1st road trip on new M3P. Any advice?

[ColPaul]

I bought the Model 3 Performance last weekend, and we are taking a 450 mile road trip vacation next weekend. I'm a little nervous about supercharging. Any advice?

For context, my wife and two young boys need to stop every couple of hours for bathroom breaks. None of these are very quick about it, but I don't want to be sitting in the car waiting for a charge. Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[DuncanM]

I bought the Model 3 Performance last weekend, and we are taking a 450 mile road trip vacation next weekend. I'm a little nervous about supercharging. Any advice?

For context, my wife and two young boys need to stop every couple of hours for bathroom breaks. None of these are very quick about it, but I don't want to be sitting in the car waiting for a charge. Thanks in advance for the advice!

Load Plugshare and ABRP into your cellphones and use them to scout out the SC stations for amenities. I have the CCS1 adapter for my M3 as it gives me more options in terms of where and when to charge. ABRP is also useful for route planning. You can access both apps online via the cars webbrowser and add them as favourites. If your boys are old enough to be tech savy they can get engaged with route and amenities planning via a cell phone. Ditto for your wife.

You probably won't need to charge very often on a such a short trip, but one way to minimize waiting in the car is to charge and eat at the same time, and a charge stop combined with a meal means no lost time at all, even at a relatively slow DCFC.

I'd rather charge at an EA station near a Walmart or shopping centre with clean washrooms available, and a choice of restaurants,, over a SC station, with poor amenities.

 

[KenC]

I bought the Model 3 Performance last weekend, and we are taking a 450 mile road trip vacation next weekend. I'm a little nervous about supercharging. Any advice?

For context, my wife and two young boys need to stop every couple of hours for bathroom breaks. None of these are very quick about it, but I don't want to be sitting in the car waiting for a charge. Thanks in advance for the advice!

Put your trip into ABRP, ABRP. It'll give you an idea of where you have to stop and for how long. The Tesla planner is excellent, but ABRP gives you more options to simulate to develop a travel strategy.

Given you have to stop every couple hrs is generally the optimal strategy and anywhere from 10 to 20mins to charge, so it could be pretty ideal for you, with minimal waiting.

 

[Petermcg]

We use Tesla Superchargers exclusively on our long trips and plan ahead to always use one for meals and bio-breaks. Sometimes we have to rush a meal because the car is ready before we’re done. As KenC said, using ABRP before your trip to scout out the stops goes a long way to relieving range anxiet.

 

[Thp3]

Owning a Tesla is a continuous learning experience. Tires, weather (rain and wind) and temperature cause watts usage that can be surprising.

Its usually faster to arrive if you use the “splash and dash“ approach. You charge more often at high rates of recharge. A related rule of thumb is to leave a supercharger when the charging rate drops down to under 100 kw and you have 20% SOC predicted at the next supercharger (20%-80% max) . This is the fastest way to get to a remote destination with a chosen SOC at arrival.

Have fun, reread the manual and use apps to help with travel (PlugShare, ABRP)

 

[Big Earl]

Hop in and go. Input your destination into the route planner and charge when necessary. You can save time charging by stopping more frequently than the route planner recommends, and charging from 15% to about 60% if Supercharger spacing allows (under 15 minutes per charging session). Since you have kids, you'll probably find the route planner's recommendations to be satisfactory in terms of distance and charging time (about 20 - 30 minutes per charging session). If you want a longer charging stop for a sit-down meal, you can stretch it to an hour by charging to 100%.

Congrats on the new car. You're going to love it!

 

[Big Earl]

Put your trip into ABRP, ABRP. It'll give you an idea of where you have to stop and for how long. The Tesla planner is excellent, but ABRP gives you more options to simulate to develop a travel strategy.

Given you have to stop every couple hrs is generally the optimal strategy and anywhere from 10 to 20mins to charge, so it could be pretty ideal for you, with minimal waiting.

