Blythe or Bust trip report April 10/11, 1999 This is my report from the perspective of my car vin#442 "ZA2 EV1" with a fairly strong pack capacity of 48-50Ah. The other drivers include: partner in crime, Marc Zorn with the 54Ah J.R. Signature series SUPER pack, fellow EV roadtrip veteren Bill Korthof and his mother Lisa Korthof, and EV1 adventure roadtrip newbies Bob Hadden, Bill Mason and Bob Seldon with his son Nick. 4/9/99 Irvine to Redlands Being a nightowl, I decided to head out Friday night so I wouldn't have to wake up at 5am like many of the others... After spending the afternoon with BillK and Marc helping to portablize his charger and make adapter cables, I left Irvine with 96% and drove to Ontario Mills shopping mall where I charged from 32% to 56%. At Ontario I bumped into Mark Sterner who was charging his RAV4-EV with an AVCON to RAV4 adapter cable. I was going to see a movie but decided I didn't need to hang out that long so I proceeded to Redlands to find a motel. I scoped out the Redlands Walmart to make sure charging would be ok in the morning for the other drivers.. I charged from 32% to 60% then went to the Super 8 motel where I charged off of 120V and got nearly 7 hours of sleep. 4/10/99 Redlands to Blythe In the morning I called all the other drivers on the cell phone to make sure everyone was doing ok. It turned out BobS and Nick were running about an hour ahead of schedule (!) Everyone else was either right on, or maybe 15 minutes behind. The idea was for Marc, BillK and myself to reach Palm Desert around 10am and start charging. The 2nd wave (BillM, BobS and BobH) would arrive around noon and take over around the same time as the press was supposed to arrive. BobS was already charging at the Redlands Walmart at 8:30 so I drove down to say hi and top off my car which had only reached 93% overnight. 1.4mi. Redlands Walmart, charged 91%->93% I got the call that Marc and BillK had both finished their turns topping off at Moreno Valley and where about to hit the 60 freeway so I jumped in and got on the 10 freeway to sync up with them. It's a long uphill drive out of Redlands but no problem for my car. By the time I hit the highest point just past the 10/60 in Banning I was already 5 or 6 miles ahead of BillK and Marc (I guess Redlands is closer than Moreno Valley, even though Redlands is not as high). After Banning it was almost all downhill (aside from a small bump on the 10 after the 111 turn-off) to the Monterey turn-off towards Desert Ctr. I drove over to Desert Center City Hall where Walt had organized quite a crowd of people including a few local TV reporters and couple of other EVs (one converted VW and a classic 1911 Baker Electric!) Marc and BillK arrived shortly after and we all pulled out the chargers and our L6-30 adapters to plug into the special charging 'stations' under the shade at City Hall. Palm Desert has 4 Ford Ranger NiMH EV pickups that were charging on the far side of the station. We spoke with many interested onlookers who had read Walt's story in the local paper the day before and came over to see the parade. I also got a chance to ride in the classic 1911 Baker Electric which started out on the streets of Chicago in 1911. The Baker has decent acceleration and great range (100mi?) at 28mph... Included is a Volt and Amp gauge and no steering wheel (you push or pull a horizontal bar to turn). We all had a chance to partake in the gracious food provided by Walt and Jo-Carrol. Bob Seldon arrived early so we put him on my charger soon after my charge slowed down and I went to the convenience charger. Bill Mason arrived around 12:30 followed later by Bob Hadden who almost turned around because he was unsure if he could make the hill coming up the 60... I knew he could so I encouraged him to try. Everyone gets worried as the 'range-o- meter' drops off going up the hill but everyone did fine as the 2nd half of the leg is mostly downill to Palm Desert. I had hoped to be out of Palm Desert by 1pm but didn't actually make it out until 2pm and by then Marc, BillK AND BobS were ready to go so we all made our way down Fred Waring drive to the 10. 63.9mi Palm Desert City Hall 35%->92% We made our way up the steep Chiriaco grade at 55mph and safely made it over Chiriaco summit and down the other side to Mary's RV park just a few miles off the freeway at Desert Center. Marc and I arrived with plenty to spare, the closest call was Bob Seldon who arrived with 4% which is still about 10-12% away from hitting the dreaded Reduced Performance Mode. BobH and BillM left just a bit after us. BobH started with a mere 86% which was cutting it close for his car which has only about a 37Ah capacity. I arrived with 20% meaning I used 72% to travel the exact same leg I did just a few weeks before when I was able to do it with only 62% (!!! hmmm). Needless to say BobH didn't have as much 'reserve' and actually hit 0% user about 9 miles out from the RV park!! Fortunately it really is