The itch that Slate scratches, the one that it sort of doesn’t

[KevinRS]

In the early 1980s I had a friend who road-traveled a lot as part of his job.

He taught me that making occasional stops, even short ones, makes longer trips seem shorter. I tried it. It works.

For example, there was a greasy-spoon cafe along the highway in Eloy, AZ about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. The food and service there were surprisingly good. Stopping by there for a meal made an otherwise-boring trip a much better experience.

Not hungry? Just go to a gas station to top off the tank and/or use the loo. What's important seems to be getting out of the saddle and taking a break rather than just driving straight through.

Most people are likely to try to just push through to get to the end of the drive, but stopping every couple of hours is probably healthier and safer.

 

[Luxrage]

For people worried about road trips, you've got to ask yourself, what is the longest 1 day of travel road trip you make, each way?

This, 100%. I've posted about it before, but your phone is logging every minute of your location history whenever you have it with you (if you're turned it on as most people do). Everyone has a really easy way to look at years of past travels per day and see what kind of mileage they really need. I did this and found that my longest day-trip drives comes up to a little under 190 miles to reach the furthest junkyard from me that has a good rotation of cars. And there are plenty of places I can recharge the Slate if I stop for lunch on the way, which I always do on those particular trips.

Google Maps calls it your Timeline, not sure what Apple users have it under.

 

[atx_ev]

For people worried about road trips, you've got to ask yourself, what is the longest 1 day of travel road trip you make, each way?
For a lot of people in my area, they probably would say the trip to Las Vegas, which does edge into being inconvenient with a Slate, because it would be 2 charging stops along the way. But if you only make that kind of trip once a year or something, consider a rental vehicle. My parents did that for that kind of trip 30 years ago, just to reduce the wear on their daily drivers, and have a chance to drive something different.
I have no intention to go to Las Vegas, if some event did come up, I'd look at options of flying, renting, or just plan to charge twice along the way.
For trips a bit shorter, 1 charging stop is hardly an inconvenience, it will probably charge back to 80% before you can finish eating lunch.

We drive to dallas, houston, and port aransas about 8 times a year. We do a 1 month, long distance trip once a year to california. If I pick up my parents to go eat that is 7 people.

For me this means gas minivan. No matter what EV proponents say (a little bit like public transport advocates) this is too inconvenient to do. West texas on I10 has very few chargers and it adds a lot of miles to make it work with an EV. Also now that there semi self driving, I want a car that is compatible with comma.ai, but only for the long trips. Driving 3 hours with adaptive cruise control and lane assist is really nice. In town I dont use it at all.

The slate is an in town car. It is small so that it can fit into tight parking. Yesterday I drove my son to a basketball game. The parking lot had a few spaces that were too small for my tundra, but the slate would have fit. We ended up having to park about .5 mile away.

Parking garages, parallel parking, and lots with small spaces are a breeze with a smaller car.

 

[atx_ev]

I keep seeing people saying that about EV’s. “What if I want to go on a long trip?”

We’ve done this in our current EV. We just plan it out and stop at a rest stop that has DC charging stations. Plug in, use the restroom, eat, and got back on the road. I get it if you’re the type that only wants to stop for the amount of time it takes to fill up with gas. That’s just not me. Also, the hotel we stayed at charged the car for free. I guess it all comes down to preference and infrastructure. For me, I’m tired of gas vehicles and going to a gas station every week (I have a daily that I’m holding onto until the Slate comes out).

I charged an ev at a hotel lot once. Apparently you start getting fines if you stay after the car is charged. It cost $30 to charge about 40 miles of range.

 

[Saint Alban]

I charged an ev at a hotel lot once. Apparently you start getting fines if you stay after the car is charged. It cost $30 to charge about 40 miles of range.

That must be the hotels rate. The same way a hotel in a major city would charge you an arm and a leg to valet and park when they don’t have their own lot. Usually an extra $50 a day. Anyways, 40 miles of range should only cost like $7-$15 at a public DC charging station. Like I said, where we stayed, it was free.

 

[cadblu]

I recently visited a local hospital which had an enclosed parking garage with about 10 EV chargers. I inquired with security at the front desk and was advised that the they are all free. Every charging spot was taken, many just parked there with their charging session completed. Even others were not even charging or plugged in. Some ICE cars also parked in those spaces. 🤬

Folks, without any rules or enforcement, this is what happens.

 

[E90400K]

In the early 1980s I had a friend who road-traveled a lot as part of his job.

He taught me that making occasional stops, even short ones, makes longer trips seem shorter. I tried it. It works.

For example, there was a greasy-spoon cafe along the highway in Eloy, AZ about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. The food and service there were surprisingly good. Stopping by there for a meal made an otherwise-boring trip a much better experience.

Not hungry? Just go to a gas station to top off the tank and/or use the loo. What's important seems to be getting out of the saddle and taking a break rather than just driving straight through.

Did they sell fox roadkill sammiches?

 

[E90400K]

I charged an ev at a hotel lot once. Apparently you start getting fines if you stay after the car is charged. It cost $30 to charge about 40 miles of range.

Did you get a tube of lubricant with that charge?

 

[E90400K]

That must be the hotels rate. The same way a hotel in a major city would charge you an arm and a leg to valet and park when they don’t have their own lot. Usually an extra $50 a day. Anyways, 40 miles of range should only cost like $7-$15 at a public DC charging station. Like I said, where we stayed, it was free.

Good Lord, even with my Bronco, 40 miles is just over 5-bucks of gasoline.

 

[Saint Alban]

Good Lord, even with my Bronco, 40 miles is just over 5-bucks of gasoline.

I had to look that up since I’m unfamiliar with the broncos mpg’s and yea, it’s around the same cost to charge for that amount of range.