Raleigh, NC to Dallas, TX and Back: 2,642 miles with a (free) Zero FXS in tow
I have a friend who co-signed for a 2016 Zero FXS back when the bike was new. The owner said the drive belt kept fraying due to a manufacturing defect (a bad weld, he claims). While fighting Zero about this, the dealership he bought the bike from dropped the brand. The next closest dealer was about 70 miles away, and he had no way to get it there. Defeated, he plugged it in one last time, covered it up, and forgot about it. Fast forward two years, he wants it gone. My buddy who co-signed reached out to me and said, “if you want it, come get it.”
I’d been saying for a while it is a shame that you have to not only have your motorcycle endorsement but you must have had it for more than a year in order to rest ride bikes at our local dealerships. There are many people who would plop down money (no license needed to buy, of course) if they only had the opportunity to experience the sheer joy of an electric motorcycle. I now had an opportunity to bring this dream to reality: every Drive Electric and Earth Day event could offer test rides on this Zero. I sincerely believe if more people got the change to ride an electric motorcycle, they’d want to own one.
Quick Trip Stats
Raleigh -> Dallas Miles: 1,280 DC Charge Stops: 16 Level 2 Charge Stops: 2 Cost: $135.04 Energy Consumed: 283.46 kWh Travel Time: About 36 hours non-stop
Dallas -> Raleigh Miles: 1,362 DC Charge Stops: 15 Level 2 Charge Stops: 2 Cost: $141.29 Energy Consumed: 303.15 kWh Travel Time: Broken into two days, vehicle reports 32h 31m driving time. Totals Miles: 2642 DC Charge Stops: 31 Level 2 Charge Stops: 4 Cost: $276.33 Energy Consumed: 586.61 kWh
Getting to Dallas
This was the first time I was going to take the trailer on a truly long journey. I decided it best to play safe and charge to 95% at every stop, just because I didn’t know what to expect or if I could even make this trip. I pulled out of my driveway a little past 11am, an hour ahead of schedule. I planned to go “straight 40″ as much as I can -- that is, I’m not trusting the one expensive Tritum-built ChargePoint station in Lenoir. I’ll go south to Boiling Springs SC and then up 26 to Asheville and catch 40 from there. My goal was get there as fast as I can, so I used the three big networks and a Nissan dealer to get me there. See blow for the geeky detail: Asheboro Network: ChargePoint Charger Power: 50kW Duration: 27min Energy Delivered: 17.77 kWh Cost: $4.80 Notes: Nothing special to report, picked up lunch at the McDonald’s and hit the road.
Charlotte Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration 1: 14min Energy Delivered: 11.52 kWh Cost: $5.02 Duration 2: 13min Energy Delivered: 6.29 kWh Cost: $4.41 Total time: 27 min Total Cost: $9.43 Notes: The first session faulted and I had to move locations. I also had to disconnect the trailer at this location due to the amount of traffic and time of day that I was charging.
Boiling Springs Network: EVgo Charger Power: 50kW Duration: 31min Energy Delivered: 16.7 kWh Cost: $11.24 Notes: This location was easy to “swing in” to charge and not have to unhook the trailer.
Asheville Network: EVgo Charger Power: 50kW Duration: 29min Energy Delivered: 17.48 kWh Cost: $8.99 Notes: e-Tron was using the station I could have pulled up to without unhitching the trailer. I unhitched and moved the trailer into the parking space to the left of the car. Security came by and told me I had to move the trailer because it’s in the police parking space, I argued with the guy and finally moved it. His superior came out moments later and apologized, saying that it clearly isn’t an issue since you’re sitting with the vehicle and could move it if needed. It is on my to-do list to contact the mall to have that space reclassified as EV only, citing my use case and experience as justification.
Dandridge Network: EVgo Charger Power: 50kW Duration: 9min Energy Delivered: 5.11 kWh Cost: $3.07 Notes: This stop was to add just enough to get me to Knoxville.
Knoxville Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 21min Energy Delivered: 24.35 kWh Cost: $11.79 Notes: No issues at this location
Cookeville Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 33min Energy Delivered: 25.26 kWh Cost: $12.81 Notes: Arrived with 5% SOC and charged to full
Nashville Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 9min Energy Delivered: 9.26kWh Cost: $3.42 Notes: Realized it was closer to get to Dickson from Franklin, so ended charge and drove to Franklin.
Franklin Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 19min Energy Delivered: 13.91 kWh Cost: $7.27 Notes: Full charge, arrived with 47% SOC. From here to Jackson is the single longest leg of the trip and can’t be done w/out a Level 2 stop.
Dickson Network: Nissan Level 2 Charger Power: 7kW
Duration: over an hour Energy Delivered: ???? Cost: FREE Notes: I arrived at 4:30am and there is a Waffle House next door that’s open 24/7. I was able to grab a bite to eat while the car did its thing.
Jackson Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 25min Energy Delivered: 22.56 kWh Cost: $9.55 Notes: This was the first site to give me trouble getting started. The first two machines I tried didn’t detect the car or gave a charge start error. The third station was the charm.
