[Pawtato]

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Mammoth Mountain is now open for the 23/24 season, not even 100 days after they closed on August 6 for the 22/23 season, and I drove my '24 iX M60 up there for the opening weekend.


Charging:
I went to Santa Clarita for some errands first, and started my trip from there. I thought I'd top off at Electrify America Westfield Valencia before I left, but I couldn't get 2 charging stations to initiate session. The charging stations made some noises after I scanned my pass and hit Continue on the screen, and just stopped themselves. I still had more than enough juice so I just left for Mojave.

Mojave EA was wide open when I got there so I pulled up to a 350 kW stall, but I ran into the same issue, so I called EA support, which quickly connected to a representative that forced a charging session to start for me. She informed me to try updating or using a different payment method in the pass as that had worked for some people. I spent 34 minutes to charge from 16% to 80% SoC and continued my trip. While I waited I changed the credit card stored in my EA pass.

When I arrived in Bishop, a Rivian was just leaving 350 kW station #2. So I tried that first. It actually worked this time (and all sessions afterwards), but the charging rate only stayed at 31 kW, I waited a minute before switching to the other 350 kW station #3. #3 seemed to be sharing power with 150 kW #1, which had a car (VW?) charging. It only charged at ~130 kW despite my SoC being at 16%. So I moved over to 150 kW #4, which started at ~140 kW.

I spent 40 min at station #4 and charged to 90% SoC before heading up to Mammoth. I arrived at Mammoth Mountain Inn with 58% SoC left.

The battery dropped about 3% overnight while parked outside the first night, about freezing temperatures. Not much noticeable drop otherwise when parked in the garage for the following two nights.

When it was time to head back on Sunday, the car gained 1% rolling down to the Black Velvet coffee shop on Main St, and used 9% going from Mammoth to EA Bishop. The EA Bishop is by the Vons and was wide open when I got there and when I left. I started a charging session at 350 kW #3, the charging rate was again ~130 KW even though no other car was present, but I didn't really care this time.

I left on foot to grab a Turkey Sandwich (really good!) from Schat's Bakery. I wish the EA stations were closer to the bakery shop. When I came back 47minutes later, the car was at 99% SoC (started from 39%).

I charged one more time at Mojave, 23 minutes from 36% to 80%.

Most of my entire trip was done at ~75 mph on the freeway, for a small section I went up to 77 mph to follow two other cars on the road. I think charging might have added about 50 minutes on the trip to and about 20 minutes on the trip back (I was going to grab food in Bishop anyways) compared to when I drove an ICE/hybrid car., considering restrooms/fueling stops.

(Assisted) Driving:
Assisted Driving made the trip pretty relaxing. Assisted Driving Plus (hands-free) was available through the interstates and on CA-14 up till Mojave. It was not available between Mojave and CA-14/US 395 junction, and not available for my entire US 395 trip from the junction up to Mammoth, which was honestly disappointing. Well, regular Assisted Driving mode performed pretty well and predictably on 395, but I had to keep my hands on the steering wheel the entire time of course.

I think the most fun part and the highlight of the trip, was when the onboard navigation decided to take me through CA-2 Angeles Crest/Forest Hwy on my way home. At first I thought maybe there was some traffic at CA-14 to I-5 junction so it wanted to merge at the next ramp. Then I realized I was on a twisty canyon road. Oh well, good thing I was in a performance SUV.

Sports B mode turned out to be really fun, and I'd do it all again. My skis did roll around in the trunk a couple of times though, oops. The trip was done on 22" summer tires, I only saw a temperature dip below 40°F/4.5 °C briefly on the first night driving up.

[ssingh1975]

Fantastic mate.

Yeah, I haven't taken mine on long road trips yet but one coming up this weekend (from Sacramento to beautiful wine country, Napa and then San Francisco and then back). Thank god no snow or cold weather to combat so I think the range will be pretty good!

[Road Trip]

Thanks Pawtato for your detailed, very useful charging post. Hope you got some great skiing in too.

