2,300+ Miles Family Road Trip AND We Drove It Like a Regular Car.

[spdracer888]

There are many threads and YT videos on how to properly plan an EV road trip, but I wanted to prove that it's possible to drive our MYP like a regular car. Given Tesla's robust charging network and car's usable range, I took the family on a road trip based on destination instead of destination charger. We picked the places we wanted to visit and hotels that has the best rates and went. Routing is done between Tesla's Nav and ABRP (since Tesla doesn't do waypoints). Over a period of 10 days we did 2,300 miles covering New York, Pittsburgh, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. We were averaging 75-80 MPH on the highway and averaged 295 Wh (including hills and mountain roads).

Here are my thoughts:
1. Super Charging Stations are crowded. Perhaps it’s b/c we went around 4th of July, we had to wait at several SCs along the way. The longest wait was around 30 minutes.
2. A lot of owners don’t know anything about charging speed in relations to % of charge and sharing stalls will slow both of you down especially when there are open ones.
3. ABRP is good for the waypoints, but Tesla’s NAV is better.
4. When you go outside of major metropolitan area, Tesla is a novelty…everyone we met are friendly, curious about the technology and a few remain stubborn to ICE cars.
5. Range Anxiety happened only ONCE: there was a SC that lost power and Tesla’s NAV didn’t update its status fast enough. As a result, we were given two choices: either drive max 55MPH on a 70MPH Highway to another SC or backtrack 20 miles. We backtracked only to find out the SC was an older 75 KW and it took forever. Knowing what I know now, I would’ve opt’ed for driving 55MPH b/c Tesla’s NAV is conservative.
6. Destination Charger is nice, two of our hotels had them, but wasn’t necessary.
7. FSD on the highway makes the road trip a breeze. On the last day, we drove 13 hours straight and wasn’t even remotely tired.

Here are two screenshots of the places we went to and our overall usage.

FYI the entire trip in on YT. You can search under SlowAsianDriver (yep…lol).

 

[El joe]

Subscribed and been watching your videos and trek. Really enjoyable and love your family -- and I would've tried to get out of paying at that national park, too.

 

[spdracer888]

Subscribed and been watching your videos and trek. Really enjoyable and love your family -- and I would've tried to get out of paying at that national park, too.

thanks pal! Appreciate the kind words.

 

[Rocky_H]

There are many threads and YT videos on how to properly plan an EV road trip, but I wanted to prove that it's possible to drive our MYP like a regular car.

Niiice. I also did that in February 2018, where I left on a big trip without any pre-planning also to demonstrate that it was fine. My trip was 11 days and 5,000+ miles. I drove from Boise to Michigan on I-70 most of the way, stopped in Missouri to visit some family. And then as I was starting to head back, I changed my mind and decided to take the long southern route home, so I went down through Oklahoma and Texas and took I-40 over to New Mexico and visited 4 Corners on the way back home.

 

[LoafPork]

Did you pack a spare tire with you? Any other road trip essentials you can suggest for a tesla?

 

[Pianewman]

spdracer888: ". On the last day, we drove 13 hours straight and wasn’t even remotely tired."

For me, that's the advantage of having to stop every 130-160 miles to charge. If FORCES me to either get up and MOVE around, or...take a 20-30minute power nap, which is just enough to recharge the car AND my body. I've driven 18 hours this way and arrived at my destination surprisingly alert.

 

[spdracer888]

Did you pack a spare tire with you? Any other road trip essentials you can suggest for a tesla

No spare, but did bring a fix flat kit with tire plugs and a pump. I have AAA Premier + it's the best $170/year you can spend. It gives you 4 tows up to 100 miles and 1 up to 200 miles.

Other essentials: extra battery packs to share, roof sun shade (although we didn't use it once) and a good cooler for drinks. Download lots of movies or games as most of the times WiFi at the SC don't work.

Also download a local set of Google Maps - in case there's no cell signal you can still navigate to the destination.

 

[Pianewman]

HAHA! No spare??? Your trip was within the dense NE region. I didn't look, but for sure, the spacing of SCs is more dense than some regions (MT, ID, ND, SD, west TX...etc. etc.)

