It's been a while since a long road trip....about 30K miles in fact. I was concerned that with 53K miles and the slower charging taper curve that we've been seeing in the last year or so that the the experience might be degraded compared with previous long distance trips.
The trip went from Merced, Ca -> Phoenix, Az -> Sedona, Az -> Grand Canyon, Az -> Merced, Ca.
TeslaFi was logged in so I have tons of driving data.
There were roughly twice as many chargers as there were on our last trip to Phoenix. In fact, Phoenix has 3 chargers in the city limits where there were none in 2.5 years ago the last time we were there.
Driving time to Phoenix was about 10 hours and charging time was 2 hours and 30 minutes. Had we optimized for shortest time, that could have been brought down to 2 hours and 10 minutes but we stopped twice longer than needed for sit down meals. But because of that, we charged longer than necessary several times as as you know, charging higher into the top end is far less miles per minute than at the bottom.
Oddly enough, I almost always got the full charge rate and the taper curve nearly always matched what it was when the battery was new. In the last year, even after my cooling louver was fixed, I'd see full charge rate at the start of the curve and at the end, but in the middle, it would peak at 8 kw less than what it was when new. For instance, when new, I'd see 74KW at 54% but in the last year it has been more like 66KW at 54%. But on this trip, I again saw 74KW at 54% repeatedly at difference chargers.
I have no idea why. Ideas range anywhere from Tesla increasing the rate when it knows you're on a long trip to perhaps all the chargers I've used in the last year just aren't as good in Northern CA as they are in Southern CA and AZ.
The trip went from Merced, Ca -> Phoenix, Az -> Sedona, Az -> Grand Canyon, Az -> Merced, Ca.
TeslaFi was logged in so I have tons of driving data.
There were roughly twice as many chargers as there were on our last trip to Phoenix. In fact, Phoenix has 3 chargers in the city limits where there were none in 2.5 years ago the last time we were there.
Driving time to Phoenix was about 10 hours and charging time was 2 hours and 30 minutes. Had we optimized for shortest time, that could have been brought down to 2 hours and 10 minutes but we stopped twice longer than needed for sit down meals. But because of that, we charged longer than necessary several times as as you know, charging higher into the top end is far less miles per minute than at the bottom.
Oddly enough, I almost always got the full charge rate and the taper curve nearly always matched what it was when the battery was new. In the last year, even after my cooling louver was fixed, I'd see full charge rate at the start of the curve and at the end, but in the middle, it would peak at 8 kw less than what it was when new. For instance, when new, I'd see 74KW at 54% but in the last year it has been more like 66KW at 54%. But on this trip, I again saw 74KW at 54% repeatedly at difference chargers.
I have no idea why. Ideas range anywhere from Tesla increasing the rate when it knows you're on a long trip to perhaps all the chargers I've used in the last year just aren't as good in Northern CA as they are in Southern CA and AZ.