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by ssingh1975

Yeah, I haven't taken mine on long road trips yet but one coming up this weekend (from Sacramento to beautiful wine country, Napa and then San Francisco and then back). Thank god no snow or cold weather to combat so I think the range will be pretty good!

Long road trips are totally doable with a bit of planning and patience. Hope you have fun!

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by Road Trip

Thanks Pawtato for your detailed, very useful charging post. Hope you got some great skiing in too.

A bit too icy and a bit too many people but the opening weekend for me was more about the vibe and the beers with friends anyway lol

[Jd19]

Excellent write up!

Hopefully you have winter or all season tires lined up for your next trip.

[cfm56d7b]

Great trip report!

What tires does your car have? How were the road conditions?

[IAmSpeed]

Going up to Tahoe next week with my summer tire!

[grueber]

Getting an EA station to work with the EA pass in my Apple wallet mostly falls. I DC charge at the same EA station so maybe it’s just that station.

I enable the charging session through the EA app. That works all the time.

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Great trip report!

What tires does your car have? How were the road conditions?

The 22" summer Alenza tires. Roads were all clear. Mammoth saw light snow fall two days before opening, so there were small thin patches of snow/ice at one of the lodge parking lots, but didn't seem to be an issue at all.

It got pretty warm Friday noon through Sunday, like I didn't need any insulation layer while skiing, so it was perfectly fine for the summer tires.

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by Jd19

Hopefully you have winter or all season tires lined up for your next trip.

Yeah, I'm going to get some Conti DWS06+ later this month while they're still on sale. I hope the range drop won't be much noticeable.

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by grueber

Getting an EA station to work with the EA pass in my Apple wallet mostly falls. I DC charge at the same EA station so maybe it’s just that station.

I enable the charging session through the EA app. That works all the time.

Can the 30 minute pass transfer to the EA app? I tried initiating charge sessions via the BMW app but it also wouldn't start, I replaced the Apple wallet pass but that didn't work either. I think I even tried using the pass from within the BMW app directly, but nope.

The Apple wallet pass had been working for me before with the same credit card untill the issues recently, not sure why changing to a new card solved it. I did replace the Aplle wallet pass after I changed the new CC just to be cautious.

[ggalanis]

Originally Posted by Pawtato

The battery dropped about 3% overnight while parked outside the first night, about freezing temperatures. Not much noticeable drop otherwise when parked in the garage for the following two nights.

You sure about that?
You would be the first to be reporting a overnight battery drop in the iX.
I have left my car parked in an outdoor lot in colder weather than that and lost 0% after a full week.

To me, that looks like what the car may have spent to precondition the cabin if you either ran that way ahead of time or accidentally forgot an automatic one that ran for the full duration for no reason.

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by ggalanis

You sure about that?
You would be the first to be reporting a overnight battery drop in the iX.
I have left my car parked in an outdoor lot in colder weather than that and lost 0% after a full week.

To me, that looks like what the car may have spent to precondition the cabin if you either ran that way ahead of time or accidentally forgot an automatic one that ran for the full duration for no reason.

Mhm, I’m not 100% sure. I didn’t pay too much attention, 3% is simply from that I arrived at the lodge with 59%, and later in the afternoon I had 56% to drive down to town with.

I did leave the car in the garage to unload stuff with 3 trips up the elevator, seat and wheel heating might have been running when I had the doors/trunk open, but not when I left the car. It was also a really short drive from check-in to the garage to the outdoor lot.

Once parked in the lot the car was fully off and no preconditioning was run. I think the temperature Thursday night/Friday morning dipped to below 20 f. I’m sure I’ll get many more trips to Mammoth with the iX, I’m interested in seeing if battery drop will occur again.

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by Pawtato

The 22" summer Alenza tires. Roads were all clear. Mammoth saw light snow fall two days before opening, so there were small thin patches of snow/ice at one of the lodge parking lots, but didn't seem to be an issue at all.

