Just about to road-trip from Phoenix to Colorado Springs, any advice?

[Vette2Lucid]

I'm planning a solo trip, leaving home Tuesday morning and driving all the way to Pueblo (750mi) in one day, driving the last few miles into Colorado Springs the next morning to spend the day with family, return to Pueblo at night, and return all the way home the next day. Plan is to drive up through Payson up to Holbrook, then take I-40 to Albuquerque and then north from there through Santa Fe. This will be my first EV road trip where I'll have to charge along the way, and even though ABRP has only scheduled three stops for me, I'm probably going to aim for more, shorter stops, because I'm paranoid. Hopefully EA the whole way. Any advice from anyone familiar with the route, and the charging stops along the way? (Being originally from Chicago, I know to be prepared for the weather, no matter what type of vehicle.)
Really looking forward to telling you about it when it's done

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

I was going to suggest the route north from Albuquerque to Taos but they are forcasting 8-12 in the Sangre del Christo mtns. Stay on boring I25.

 

[lsbuffs]

I too live in Phoenix and my son lives in Colorado Springs. I've done a grand total of one road trip there. Since it was my first time, I was super-conservative with my stops. From Phoenix to Payson is uphill, so I made a short stop there. Good opportunity to grab some snacks at the Bashas'. Next stop, Gallup. (shop at Walmart). Then Albuquerque off I40. Depending on your SOC, you could make it to Trinidad. I chose to stop quickly at Wagon Mound. (Lots of uphill from ABQ to Las Vegas) If you charge fully there, you could probably make it to Colorado Springs, but if not, you've got options for a top-up in Trinidad or Pueblo.

Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable with only three ABRP-suggested stops (where did they suggest?). There can be lots of wind on the drive and it's hilly outbound. (On inbound Payson down to Phoenix I got over 5 mi/kWh)

 

[Daniel2022AT]

ABRP allows for customing several parameters such as m/KWh, min and max SOC %. You can thus force it to be more conservative. I have found it to be a great tool.

 

[Adnillien]

Payson is great stop and I have always had a good experience there. I here @joec has used Trinidad and found the chargers there to be great. Las Vegas is a interesting little town on the way that is a good stopping point.

 

[Gangreene]

I have driven that route several times and I recommend Showlow as a charging destination. The chargers are at city hall and they have a couple of DCFC, took me 20 minutes to charge from 20% to 80%. The Salt river canyon is a lot of fun at @25mph over the posted speed limits! Be safe

 

[kort6776]

I'm planning a solo trip, leaving home Tuesday morning and driving all the way to Pueblo (750mi) in one day, driving the last few miles into Colorado Springs the next morning to spend the day with family, return to Pueblo at night, and return all the way home the next day. Plan is to drive up through Payson up to Holbrook, then take I-40 to Albuquerque and then north from there through Santa Fe. This will be my first EV road trip where I'll have to charge along the way, and even though ABRP has only scheduled three stops for me, I'm probably going to aim for more, shorter stops, because I'm paranoid. Hopefully EA the whole way. Any advice from anyone familiar with the route, and the charging stops along the way? (Being originally from Chicago, I know to be prepared for the weather, no matter what type of vehicle.)
Really looking forward to telling you about it when it's done

plan, and then plan again.
choose your stops, factoring in the massive elevation changes that you'll be encountering.
once you have your stops planned, go back and note alternate chargers close by in case the place you chose in inoperable.
as for charging, I like to take the battery as low as possible, 10% or so, to facilitate faster charging, avoid trying to charge to 100%, stop at around 80%.
my method is to charge enough to make it to the next charger plus 10 to 20%. more stops are actually better for you and charging.
watch your speeds on the longer hops and lastly check the tire pressures and adjust as needed.

 

[joec]

Payson is great stop and I have always had a good experience there. I here @joec has used Trinidad and found the chargers there to be great. Las Vegas is an interesting little town on the way that is a good stopping point.

Yes. The Trinidad chargers haven’t let me down. Good spot.

 

[koflo]

I'm planning a solo trip, leaving home Tuesday morning and driving all the way to Pueblo (750mi) in one day, driving the last few miles into Colorado Springs the next morning to spend the day with family, return to Pueblo at night, and return all the way home the next day. Plan is to drive up through Payson up to Holbrook, then take I-40 to Albuquerque and then north from there through Santa Fe. This will be my first EV road trip where I'll have to charge along the way, and even though ABRP has only scheduled three stops for me, I'm probably going to aim for more, shorter stops, because I'm paranoid. Hopefully EA the whole way. Any advice from anyone familiar with the route, and the charging stops along the way? (Being originally from Chicago, I know to be prepared for the weather, no matter what type of vehicle.)
Really looking forward to telling you about it when it's done

Oh man I moved from Denver area to Phoenix but my whole family lives in Pueblo so I went from Denver to Pueblo then Pueblo to phx in a day. That’s a long day of driving! I don’t think I could do that quick of a turnaround (if I had to drive it back after a day). Kudos to you and yes Trinidad chargers are all great.

 

[DeaneG]

Also be sure to check the charging provider's phone app (EA, EVGo, Chargepoint) for charger status just before setting out for that next charging location. You don't want to arrive there and be surprised.

 

[Vette2Lucid]

Wow, crew-- glad I asked! Thank you for the helpful advice. I'm planning to map out all the chargers along the way before I go, just so I know that if a site is down, I've already prepared for that. I doubt I'll let my SoC drop much below 20%, for that same reason. But from what you're saying, maybe I don't need to be that conservative. I'll also check the distance and time impact of doing the route through Show Low; I've done that once before and yes, I remember what a blast it was driving through Salt River Canyon. But when driving that far in one day, time is of the essence. In my old Vette I've driven Chicago - Denver - Phoenix in two days so I expect I'll be up to the challenge. And for additional entertainment, I'll have a big library of Paul Harvey's "The Rest Of The Story" to enjoy

 

[Vette2Lucid]

After much study of the route, as much as I'd love to go through Salt River Canyon, I'd have to backtrack slightly along I-40 to Grants, or else risk a 240-mile segment with no charger from Show Low to Albuquerque, which ABRP does not recommend. Under the right conditions I wouldn't worry, but I don't know what conditions will be, and the Payson route is significantly quicker. So I'll go through Payson. Even then, after Payson, the next charger is 191 miles away, in Gallup. From there, ABRP recommends charging again at Santa Fe (192 miles later) and Trinidad (196 miles later). But there are opportunities to charge in Grants, Albuquerque, Wagon Mound, Pueblo, and on the way into Colorado Springs. If I'm feeling up for it, I might just stop at all of them, just to be able to tell about the EA charging experiences and have the opportunity to meet other drivers.

 

[Alex]

After much study of the route, as much as I'd love to go through Salt River Canyon

I just wanted to point out that they finally opened the access to go down the stairs to the Salt River lower observation area. I was there last week. This is the area with the rest stop.