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2000km trip to the Alps. Smooth.

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When we finally got our Model Y long range in March, first thoughts were for a first holiday to the alps in the EV. Why not? Then I googled it, and only found horror stories. Folks taking 16 hours or longer to get down, huge queues at super chargers, and cars limping along at 50 mph to make the next charge.

So we whizzed down to the Alps for an Easter Ski

The summary - EAP was good. Took longer than I hoped, but almost exactly what the online Tesla planner said.
 
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I googled it, and only found horror stories

I must have been lucky then .. .twice :) For me it was a ski-trip - so winter-cold and, on one occasion, raining all the way, which was not good for range.

Admittedly haven't tried it at a holiday-weekend when everyone else is on the same route.

We've been going to the same place skiing, always driving, for decades, so I have a fairly objective ICE/EV comparison. ICE was 12 hours door-to-door. EV was an extra hour (3 x 20 minute stops). Two further stops - one for overnight on the way out (which we used to do with ICE too) and one on the way back for Lunch (yup, did that with ICE too :) ). Only difference was choosing a hotel that had Tesla Destination Charger (unexpected bonus got there to discover it had Michelin-star restaurant) and spent an hour over lunch, and careful to arrive at 10% so that we could leave at 95+%.

And a stop at the Tunnel to charge - time-neutral whilst we waiting for our train.

Arrived much more refreshed than back in ICE days when we stopped every 3 hours for 5 minutes to swap drivers and press-on. The 20 minute stop every 2-hours-ish made a huge difference to arrival freshness.

I've got an MS LR, so a bit more range than M3 and a bit more still than MY ... but I doubt it is more than 10% at best.

In case of interest an Alps-trip reports:


And charging graph:

alpssoc-gif.782913


This is the return journey. Stop for an hour at 12 noon for lunch, and then at 17:00-ish at the Tunnel (waiting for our train anyway). That leaves the other 3 stops which were about 20 minutes each and 1h30m apart. The car would do 2h30m between stops (i.e. motorway range from, say, 80% to 10% at 130 KPH) but the Superchargers are not conveniently placed to allow that in practice.

Slope of the final leg shows that progress in UK traffic (and 70MPH) considerable slower / less "fuel" than France.
 
I found the EV a *LOT SLOWER* than ice - I'll paste in the findings below:

Big diesel is still the fastest

On the way down we didn’t time things, had a leisurely night over in Troyes, and when we got to La Rosiere, it had taken a while, maybe 11 or 12 hours. Our mates arrived in their big Landrover Disco, they’d smashed it from Calais, averaged about 95mph and 18mpg, and made the trip in 8 hours. Admittedly their fuel bill was something like £220 each way, but still a hell of a lot quicker.

So I thought I’d write down as much detail as I could.

**All the details - alps to folkestone and back**
We drove between 70 and 80 mph when possible.

Calais to La Rosiere
Drive 9hr 23
Charging - 2hrs 15, plus an overnight charge in Troyes. This could have been 1hr 50 if we hadn’t had to do a charge at the foot of the Alps, maybe 1hour 30 if I hadn’t insisted on arriving at each charger with 20%

La rosiere to Calais.
627 miles
Temperature - from -4 to 15 degrees C.
10.5 hours driving (average 60 mph, reflects about 90 minutes of heavy traffic we sat in)

Charging time - 2 hours 25 mins.
Charging stops - 5
Energy used 174kWh
Supercharger cost £70 (left with about 80%, arrived with about 40%)



Estimated times for EV routeplanning in a Model Y

Just after we left I found Bjørn Nyland’s work, he tests EV’s on a 1000Km run, somewhere that looks warm in America. His best time for the Tesla Model Y for 1000Km is 9hr 45 in average 17 degrees.

So in winter, with no extra charge stops, I think the entire journey should take say about 11 ½ hours. This is almost exactly what the Tesla route planner said, and about 45 mins longer than what ABRP predicted. And nearly 3 ½ hours longer than our speeding friends in the Discovery.

So in future I’ll plan for summer - 10 hours per 1000Km, and Winter 11 ½ hours per 1000Km.

