500 mile road trip

[Sanderpman12]

Hey yall,

I am about to go on my first road trip with my 2013 tesla model S p85 I just bought. Its a 500 mile trip. I am still charging it to 90% because at 90% its at 222miles range where at 100% its at 245-250miles. Do yall think i should charge to 100%? Also, any other tips and tricks to help me save battery on the drive or make this drive easier would help alot!

Thanks.

 

[roblab]

Put it on cruise and keep close to the speed limit. Unless there is a long jump between chargers, no need to charge over 90%. What with all the chargers almost everywhere, you should be fine. Of course, depending on your charging needs, bathroom needs, food needs, charge where these are available if you can, then kill two birds while waiting for the car to charge.

The car shows you superchargers on the center screen, so it shouldn't be hard to plan. I also use supercharge.info before a trip to get a better idea of which chargers I can skip and which ones I need to use. Enjoy your trip driving the best car ever!

 

[Boeingpilot]

Just completed a 650 each way road trip with a S90D.
Thoughts —. First leg I started at about 97%. I normally leave the car at 90%. That gave me a the first leg as longest. Since I was basically following I95 from PA to SC, Superchargers were spaced well. Looking at A Better Route planner, my charges worked out to about 20 minutes each. After the initial 200 mile leg, I was stopping between 100 and 140 miles to charge, which with 20 minute stops was comfortable

I would highly recommend you try A Better Route Planner. It seems to be right on the money for consumption and charge times

 

[Sanderpman12]

Just completed a 650 each way road trip with a S90D.
Thoughts —. First leg I started at about 97%. I normally leave the car at 90%. That gave me a the first leg as longest. Since I was basically following I95 from PA to SC, Superchargers were spaced well. Looking at A Better Route planner, my charges worked out to about 20 minutes each. After the initial 200 mile leg, I was stopping between 100 and 140 miles to charge, which with 20 minute stops was comfortable

I would highly recommend you try A Better Route Planner. It seems to be right on the money for consumption and charge times

I checked it out for the trip I am about to take and it wants me to charge from 20% to 50% every 130 miles or so. My qiestion would be will it make it from 50% to the next supercharger?

 

[Boeingpilot]

I checked it out for the trip I am about to take and it wants me to charge from 20% to 50% every 130 miles or so. My qiestion would be will it make it from 50% to the next supercharger?

I’ve been using ABRP for 7 months. So in my case I’ve been able to prove it’s accurate. I also pay for the premium service, so it is actually talking live to my car to see usage and state of charge.

if you have some time before your road trip, use it all the time for a while and compare to the built in system. I find the built in planner is very conservative, and will usually start going up for projected SOC at destination. ABRP tends to give a good number +/- 1 percent and usually the car matches the ABRP after a while

 

[bishoppeak]

I checked it out for the trip I am about to take and it wants me to charge from 20% to 50% every 130 miles or so. My qiestion would be will it make it from 50% to the next supercharger?

The car will tell you when you've got enough to make it to the next supercharger

 

[Boeingpilot]

The car will tell you when you've got enough to make it to the next supercharger

It does but I find the car’s system tends to be overly conservative, charging almost too long and estimating less range initially. ABRP tends to me closer to reality

 

[Watts_Up]

For a long trip with several Superchargers on the way I like to determine in advance, for all of them even if initialy I didn't plan to use them:

- which one are V3 (250kW) and which one are V2 (150kW). because navigation tolls don't always make you use the fastest V3 chargers,

- and how many stalls they have (sometime there is a mix of them at the same location but this is not always updated, and you need to look at the reviews and threads info)

- the access from the freeway and how to find them (because some superchargers might be inside a parking lot of a mall or an hotel)

- which amenities they have, and in particular what time each one might be open, especially if you drive earlier in the morning or late at night.

- where to find the bathrooms (and check which one are public and always accessible and which one are only available when a store is open, or if there is a gas staion near by in this case.)

I like to use Tesla/find us, supercharge.info/map, and A Better Route Planner because each of those web services provide additional web links, such as google map and also references to a TMC therad and local amenities.

I would recommend also to check PlugShare and ChargePoint for getting additional informations and tips or comments on those Superchargers, in particular for finding them.

Lastly, you can check the status (closed for maintenance...) or the availability (number of stalls free) using the Tesla Navigation, but this can be only used inside your car and not your Tesla phone App.

