Index
Days 0 and 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Apr 2022: Day 5
Apr 2022: Day 4
Apr 2022: Day 3
Apr 2022: Day 2
Apr 2022: Day 1
Mar 2022: Day 5
Mar 2022: Day 4
Mar 2022: Day 3
Mar 2022: Day 2
Mar 2022: Day 1
Feb 2022
Jan 2022
2021 and previous
2019 and previous
Jan 2013 and previous
Mammoth
Pre-Mammoth photo leftovers from the day before-- unusually good food for a work conference, topped off with Ophelia's birthday at Universal Studios Hollywood and Pearl's visit. Prince Street Pizza's new Venice location continues to do a bang-up job, which is tough for expansions a lot of the time. And while I missed the Universal Studios part, happy birthday Ophelia!
The next day, the long slow drive to Mammoth in a Chevrolet Bolt EUV. While I've done tons of trips to Mammoth in EV's, this was the first time in a Chevy Bolt, which is notorious for slow charging (55kW max, about 1/3rd to 1/8th that of better EV's) and first time having to depend purely on non-Tesla EV chargers, aka the third-party public charging network provided by companies like Electrify America, Chargepoint, EVgo, and the occasional oddball public charger owned by government entities such as CalTrans. First charging stop at Coso Junction was marred by one broken charger and then charging 40% slower than expected, leading to a full hours' stop instead of 30 or 35 minutes for a piddly 32.5 kWh of additional charge (from 16% to 63%, 137 miles predicted range, 112 miles minimum predicted). At least a pair of MH-47G Chinooks flew by while I waited, providing about 30 seconds' worth of distraction.
Just barely eeked it out to the next working charge in Bishop. Passed the broken charger at the Division Creek Rest Stop and instead went for the charger located at the CalTrans District 9 office right in Bishop. Instead of the pathetic 31~33kW charging rate earlier, managed 41kW this time. With Mammoth being only 44 miles away, could have had a slightly quicker stop (40 minutes?), but as I'd been on the road for 6 hours at this point and it was past 8pm, a proper dinner seemed prudent. Las Palmas is pretty indifferent for Mexican food, but their chile verde came out very quicky, and it let me squeeze in 52 minutes of charging (ending at 32kW) for another 36kWh delivered. From 18% to 68% battery meant 145 miles predicted range, 118 miles mininum predicted, and then with Mammoth Lakes being so close, it was time for perhaps the only segment of driving the whole trip where I didn't have to worry about range.
High-speed run up the last bits of US-395 meant arriving in Mammoth with only 57 miles (!) of range left/46 miles minimum predicted despite going only 44 miles. Total energy consumed for the 307 miles covered was 108.1 kWh for 2.9 miles/kWh, not too shabby considering the last 44 miles. Preliminary verdict: the slow charging of the Bolt and Bolt EUV totally sucks, but the dearth of available chargers sucks just as bad.
With what is usually a 5 or 6 hour drive ended up taking just over 8 hours. At least the record snowfall this season-- 700 plus inches-- meant snow still piled more than ten feet high in the town, even in mid-April. o_0 Throw in some of the usual American ridiculousness (how big is a Dodge Ram vs. a Honda HR-V?), a sad salad picked up at Vons for some late-night veggies, and the forgetten fact that the smaller studio and 1 bedroom units at the Westin Monache in Mammoth lack full-sized kitchens, and it was time to call it on a long day.