Old Priest Grade and Regenerative Braking
All EV Drivers will agree that one of the coolest things about driving an EVis regenerative braking. It’slike your cell phone is charging itself as you are using it. Icould have said thatits like putting gas in your car as you are driving it but. ….
“The first rule of Fight Club is that EV drivers don’talk ICEs”
Ok so why was regenerative braking exciting again,its exciting because EV drivers have range anxiety. Not all of them will admit it but they do. Regenerative braking adds miles to your car and can sometimes be your best friend on along road trip. If your road trip involves going uphill and downhill,tracking the miles you are adding as you go downhillis alot of fun.If the downhill roadis anything like the Old Priest Grade near Yosemite National Park in California, you are in for a treat.
Old Priest Grade would not be built today. Carved into the Western Sierra mountains, this beast was originally built for stagecoach and supply wagons to service the 1840-1850’s gold miners. While the overall average of this grade is 12.9% (which places it #2 by average grade for the Top 300 U.S. climbs(bikes)) is imposing enough, the final 1.9 miles (from the junction of Old and New Priest Grade, ½ mile up from the climb’s start in Moccasin) is 14%, the last 2/10th’s mile 14.7% and .1 an eye popping and temple exploding 15.4%!
On a recent trip to the Yosemite National Park, I drove my Model X down the Old Priest Grade. I charged at the supercharger in Groveland. My range at the time I left the supercharger was 210 miles. The beginning of the descent for old priest grade is about 3 miles from the supercharger. Top to bottom, the complete descent is about 2 miles. When I reached the bottom of the descent, the range on my battery was 220 miles. I travelled a distance of close to 5 miles and because of the descent, regenerative braking added a whopping 15 miles of range to my Model X. My Mind was Blown !!! On a 120V outlet, it would have taken me 4hrs to charge that much. Regenerative braking is truly fun. On another trip from Truckee, CA to Roseville, CA, all downhill in the Sierras. I covered a distance of 85 miles but as per the battery range in the car, I only travelled 60 miles. Fun times for sure !!!