, get out and visually check the distance if you are unsure. If nobody else is there, I also shift the car a bit to the side so that the charge port is aligned with the cabinet side where the cable is. This gets me even closer. Getting close reduces the cable distance needed. It makes connecting the stiff cable easier. You can use two hands on the cable too, if you first open the charge port door and flip down the DC flap.

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GasStation said:

I recommend you carry "bungie cords" with hooks. You know, the ones you can get at the Dollar Store. The DC cable is very thick and non malleable at all temperatures. It can rub against the rear bumper panels. I wrap a bungie cord around the DC charging cable to help reduce the strain and twist inside the Macan's DC charging port and eliminate rubbing against the cars painted surface.

I have a WeatherTec Bump Step attached to my hitch (I ticked the trailer hitch option for my build) and usually wrap the bungie/DC cable around that plastic step. The Step also prevents having my rear bumper from being marked by those who back up their vehicles purely on "sound and effect".

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USMA81 said:

Remember that the car can do over 300 miles and that the planners tend to underestimate the range a bit.

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dbsb3233 said:

300 is often unrealistic for highway speeds though. Even in our RWD (although we have the 22" wheels). We just bought ours in June but we road trip a lot. Done 3 trips already. We're currently doing 3000 miles thru CO-UT-NV-MT-SD-CO. A few days ago we did the most tenuous leg from Las Vegas to Bishop CA. 265 miles, with about 2000' elevation gain end-to-end. And max 70 MPH speed limits (and I never went over 71).

Sounds like it should be easy, but I wasn't so sure. So while I left the hotel at 100%, I made a stop at an EA on the northernmost point in Vegas to top up from 95% to 99%, just in case.

Made it to Bishop at 10%. That means we went 254 miles using 89% (285 effective range).

Meanwhile, it's 271 miles from our home north of Denver to the Grand Junction EA. We've done that drive twice now. We arrived at the EA around 15% both times. So 271 miles using 85% (318 effective range).

So it really depends. Moral of the story is to not count on getting 300, even when it seems like slower speeds should do. Too many variables.

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GasStation said:

I recommend you carry "bungie cords" with hooks. You know, the ones you can get at the Dollar Store. The DC cable is very thick and non malleable at all temperatures. It can rub against the rear bumper panels. I wrap a bungie cord around the DC charging cable to help reduce the strain and twist inside the Macan's DC charging port and eliminate rubbing against the cars painted surface.

I have a WeatherTec Bump Step attached to my hitch (I ticked the trailer hitch option for my build) and usually wrap the bungie/DC cable around that plastic step. The Step also prevents having my rear bumper from being marked by those who back up their vehicles purely on "sound and effect".

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Trevasann said:

I bought a Porsche and I want to drive it like a Porsche. I wouldn't do 70 unless I'm running out of charge with no prospects of charging. Ty

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tauCete said:

I'd love to see a picture or two of your bungie cord usage. I can't quite picture it in my head.

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