 

[airborne spoon]

After 4 years of having my car i have never once been concerned for range on trips. The car will tell you if you need to slow down. for example it often tells me to keep it below 85 mph to make it to the next destination, if i do 87 ill get there with about 2% remaining, which is more than enough for me.
Every time you supercharge the car will say charge for X min to continue the trip, this will get you to the next charger with 15-20% so depending on how fast you go sometimes you can leave early from a charge.
I do a lot of long trips in my car and the built in nav while it works is annoying and your best off first plugging in your destination then hitting the supercharger button on the screen and selecting a couple chargers along the way instead of the 1 or 2 that the car says to stop at. Its faster to stop more often for shorter periods than to stop less for longer periods but the car defaults to the latter to piss me off.

 

[RV8R]

In answer to the initial question, I always use the delay timer to reach 100% within an hour of my start of a long trip. That extra boost adds a few more miles ands hence options for the start. After that, I follow the superchargers and schedules on the screen.

 

[JimmyB]

Pretty much all the advice on here is spot on. ABRP premium, scheduled precondition / charge to 100, and relax. It’ll be fun. You don’t need to worry about v3 chargers, but do avoid charging in “paired” v1 or v2 stalls if possible. Above around 40% battery it won’t matter, assuming your taper follows the “kw + % = 110%” rule, but further down the curve it’s good to get the full charge speed your car is capable of.

What’s your route? There are good and less good locations. In the relatively short time I’ve had my S I’ve seen a lot of the superchargers between FL and NH.

Two other thoughts:

1 - Range Mode. Opinions differ but I find it does help my range on road trips. Not necessarily around town.
2 - My WH/mi went down from 360 to 303 just switching from 21” Turbines to 19” Slipstreams with Michelin Energy tires. Something to think about if you do a lot of road trips, depending on what handling / comfort / looks balance you prefer.

 

[TwistedGray]

Also, any other tips and tricks to help me save battery on the drive or make this drive easier would help alot!

I did a 3,000 mi road trip a little under a month ago. Here's my number one piece of advice - Set cruise control and draft if you are concerned about range. Drafting is the #1 way to conserve energy on a road trip, period end of story.

 

[suraj1194]

I’m one of those who has never used ABRP. I’ve pretty much never done more than plug in the destination and let the cars display tell me .

This year we’ve done Bay Area to Lake Tahoe in winter, and to San Diego in mid summer amidst the heat wave . Can make it to Tahoe (~230 miles, 6k ft) with one stop with a full load. San Diego is 475 miles with the 4K ft Tejon Pass just before LA, and a shorter climb about 25 miles south of Bay Area - doable fine with 2 stops and a full load (wife, kids, dog and luggage).

Usually started out with 95-98%, about 230 miles after 5 years of battery degradation . But at SCs I only charge to what it tells me to, sometimes a little more if family takes longer. What’s more, the car’s real world range is nearly exactly the rated range even under these conditions keeping up with freeway traffic, with the aircon on high.

 

[Watts_Up]

I’m one of those who has never used ABRP. I’ve pretty much never done more than plug in the destination and let the cars display tell me .

This year we’ve done Bay Area to Lake Tahoe in winter, and to San Diego in mid summer amidst the heat wave . Can make it to Tahoe (~230 miles, 6k ft) with one stop with a full load. San Diego is 475 miles with the 4K ft Tejon Pass just before LA, and a shorter climb about 25 miles south of Bay Area - doable fine with 2 stops and a full load (wife, kids, dog and luggage).

Usually started out with 95-98%, about 230 miles after 5 years of battery degradation . But at SCs I only charge to what it tells me to, sometimes a little more if family takes longer. What’s more, the car’s real world range is nearly exactly the rated range even under these conditions keeping up with freeway traffic, with the aircon on high.

The issue I noticed with the Tesla NAP (Navigation On Autopilot) is not selecting the fastest V3 250 kW Supercharger as priority and to use instead the slowest shareable V2 150 kW Supercharger.

 

[JimmyB]

The issue I noticed with the Tesla NAP (Navigation On Autopilot) is not selecting the fastest V3 250 kW Supercharger as priority and to use instead the slowest shareable V2 150 kW Supercharger.

Clearly an issue that Tesla need to fix. But neither OP, nor the poster to whom you are replying can make use of v3 supercharging speeds. Nor can I, unfortunately

 

[OrbiterTI4]

I'm surprised no one mentioned it, but with how busy the Superchargers tend to be these days, the car will very likely auto-drop the charging limit to 80%, and your manual intervention to push it back to 90-100% will be required if necessary.

