Philly to Louisville EV trip report

[brucek]

I am writing a small report about my recent trip. I had a friend with me to share driving. The bourbon portion of this report is covered in the ABRP expertise thread. We did come home with about 30 extra bottles of weight.

TLDR: Total distance = 1487 mi. / total KWh charged = 712 / Total time spent charging = 335 Min / total cost of charging saved = $397

We left on a Tue at about 4:30 and spent the night near the first OH charge station. We got to Louisville and had a friend who flew in to meet us at the EA charger. Then, I drove 48 miles to Buffalo Trace, back to the same charger, and then to the Airbnb in town. The car did not move while we were in Louisville.
On Friday, with snow predicted to start around 10-11 AM, we decided to scuttle the day's plans, get on the road, and stay ahead of the weather. I was reluctant to go all the way to the Cincinnati charger, where ABRP showed we would be below 5%, so we went to the close Louisville charger again but with only about 15 min to precondition, you can see the charge rate sucked. We left at about 7:40 AM and got home just at midnight. We made seven charge stops and two stops that were not charging for a total of about an hour, I would guess, so let's call it 15 hr driving for an average travel speed of 47 MPH.

Some of my friends who asked about it were in disbelief that I had to stop for seven charges, and they teased me about if I was still happy buying an EV. The stopping and taking breaks did not feel so bad for me, and I was pleased to break up the driving. I think it was a worst-case scenario with freezing temperatures. The trip limited me to stopping at each EA charger, and you can see they were all about 90-110 miles apart. I suspect that I could have leapfrogged with better weather and had fewer change stops. If I did not want to use the free EA charging, I probably could have been more efficient in selecting chargers and optimized distance better.

The hard part on the way out was finding the EA destination since the nav system would not show the ones over 30 or 40 miles away. After a suggestion on the forum, I used the store where the charger was located as a destination and then searched for chargers near the destination to find the appropriate charger. That made life better. Life improved on the return trip when all the chargers were in the recent destinations.
ABRP attempted to route me to a charger that was not yet open, but I realized it when I could not find it in the car nav system. Since the car, for some reason, is smart enough to know if I have a different navigation system on and will turn off the internal navigation, I was careful messing with Wayz or ABRP. I did not want to risk preconditioning not happening in this weather, but I did see some evidence of it continuing to precondition with ABRP. Further experimentation is needed since it could take time to turn it off, but this trip in cold weather did not inspire me to try anything that may cause a problem.

Overall, I will do more road trips with the GV60 as it is comfortable and easy to drive. I think Supercharger access will make things easier and allow me to try to go further. I will buy one if Genesis does not send the adapter before my next trip.

Many people want to hate EA, but my experience was good overall. I only had 1 station where I had to wait, and it was the final charge closest to home. A PA turnpike station with 2 of 4 operational, and the station is limited to 85%, so they know there is an issue, and I only waited about 10 min for a BMW to pull out. The Columbus charger in a Walmart lot was set up with pull-through islands, each having two chargers. Two vehicles parked to block access to the second charger on their island, but there was an out-of-service unit, and I could pull there and use the charger from the other side. The next car that pulled in had to wait since the blocking driver was not in the vehicle. So, I advise avoiding pulling in too far in a pull-through location.

The table below shows all the relevant data that I could think of.


- Fly Eagles Fly -

 

[EdP]

I am writing a small report about my recent trip. I had a friend with me to share driving. The bourbon portion of this report is covered in the ABRP expertise thread. We did come home with about 30 extra bottles of weight.

TLDR: Total distance = 1487 mi. / total KWh charged = 712 / Total time spent charging = 335 Min / total cost of charging saved = $397

We left on a Tue at about 4:30 and spent the night near the first OH charge station. We got to Louisville and had a friend who flew in to meet us at the EA charger. Then, I drove 48 miles to Buffalo Trace, back to the same charger, and then to the Airbnb in town. The car did not move while we were in Louisville.
On Friday, with snow predicted to start around 10-11 AM, we decided to scuttle the day's plans, get on the road, and stay ahead of the weather. I was reluctant to go all the way to the Cincinnati charger, where ABRP showed we would be below 5%, so we went to the close Louisville charger again but with only about 15 min to precondition, you can see the charge rate sucked. We left at about 7:40 AM and got home just at midnight. We made seven charge stops and two stops that were not charging for a total of about an hour, I would guess, so let's call it 15 hr driving for an average travel speed of 47 MPH.

