24 hour solo drive challenge

[outdoors]

This year I have thought about the limitations many ICE drivers question me about. Time of charging during long trips. Can one really travel long distances in short periods of time with an electric car? I have spent many a day reading the threads on Superchargers visited as these folks know how to travel. Would also like to thank @Darren S for his help in walking me through some things.

My goal was to see how many miles I could travel in a 24 hour period on a designated trip. Point A to B rather than looking back at a period of time to see what was the best rolling or 24 hour period driven. That was my thought, but to each his/her own.

Some general thoughts. I have done this trip in many variations, but always with another driver. Did in an ICE as well. Took some precautions on taking a 3 hour nap before leaving in the evening. I have always been known for long pulls in my towing days as I pulled my Airstream west every year. I also have a strange ability to get to sleep extremely fast and awake in a short period of time. Cat naps for 20-30 min leave me awake and refreshed. That being said. I want to stress to people to be careful in long drives. For me at the end of the drive it was I just ran out of time, not exhaustion.

Equipment:

Model S 100D AP2
19's with Goodyear All seasons
Loaded down with 200lbs of family gear. Including skim boards and wetsuits. Family of 4 clothing for 2 weeks
Tesla Fi
Abetterrouteplanner.com
Waze
Escort Radar
Dreamcase Model 3 size
Zpacks 30 degree down twin sleeping bag
Orvis dog hammock for blocking light from front of car and privacy
Eye shades
1 gallon of water
Starbucks Gift card loaded on phone
RainX washerfluid
Backcountry shovel
Kitty litter for traction
Small tiny meals of nuts and cheese and granola
First Aid Kit

Departure

9:44pm in the greater Metro Detroit Area for privacy reasons. I like to drive at night on the first leg, as it can help me adjust to sleeping in short periods of time. I also thought it might help me make it to Atlanta in an off peak traffic time.

Superchargers Visited:
Lima
London
Atlanta
Tifton
Turkey Lake
Dyer WPB (now defunct)


1232 miles in 24 hours is the current record that I am aware of. @Darren S is the holder.

So my results were what I expected. Got close to my destination 1173 miles @ 304 Wh/mi. I did hit snooze a couple times that lost me 20-30 min. I had perfect weather other than an inch or so of snow till Ohio, and only one or two traffic slowdowns. Supercharging was perfect. No reduced power or jammed superchargers. Understanding the Supercharging taper of your car is a must if trying to do this sort of trip. Autopilot was as always a dream. Easily 95% plus of the time. I ran Nav on AP to help me not miss exits. The lane change reminder to get in the correct lane and exit taker helped.

TeslaFi helped compile the data, but it has its own quirks about where it starts and stops recording a drive. I think I could have adjusted the settings, but I preferred to just use the data from my photos geolocation tag. I will add some of that data from TeslaFi. Give me a couple days.

Long and short of it. The supercharging highway from Tesla removes any shadow of a doubt on what some might question about some electric cars. The infrastructure in place makes serious roadtrippers have a great alternative to ICE vehicles. I have done many roadtrips in my 3 and S to no longer have any reservations about getting to my favorite backcountry trailhead or making like a jackrabbit down to Florida for some fun in the sun. Literally no planning required. Pack the car and head off with a full charge.

 

[ewoodrick]

Interesting info, but AFAIK, Tesla does currently hold the coast to coast record.

 

[outdoors]

Interesting info, but AFAIK, Tesla does currently hold the coast to coast record.

S was 47:43 hrs and 2,402.5 miles for a moving average of 50.3 mph.

I think the Model 3 50:16 hrs for 2,860 miles

Pretty sure they had 2 drivers.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Why would you have the analog clock as a default when the digital is always on the dash? Especially on a trip where you're watching the time; it would only raise my anxiety.

That said, you can hardly go wrong getting info from @Darren S; he basically lives in the car.

 

[outdoors]

Why would you have the analog clock as a default when the digital is always on the dash? Especially on a trip where you're watching the time; it would only raise my anxiety.

That said, you can hardly go wrong getting info from @Darren S; he basically lives in the car.

I randomly change them up depending on the mood. Most often I am completely empty on both sides of IC and display at 0%. I also am mostly silent. Talk radio very and little music for what it's worth.

 

[Darren S]

<snip> My goal was to see how many miles I could travel in a 24 hour period on a designated trip. Point A to B rather than looking back at a period of time to see what was the best rolling or 24 hour period driven. That was my thought, but to each his/her own. <snip>

1232 miles in 24 hours is the current record that I am aware of. @Darren S is the holder. <snip>

So my results were what I expected. Got close to my destination 1173 miles @ 304 Wh/mi. <snip>

It was great chatting with you before your trip, @outdoors, and I'm glad to see it was a success for you and thanks for the shout out ! I'm not sure if my 1,232 miles is a record but it's my personal best although that was either the last leg of a long trip or a day or two into one so one of these days I'll need to give it another go now that I can skip a few of the chargers that have been visited.

I can help you with that Teslafi data when you want also as I've become acquainted with it.

