Casteyanqui.com | Electric Vehicles | 2nd California Roadtrip in our Ioniq 5

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2nd California Roadtrip
in our Ioniq 5

Mark D Larsen

February 4-11, 2025

Despite what I say in the video below, this was actually our 13th EV journey to the Sacramento area to visit Tamara’s family. We have driven these routes so many times now that I am starting to lose count! In reality, we had intended to take this trip over the holidays, but had to postpone it until now. The purpose for this trip was threefold. First, to finally exchange Christmas gifts. Second, to see Tamara’s 95-year-old father who recently fell and fractured a disc in his back and had to enter a Care Facility. Third, to see our niece’s newborn baby.
It was, in some ways, a good trip, but also worrisome and tiring. We drove the entire way back in one day, a very long return journey, all the while feeling increasingly ill. The next day at home we took tests for COVID, and… yep! We had contracted the damn disease while in California, probably when visiting the Care Facility. The good news is that we are now recovering, and my test yesterday was completely negative, but our bout with that horrible illness is why it has taken me until now to put this post together.
Here are the EV stats for this trip:

Miles driven: 1,606
kWh used: 513.21
Mi/kWh: 3.129
DC Fast Charges: 14
Average minutes per charge: 16
Average cost per charge: $0
Total cost: $0

I still have another year to go with my free 30-minute charges from Electrify America, so we indeed paid zero, zip, zilch, nada for fuel. As with our previous trip to the Sacramento area, I was impressed with how easy and fast it was to charge Rocinante at those EA stations. 16 minutes per charge is much faster than we ever experienced with our previous Model 3. The only time we had to wait was in Mojave during rush hour, as the four chargers were all occupied when we arrived. After only 5 minutes, one of the EVs left and we could plug in without any problem.
The most frustrating moment of the trip was when we had set the navigation to take us to a charging site in Stockton. After meandering through numerous downtown streets according to the directions, we arrived at the destination… with NO chargers anywhere in sight. Damn! Well… we decided to just skip that charge and continued driving to our next planned stop in Loomis, where there was a long line of brand new chargers, few of them occupied, as shown in the photo at the top of the page. Obviously, we skipped Stockton on the return trip and drove instead to Patterson, where we ended up as the only EV plugged in.
Enough of this summary narrative. Below is my usual extremely long-winded album of this roadtrip.

NOTE: You can click on the following photos to enlarge them, and the movies to play them.

I charged the battery to 100% that morning, knowing that we had a long ways to go to reach Primm instead of stopping in Las Vegas.

Here is the display when we got in the car. You can see that we left with 11,643 miles on the odometer.

My usual introductory video.

Here we are passing Mesquite.

And here we are approaching Glendale.

As we were approaching Las Vegas.

Charging in Primm.

We had arrived after driving 162.2 miles, with 29% still in the battery.

The initial charge was an impressive 215 kW.

Even more impressive was that Rocinante was still pulling 160 kW with 1% to go for an 80% charge.

The silly "guess-o-meter" now displayed 243 miles of range.

Here we approaching our next charging stop in Baker. We didn't really need to charge yet, but I knew that the chargers in Baker would be less crowded than in Barstow.

Sure enough, there were open stalls in Baker, even though it is one of EA's most popular sites.

We'd only driven 50.8 miles to get there.

This time, with 1% to go, Rocinante was still pulling 130 kW.

The "guess-o-meter" now estimated 222 miles-of-range.

We drove past the usual desert landscapes.

Here you can see how the I-15 freeway ahead climbs over a summit on the way to Barstow.

We had driven into some extremely strong headwinds on the highway to Mojave.

As you can see, after driving 131.1 miles from Baker, we had arrived with only 8% battery left because of those headwinds. Whew!

We were still pulling a whopping 157 kW with 1% to go for an 80% charge.

We now had a much lowered 173-mile "guesstimate" for range, due to the strong headwinds to arrive there.

After leaving Mojave, we drove past the numerous wind generators around Tehachapi. Do you think all the residents there have now developed cancer from their noise, as the convicted felon president claims?

We arrived at our motel in Bakersfield, halfway to Tamara's parents' home in Lincoln.

Moxie was glad to get out of the car, stretch her legs, and settle into our motel room for the night.

The next morning we drove to the EA chargers just a couple of blocks from our motel. We had driven 68.5 miles since Mojave, at 3.8 miles-per-kWh.

However, the "guess-o-meter" only projected 170 miles of range because of the fierce headwinds the day before.

I took this video as we drove north on the I-5 freeway.

We had navigated to the chargers at the Harris Ranch resort, which were empty when we arrived.

We had driven 92.9 miles, and still had 38% in the battery.

An 80% charge now "guessed" 171 miles of range.

We continued on I-5, taking in the scenery of the hills and farmland.

