Tesla Chronicles #40 - Another Trip to FLX in the MYLR

Well, we just returned from our 4th trip to the Finger Lakes Region over the past 2 years in our Model Y (Long Range). I think we made 2 other trips "pre-Tesla" in the 2020-2021 time period just for the record. I have to say that I was very nervous the first time we made the trip in the Model Y to the region (early 2022) but now I don't even think twice about going on these trips in our EV. We are starting to find a few more small towns and a couple of businesses are adding chargers or 240V / 40 AMP outlets to give visiting EV owners some charging options. The image below is from the PlugShare App today. The Green charger icons are all L2 chargers, and the 2 Orange charger icons are DCFC/Tesla Superchargers (Ithaca basically). In a couple of years, I hope to do a side by side comparison of this picture. There are actually two DCFC locations just to the north of the map (CCS in Geneva, and a Tesla Supercharger in Waterloo) I am showing, but since we primarily spend most of our time in the southern half to 2/3rds of the region, they aren't all that relevant. I wish I had a picture of this region from two years ago, but after scanning through a couple of the locations, it looks like many of these existing plugs were in place by 2018-2019. Props to FLX Weinery who had a J-1772 charger as early as 2016!. Now, at least two small towns (Trumansburg - where we stayed on this trip, and Burdett) also have L2 chargers and a number of businesses on each side of Seneca Lake (the large one on the left), and one state park and one winery on Cayuga Lake (the large one on the right).

Having easy access to at least L2 chargers are honestly the key to having a successful weekend/vacation when traveling. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening, we were able to plug-in for several hours at the ChargePoint L2 charger in Trumansburg. It was a couple of blocks from our B&B, and as such, it was a little bit of a pain to walk back and forth a few times, but I need the exercise so... We were also able to plug-in on Sunday at Taughannock State Park for over an hour (+13%) and at Sheldrake Vineyards for over an hour as well (+11%) both for free. When it was all said and done, we left Ithaca on Friday afternoon at 80% SOC, and we left the B&B Monday morning at 88%. We picked the B&B based on its proximity to the chargers in Trumansburg (props to the town for being forward thinking on this matter... and just a note, it wasn't free, it ended up costing me about $0.30/kWh, which I think is a reasonable cost). Once more wineries and restaurants get on board with providing charging, searching out places to stay that have easy access to charging will not even need to be a consideration. I can't wait!

So lets break down the numbers and the trip, and the time impact to driving an EV. On the way north, we stopped at the Hickory Run rest stop for a quick charge and a bathroom break. We ended up ordering lunch there as well so our total stop time was 16 minutes which was enough to give us an additional 20% (charging is not super fast when you are already at a high SOC) and provided us with a nice buffer to comfortably get to Ithaca. I don't know why, but 1 hour into almost every drive, I need a bathroom break, and it was lunchtime anyway so this was an ideal location to stop. We like to stop in Ithaca as it is the last Supercharger stop as you enter the region, giving us the most battery left once we arrive at our destination. We charged there for 31 minutes while we shopped at Trader Joe's and used their bathroom (first 13 minutes), and then I moved the car down a spot to get my own cabinet and a faster charge for 18 more minutes while we shopped in Marshall's and Old Navy. Honestly, this time went very quickly. Given we arrived with 25% and only used another 12% the rest of the evening, we could have easily left after the first 13 minutes, but we weren't in a hurry, so charge up while you can is the rule.

While in the region Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday, we used a total of 60% of our battery driving. The main problem is that in order to keep our purchases at a reasonable temperature in the car, we probably used another 20% or more maintaining the car temperature while were were hiking and doing other things. Without having access to the L2 chargers, we most likely would have had to make a quick trip down into Ithaca (<20 minute drive to get there) to make sure we had a comfortable buffer on Sunday and to get out of the region. This also means we most likely would have needed to stop in Ithaca for a charge on the way out of town which would have delayed us by 30 minutes. Thankfully that wasn't needed.

Leaving with 88% on Monday morning gave us plenty of options. From the region, we need about 65% to get back to the Hickory Run Service Plaza for a little charge (usually 10 minutes is long enough) to get home. We actually needed a bathroom break after getting on I-81 in NY, and just so happened to stop at a gas station / Subway store that had some brand new CCS stations on site. So I added a little more than 11% in 12 minutes while we stopped and orders a sandwich to put in the cooler for later for our lunch. This gave us 29% when we arrived at Hickory Run, where we stopped for 14 minutes and added 35% while we ate lunch in the car. This gave us plenty to get to work, drive home from work, and even run a few errands in the evening. This last stop was the most inefficient stop of all of our stops as we ended up eating lunch for the entire 14 minutes before we unplugged and I then ran in for a quick bathroom break. Total stoppage time here was about 20 minutes. We left the B&B at about 8:45 am, and arrived at work in KOP at 1:05pm. 4 hours and 20 minutes door to door. Google Maps says this trip should take 4 hours and 8 minutes by comparison. My trip data indicates we were driving for 3 hours and 44 minutes. 36 minutes added for our stops, which honestly, would have been nearly identical in length if we were in an ICE vehicle.

On the cost side, travel chargers and electricity here at home to return to the SOC level I had upon our departure totaled just under $60 for 640 total miles. That equates to $0.094/mile. Given current gas prices are $3.999 here and as low as $3.859 in NY, you would have to be driving an ICE vehicle that exceeds 41 mpg to have equivalent travel costs (not counting other higher maintenance fees for an ICE). But even if you had an ICE hybrid that achieved 40+ mpg, could you leave your car for several hour stretches at a time with the HVAC turned on to keep your wine purchases at reasonable temperatures? If you could, how many gallons of gas would it consume per hour?

Here is the trip data from TeslaFi: https://www.teslafi.com/sharedRT.php?roadtrip=KRbHtpRPcnJtKnq

Solar Panel Canopy at Wagner Vineyards Cafe:

Outlets (new) at Sheldrake Vineyards (BYOC - Bring Your Own Charger):

Impressive Solar Farm at our B&B in Trumansburg: