I got the REx to be able to take longer trips without worrying about charging, and have used it that way a few times. In general I have charged on the "more than one full battery plus more than one full tank" trips, but I have yet to do a trip where I have gone more than one battery charge distance *only* on battery.
Until today.
Just drove 172 miles from my home in Portland, Oregon (USA) to our usual hotel in Bend, Oregon. A year ago, this trip wouldn't have been feasible on battery-only because once you left the Portland Metro area, there were no CCS rapid chargers along any reasonable route. But multiple were added along multiple routes over 2019, so I decided to try it out.
Bend is to the Southeast from Portland, over a mountain range. There were two reasonable routes - take an interstate highway (65 MPH speed limit most of it, although most cars go faster,) about an hour South, then cut basically directly East over the mountain range; or take a state highway (55 MPH speed limit, reasonable to go that,) that goes nearly directly East for a while, up to a ski area on the major mountain near(ish) the city, then meanders mostly South/Southeast to the destination on the other side of the mountain range.
The freeway route has the benefit now that there is a CCS charger pretty much right where I would be getting off the freeway to turn East. And that is about one battery charge distance away from home. But then *NOTHING* going over the mountains, just one single L2 charger further than one battery charge from the CCS charger. (That L2 location also has a CHAdeMO, but it's just a small market, not somewhere you'd want to spend a couple hours.)
The route over the closer mountain has the benefit that there is an L2 charger at a ski area on that mountain - that is the *JUST* past the distance one battery charge can go. So started the drive that way. Once I got to the far side of the city, I stopped for breakfast at a place that has an L2 charger. Topped off while eating (was at 98% when I left,) and headed up to the close mountain. Stopped there, and the REx kicked on while I was in the parking lot - it only ran for about 10 seconds before I parked and turned the vehicle off, so I'm counting that stretch as "electric only." (Not even one pixel of REx tank capacity went away.) The teenagers snowboarded while I worked in the lodge/restaurant, and they declared they were done right when the car hit 95%. Perfect timing. From there, downhill to the other side of the mountain range, and in to a small town that has *EIGHT* brand new CCS chargers! (Two locations each have four "CCS+CHAdeMO" units.) Charged up to 90%, then the i3 wouldn't release the plug! I had hit "stop" on the CCS charger screen, so it switched from relatively-cheap charging rate to much more expensive "idle" rate (with zero grace period.) Called BMW Roadside assistance, but the car released it the moment they finally got me to someone in EV support. So, extra $2.50 because the car wouldn't let go. But, that was my last charge needed. Got to the hotel with 12% left. The hotel doesn't have a dedicated EV charger, but they did let me plug in to a 110V outlet with the occasional-use-charger, which has enough juice to get me full overnight. (And the hotel is just outside town - on the way up the mountain, so straight shot 12 miles to the ski area in the morning, even if I don't get completely full, I should be fine enough to get there and back; tomorrow evening I'll probably go in to town for dinner and hit up a proper charger. My favorite brewery is in town, and they have a brewpub with a free charger.)
