Just got back from Daytona.

[ChrisV]

Drove down from Baltimore last Thursday to Daytona for the Daytona 500 this weekend with my 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV. Took off about 2 in the afternoon for a leisurely drive down (the plan was to have 5 charging stops, with one of them being a nap at South of the Border halfway down). Spent a couple minutes Wednesday evening on PlugShare to check the charging station locations and reviews and create the map that was exported to Google on my phone for CarPlay navigation. It's about a 15 hour drive in a gas car which means I'd still be stopping to sleep for a bit on the trip down so as not to turn a blink or two into closed eyes even for a moment while driving at 3-4 in the morning. Each stop was planned at about 140-150 miles, or 2.5-3 hours of driving, with meals and potty breaks at the stops (and with my wife's coffee drinking, those potty breaks were crucial!)

My wife drove the first leg. First stop was at an EVGo station at a Wawa in Richmond, where we charged back to 80% for free (GM gave us $500 in EVGo credits when we got the car, as we didn't need the free Level 2 charging station install when we got the car). No issues, and we then headed out to stop 2 (wife driving again), at an Electrify America station in Rocky Mount, NC. Again, no lines, and no issues charging back to 80%. I took over as it was dark now.

Next up, the Shell Recharge station at Pedro's South of the Border. Got there at 11 pm (about 2.5 hours per leg, with a half hour charging at each stop). Got some food and a couple 5-Hour Energy bottles (lol). Took a bit of a nap there, then downed a 5 hour energy and hit the road to the next stop, an Electrify America station at the Walmart in Walterboro, SC. BTW, the amount of deer along the side of the road in NC and SC was insane. Glad I was keeping rested and awake as I needed to be extra vigi9lant overnight to avoid deer.

Charged back to 80% and hit the road again for an EA station in Brunswick, Georgia, where we ended up going to a Waffle House for breakfast at 5 AM. The next stop was to be in Daytona to make sure we were set up for the weekend, but my wife couldn't wait that long and needed a bathroom break, so we detoured to the EVGo station on the west side of Jacksonville. Where we encountered our first sort of issue. Out of the 5 stations, only 3 were working. Didn't actually affect us, as we still got our charging done, but it was the first time we saw that on the trip. Went ahead and charged up there (even though it was a bit shorter leg to get there and still had 90 miles to go to get to the motel in Daytona Beach), but since it was really flat and about 60 degrees, it was really easy to be efficient (only used 70 miles of indicated range to go those 90 miles, which meant we had a lot of range to drive all over Daytona and up to the track and all over).

Checked into our very sketchy motel on the beach (my wife had bought the Daytona 500 tickets last year, but didn't get the motel until THIS year, so there wasn't much choice left. And even then, it cost more than the event tickets/infield parking/FanPass), and went driving around to sightsee and find the route up to the track to be prepared for Sunday. Weather wasn't bad Friday, but it was looking like Saturday might be rainy and Sunday was supposed to be bad.

Ended up going up to the NASCAR Truck races Friday evening and stayed for the ARCA races. Massive fun, great weather, and could sit anywhere.

Saturday was drizzling, so we drove up to St. Augustine, checked out the old town and climbed the haunted light house. Check another thing off our bucket list.

And yes, Sunday got rained out. The XFinity race had been postponed from Saturday already, and now the 500 was moved to Monday afternoon. Monday started out wet but it was supposed to dry out by noon, so we headed to the track and infield parking. Sun broke out by noon, we got to walk the track and sign the start/finish line. Had a blast watching the 500 and the Xfinity race afterwards. Got back to the motel at around midnight.

Checked out at 10 AM, went to the Walmart in Ormond Beach to top off before heading out. Talked to a few other EV owners there. Apparently lots of EV charging stations in Florida, with FLP having a great network (I noticed a bunch up by the track).

The trip up was as uneventful, though we sat for an hour in construction traffic in Lumberton, NC. Because of that, ended up hitting DC at the start of rush hour. Rush hour traffic, however, makes range in the car, so even running heat we had plenty to get home from Richmond. Temps coming home were pretty low, as it was 29 degrees by the time we got to NC, 26 in Richmond and DC, though it had warmed to a balmy 33 by the time we got home to Baltimore...

1925.6 miles total at an average of 3.7 miles/kWh, with many stretches of 70mph on crise control, then using heat half the trip home.

[ChrisV]

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[ChrisV]

1926 miles total, 3.7 miles/kWh.

[AutobahnSHO]

Fun fun!