After 68.9 miles, we stopped in Los Baños to charge, and were once again the only EV plugged in. I doubt we'll stop there again, as the chargers were several miles off the freeway.

We still had more than 52% in the battery when we plugged in.

Because of the navigation fiasco in Stockton that I described at the top of the page, we didn't stop to charge again until reaching the large array of EA chargers in Loomis to the north of Sacramento.

We had arrived with only 21% left, and 50 miles of range on the "guess-o-meter."

I swear we had hit every bug in the Central Valley that day.

Moxie had perked up, sensing that we didn't have far to go to arrive in Lincoln.

With 1% to go for an 80% charge, Rocinante was still pulling 107 kW.

After reaching 80%, we now had a "guesstimate" of 180 miles of range.

Moxie was delighted to be back in familiar territory in Lincoln,

We took her to visit Tamara's dad in the Care Center, as her loving personality has always lifted his spirits.

We later visited our niece, Haley, and met her baby Elle for the first time.

Elle is a beautiful, delightful newborn, just learning to smile and coo and interact with people.

This video shows Elle in action.

We got to visit with Tamara's sister, Lisa, and saw Moxie's Cairn Terrier friend and "cousin," Tilly.

Tilly is more energetic than Moxie, but they managed to get along just fine.

After traveling around the Sacramento area that week, I returned to the Loomis chargers the night before we left.

We had 26% left in the battery, after driving 144.1 miles at 3.5 miles-per-kWh.

This predicted a range of 215 to start the journey home.

That evening we celebrated Tamara's birthday.

The next day dawned clear enough to see the Sierra Nevada peaks on the eastern horizon.

I had set the navigation to take us to the chargers in Patterson, and the temperatures were cold enough to initiate pre-conditioning of the battery for optimal charging.

After driving 118.9 miles at 3.1 miles-per-kWh, we arrived with 32% in the battery.

We were the only ones charging, but then a Ford e-Transit delivery van pulled in next to us. The driver had never charged before and I helped him initiate a session.

An 80% charge gave us a "guessed" range of 222 miles.

We then drove back to Harris Ranch, and plugged in next to a Mercedes Benz EQB.

Our next stop was back in Bakersfield, next to Rocinante's "sister," a red Kia EV6."

We kept going, climbing back up the canyon to reach Mojave.

Those wind generators in Tehachapi were still cranking out the juice.

This time, nobody was plugged in at Mojave.

After climbing the steep highway, an 80% charge "guessed" 190 miles of range.

Driving from Mojave to Barstow, we were treated with some sunset colors.

They grew more intense toward the South.

Since we had driven in the opposite direction this time, tailwinds now boosted our efficiency to 3.7 miles-per-kWh.

We left Barstow with 200 miles on the "guess-o-meter."

We arrived back in Primm with 31% in the battery after driving 112.4 miles.

Not wanting to have to charge again until reaching home, I set Rocinante’s charge limit to 90%.

Of course, charging beyond 80% slows down the rate, so with 1% to go, we were only pulling 30 kW.

The "guess-o-meter" now predicted 242 miles of range. Since we had driven 162.2 miles to reach Primm on the outbound trip, I figured that we would probably make it home okay.

We did! But with 16% left in the battery. Whew!

Rocinante's odometer now read 13,249 miles driven, at 3.4 miles-per-kWh.

This roadtrip was admittedly more worry than fun because of the circumstances with Tamara’s aging parents, but Rocinante actually performed flawlessly. It is a comfortable, responsive, dependable, quiet, fun car, more than capable of taking long distance trips. I will admit that perhaps we stop to charge more often that many drivers, but to be frank we need to empty our “tanks” sooner than younger folks. Indeed, we usually find that, by the time we visit the restrooms, Rocinante has already recharged to 80%, ready to keep going.
That said, given those very circumstances, it might very well be that we will need to take this journey a 14th time in the near future.

Miles driven:	1,606
kWh used:	513.21
Mi/kWh:	3.129
DC Fast Charges:	14
Average minutes per charge:	16
Average cost per charge:	$0
Total cost:	$0