A great trip, and a different pace of travel.
So for now, at least until we get different battery technology,cold weather trips will be a lot slower than diesel.
BUT - the stops are fun. Think more grand tour than an auto route smash. We stopped in Troyes on the way down, a beautiful medieval town, great fun to browse and had a wonderful meal and French cafe experience. Our last supercharger stop was La Lechere-les-Bains, absolutely beautiful location nestled at the foot of the alps. Here we had a quick 15 minute walk and checked out the baths hotel, which the Victorian travellers probably used on their grand tours!

Next time we go we will probably stop more, and have an overnight stop on the way and the way back. I’ll also trust the Tesla on board navigation, and be happy to arrive at charges with less that 10% charge which should reduce charging time a little.
 
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I must have been lucky then .. .twice :) For me it was a ski-trip - so winter-cold and, on one occasion, raining all the way, which was not good for range.

Admittedly haven't tried it at a holiday-weekend when everyone else is on the same route.

We've been going to the same place skiing, always driving, for decades, so I have a fairly objective ICE/EV comparison. ICE was 12 hours door-to-door. EV was an extra hour (3 x 20 minute stops). Two further stops - one for overnight on the way out (which we used to do with ICE too) and one on the way back for Lunch (yup, did that with ICE too :) ). Only difference was choosing a hotel that had Tesla Destination Charger (unexpected bonus got there to discover it had Michelin-star restaurant) and spent an hour over lunch, and careful to arrive at 10% so that we could leave at 95+%.

And a stop at the Tunnel to charge - time-neutral whilst we waiting for our train.

Arrived much more refreshed than back in ICE days when we stopped every 3 hours for 5 minutes to swap drivers and press-on. The 20 minute stop every 2-hours-ish made a huge difference to arrival freshness.

I've got an MS LR, so a bit more range than M3 and a bit more still than MY ... but I doubt it is more than 10% at best.

In case of interest an Alps-trip reports:


And charging graph:

alpssoc-gif.782913


This is the return journey. Stop for an hour at 12 noon for lunch, and then at 17:00-ish at the Tunnel (waiting for our train anyway). That leaves the other 3 stops which were about 20 minutes each and 1h30m apart. The car would do 2h30m between stops (i.e. motorway range from, say, 80% to 10% at 130 KPH) but the Superchargers are not conveniently placed to allow that in practice.

Slope of the final leg shows that progress in UK traffic (and 70MPH) considerable slower / less "fuel" than France.
surprised I had to charge so much more...did I need to slow down even more??! Nice graph!
 
I haven't done the alps, well not in winter, but have driven to Italy, Switzerland, southern France, Germany etc. Maybe I was a good boy scout and always prepared, and I must admit I did a fair amount of planning, but the journey wasn't so bad. I've not done it in an ICE to compare, and the stops being dictated by the car rather than my bladder made for some interesting tussles, but overall it wasn't a horror show.
 
I found Bjørn Nyland’s ... somewhere that looks warm in America

He's in Norway ... so his winter tests are cold, and the summer ones warm :)

arrive at charges with less that 10% charge which should reduce charging time a little

I don't think that makes much difference, provided you aren't Supercharging above 80%. But I may be wrong.

At the first stop let's say you only need to charge to 70%, and predicted arrival is 10% - but you actually charge to 80% (that costs you some time) and arrive at 20%. So now you have a 20% - 80% charge instead of 10% - 70% charge - about the same I reckon. If your last leg runs it down to 10% arrival then you've saved back the extra 10% you put in on your first leg's stop.

Arriving at Supercharger at 10%, rather than 20%, will get you faster charging - if stalls are free and not paired ...

Charging stopping at 70% takes less time 60%-70% than charging 70%-80% does, but you are going to save a minute-here and a minute-there ... not tens of minutes, and definitely not half-an-hour.

surprised I had to charge so much more...did I need to slow down even more??!

My MS has bigger battery than your MY, so I may have been able to leap-frog a charge. I may also charge faster - bigger battery can stuff it in across all cells. But MS battery chemistry is older, so may not be faster than MY.

I drove at 130 KPH all the way. We had negligible traffic (French covid rules had been lifted only couple of weeks before, so very few Brits able to dash-and-pack for a holiday, and the French much the same).

But I would have driven faster than that back in ICE days, which would have saved some time. Amongst my regular companions on that trip, over the years, 2x speeding fines. The time for the ADMIN for that probably wrecked any time saving! and then there was also the cost of the fine. And the extra diesel ...
 
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