San Jose to Point Reyes – A perfect day trip on Chevy Bolt

Sujee Maniyam writes:

Point Reyes is such a wonderful place and it makes a perfect day trip from San Francisco Bay Area. From my place, Point Reyes Light House is exactly 100 miles one way.  So I wanted to test by Chevy Bolt EV – which has a range of 230 miles.

I started with a full charge (estimated range 230 miles).  And followed the directions below in the map.  The weather was perfect 72 degrees.  It is mostly freeway driving at 70 mph.

Once you exit the freeway, and start on Sir Francis Drake Blvd, the road narrows with gentle twists.  It is a fun drive through the woods (Samuel L Taylor park).  And then Point Reyes opens up with sweeping views of the hills and the Pacific ocean.

The lighthouse was closed, so ended up Drakes Beach.  Drakes Beach was phenomenal with steep cliffs and crashing surf.  And on the way back I saw some Elk as well!

See the pictures!

Charging Options

Even though I didn’t need any charging for this trip, I wanted to understand the charging options along the way. I also kept an eye on the plugshare app. There are plenty of charging options available.

• Town of San Rafael has tons of charging options
• Town of San Anselmo has a few chargers around Downtown and a few in Redhill Shopping Center.  The Redhill Shopping Center provides free charging that is solar powered.
• Fairfax downtown has chargers and plenty of restaurants around
• Tomales Bay Resort has a couple of Tesla and regular chargers

I tried these two personally:

Tomales Bay Resort at Inverness

Plugshare link

Charging is free for guests of the Tomales Bay Resort and to the Fog’s restaurant.  The restaurant was closed when I visited.  The generic charger is not very obvious to find –  between the restaurant and the hotel.

Redhill shopping center in San Anselmo

Plugshare link

There are  free chargers that are solar powered.  I tried it while getting a delicious dinner at Hub Restaurant.  In one hour, it added about 20 miles of range.

I arrived home with 45 miles of range left.  If I hadn’t charged at Redhill shopping center (added about 20 miles), I would have arrived with 20 miles to spare.

All in all, it was a perfect day trip.  And Bolt could do it without pausing for any charging at all.