mostly down hill from there and he arrived safely without even brushing into reduced performance (phew!!). That was a great relief because although he could have easily driven another 10 miles in Reduced Performance, it could mean that he'd be stuck in Reduced Performance even after a partial charge at Desert Center (that would be bad).. sometimes you need to reach 100%/Full to reset R.P.M. We had calculated what everyone would need based off my trip a few weeks earlier with Bill.. but it seems we need to throw in yet some more 'fudge factor' because my car used 72% this time and only 62% driving the same speed (with a passenger!) last time. But again I should stress that although Bob brushed the under-side of 0% user a few times during the trip it was no problem because the EV1 has plenty of reserve power before even going into Reduced Performance Mode. We all got a chance to hang out in the shade at the Green Acres RV park in Desert Center... We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.. clear blue skies with temps in the low 70s. 127.3mi. Desert Center 20%->87% Marc, BillK, BobS and myself headed out towards Blythe which turned out to be a really easy 50 mile run through the middle of nowhere... We stopped somewhere along the way for a few photos. BillM and BobH left Desert Center about 45mins behind us. The first 4 cars all arrived at the Arizona border just beyond Blythe right before sunset. We pulled over and took some shots near the big Welcome to Arizona sign (POV - proof of visitation) We decided to back the cars up a few dozen yards to take an obvious exit/U-turn rather than proceed down the freeway for an unknown number of miles to the next turn-off. Back in California we went to the Riviera RV park to plug in but the office was closed so we just snuck in and found the two sites we assumed were held for us. We plugged in Bob Seldon and then the 6 of us (BillK, LisaK, BobS, NickS, Marc and myself) drove back to the center of Blythe in the remaining 3 cars. Back at the Motel 6 BillK quickly sniffed out the 240V socket he had been told about and we booked 2 rooms for the Korthofs and BillM and myself. BobH and BillM showed up right around the time we reached the motel. The plan was for Marc and BobH to camp at the RV park but they eventually decided that the RV park wasn't so nice and the pampering of the motel room was in order. BobH and I ran back to the RV park to plug him in and then went back and met the group for dinner. It was great to have the whole group together to just hang out and enjoy the dinner while we swapped EV1 stories. After dinner I went with BobH and Marc back to the RV park to kick back and charge for a while. We walked around the RV park and I eventually left them for a short time to walk over the bridge to Arizona (why not, right?) When I got back, a small group of RVers had gathered around to ask questions of BobH and Marc. We packed up the stuff and headed back to the Motel6 where Marc and BobH had also booked rooms. Most of the gang would be getting up early for breakfast (not me!) and to see Bob and Bob off to an early head start. BillM and BillK were already asleep with their cars charging off 120V outside of the rooms when I got back. BobS had retired to a nearby hotel and BobH headed off to his room. Marc and I hung out while his car charged off the big charger and I plugged mine in at the motel's laundry room (heck, we were being charged an outrageous $15/each room(2) for 'electricity' so why not pull all the electrons I can) After my charge slowed down I moved my charger next to Marcs and used a nifty adapter BillK wipped up so both 6kw chargers could be run off one socket as long as neither was going full speed). 1:30am, time for bed. 212.7 miles Blythe (??->FULL) + a few unrecorded small partial charges at the RV park. 4/11/99 Blythe back to Irvine. By the time I left my motel room, Bob and Bob were already on the road after breakfast and Bill, Bill and Marc were checking out the cars to see how much charge we all got. Bill and Bill were still charging off the 120V charger, but more or less FULL. Marc was FULL on the big charger and I was 3 hours into a 4 hour FULL levelling event. Bill and Bill hit the road for Desert Center while I wandered off to look for protection from the sun (getting a bit burned). Marc and I were the last ones out and we ended up going by a Winston Tire center for Marc (his tire warning light had come on the day before). I went into Kmart to get a hat and some sunscreen. We also found a nice 'BLYTHE' sign in the middle of the main street and stopped to take some photos. Marc discovered from the guy at the tire center that the City of Blythe might actually have some electric trucks (could this mean they have inductive charging stations?!?!) Anyway... I hit the road with a full charge and we were off at about 60mph. I found a nice brick to draft behind but Marc tagged onto a bus going 70mph. I jumped in behind him but the