S was 47:43 hrs and 2,402.5 miles for a moving average of 50.3 mph.

I think the Model 3 50:16 hrs for 2,860 miles

Pretty sure they had 2 drivers.

I believe they definitely had 2 drivers and have always wondered what the solo record would be but my "direct routes" end up having some side trips to grab superchargers not along the route. Using that S average above, they would only average 1,208 miles in 24 hrs so yep -- as a solo driver I was able to put in more miles in 24 hrs than they did. W00T!

<snip> That said, you can hardly go wrong getting info from @Darren S; he basically lives in the car.

Thanks so much, @Half Dollar Bill. Don't forget, you only have yourself to blame for introducing me to this 'game' back in mid-Dec 2017. Thanks for all of your assistance and guidance along the way as well.

I'm sure there are many others who spend more time in the car but yes there have been some lengthy ~10,000-mile road trips but other road warriors know what that's like too.

 

[Darren S]

<snip> Superchargers Visited:
Lima
London
Atlanta
Tifton
Turkey Lake
Dyer WPB (now defunct) <snip>

I've added these to your list for 14 total now on the Superchargers visited thread as well as the Google Sheets file. I know you have many more so I'll work with you to try and track down the others you've visited.

 

[Bighorn]

The 100 kWh and Model 3 LR batteries carry a significant charging advantage to the 85s. 1100 is about the best I do in an 85 and 3 is closer to 1250. I think a German group beat 1600 miles which I find hard to fathom. I think Alex Roy has one or more of the cross country records. Way to go @outdoors!

 

[Darren S]

The 100 kWh and Model 3 LR batteries carry a significant charging advantage to the 85s. 1100 is about the best I do in an 85 and 3 is closer to 1250. I think a German group beat 1600 miles which I find hard to fathom. I think Alex Roy has one or more of the cross country records. Way to go @outdoors!

I have no doubt that Alex Roy has one of the solo records but I don't know what it is. Also, most of my road trips have basically been in a 75D then a 70D equivalent battery capacity in my 90D (due to battery degradation). My max range now is 256-258 miles instead of 296 miles when new.

Also, my max charging is 95-96 kW at a charger so that's why I'm quite pleased to have driven just over 1,200 miles in 24 hrs. I can't wait for the next time I get a 100D loaner and bring it back in 25 hrs with 1,300 miles on it.

 

[Kuhz]

I randomly change them up depending on the mood. Most often I am completely empty on both sides of IC and display at 0%. I also am mostly silent. Talk radio very and little music for what it's worth.

You must me a riot at a party

 

[outdoors]

You must me a riot at a party

Yeah it can be kind of a strange thing. I get it. Kind of get in a zone, yet being aware of the surrounding environment at the same time. Makes the miles roll on by. Sound creates work for my mind to process.

My conversation on a trip such as this doesn't go far from a stall Recently shared how much of slobs some owners can be. Have we no shame?

 

[outdoors]

Some TeslaFi Data.

Currently the car does not start recording for a period of time at beginning of drive. For future drives I am going to adjust to start recording immediately. Also seems like on longer trips the data accuracy can decline. Not sure why that is. Maybe the car cannot always be pinged in various cell areas??

 

[Darren S]

Some TeslaFi Data.

Currently the car does not start recording for a period of time at beginning of drive. For future drives I am going to adjust to start recording immediately. Also seems like on longer trips the data accuracy can decline. Not sure why that is. Maybe the car cannot always be pinged in various cell areas??

I don't understand what this is or why it happens. Feel free to email the Admin for assistance. I've not had an issue with it capturing the info within 1 or 2 minutes of driving, moving, parking.

Did you change the 'polling time' in your settings? It should default to "every 60 seconds when charging" and "every 20 seconds when driving" so at most, it should take no more than 1:20 minutes to capture the drive. If it is 5 or more minutes then there is something wrong or a setting that is incorrect (imho).

Also, do you have any Sleep modes configured (Sleep, Deep Sleep, etc.)?

Where is the "start recording immediately" setting? I haven't seen it but have never needed to change it either so I don't go poking around for it. There is another setting to alert you when it is "offline" aka "can't be pinged" for a specific time. I think the default is 30 minutes. You can adjust that as needed but don't think that is the issue here.

Good info from Teslafi but feel free to PM me with some of the raw data and I can see if there is any useful info there then report back to the thread.

 

[outdoors]

This is an extreme example in my 3 this summer. The only thing I can account for the discrepancy between Odometer and Teslafi data is the missing data points here and there due to data accuracy. If I look at all drives. There is a minute here and a minute there that don't show any data.

I miss spoke. Occasionally at home it doesn't start recording till I leave and driven a mile or so. I think that is a setting to determine when to save it as a drive vs just moving around in your garage etc...

 

[Darren S]

View attachment 365452 View attachment 365462

This is an extreme example in my 3 this summer. The only thing I can account for the discrepancy between Odometer and Teslafi data is the missing data points here and there due to data accuracy. If I look at all drives. There is a minute here and a minute there that don't show any data.