I used ABRP back in the day when they were a fledgling operation. I found it to be helpful when Tesla hadn't yet implemented the in-car trip planner. These days, I find ABRP's interface to be complicated and a bit convoluted. I also find it completely unnecessary for typical road trips, since Superchargers are all over the place and the in-car route planner does a very good job. Some folks might find it fun to sit down with ABRP and plan their trips to the nth degree, but I'm a get-in-and-go kind of person.

 

[pikeman]

Your trip isn’t very far and it’s not going to be a problem to combine a toilet stop with topping up the battery. Relax and enjoy the experience. Consider it a dry run for a longer trip!

 

[skygraff]

Agree with the “just put in your destination” advice. Unless you’re going somewhere with a route away from superchargers, you really should be fine just using them.

You don’t have to sit in the car. As long as the location isn’t too popular and there are at least 50% of the stalls open, you can always use the app to raise the desired charge set point if the car is ready before everybody’s finished their physiological needs.

One thing to keep in mind is, if your destination won’t have charging options, add a charger location toward home after your destination so the nav will plan enough energy to get you there and back. If not that, simply charge a bit extra at the last stop to account for time and driving at your destination. Generally speaking, though, if you’re going somewhere popular and populated, you’ll have plenty of options to charge so, for such a short trip, I wouldn’t worry too much.

My first trip was 9,000 miles and I just got in the car and drove. Didn’t think about charging until car got to about 40% but I was mostly on highways.

 

[RayK]

I bought the Model 3 Performance last weekend, and we are taking a 450 mile road trip vacation next weekend. I'm a little nervous about supercharging. Any advice?

Prior to leaving on your trip, go to a local Supercharger and confirm that you can indeed charge. At the very least you'll need to have a valid credit card attached to your Tesla account (and that it won't expire while you're on the road). You don't want to be a couple of hundred miles away from home and then find out that for some reason your car won't Supercharge. You should also have a backup. That means a Tesla Mobile Connector* (with the appropriate NEMA plug adapters) or a CCS adapter. Your car should support CCS being this new. Confirm by going into the car's menu (Controls / Software / Additional and check CCS Support is Enabled). If yes, then I'd go buy one (about $200). That will expand your choices for DC Fast charging. You should also already have a J1772 adapter for slower Level 2 charging. That can help if there's L2 charging where you're going to be. It provides around 20 miles of range per hour so it can be good for overnight charging at a motel if they have the chargers.

*edit: I don't mean to imply that a Mobile Connector has the same charging rate as CCS. The MC is a Level 1 (120VAC) and 2 (240VAC) piece of equipment and will take multiple hours to replenish a low-state-of-charge Model 3 battery. 4-5 miles of range per hour (120V 12A; NEMA 5-15) to about 30 MPH (240V 32A; NEMA 14-50)

 

[DomDeWild]

Great advice about doing a dry run at a local Supercharger. You'll be amazed at how easy it is. Back up to charger, charger recognizes car, car recognizes charger. Charging port opens, plug charging cable in to car. That's it.
Also, while driving on your trip, be sure the battery is pre-conditioning as you drive towards the next charger, usually starts automatically about a half hour before you get to the charger. As long as you have the charger as part of your route, you'll be fine. Pre-conditioning of the battery allows for faster charge times, your screen will tell you when it's happening. Most of all, have fun!

 

[mark02115]

one more suggestion that you did not ask for ---- I would recommend making sure you have some type of flat repair kit.
You do know that there is no spare or jack - right?

Tire Repair Kit

The Tire Repair Kit contains an air compressor to regularly top off your tire pressure and a one-piece sealant canister to patch punctures. Simply attach the transparent hose to the tire valve and connect the plug to your vehicle's 12V outlet to begin repairing the hole and filling the tire. The...

shop.tesla.com

 

[rpiotro]

As others have noted, just relax and enjoy the ride. I took a trip to Minneapolis last summer to visit friends. 335 miles one way in an SR+. Very enjoyable. Two stops of about 20 minutes each. One for lunch, one for coffee. In both cases the car was fueled up before I was.

 

[oreobbq]

None of these are very quick about it, but I don't want to be sitting in the car waiting for a charge.