Germantown Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 17min Energy Delivered: 15.20 kWh Cost: $6.44 Notes: This location has one station that’s easy to swing into with a trailer. It’s also across the street (easy to cross) from IHOP and next to the Best Buy that gave me my first ever job as a teenager.
Forrest City Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 23min Energy Delivered: 18.21 kWh Cost: $8.62 Notes: Nothing to report at this location, other than running 55mph on this stretch of 40 can be a little scary during the day time when you can’t really run your flashers.
Dub'l R RV Park Network: None / NEMA 14-50 (bring your own EVSE) Charger Power: 50A (3kW TurboCord used) Duration: 1.5 hours Energy Delivered: ???? Cost: $22 day rental of RV spot (not reflected in charging cost as I consider this lodging) Notes: I was nervous I couldn’t make it from Forrest City to Little Rock - an unfounded fear it turned out - so I booked a day rental at an RV park knowing I could use my 3kW portable Level 2 charger to top off the car. When I got to the RV park, I had more than enough energy to get to Little Rock... but I’d already paid and it wasn’t refundable, so I plugged in for an hour and a half and caught a quick nap. Little Rock Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 29min Energy Delivered: 23.57 kWh Cost: $10.70 Notes: This was the third longest leg of the trip and didn’t involve a Level 2 stop.
Hope Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration 1: 6min Energy Delivered: 3.38 kWh Cost: $2.20 Duration 2: 29min Energy Delivered: 20.60 kWh Cost: $11.26 Total Time: 35min Total Cost: 13.46 Notes: First station was only putting out 35kW, had to move to another station to get the 60+kW charge rate I should be getting. Mt. Pleasant Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 26min Energy Delivered: 21.96 kWh Cost: $9.68 Notes: So ready to be done with this trip....
Royse City Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 10min Energy Delivered: 10.29 kWh Cost: $3.77 Notes: charged just enough to make it to Dallas. I’d been teasing folks on social media about the trip, and finally revealed the reason for the trip once I got to Texas about 10:30pm: A free Zero FXS motorcycle.
Return to Raleigh via Chattanooga
All good things must come to an end, and sometimes they end sooner than expected. Thanks to hurricane season, I had to depart Texas on Wednesday evening instead of Friday as I’d planned. The flash flood and wind advisories starting Thursday meant that if I didn’t leave now, I might not be able to -- I’m not a fool and I’m not going to mislead you. Any amount of wind could leave me stranded on this, I’m pushing the car to its limits and truly putting blind faith in the concept that this will work. It paid off, even if I managed to get something in my eye / allergic reaction that gave me a puffy and watery eye the entire way home.
I was not only pulling a motorcycle on a trailer, I also had two electric assist bicycles packed in the car. This was a very EV-centric trip! The bicycles were being moved for my friend, who is relocating to NC from TX. Speaking of motorcycle on trailer. Many asked if it fell over or why it was on its side. Answer: coefficient drag. Standing the bike up, it is like adding a parachute to the back of the car. If I laid it down on its side, it is below the roofline of the car and thus adds no impactful drag to the vehicle. The only impact it has on range is its added weight, which I’m going to say that I weight more than the motorcycle and the two eBikes were less than half the motorcycles weight. Effectively, I had the car loaded up with 2.5 versions of myself, which is why I got the 4.0mi/kWh average efficiency that I got.
This trip I planned to leverage Electrify America exclusively, mostly for the charging speed but also to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the network is dependable and can be relied on for long trips like this.
Royse City Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 21min Energy Delivered: 15.12 kWh Cost: $7.86 Mt. Pleasant Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 37min Energy Delivered: 25.40 kWh Cost: $14.16 Hope Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 10min Energy Delivered: 10.34 kWh Cost: $3.85 Duration: 16min Energy Delivered: 11.12 kWh Cost: $6.27 Total Duration: 26min Total Cost: $10.12 Notes: History repeats itself... station faulted and had to move to another station. Was not sure I could make it to Little Rock, decided to detour to Benton for a Level 2. An Electrify America Haiku was created. Benton Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 31min Energy Delivered: 24.97 kWh Cost: $11.72 Notes: Nissan dealer locked their gates so I had to back track to the Fairfield Inn to get a charge, luckily no one was using the stations and I was able to pull right up w/out disconnecting the trailer. Little Rock Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 31min Energy Delivered: 24.97 kWh Cost: $11.72 Notes: Had to take the service road, but I made it! Wind was starting to kick up from the incoming storms. Forrest City Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 28min Energy Delivered: 24.06 kWh Cost: $10.36 Notes: With exception of Jackson - Franklin, this was the last long stretch I had to worry about. All future legs will be less than 90mi apart, well within the cars range with the added load. Germantown Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 18min Energy Delivered: 16.07 kWh Cost: $6.94 Jackson Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 24min Energy Delivered: 19.37 kWh Cost: $9.41 Dickson Network: Local Power Cooperative Charger Power: 7kW Duration: about 45 minutes? Energy Delivered: ??? kWh Cost: FREE Notes: A guy with a CRV that had a make shift front bumper and was also pulling a trailer came over and asked me lots of questions. He was considering a Bolt and knew that towing was possible but so few had done it he didn’t know what the efficiency hit might be like. It was the best conversation that I’d had the whole trip, actually it was the only one. Franklin Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 30min Energy Delivered: 24.93 kWh Cost: $11.63 Notes: Arrived with 5% SOC, one more stop before my overnight in Chattanooga. Manchester Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 22min Energy Delivered: 17.33 kWh Cost: $8.57 Notes: I’m soooo ready for this trip to be over. My eyes are killing me (at this point definitely thinking this is an allergic reaction to a pollen I’m not used to anymore), and I just wanna crash. Chattanooga - overnight Notes: I stayed with fellow Energica motorcycle (and former Zero motorcycle) owner Tyler, a good buddy of mine. He let me recharge using his home charger, so I guess that is technically the third Level 2 of this leg but I don’t consider overnight charges to be a part of the travel time per se. Mostly because I needed to sleep, so there’s no “waiting” on the car per se. You can take that how you will, not trying to fudge numbers. I didn’t leave till almost sunset the next day, which meant that I’d end up changing plans. I’d intended to make this a three day jaunt home, and spend Friday night in Columbia. Instead, due to weather and my own tiredness, I decided it best to just go straight home. By the time I’d get to Greenville - necessary to get to Columbia - I’m just two charge stops from home (Charlotte and Greensboro), so I decided to plow on to home.