I miss spoke. Occasionally at home it doesn't start recording till I leave and driven a mile or so. I think that is a setting to determine when to save it as a drive vs just moving around in your garage etc...

I'm not sure I see any discrepancy at all. What exactly are you pointing out? The Odometer calculation matches exactly to the 142.88 miles indicated as the distance driven. You aren't talking about the difference between 142.88 miles driven and 193.89 miles used, are you? that is a calculation of the efficiency (or inefficiency) so 142.88 miles divided by 0.737 efficiency is 193.87 miles so everything checks out.


Ok, Teslafi used to poll every 20 seconds while driving (which is what I was used to) and now it looks like it is "between 6 and 20 seconds" but looks to be no more than 30 seconds. I hadn't taken a detailed look at drive data until now. Your data also shows that it is polling every 1 minute while idle so both look to be the default settings.

The discrepancy when at home is the time delay between "polling every 60 seconds" when idle. If, for example, you depart just 2 seconds after the previous "polling every 60 seconds while idle" then you will drive ~58 seconds before it polls again and you might be a mile down the road at that point. That might be 2 minutes if it didn't catch a signal from the vehicle until the 2nd or 3rd minute.

To combat this, you can shift into Drive and then sit for 45 seconds or so, adjust the HVAC, buckle your seatbelt, plug in your phone, check the map for local traffic on your route, pick some music, etc. (thus taking up 45 seconds of time) and then it should be grabbing your drive as soon as you move rather than 1 minute down the road.

 

[ChadS]

Thanks for all the details, outdoors. Especially this tidbit:

1232 miles in 24 hours is the current record that I am aware of.

Back in 2013 buzzbuzz did an essentially solo ~918-mile (IIRC) trip in about 18 hours. That was in a Sig S, which was limited to 90kW Supercharging. I say "essentially" solo because I went with him; but he did all the driving, so it wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't. He wasn't trying for a record; we spent more time than necessary at two food stops, and he was driving fairly close to the speed limit. I had estimated the time I would take us beforehand, and the real-life results were very similar.

When we got home, I figured if I took a Model S with 120kW Supercharging, I should have no problem doing a 1200-mile trip in 24 hours. It just happens to be about exactly 600 miles from the Canadian border to the California border; so I figured in one day I could (briefly!) visit both Canada and California and make it home. Not that I had any reason to do that; but it's always nice to have a story like that to toss out to the "EVs are nice, but too bad they are restricted to city driving" crowd.*

I never got around to taking that trip, but when I got my notably more efficient Model 3 RWD several months ago, I once again thought about it. But alas, I traded that car for a Model P3D and it barely seems more efficient than my old S.

* In April 2010 I took my Roadster on a 3,500-mile road trip from Seattle to San Diego and back. I was stopped much of the time visiting friends and it took a week so it was a different category of trip, but for years EV doubters sure got a funny expression on their faces when I told them I had done that. They seemed to think it was impossible for some reason, and being able to tell them about a real-life trip I had taken really opened their minds to some new possibilities. These days I tell them about my 11,000-mile trip in 2014 to the coast of Maine via Phoenix; and that not only was it possible in an EV, but I enjoyed it more than I would have in a gas car.

 

[AudubonB]

All that and an average consumption of 304 Wh/m. I am extremely impressed. Of course, it is downhill from Detroit to Florida. Climbing back uphill when you go up north.....hmmm.

Seriously: what sort of speed did you try to maintain?

 

[outdoors]

All that and an average consumption of 304 Wh/m. I am extremely impressed. Of course, it is downhill from Detroit to Florida. Climbing back uphill when you go up north.....hmmm.

Seriously: what sort of speed did you try to maintain?

Thanks @AudubonB. Driving solo can be quite a challenge. Even having a dog with me would be a benefit.

Of the 11 legs of the trip. I had 4 67mph legs. A couple 66mph. Only one over 70. Honestly really didn't look at speed, but rather just trying to be driving as much as possible. I figured that being in the car driving rather than inefficient time spent a charger was a better use of time. Was able to just leapfrog new 3 owners as they had yet to figure out when to stop charging and getting comfortable pulling into a supercharger at 7 or 8 percent. Definitely a learning curve.

@ChadS The most common comment from non EV owners was. How did you do that? Not so much amazed by the ability to drive such distances, but how did I charge. Great explanation of the Supercharger Highway as I and others call it.

 

[Shock-On-T]

The 100 kWh and Model 3 LR batteries carry a significant charging advantage to the 85s. 1100 is about the best I do in an 85 and 3 is closer to 1250. I think a German group beat 1600 miles which I find hard to fathom. I think Alex Roy has one or more of the cross country records. Way to go @outdoors!

The Germans would have had the advantage of high speed limits.
TeslaBjorn did some calcs which showed the best way is to drive fast and charge often, ie sit at 100mph or so, even though you get worse kWh/mile, then juice up more frequently.

 

[outdoors]

Minor point forgotten, but I guess a big one. Just under 16 months. Been quite an experience. Driving dreams if there is such a thing.