It got pretty warm Friday noon through Sunday, like I didn't need any insulation layer while skiing, so it was perfectly fine for the summer tires.

My car also has summer tires. May be already too late to visit Mammoth. But there is always a GMC Yukon Denali available for rent.

[wdeerfield]

You spent a lot of timing fiddling with charging stations and waiting for it to charge versus the 5minutes you spend filling an ICE with liquified dinosaurs. I don’t think we’re ready for full electric in the US. The infrastructure isn’t there.

[grueber]

Originally Posted by Pawtato

Can the 30 minute pass transfer to the EA app? I tried initiating charge sessions via the BMW app but it also wouldn't start, I replaced the Apple wallet pass but that didn't work either. I think I even tried using the pass from within the BMW app directly, but nope.

The Apple wallet pass had been working for me before with the same credit card untill the issues recently, not sure why changing to a new card solved it. I did replace the Aplle wallet pass after I changed the new CC just to be cautious.

Forgot some of us are accessing EA through the BMW app. I think you have to use one or the other. You could call EA to verify.

I’ve stuck with the EA app because of the card reader issues. The app has always worked when activating a stall.

[ricerboi]

Yikes on the derated Bishop charger. I did that trip 5x last winter, a couple times in whiteout/blizzard conditions (studless winter tires).

Going there is mostly uphill so if you start 90%+, you can get to Bishop and just try to get to 50%+ there in case you need to drive around town there or there’s traffic. If it’s cold, most of that battery is going towards heating.

Downhill coming out of Mammoth like you said so you’re using 8-12% to Bishop.

Hopefully this winter is as awesome as last winter! Mammoth iX meetup!

[ricerboi]

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

You spent a lot of timing fiddling with charging stations and waiting for it to charge versus the 5minutes you spend filling an ICE with liquified dinosaurs. I don’t think we’re ready for full electric in the US. The infrastructure isn’t there.

And you’re right. With the cost of gas in CA at $5-6+/gallon and the temporarily free charging with EA, electric is worth the pain if you’re looking to save $150-200 worth of gas on this Mammoth trip in exchange for 30-45 min of charging each way. Time is money obviously, but to each their own.

As much as I hate Tesla cars, their supercharging network is superb. Infrastructure is there if all EVs are able to start using Tesla’s SC network.

[sor]

Especially if you can time charging breaks with meal stops.

That mountain looks like my nightmares. We rarely see it quite that bad in Utah and on those days I just go home. PCMR is probably the worst in that regard, I just don’t go there

[Pawtato]

Originally Posted by sor

Especially if you can time charging breaks with meal stops.

That mountain looks like my nightmares. We rarely see it quite that bad in Utah and on those days I just go home. PCMR is probably the worst in that regard, I just don’t go there

Mammoth is rarely like this too. I guess the crazy past season plus Veterans Day weekend worked together to make this happen. I just pretended to be skiing trees, trees that move around lol

Just like most other resorts, once you make it to the upper mountain PCMR isn’t that bad. But I feel like Utah is getting more and more crowded due to the presence of the Ikon pass. A trip to SLC in my iX is bound to happen before my lease is up, and I’m both excited and nervous about it. Supercharging stations can’t open up to us too soon.

[wdeerfield]

Originally Posted by ricerboi

And you’re right. With the cost of gas in CA at $5-6+/gallon and the temporarily free charging with EA, electric is worth the pain if you’re looking to save $150-200 worth of gas on this Mammoth trip in exchange for 30-45 min of charging each way. Time is money obviously, but to each their own.

As much as I hate Tesla cars, their supercharging network is superb. Infrastructure is there if all EVs are able to start using Tesla’s SC network.

People always like to ignore the upcharge they paid the dealer initially on sticker price versus an ICE to get that “savings” 🙄. Complaining about $5/gal gas while probably sipping an overpriced Starbucks latte 😂
I’ll still stick to ICE because after a long ski day the last thing I want to do is fight for a charger on the way home and wait another 45min for it to charge.