bus driver didn't seem to enjoy being tailgated and blinked his lights to let us know. We arrived in Desert Center to find the whole group hanging out enjoying another pleasant day in the little RV Oasis. Bob Hadden had pulled some of his camping gear out and was relaxing in a hammoc when we arrived. After a short while Bob and Bob were off having reached at least mid 90s%. Bill and Bill eventually wandered out followed by Marc and myself in the back. We shut down most of the circuit breakers on our departure and left a note with a 'Blythe or Bust' sticker to thank Mary for letting us plug in while she was gone. 52.3miles Desert Center 44%->93% After a great ride down from Chiriaco Summit Marc and I were headed for the Cathedral City Saturn after making a small pitstop at the Marriot to say Hi to BobH and BillM (BillK had left to meet Walt back at City Hall and BobS was already on his way to the Hilton to top off before heading up to Banning). BillM was charging at half speed some of the time because of a warm pack. We had been hearing about lame weather in L.A. and he was contemplating spending the night at the Marriot. We measured compensated capacities just for kicks (inflated of course because of the warm battery packs).. Marc was a whopping 54Ah, I was at 50Ah (no complaints!!) BillM was at 39Ah and BobH was at 37Ah capacity. Marc and I made tracks for Saturn as we still had several bars of charge remaining and didn't want to get in the way of the others (we didn't intend to top off at the Hilton, just go for it from Saturn). We arrived at Saturn and one of the two public chargers was down but they let us use one of their portable chargers in the garage which was closed for Sunday. Marc and I walked down the street for some Taco Bell (mmmm grade D beef!) BillK called to say he was coming over to join us so we met up with him as we walked back to Saturn. Bill and Lisa Korthof only needed to top off a bit so they were soon off to check out the Hilton after hanging out at Saturn a short while. Marc and I walked a few blocks away to check out the new IMAX theater that was recently opened. BillM called to check out the situation and I told him to come over and join us at Saturn (he was already at 96% at the Marriott) I fumbled together a 240V adapter so that we could plug another portable charger into the garage. A few minutes before the dealership closed, we were all in the high 80s or low 90s so the 3 of us decided to skip on the Hilton and just head out. 122.3 Saturn of Cathedral City 18%->91% As we were driving out along the 111, the rain started coming down and there was a strong headwind so we slowed down to about 50mph. Soon after we reached the 10, a 4th EV1 showed up behind us.. BobH had just joined us from the Hilton! We made the torturous climb to Banning where I still had 4 bars (barely).. BobH only had 2 but we decided to go for it. BillK called me from Moreno to say he only used a little over 1 bar to get down the 60. BillM left us at the 10/60 on his way to Redlands and Marc, BobH and myself made our way down the 60. Traffic was pretty backed up during the last few miles so we got off on surface surface streets and escorted BobH to the Moreno Valley mall. BillK had enough juice to reach well into Riverside so we switched the paddle to BobH (who arrived right as he hit 0% user!) In order to avoid the traffic, BillK, Marc and myself hit surface streets down to Riverside where Marc and I plugged in at Metrolink while Bill and LisaK got on the 91 and went down to Tyler Mall. It was still raining but not so bad so Marc and I got out and walked over to the nearby theater to hang out for a while. At 48% I figured I had enough to either reach home or at least Marc's house by 9pm so we ventured out into the rain. 183.9 miles Riverside Metrolink 12%->48% Of course the rain only got worse as we drove into Orange County but that didn't seem to be a problem. As we approached Marc's house I could tell I could make it all the way home so I called him to let him know I was going straight home. 227.4 miles Home 2% After I had been home for a little while, BillK called to let me know they got back to Seal Beach with no problems... I then called BobH, BobS and BillM to see how they were all making out. Everyone was charging up and confident of reaching home with no problems. I think BillM was the last one home right around midnight. Over all I'd say this was a splendid trip!!! I personally really had a blast am I'm glad that BobH, BobS and BillM came out to join us on this adventure and that nobody had any problems along the way! Hats off also to Walt for organizing such a great welcoming party out at Palm Desert. I think next time we'll have to pay closer attention to the individual cars' capacities to make sure nobody gets as close to R.P.M. as BobH did on the Palm Desert->Desert Center leg!!! It really is amazing how large of a spectrum there is regarding battery capacity from one EV1 to another.