Better adjust your expectations then. It’s not that bad though. Overall, road trips in a Tesla are a lot more relaxing than most ICE cars I’ve had.

On the other hand, some people have to justify their purchase and act like waiting to charge is a blessing of puppy dog tails and rainbows. It’s not lol. Batteries are only getting better so this is an evolving convo.

 

[85vett]

I'm going to give a slightly different approach to my opinion. I noticed that you are in the Florida Panhandle. While their is still supercharging around you, it's not quite as abundant as most of us have available to us. I still feel like you will be perfectly fine and it will be a great trip for you, but your "options" on when and where to charge are a bit more limited than most of us, at least for now. Things are ramping up there though.

As others have suggested put your plans in ABRP or the Tesla map. Follow it and you will be just fine. As others have suggested it's best to arrive at low state of charge and leave when charging starts to ramp down. I like to make just make sure I have 15% buffer in getting to my next charger. That helps me keep the anxiety down (I'm still a new EV traveler of owning ours only 1 year).

For my family, I worry much more about idle fees than running out of charge. Most of the chargers I stop at are Buckees stations in Texas. I swear, I can't get my wife and kids out of those places before the car is charged...

 

[KenC]

I used ABRP back in the day when they were a fledgling operation. I found it to be helpful when Tesla hadn't yet implemented the in-car trip planner. These days, I find ABRP's interface to be complicated and a bit convoluted. I also find it completely unnecessary for typical road trips, since Superchargers are all over the place and the in-car route planner does a very good job. Some folks might find it fun to sit down with ABRP and plan their trips to the nth degree, but I'm a get-in-and-go kind of person.

Agreed, but the OP is a totalnewbie, different than you and me.

 

[ColoradoMike]

I bought the Model 3 Performance last weekend, and we are taking a 450 mile road trip vacation next weekend. I'm a little nervous about supercharging. Any advice?

For context, my wife and two young boys need to stop every couple of hours for bathroom breaks. None of these are very quick about it, but I don't want to be sitting in the car waiting for a charge. Thanks in advance for the advice!

You will be JUST FINE! Since you are in Niceville you have some options! Crestview has a supercharger if you are headed North. DeFuniak Springs has one as well believe it or not! If you are traveling WEST towards Pensacola you have a really nice supercharger in Gulf Breeze as well.

We did our first road trip in May from Colorado to Navarre/FWB Florida and I had the same questions. We used ABRP as a planner but ended up using the Tesla Navigation and it never let us down.

ABRP is a nice app and it gives you a few options that the Tesla may not have shown us.

TIPS: Look for a 250kw charger if you can. For us, it seemed like they were in "newer" areas with more amenities. If you stop every 2 hours you probably will NOT be waiting on the charge if you try and plan for a stop. We found that we were not waiting on charging because we both needed to use the restroom and take both dogs for walks at each stop. We also NEVER had to wait on a supercharger. In Dallas, we were at a busy supercharger and did not have to wait...but it was pretty full. Try and arrive with a lower state of charge (SOC) because the battery charges faster in the lower ranges of SOC than trying to "fill it up" all the way.

 

[Big Earl]

Agreed, but the OP is a totalnewbie, different than you and me.

Yep. I think ABRP can overwhelm new EV drivers, making trip planning seem more difficult than it actually is.

 

[RefreshedP]

Let the car do the planning. Call ahead to hotels and see if they have EV charging available. It's annoying to constantly be planning your charging, but Tesla make it the easiest.

 

[ColPaul]

one more suggestion that you did not ask for ---- I would recommend making sure you have some type of flat repair kit.
You do know that there is no spare or jack - right?

Tire Repair Kit

The Tire Repair Kit contains an air compressor to regularly top off your tire pressure and a one-piece sealant canister to patch punctures. Simply attach the transparent hose to the tire valve and connect the plug to your vehicle's 12V outlet to begin repairing the hole and filling the tire. The...

shop.tesla.com

Thanks for the suggestion. I have a tire pump and a patch kit, but not sure that will do much good without a jack. I may take the jack out of the wife's ICE.

Does the sealant destroy the TPMS?