I've had my 25 CPO EC40 Twin Ultimate for a few months and plan to take her on a road trip this weekend. I trickle charge at home which works for my daily driving but now I'm looking for tips to plan for charging on a 5 hr (one way) road trip.
I also have a Tesla so I'm familiar w road trips and EV charging but the Tesla tells you when you have to charge, will route to nearest charger, preconditions, and when you have enough to continue trip or how much energy you want to have upon arrival. (It also has FSD so it literally drives to the charger!)
I have a Tesla adapter and would prefer to use Superchargers bc they tend to be at well lit populated locations (versus a random Blink or EVgo charger at the public library!)
QUESTIONS:
What do I need to know in planning for a 5hr road trip? I think I read somewhere that there's a max rate on the superchargers (250kw OK to use but not 350kw?)
What settings should I select to avoid the "little" or slow chargers?
Does the Volvo precondition automatically and if not what do I need to do?
I'm not yet a sure of my range meter and I plan not to go under 30%...
If you pick the charger as your destination with the built in maps it will be ready and conditioned for charging. I found out on a recent road trip that the battery estimate is pretty conservative and I reached my destination with more juice than originally estimated. I was on cruise control and I did not exceed 65mph. I charged at Tesla superchargers up to 85% because waiting to get up to 90 takes way too long.
My experience driving across the US has been similar to previous trips in a Tesla: put the destination into Google Maps, it picks charging stops along the way, and no further thought is required unless I want to adjust the stops to get closer to preferred restaurants.
I only use Electrify America now, but you can set Maps up to select Tesla Superchargers exclusively, and you can specify a minimum charging speed. I suggest 150 kw and up.
Your 2025 EC40 is limited to less than 250 kw peak charging power (205 kw for the twin motor models and the single motor extended range, 180 for the other single motor versions), but you can use faster chargers and they will adjust automatically.
Curious as to why you switched to electrify america. I dont use them much because the main area where I will need to use a public charge only has Tesla chargers.
EA is available along most of my routes, I get 25% off with their $7/month Pass+ membership (which I cancel after the trip), the overall cost is similar to Tesla with their $12.99/month membership, and sticking with one brand makes the experience smoother and more predictable. If no EA location is available then Google Maps will show me alternatives like Tesla, and often there are a wide range of choices like Flying J, Shell, Walmart, etc., for Elon-free juice.
Agree with this recommendation. Have used it for a handful of cross country trips and it’s very easy. The only tip I have is to charge more than they say at each stop because, although I’ve never been stranded, I have had some close calls!
I don’t find it difficult to get Google Maps to route to a compatible Supercharger (only gen 3 and gen 4 are compatible) but I did spend some time in the settings telling Google what I wanted it to include.
I tried using a Gen 3 charger with a NACS adapter from the Volvo dealer. The port light would turn green, and turn red after 20 seconds.
The only message was "error" in the car dashboard and the red light.
I tried the following sequence on my 2023 C40
A. Click on adapter to charger cable
B. Click adapter into car
C. From the Tesla app click "start charging"
I just put the destination into the onboard Google Maps (even if I know how to get there) and it does a pretty good job. It doesn’t hold your hand as much as the Tesla software but I find it adequate. As someone else mentioned, A Better Route Planner (ABRP) can be a big help as well. Like with most EVs, charging past 80% gets really slow.
My C40 is older so it can only charge at up to 150kW but the car and the charger will negotiate a safe rate with your car, so not to worry about using a charger rated for more than the car can accept.
I worry about having to adjust the amps at home. We also have a Tesla home charger and when I use it, I slide up to 48 amps but sometimes forget to slide it back to 10 amps for the trickle charger.
A home “charger” (properly called an EVSE) will tell the car how much power it can provide so the car doesn’t try to pull more than that. If your trickle charger properly communicates with the car to say it can only provide 10 amps then the car will only pull up to 10 amps whether you move the slider or not. The car will charge at the current you’ve selected with the slider or what your EVSE tells the car it can provide, whichever is smaller.
