Welcome Home Elektra

The First Trip (Bringing the car home from the dealership)

I started my research to purchase an all-electric vehicle around June 2020. I had already been looking at all-electric options that could meet my needs, but the pandemic opened my search wider since the amount I was now driving had significantly decreased due to working from home.

I thought I had found the perfect option for me at a dealership in New Hampshire. It was the base model with very low miles. It could have been a quick deal, but I couldn’t get the dealership to call me back! (I had been watching it for a couple of months and it had been in their inventory since I started my search). The vehicle had been sitting on their lot for over 6 months but I guess they didn’t want to sell it since they never bothered acknowledging my interest until about a week ago! 

After giving up on the vehicle from New Hampshire, I expanded my search on Auto Tempest and a new vehicle popped up at a dealership in the Chicago area. This vehicle was the Premium model, and the asking price was lower than the original car. After about a week’s worth of negotiations and discussions later, I was on my way to pick up my first dive into the world of electric vehicles, Elektra as was soon to be known. 

Arrival (What's an adventure without a struggle?)

I left early in the morning to drive from the Detroit area to the Chicago area to pick up Elektra. The drive through Michigan was uneventful, but once I reached Indiana, it was evident the North Easterly wind this day was going to impact this trip as I started to face some lake effect snow.  The snow grew in intensity, as did the traffic as I drove through downtown Chicago. The snow and traffic made for a stressful 20 minutes of the drive.  As I made my way through downtown and drove out to the suburbs, the sky cleared and it turned out to be a nice, yet still cold day.

When I arrived, Elektra was not at the dealership and I was told the salesman was bringing her from a nearby Nissan dealer where they had set her up to charge. Even though I had mentioned the need for her to be fully charged many times, and had even received a confirmation text the night before, Elektra’s battery was only charged to 26%.  This clearly wasn’t going to work with my original scheduled stops I had planned on my way home. So, onto plan B. I immediately jumped on the Plug Share application to find the nearest DC fast charger, locating an EVgo fast charger about 5 miles away. The reviews didn’t give me confidence, as there had been numerous reports of this charger not working, but we had to try.
We took Elektra and another vehicle to the EVgo charger in a drug store parking lot. With the application for EVgo set-up, we plugged in, and with a swipe, Elektra started charging at 46kW.  It was going to take a while to reach the level I needed to execute my “driving home” plan.  With Elektra successfully charging, we went back to the dealership to complete the paperwork.  What I didn’t know was that EVgo limits your charging sessions to 45 minutes (one of the many reasons not to use EVgo, but more on that in a future post). Thanks to the application ecosystem (there are complaints about how many applications you need, but they are very helpful), I was alerted when the charging stopped.  Since I was in the middle of signing paperwork, the dealership sent a porter to go unplug, and then re-plug Elektra to start charging again.

Departure (Is the electric charging infrastructure up to the task?)

With the paperwork completed, the porter ended the charge on Elektra. Back at the dealership we gave her the final look over and I was off, albeit slightly delayed, on my adventure to drive this car from the Chicago area back to the Detroit area.  The first leg of the journey, I had originally planned to not stop until I was in Michigan. This first stretch would be a little over 100 miles and would give me a good introduction to how the car was going to handle the highway driving and the cold temperatures. I knew I would face some head winds and snow on this first stretch that would definitely not help the efficiency, and thus the capable range of the car.

Having already completed one DC Fast charging session, pulling into the first charger of my trip home was drama free. There was some risk, because I was going to a site with a single DC fast charger. Any problem with this charger, and I would have to come up with plan C.  Fortunately, the ChargePoint charger at the Ozinga Concrete location was working well.  Since I was already behind schedule, I didn’t take the time to document all the starting and ending charge percentages/ranges.  I plugged in, tapped my phone on the charger, and the session started smoothly.  The charging ramped up and I was near the max 48kW charging speed for this charger for the 30 minutes I was connected. No cold gating at this stop (more on this in a future post). I added 23kWh and was ready to head to my next stop. The 30-minute stop flew by as many family and friends that knew I was making this trip called to check on my progress. Also, I slowed the overall amount of energy going into the battery by turning up the heat on a 20-degree F day  to stay warm.

The second leg of my trip home, about an hour after leaving New Buffalo, MI; I arrived at my first Electrify America(EA) location in Portage, MI. This site is designed for the charger to be next to the vehicle, instead of in front, as the previous stops had been. Combine that with EA using some of the shortest and stiffest charging cables (likely due to the much higher supported charging speeds), I had to reposition Elektra a couple of times at the 350kW fast charger in order to get the cable connected successfully. Thanks to the EA application, I have a few more details on this stop. I plugged in at 34% and unplugged 45 minutes later at 77%. A total of 36kWh added, here is where I saw the highest charging speeds of the trip, at up to 55kW. That’s still not the max a Kia e-Niro can do, but not bad considering how cold it was this day.

I could have made it all the way home on this charge, but with the sun down, the temperature dropping and the wind picking up, I wanted to be safe and added a third stop. This final stop was at another Charge Point location, this time in Marshall, MI. A short 40-minute drive from the previous stop, and I was doing a quick top up of the battery.  I was only plugged in for 15 minutes, and added a measly 7 kWh, but it was enough to give me the buffer I needed to feel comfortable to get home.  Part of the reason I only stayed a short time was that this charger started at a normal 45kW, but very quickly the charging ramped down to only 25kW.  I didn’t want to stay long if I wasn’t charging fast.  I will say that this charging site was located right off the highway, and at night, I was able to spot the distinctive ChargePoint charger lights from the exit ramp.

Arriving back home (Could I complete the Journey without any issues?)

            I arrived home with Elektra showing 45 miles remaining, confirming I didn’t need the last stop.  I completed the trip of 310 miles in 5 hours and 31 minutes.  I averaged an amazing 2.9 miles per kilowatt hour, at an average temperature below 20 degrees, and with a head/cross wind of 5-10 miles per hour.  Three charging stops with no charging issues with the chargers and excellent power efficiency.  Overall, I am very happy with my decision and look forward to many adventures to come. I am excited to try out and rate many DC fast charging locations, and see how/when I can get peak charging speed for Elektra.