 

[suraj1194]

The issue I noticed with the Tesla NAP (Navigation On Autopilot) is not selecting the fastest V3 250 kW Supercharger as priority and to use instead the slowest shareable V2 150 kW Supercharger.

It doesn’t functionally matter in my case since the older cars max out at <120kW rate . Both the SCs en route to SD have a mix of V2 and V3 chargers and I simply picked what’s a nicer spot to park im but both generally had availability .

Ive seen the 80% limit imposed once on the way back from SD but I overrode it to charge to ~90% and that was plenty to get home on.

With all the super chargers on the nav looking like chickenpox, I don’t really plan anything for long drives beyond a vague idea that I’d like to stop every 2.5-3hrs for family to have a break. This approach works well now.

 

[TwistedGray]

It doesn’t functionally matter in my case since the older cars max out at <120kW rate . Both the SCs en route to SD have a mix of V2 and V3 chargers and I simply picked what’s a nicer spot to park im but both generally had availability .

Ive seen the 80% limit imposed once on the way back from SD but I overrode it to charge to ~90% and that was plenty to get home on.

With all the super chargers on the nav looking like chickenpox, I don’t really plan anything for long drives beyond a vague idea that I’d like to stop every 2.5-3hrs for family to have a break. This approach works well now.

Once you leave California, chickenpox goes away reallllllllllllll quick.

 

[Sanderpman12]

Thanks all for the help and info! I just got back from my trip and here is hiw it went.

its a 8hr trip for an ICE car. I had to charge my tesla 3-4 times on the way there so it added about 3hrs more. Overall the ride to my destination was chill and the breaks i had at the suoerchargers was good because i usually never stop when i drive an ICE car and it tends to be a rough trip. However, these breaks of getting food and streatching helped this 11hr ride go by smoother.

Then the trip back home went sideways…

Started at 3pm and it said i would get home by 1am. Im driving and we hit the first charger and everything is smooth.
Then im driving and its about 10pm-11pm and my tire gets a flat!. Idk how but the metal wires from the wheel were sticking through the tire. I placed a road side assistance and they got to me at 12pm. The guy didnt have the right bolts to take off my tire so he put my car on his truck and we drove to a empty garage 15 mins down the road. He was a good dude. Fixed my tire and checked my tire pressure on other tires. I had to pay him $126 because tesla said “customer would pay” even thiugh they said they would cover the loaner tire for me. I drove home with the loaner tire on and the flat tire in the trunk and got here at 8:30am the next day I have an appointment with tesla in 2 weeks to get loaner off. Hopefully i dont have to pay anymore for my tire to get fixed. But the ride back really got me thinking about taking a road trip with a 2013 tesla and instead wait to get a better year tesla in the future with more range and then drive more like that.
All in all, it definitely was an adventure on the ride back.

 

[Big Earl]

Thanks all for the help and info! I just got back from my trip and here is hiw it went.

its a 8hr trip for an ICE car. I had to charge my tesla 3-4 times on the way there so it added about 3hrs more. Overall the ride to my destination was chill and the breaks i had at the suoerchargers was good because i usually never stop when i drive an ICE car and it tends to be a rough trip. However, these breaks of getting food and streatching helped this 11hr ride go by smoother.

Then the trip back home went sideways…

Started at 3pm and it said i would get home by 1am. Im driving and we hit the first charger and everything is smooth.
Then im driving and its about 10pm-11pm and my tire gets a flat!. Idk how but the metal wires from the wheel were sticking through the tire. I placed a road side assistance and they got to me at 12pm. The guy didnt have the right bolts to take off my tire so he put my car on his truck and we drove to a empty garage 15 mins down the road. He was a good dude. Fixed my tire and checked my tire pressure on other tires. I had to pay him $126 because tesla said “customer would pay” even thiugh they said they would cover the loaner tire for me. I drove home with the loaner tire on and the flat tire in the trunk and got here at 8:30am the next day I have an appointment with tesla in 2 weeks to get loaner off. Hopefully i dont have to pay anymore for my tire to get fixed. But the ride back really got me thinking about taking a road trip with a 2013 tesla and instead wait to get a better year tesla in the future with more range and then drive more like that.
All in all, it definitely was an adventure on the ride back.

The biggest differences between an older Tesla like yours and a new Tesla are range, obviously, but more importantly, charging speed. Your four stops totaling three hours would have been cut down to under an hour and a half. Most charging stops for me are 15 - 20 minutes unless I have to span a particularly long gap between Superchargers. 110 miles between Superchargers seems to be ideal for a long range Model 3, at least in terms of minimizing charging time.