Some of my friends who asked about it were in disbelief that I had to stop for seven charges, and they teased me about if I was still happy buying an EV. The stopping and taking breaks did not feel so bad for me, and I was pleased to break up the driving. I think it was a worst-case scenario with freezing temperatures. The trip limited me to stopping at each EA charger, and you can see they were all about 90-110 miles apart. I suspect that I could have leapfrogged with better weather and had fewer change stops. If I did not want to use the free EA charging, I probably could have been more efficient in selecting chargers and optimized distance better.

The hard part on the way out was finding the EA destination since the nav system would not show the ones over 30 or 40 miles away. After a suggestion on the forum, I used the store where the charger was located as a destination and then searched for chargers near the destination to find the appropriate charger. That made life better. Life improved on the return trip when all the chargers were in the recent destinations.
ABRP attempted to route me to a charger that was not yet open, but I realized it when I could not find it in the car nav system. Since the car, for some reason, is smart enough to know if I have a different navigation system on and will turn off the internal navigation, I was careful messing with Wayz or ABRP. I did not want to risk preconditioning not happening in this weather, but I did see some evidence of it continuing to precondition with ABRP. Further experimentation is needed since it could take time to turn it off, but this trip in cold weather did not inspire me to try anything that may cause a problem.

Overall, I will do more road trips with the GV60 as it is comfortable and easy to drive. I think Supercharger access will make things easier and allow me to try to go further. I will buy one if Genesis does not send the adapter before my next trip.

Many people want to hate EA, but my experience was good overall. I only had 1 station where I had to wait, and it was the final charge closest to home. A PA turnpike station with 2 of 4 operational, and the station is limited to 85%, so they know there is an issue, and I only waited about 10 min for a BMW to pull out. The Columbus charger in a Walmart lot was set up with pull-through islands, each having two chargers. Two vehicles parked to block access to the second charger on their island, but there was an out-of-service unit, and I could pull there and use the charger from the other side. The next car that pulled in had to wait since the blocking driver was not in the vehicle. So, I advise avoiding pulling in too far in a pull-through location.

The table below shows all the relevant data that I could think of.
View attachment 61333

- Fly Eagles Fly -

I know it is cheaper to charge at home, but I was still surprised at the total cost. My home rate would be about $85 for that. Driving my ICE would be about $150. The total time charging is not bad though.

 

[gvjim]

If I'm doing the calculations correctly, you got about 2.1 mi/kwh. It doesn't sound like you were driving super fast. I usually get about 3.2-3.6 mi/kwh, but that's in California in much milder weather. Under California conditions you might have needed only 4 charging stops on the way home, and the (saved) cost would have been under $300.

Thanks for the excellent trip report, it sounds like you had an awesome trip.

 

[Zcd1]

I am writing a small report about my recent trip. I had a friend with me to share driving. The bourbon portion of this report is covered in the ABRP expertise thread. We did come home with about 30 extra bottles of weight.

TLDR: Total distance = 1487 mi. / total KWh charged = 712 / Total time spent charging = 335 Min / total cost of charging saved = $397

We left on a Tue at about 4:30 and spent the night near the first OH charge station. We got to Louisville and had a friend who flew in to meet us at the EA charger. Then, I drove 48 miles to Buffalo Trace, back to the same charger, and then to the Airbnb in town. The car did not move while we were in Louisville.
On Friday, with snow predicted to start around 10-11 AM, we decided to scuttle the day's plans, get on the road, and stay ahead of the weather. I was reluctant to go all the way to the Cincinnati charger, where ABRP showed we would be below 5%, so we went to the close Louisville charger again but with only about 15 min to precondition, you can see the charge rate sucked. We left at about 7:40 AM and got home just at midnight. We made seven charge stops and two stops that were not charging for a total of about an hour, I would guess, so let's call it 15 hr driving for an average travel speed of 47 MPH.

Some of my friends who asked about it were in disbelief that I had to stop for seven charges, and they teased me about if I was still happy buying an EV. The stopping and taking breaks did not feel so bad for me, and I was pleased to break up the driving. I think it was a worst-case scenario with freezing temperatures. The trip limited me to stopping at each EA charger, and you can see they were all about 90-110 miles apart. I suspect that I could have leapfrogged with better weather and had fewer change stops. If I did not want to use the free EA charging, I probably could have been more efficient in selecting chargers and optimized distance better.