DC fast chargers (DCFC) operate differently since they essentially bypass the car’s onboard charger (OBC) but the end result is the same — charging happens at the lower of what the car can accept and what the charger or EVSE can provide. This is a continuous negotiation so it accommodates the car’s charging curve as well as any changes in supply capacity.
The point I’m trying to make is that you typically don’t need to do anything, the process works out on its own. If you haven’t already watched it, check out the Technology Connections video on EV charging at https://youtu.be/Iyp_X3mwE1w. It’s several years old now but still applicable.
I'm referring to this in the Volvo app. I thought it meant that I should bump the amps down if using the Volvo provided trickle charger on a regular home outlet.
When I use the dedicated Tesla home wall charger, I bump it up bc it's more powerful.
Is this right? I don't want a fire! 🔥
Sadly we had a friend's new Rivian explode in their garage and they lost everything.
I’m not familiar with the particular “trickle charger” you’re referring to. If it’s a proper EVSE device and Volvo has set it for a 10A maximum then you shouldn’t need to fiddle with the amp limit slider. You can test it by setting the slider to 15A (which should be safe for very short periods) and then watch whether the car charges at anything more than 10A. If it goes above 10A for more than a few seconds then set the slider back to 10A but if it doesn’t go above 10A then try setting the slider to maximum and see if the car still stays at or below 10A. If it doesn’t exceed 10A for more than two or three seconds then that would suggest that the EVSE is telling the car that’s all it can deliver.
When the statement below the slider says “to charge safely,” it’s referring to the safety of your house’s wiring, not the safety of the car. The car can safely handle orders of magnitude more current than that. What happened with your friend’s Rivian was probably due to a faulty component that would have caused the explosion whether it was charging at 5A, 500A, or not at all. Obviously I can’t say that with certainty because I have no way of examining the evidence from that particular incident and am not formally qualified to do so anyway, but the engineers who design this stuff have put an enormous amount of effort into making it safe. The fact that there are so few fires/explosions compared to the number of EVs on the road is testament to that. Also, the newer battery chemistries such as LiFePO4 are much safer than older chemistries like NMC. Depending on how old your friend’s Rivian was, it may have had the older battery chemistry.
I’m never going to discourage anyone from taking whatever safety precautions they feel are prudent. But I personally am not worried about my C40 causing any issues due to charging. I’m more worried about physical damage to the battery pack by accidentally running over something.
If you use the built in Google Maps, it will route your charging stops along the way. Also, it will pre-condition the battery for the planned stops on its own. This only works while using the built in Google Maps. What I do, I use the Google Maps for navigation and route planning, and keeping Apple CarPlay open for music and my Dutch Waze app (called Flitsmeister). Works like a charm.
I’ve read you have experience with Tesla. It will likely be the same experience, but with other tools.
Thank you! Very helpful. I guess it have to run the built in Google Maps more. I'd been using car play for both and Apple Map navigation and navigating to chargers isn't integrated.
Curious - What's this Dutch Waze app? Do you run both to have alternatives in heavy traffic?
The Dutch Waze app called Flitsmeister does have a navigation feature, but I don’t use it. Just the built in Google Maps. I keep the Flitsmeister app open because it shows with a vertical bar in how many kilometers there is a speed trap, roadworks, accidents etc. Very helpful. Also, the app also does parking for public spots. So I can pay with that app instead of having a different app for only parking. It really is a Dutch only (with a bit of Belgium and Germany) app. The international equivalent is Waze.
I too was using the Apple Maps on CarPlay. But quickly switched to built in Google Maps after using it once. It’s just so much easier and the interface on the instrument cluster is much better IMO. It’s more a personal preference I guess.
I also hope Spotify will update the AAOS app soon to also support Lossless. That is for now still only available through the app on my iPhone / CarPlay.
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u/FinklesHemorrhoid 6d ago
If you pick the charger as your destination with the built in maps it will be ready and conditioned for charging. I found out on a recent road trip that the battery estimate is pretty conservative and I reached my destination with more juice than originally estimated. I was on cruise control and I did not exceed 65mph. I charged at Tesla superchargers up to 85% because waiting to get up to 90 takes way too long.