First road trip - very impressed

[LoneStarLucid]

This weekend we took a road trip from our home in Plano, just north of Dallas, to the south side of Houston.
This is a distance of 269 miles, and naturally it's 269 miles back so a round trip total of 538 miles.
We also traveled out on the freeway to Katy in the west (and back to Houston) and overall covered 614 miles this weekend.

I stuck religiously to 70mph, even when the limit was 65 or when it was 75, just because I wanted to see what it would do at 70mph given the Out of Spec YouTube channel got 510 miles out of an Air GT on 19's @70mph which is so close to the 512 promised as to make no difference. Next time I'll be traveling at my usual faster rate but this was an experiment.
We left home on 100% early on Sunday morning with the temperature at 7degC (45degF), but on the way home on Monday it was much warmer, around 24degC (75degF).

In total we only charged once on the way home adding 50% in 20 minutes which was too much as we got home on 22% so 40% in 15 minutes would have been plenty...

Overall the Trip computer shows 614 miles @ 3.98 mi/kWh with 154 kWh used.
Given it is a usable 118kWh pack in the car as shown on the Out of Spec YouTube channel that efficiency multiplies out to 470 miles of range.
Bear in mind that does include a few miles of driving around local roads in Houston but hardly any as everyone knows you get everywhere on the Freeway in that town so it;s gonna be close...
So as a separate measure, we did 269 miles coming home (of which 265 would have been pure highway) and used 58% of the battery, which multiplies out to 464 miles.
Allowing for rounding errors and maybe a little below 0%, again 460-470 seems do-able before it grinds to a halt.

The car is a 2025 Grand Touring with aluminum roof and 20" wheels and they promise 480 miles for that config so given there was some cross wind and the route isn't perfectly flat I don't think they're lying...

 

[DrZorro]

Out of curiosity, where did you stop to charge on that trip? I live in Dallas too and visit Houston frequently.

 

[tonybot]

Out of curiosity, where did you stop to charge on that trip? I live in Dallas too and visit Houston frequently.

I am based out of Dallas too and often drive to Houston for work. That route is well covered by EA with 4 charging locations between Dallas and Spring, TX. My most preferred one is by the Sam’s restaurant in Fairfield. There are 6 x 350kw chargers there and usually no rush.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Great post.

 

[LoneStarLucid]

Out of curiosity, where did you stop to charge on that trip? I live in Dallas too and visit Houston frequently.

As someone points out there are plenty of EA spots in Walmarts along the way, if you make it closer to Ennis the Bucee’s there has Mercedes Benz chargers we can use.
I actually charged as we were leaving Houston, not because I needed to, but because we wanted to get coffee to take with us in the drive back and a new charging network called Ionna has a site next door to a Starbucks and I wanted to check them out.
Let this be a warning to Air owners thinking of using that Ionna site, there are two entrances, one either side of the facility. On one side the entry ramp is so steep you cannot enter without scraping the car, even going slowly diagonally. And you absolutely cannot get out of the site without scraping so bad you think you’re ripping parts off the car. It’s very very bad, I don’t understand how that can be to code…

 

[illopp00]

Awesome to hear, and on the 20". Very similar to State of Charge's test, as OOS has the benefit of roughly 20% less drag/density being at higher altitude. But the 2025's really are hitting much closer to EPA with majority highway.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

This weekend we took a road trip from our home in Plano, just north of Dallas, to the south side of Houston.
This is a distance of 269 miles, and naturally it's 269 miles back so a round trip total of 538 miles.
We also traveled out on the freeway to Katy in the west (and back to Houston) and overall covered 614 miles this weekend.

I stuck religiously to 70mph, even when the limit was 65 or when it was 75, just because I wanted to see what it would do at 70mph given the Out of Spec YouTube channel got 510 miles out of an Air GT on 19's @70mph which is so close to the 512 promised as to make no difference. Next time I'll be traveling at my usual faster rate but this was an experiment.
We left home on 100% early on Sunday morning with the temperature at 7degC (45degF), but on the way home on Monday it was much warmer, around 24degC (75degF).

In total we only charged once on the way home adding 50% in 20 minutes which was too much as we got home on 22% so 40% in 15 minutes would have been plenty...

Overall the Trip computer shows 614 miles @ 3.98 mi/kWh with 154 kWh used.
Given it is a usable 118kWh pack in the car as shown on the Out of Spec YouTube channel that efficiency multiplies out to 470 miles of range.
Bear in mind that does include a few miles of driving around local roads in Houston but hardly any as everyone knows you get everywhere on the Freeway in that town so it;s gonna be close...
So as a separate measure, we did 269 miles coming home (of which 265 would have been pure highway) and used 58% of the battery, which multiplies out to 464 miles.
Allowing for rounding errors and maybe a little below 0%, again 460-470 seems do-able before it grinds to a halt.

The car is a 2025 Grand Touring with aluminum roof and 20" wheels and they promise 480 miles for that config so given there was some cross wind and the route isn't perfectly flat I don't think they're lying...

Nice! Curious to know... Did you have aero covers on?

 

[LoneStarLucid]

Nice! Curious to know... Did you have aero covers on?

Yes, with covers.

 

[DrZorro]

As someone points out there are plenty of EA spots in Walmarts along the way, if you make it closer to Ennis the Bucee’s there has Mercedes Benz chargers we can use.
I actually charged as we were leaving Houston, not because I needed to, but because we wanted to get coffee to take with us in the drive back and a new charging network called Ionna has a site next door to a Starbucks and I wanted to check them out.
Let this be a warning to Air owners thinking of using that Ionna site, there are two entrances, one either side of the facility. On one side the entry ramp is so steep you cannot enter without scraping the car, even going slowly diagonally. And you absolutely cannot get out of the site without scraping so bad you think you’re ripping parts off the car. It’s very very bad, I don’t understand how that can be to code…

Thanks! Now I have another reason to stop at Bucee's!.... "I need to charge"...and also get a BBQ sandwich, fudge, beaver nuggets, and a 500oz soft drink.

 

[doubletwist]

Thanks! Now I have another reason to stop at Bucee's!.... "I need to charge"...and also get a BBQ sandwich, fudge, beaver nuggets, and a 500oz soft drink.

I don't think that drink is going to fit in your cup holder.

 

[DrZorro]

I don't think that drink is going to fit in your cup holder.

That sounds like a challenge for the Gravity's enormous center console. I'm happy to take on that challenge when it arrives!