The hard part on the way out was finding the EA destination since the nav system would not show the ones over 30 or 40 miles away. After a suggestion on the forum, I used the store where the charger was located as a destination and then searched for chargers near the destination to find the appropriate charger. That made life better. Life improved on the return trip when all the chargers were in the recent destinations.
ABRP attempted to route me to a charger that was not yet open, but I realized it when I could not find it in the car nav system. Since the car, for some reason, is smart enough to know if I have a different navigation system on and will turn off the internal navigation, I was careful messing with Wayz or ABRP. I did not want to risk preconditioning not happening in this weather, but I did see some evidence of it continuing to precondition with ABRP. Further experimentation is needed since it could take time to turn it off, but this trip in cold weather did not inspire me to try anything that may cause a problem.

Overall, I will do more road trips with the GV60 as it is comfortable and easy to drive. I think Supercharger access will make things easier and allow me to try to go further. I will buy one if Genesis does not send the adapter before my next trip.

Many people want to hate EA, but my experience was good overall. I only had 1 station where I had to wait, and it was the final charge closest to home. A PA turnpike station with 2 of 4 operational, and the station is limited to 85%, so they know there is an issue, and I only waited about 10 min for a BMW to pull out. The Columbus charger in a Walmart lot was set up with pull-through islands, each having two chargers. Two vehicles parked to block access to the second charger on their island, but there was an out-of-service unit, and I could pull there and use the charger from the other side. The next car that pulled in had to wait since the blocking driver was not in the vehicle. So, I advise avoiding pulling in too far in a pull-through location.

The table below shows all the relevant data that I could think of.
View attachment 61333

- Fly Eagles Fly -

Yep, short hops, but once you’ve experienced that type of road tripping IMHO it can be far less tiring and stressful than running a gas tank from full to empty. It just takes a bit of extra time.

The average charge speeds are excellent and point out what a charging champ this platform is.

If the next hooch run happens between May and November when we’re in Michigan, I might well join you!

Thanks for the report and thoughts…

 

[gknyce]

Yep, short hops, but once you’ve experienced that type of road tripping IMHO it can be far less tiring and stressful than running a gas tank from full to empty. It just takes a bit of extra time.

Thanks for this great report! I have not undertaken a longer road trip yet, but I have concerns (about me). My tendency to-date (on ICE) is to really put the miles on with very few breaks - for example, I've done PA -> VT -> PA in a day (13 hours/700+ miles). That sort of schedule won't be possible, I know. Will require some attitudinal changes.

 

[EdP]

Thanks for this great report! I have not undertaken a longer road trip yet, but I have concerns (about me). My tendency to-date (on ICE) is to really put the miles on with very few breaks - for example, I've done PA -> VT -> PA in a day (13 hours/700+ miles). That sort of schedule won't be possible, I know. Will require some attitudinal changes.

Depends on the goal. Twice a year I make a long trip. One is 2400 miles, the other 3400 miles. The first time it was a touristy kind of trip so many stops would be welcome. Now, I just want to get to the other end a fast as possible. The next generation of EV will do that well. Some will have even longer range than ICE.

Aside from those trips, most days it is 10 miles, an occasional 50 miles so it would be charging at home all the time.

 

[Looney100]

I know it is cheaper to charge at home, but I was still surprised at the total cost. My home rate would be about $85 for that. Driving my ICE would be about $150. The total time charging is not bad though.

Road tripping with an EV may not be great from a cost or time refilling perspective, but the benefits during the day-to-day easily make up for it.

 

[brucek]

Yep, short hops, but once you’ve experienced that type of road tripping IMHO it can be far less tiring and stressful than running a gas tank from full to empty. It just takes a bit of extra time.

The average charge speeds are excellent and point out what a charging champ this platform is.

If the next hooch run happens between May and November when we’re in Michigan, I might well join you!

Thanks for this great report! I have not undertaken a longer road trip yet, but I have concerns (about me). My tendency to-date (on ICE) is to really put the miles on with very few breaks - for example, I've done PA -> VT -> PA in a day (13 hours/700+ miles). That sort of schedule won't be possible, I know. Will require some attitudinal changes.

In my younger days, I could drive for a full tank distance, but stopping felt comfortable for me now, and the pace was not awful. Going 100 to 150 miles between stops seems like a nice pace, so I will not complain too much about the cold limitations.
Once I realized I was stopping at all of these stops, conserving energy by reducing heat in the car did not make much sense so we adjusted for comfort.