Kennesaw Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration 1: 21min Energy Delivered: 21.42 kWh Cost: $7.42 Duration 2: 9min Energy Delivered: 3.30 kWh Cost: $1.40 Total Duration: 30min Total Energy Delivered: 24.72 Total Cost: $8.82 Notes: The station cut off at 82% for no reason, I moved to the next station over to finish up my charge. Someone came by and took my picture at this location, and later posted it to a FB group as a comment on my thread about this adventure.
Commerce Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration 1: 8min Energy Delivered: 5.62 kWh Cost: $2.95 Duration 2: 19min Energy Delivered: 13.25 kWh Cost: $6.54 Total Duration: 27min Total Energy Delivered: 18.87 Total Cost: $9.49 Notes: I don’t remember if it faulted or was just going slow, but I had to switch stations here. Greenville Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 31min Energy Delivered: 24.17 kWh Cost: $11.56 Notes: Charged to 90%, decided to verify that Greer/BMW Performance Center ChargePoint 24kW DC fast was operational (recent PlugShare check in but PlugShare score was still low). Greer Network: ChargePoint Charger Power: 24kW Duration: 7min Energy Delivered: 2.60 kWh Cost: FREE Notes: Station does work! I had a hard time finding it and was almost taken out by a semi truck leaving the facility... Security came and talked with me, they wanted to make sure I was OK and also it was just weird to see a vehicle with a trailer that late at night. Charlotte Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 29min Energy Delivered: 22.79 kWh Cost: $9.99 Notes: Being 5:30am there was no one to block traffic for, so I just pulled up next to the machine and blocked the whole lane.... I was over it, I won’t lie. Greensboro Network: Electrify America Charger Power: 150kW Duration: 30min Energy Delivered: 21.29 kWh Cost: $10.66 Notes: The last charge stop... so happy to get here, but it also invalidated something I said / an argument I was holding online. See some time ago I made a post on a FB group of me charging the car while pulling the Energica and I got a lot of flack for “blocking all the stations” ...
Needless to say, when I posted to this group about making it to Chattanooga I made a point of calling out that I’d yet to come across a station in use or have someone roll up and wait on me... so how I’m parking doesn’t matter (at least right now). WELL this location had to prove me wrong. I plugged into the CHAdeMO station because it was the one I got working the last time I was out here, and a Kia Soul EV pulled up as I was at 91% and had to wait 5 minutes for me to finish my charge and move. 5 minutes. Such an “inconvenience.” I digress...
Lessons Learned
Having a third wheel on the trailer tongue is a core requirement if you plan to tow with an EV. You will end up needing to disconnect the trailer to get into an Electrify America charging station, it’s inevitable. Running 55mph in a 70 (or 75mph as it was in Texas) zone is safe so long as you’ve got your hazzards on. They are less effective in the day time, so I advise trying to do most of the travel at night. Bonus is night travel consumes much less AC in the south, so you go farther on a charge. Any amount of wind can turn a 25 mile buffer into a 3 mile buffer, never cut a charge short because “you’ve got this.” You may not. Don’t try and pull 30-hour trips non stop. Plan overnight breaks, plan long meal breaks, don’t do what I did... you’ll regret it. I slept a solid 20 hours (not kidding) once I got home.
A word on charging networks
Electrify America was clearly the dominant player in making this trip happen. I had some snags, but it’s safe to say that the network - used in 6 states - was dependable. I don’t want to hear “Non-Teslas can’t tow” or “Electrify America isn’t reliable” ever again because I just proved both wrong, and I got a free motorcycle out of it too. Now... to figure out why this thing doesn’t have working lights or horn but will start and drive.