I charged the battery to 100% that morning, knowing that we had a long ways to go to reach Primm instead of stopping in Las Vegas.	Here is the display when we got in the car. You can see that we left with 11,643 miles on the odometer.
My usual introductory video.
Here we are passing Mesquite.	And here we are approaching Glendale.
As we were approaching Las Vegas.
Charging in Primm.	We had arrived after driving 162.2 miles, with 29% still in the battery.
The initial charge was an impressive 215 kW.	Even more impressive was that Rocinante was still pulling 160 kW with 1% to go for an 80% charge.
The silly "guess-o-meter" now displayed 243 miles of range.	Here we approaching our next charging stop in Baker. We didn't really need to charge yet, but I knew that the chargers in Baker would be less crowded than in Barstow.
Sure enough, there were open stalls in Baker, even though it is one of EA's most popular sites.	We'd only driven 50.8 miles to get there.
This time, with 1% to go, Rocinante was still pulling 130 kW.	The "guess-o-meter" now estimated 222 miles-of-range.
We drove past the usual desert landscapes.	Here you can see how the I-15 freeway ahead climbs over a summit on the way to Barstow.
We had driven into some extremely strong headwinds on the highway to Mojave.	As you can see, after driving 131.1 miles from Baker, we had arrived with only 8% battery left because of those headwinds. Whew!
We were still pulling a whopping 157 kW with 1% to go for an 80% charge.	We now had a much lowered 173-mile "guesstimate" for range, due to the strong headwinds to arrive there.
After leaving Mojave, we drove past the numerous wind generators around Tehachapi. Do you think all the residents there have now developed cancer from their noise, as the convicted felon president claims?
We arrived at our motel in Bakersfield, halfway to Tamara's parents' home in Lincoln.	Moxie was glad to get out of the car, stretch her legs, and settle into our motel room for the night.
The next morning we drove to the EA chargers just a couple of blocks from our motel. We had driven 68.5 miles since Mojave, at 3.8 miles-per-kWh.	However, the "guess-o-meter" only projected 170 miles of range because of the fierce headwinds the day before.
I took this video as we drove north on the I-5 freeway.
We had navigated to the chargers at the Harris Ranch resort, which were empty when we arrived.	We had driven 92.9 miles, and still had 38% in the battery.
An 80% charge now "guessed" 171 miles of range.	We continued on I-5, taking in the scenery of the hills and farmland.
After 68.9 miles, we stopped in Los Baños to charge, and were once again the only EV plugged in. I doubt we'll stop there again, as the chargers were several miles off the freeway.	We still had more than 52% in the battery when we plugged in.
Because of the navigation fiasco in Stockton that I described at the top of the page, we didn't stop to charge again until reaching the large array of EA chargers in Loomis to the north of Sacramento.	We had arrived with only 21% left, and 50 miles of range on the "guess-o-meter."
I swear we had hit every bug in the Central Valley that day.	Moxie had perked up, sensing that we didn't have far to go to arrive in Lincoln.
With 1% to go for an 80% charge, Rocinante was still pulling 107 kW.	After reaching 80%, we now had a "guesstimate" of 180 miles of range.
Moxie was delighted to be back in familiar territory in Lincoln,	We took her to visit Tamara's dad in the Care Center, as her loving personality has always lifted his spirits.
We later visited our niece, Haley, and met her baby Elle for the first time.	Elle is a beautiful, delightful newborn, just learning to smile and coo and interact with people.
This video shows Elle in action.
We got to visit with Tamara's sister, Lisa, and saw Moxie's Cairn Terrier friend and "cousin," Tilly.	Tilly is more energetic than Moxie, but they managed to get along just fine.
After traveling around the Sacramento area that week, I returned to the Loomis chargers the night before we left.	We had 26% left in the battery, after driving 144.1 miles at 3.5 miles-per-kWh.
This predicted a range of 215 to start the journey home.	That evening we celebrated Tamara's birthday.
The next day dawned clear enough to see the Sierra Nevada peaks on the eastern horizon.	I had set the navigation to take us to the chargers in Patterson, and the temperatures were cold enough to initiate pre-conditioning of the battery for optimal charging.
After driving 118.9 miles at 3.1 miles-per-kWh, we arrived with 32% in the battery.	We were the only ones charging, but then a Ford e-Transit delivery van pulled in next to us. The driver had never charged before and I helped him initiate a session.
An 80% charge gave us a "guessed" range of 222 miles.	We then drove back to Harris Ranch, and plugged in next to a Mercedes Benz EQB.
Our next stop was back in Bakersfield, next to Rocinante's "sister," a red Kia EV6."	We kept going, climbing back up the canyon to reach Mojave.
Those wind generators in Tehachapi were still cranking out the juice.
This time, nobody was plugged in at Mojave.	After climbing the steep highway, an 80% charge "guessed" 190 miles of range.
Driving from Mojave to Barstow, we were treated with some sunset colors.	They grew more intense toward the South.
Since we had driven in the opposite direction this time, tailwinds now boosted our efficiency to 3.7 miles-per-kWh.	We left Barstow with 200 miles on the "guess-o-meter."
We arrived back in Primm with 31% in the battery after driving 112.4 miles.	Not wanting to have to charge again until reaching home, I set Rocinante’s charge limit to 90%.
Of course, charging beyond 80% slows down the rate, so with 1% to go, we were only pulling 30 kW.	The "guess-o-meter" now predicted 242 miles of range. Since we had driven 162.2 miles to reach Primm on the outbound trip, I figured that we would probably make it home okay.
We did! But with 16% left in the battery. Whew!	Rocinante's odometer now read 13,249 miles driven, at 3.4 miles-per-kWh.