Road tripping with an EV may not be great from a cost or time refilling perspective, but the benefits during the day-to-day easily make up for it.

This hits the nail on the head. At home, my cost is about $0.18 KWh so the EV is cheaper to operate than any other option.

I still think the most important point I have learned about EVs in my ownership experience is that charge speed matters. This platform is faster than almost all others, and getting out of the DCFC station quickly is critical. I could never do a trip like this in a Bolt or Nero, and I'm not sure a MachE is something I would want. I feel so lucky to have made the right decision and not actually have included this critical criterion in my decision-making process. I am a charging speed evangelist now when someone tells me they are thinking about an EV. The person I drove with said he almost bought a MachE, and as we pulled out before a MachE that was at the charger when we arrived, he expressed joy about dodging that bullet and wondered how that does not come up when looking at buying an EV. Some people have no idea about preconditioning also, which tells me EV education has a long road ahead, even for those who jumped on board.

 

[EVsquatch]

@brucek Great trip report. I might be in the minority but at 6'5 265 and a former athlete with wear and tear on my joints (especially my knees) I am simply not comfortable driving longer than 2-2.5 hours without taking a stretch break. In terms of alertness and circulation, it is recommended you take a break every 2-3 hours and I am a firm believer in that. So I'm actually not surprised at all at the number of times you stopped. In my book, I don't mind stopping every few hours as long as I can keep the stop to 30 minutes or less (preferably 20 minutes) because that is what I would have done in an ICE anyway.

One of the main reasons I chose the GV60 over the dozen + EVs I was looking at was the fact that it can charge really, really fast under the right conditions despite only having an average size battery and average to good efficiency. To foot stomp a point others have made, and that I regularly make - carrying around a big battery to get you to 300+ miles of range (especially in inefficient EVs) is a waste for use cases where you are road tripping 10-20% of the time and daily driving 80-90% of the time. The GV60 has in my view a really good balance of battery size, efficiency (if you are willing to forgo speed), and industry leading charging speed.

Your trip report highlights the big compromise in terms of road tripping and that is cost. Right now many of us are getting free charging, but when that dries up, it will be more expensive to charge than it would have been to fill up at a gas station. That said, I think the infrequency of road trips with more expensive charging costs relative to you charging at home at relatively inexpensive charging costs still tilts significantly in your favor. Especially if you can utilize destination charging (which is usually at no cost) at your final destination.

Tesla charging access will certainly make charging more convenient and reliable because of the increased density and uptime of the Tesla network vs EA but the big compromise (until V4 chargers are more common) is speed. Until my EA charging dries up, and/or I'm in a situation where I desperately need to charge and EA isn't an option, I will favor faster and free charging from EA but it is really nice from a peace of mind perspective to have the Tesla network available.

 

[Zcd1]

... I feel so lucky to have made the right decision and not actually have included this critical criterion in my decision-making process. I am a charging speed evangelist now when someone tells me they are thinking about an EV.

Few buyers understand the importance of DCFC speed, period.

A good friend of mine bought an iD4 after I suggested he consider an Ioniq5 or EV6 instead. Their first EV road trip (in winter, natch) was such a disaster that they’ll never do it again. Their iD4 doesn’t include any type of preconditioning or battery heating at all, so they never saw more than 40kW (!!!!!!).

Can you imagine?!?

______________________________

Help support this site so it can continue supporting you!

 

[brucek]

Few buyers understand the importance of DCFC speed, period.

A good friend of mine bought an iD4 after I suggested he consider an Ioniq5 or EV6 instead. Their first EV road trip (in winter, natch) was such a disaster that they’ll never do it again. Their iD4 doesn’t include any type of preconditioning or battery heating at all, so they never saw more than 40kW (!!!!!!).

Can you imagine?!?

I could not imagine and then got curious about which cars can precondition. I did some Google research and learned there is battery preconditioning for charging, which we do when setting a DCFC as a destination. There is cabin preconditioning, which we do by turning on a comfort mode from in the app or schedule.
I see some mentions of conditioning the battery for travel when plugged into a charger, thus bringing the battery temp up for normal car operation. Does the GV60 have a way to do this, and does anyone do it?

 

[noremacnova]

...I see some mentions of conditioning the battery for travel when plugged into a charger, thus bringing the battery temp up for normal car operation. Does the GV60 have a way to do this, and does anyone do it?

I asked your question a slightly different way (link below), and basically no one on the forum had any ideas. All would be solved, of course, with a manual Preconditioning button!!