With a blowout, the AAA Premier + (I have it as well!) isn't worth much if you're waiting hours and hours for the tow, and a day or two for a replacement tire. Of course, this is true for many new cars w/o spares, except their tire sizes are more mainstream.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I've been driving w/o a spare for 17k miles, 3 road trips (twice DFW-Tampa,, DFW-Denver) through some wilderness areas. So far, so good!!!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

1. Super Charging Stations are crowded. Perhaps it’s b/c we went around 4th of July, we had to wait at several SCs along the way. The longest wait was around 30 minutes.

How many is several and which ones?

 

[CaseyL]

HAHA! No spare??? Your trip was within the dense NE region. I didn't look, but for sure, the spacing of SCs is more dense than some regions (MT, ID, ND, SD, west TX...etc. etc.)

With a blowout, the AAA Premier + (I have it as well!) isn't worth much if you're waiting hours and hours for the tow, and a day or two for a replacement tire. Of course, this is true for many new cars w/o spares, except their tire sizes are more mainstream.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I've been driving w/o a spare for 17k miles, 3 road trips (twice DFW-Tampa,, DFW-Denver) through some wilderness areas. So far, so good!!!

I had a flat and my odometer had only reached 470 miles. We picked up the car in Jacksonville (FL) and had just got home the night before. Luckily the car was in the driveway. Pumped it back up with my home compressor and made it to a nearby Goodyear dealer who patched it.

And, no, I still don't carry a spare ....

 

[Waterleo]

I carry a high quality 12 Volt compressor and a plug kit

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I carry a high quality 12 Volt compressor and a plug kit

Also get some jackpads.

 

[boulder.dude]

Also get some jackpads.

What are those for?

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

What are those for?

Allows the car to be safely jacked up, without risking damaging the battery.

You don't want to be stuck in some small town, unable to jack up the car and replace a tire.

 

[AJ..]

No spare, but did bring a fix flat kit with tire plugs and a pump. I have AAA Premier + it's the best $170/year you can spend. It gives you 4 tows up to 100 miles and 1 up to 200 miles.

Other essentials: extra battery packs to share, roof sun shade (although we didn't use it once) and a good cooler for drinks. Download lots of movies or games as most of the times WiFi at the SC don't work.

Also download a local set of Google Maps - in case there's no cell signal you can still navigate to the destination.

Very practical points. Thanks for sharing.

I did a 2400+ mile trip too (mostly along/close to I95) and not having spare was my biggest concern (around holidays). I hadn’t gotten SC to ever look at my Tesla model 3. I instead got my local tire repair (branded and seem comfortable with Tesla - had seen a few there) replace with new set of tires (SC appointment wasn’t feasible for me). Also got alignment done there (that could have hurt in my long trip too - one of the back wheel had quite a bit of misalignment).

Fix a flat, and tire repair kit is also what I carried. I had my regular car insurance as well (no AAA, did not seem fair to buy right before trip). That’s the only sore point I worried about during my first family trip. Post trip I’m looking for Jack/pads/spare wheel (apparently Hyundai has one). Modern Spare seems too expensive (~350 for just the spare tire, another 100 odd for accessories, and I’m sure 50/70$ for shipping!). Hopefully 2022 - we will have much better options for light (but decent speed rating) model 3/Y spare wheel. Kindly add on if anyone has more info (suggestions on this particular topic of spare).

 

[DoctaM3]

Although my trip was not as extensive and maybe 1/3 of yours, I can easily see how you can drive the Tesla much like a regular car. I stopped at points I would normally have stopped for slightly longer than normal but because I had things to do in the Tesla, the time just seemed to pass quickly. In fact, I ended up staying longer just to get more range and it wasn't noticeably longer. Winter weather does take a hit on the range but overall, as a car guy, I am LOVING my Tesla.

 

[spdracer888]

Although my trip was not as extensive and maybe 1/3 of yours, I can easily see how you can drive the Tesla much like a regular car. I stopped at points I would normally have stopped for slightly longer than normal but because I had things to do in the Tesla, the time just seemed to pass quickly. In fact, I ended up staying longer just to get more range and it wasn't noticeably longer. Winter weather does take a hit on the range but overall, as a car guy, I am LOVING my Tesla.

Very nicely done pal!