Ref: Battery Preconditioning Trickery?

 

[brucek]

I asked your question a slightly different way (link below), and basically no one on the forum had any ideas. All would be solved, of course, with a manual Preconditioning button!!

Ref: Battery Preconditioning Trickery?

I did participate in that thread and, frankly, only thought about preconditioning for charging. I thought your use case was solely for living close to a charger and if you were considering general travel, it did not occur to me.

The point of the material I saw to condition prior to travel while plugged into a charger. I just never thought about doing that and if it is more efficient. I am not sure if it would be good to do for a trip under 10 miles, or more than 25 miles, etc, assuming a vehicle had the option.

 

[dipseydo]

I didn’t realize you could hit 242 peak. I think the best I got was 236. Nice! I see Evsquatch is a tall guy like me. Tell all your tall friends this is the best ev for legroom (except ionic 5 slightly more room). Sounds like an awesome trip. So we can charge for free multiple times per day? I thought it was limited to 1 per day.

Good luck with the eagles Bruce. My ravens imploded .

 

[brucek]

I didn’t realize you could hit 242 peak. I think the best I got was 236. Nice! I see Evsquatch is a tall guy like me. Tell all your tall friends this is the best ev for legroom (except ionic 5 slightly more room). Sounds like an awesome trip. So we can charge for free multiple times per day? I thought it was limited to 1 per day.

Good luck with the eagles Bruce. My ravens imploded .

I did not realize 242 was my highest ever. I have seen 240 & 241 before. Here is my DCFC charging chart since the beginning of ownership on 10.1,24.

GV60 EA Charging

docs.google.com

My understanding of the EA 30-minute limit is you need at least 1 hour to elapse between sessions. I do not know how you do a road trip if it is once a day. I too am a big guy and 6'2", and a big reason I love the GV60 is the fact that it is comfortable.

I was hoping to see an Eagles beat the Ravens SB, but it is not to happen. Your Ravens also screwed me over in my pool after I hit on the Commanders. I am happy we will have the freeze moderating to make Sunday's game more comfortable.

 

[gvjim]

So we can charge for free multiple times per day? I thought it was limited to 1 per day.

Yes, definitely. I've done that on several trips.

My understanding of the EA 30-minute limit is you need at least 1 hour to elapse between sessions.

I've never seen mention of that. I thought you could unplug and then plug right in again. Though the car charges so fast you could never actually do that unless the charger was derated. I hope I never have to personally find out if there is a restriction on back to back charge sessions.

 

[brucek]

I've never seen mention of that. I thought you could unplug and then plug right in again. Though the car charges so fast you could never actually do that unless the charger was derated. I hope I never have to personally find out if there is a restriction on back to back charge sessions.

I have seen this mentioned where people talk about revoking of their charging privileges for abuse by EA. I am not sure I have seen an official document, but this is frequently mentioned when people talk about their free charging being revoked. Usually, in conjunction with much slower charging cars since, as you know, the GV60 is mostly done in 30 min.

 

[noremacnova]

My understanding of the EA 30-minute limit is you need at least 1 hour to elapse between sessions.

Correct! Read all the details at the link below. The pertinent citation is: "There is a 60-minute waiting period between eligible charging sessions, and the promotion benefits will not apply to a charging session initiated within this period."

2025 Genesis Charging Plan Disclosure | Electrify America

www.electrifyamerica.com

 

[Alfer]

Seems like a lot of work and stress (and time) for what should be a simple road trip.

 

[EVsquatch]

I didn’t realize you could hit 242 peak. I think the best I got was 236. Nice! I see Evsquatch is a tall guy like me. Tell all your tall friends this is the best ev for legroom (except ionic 5 slightly more room). Sounds like an awesome trip. So we can charge for free multiple times per day? I thought it was limited to 1 per day.

Good luck with the eagles Bruce. My ravens imploded .

One of the reasons that I bought the GV60 over other EVs was specifically because of the legroom. I have spent time at the traveling auto shows just sitting in cars since it is easy to check out so many of them all at once. Unfortunately not as many EVs but that has gotten better the last few years.

I spent a month in the Ioniq 5 as a "subscription vehicle." If you didn't know, Hyundai had (has?) a subscription program for the Ioniq called Evolve which lets you subscribe to the vehicle one month at a time (it also includes an insurance policy). I really enjoyed the Ioniq 5, especially the legroom. The GV60 has a little less but I still find it comfortable.

Fly Eagles Fly!