Well, did you try it or make it? The weather and roads look terrible.
More Than 650 Crashes Kill at Least 5 on Icy Missouri Roads | The Weather Channel
More Than 650 Crashes Kill at Least 5 on Icy Missouri Roads | The Weather Channel
Yes, curious. FWIW, I would do it. All 85's are good for 200 miles, in worst conditions. The single chargerless night, above 10F, will mean 40 miles rated, to go first 20 actual, but right back to normal afterward, in my experience.
Very hard these days to go 95 miles without a Level 2, nearby someplace anyway?
Very hard these days to go 95 miles without a Level 2, nearby someplace anyway?
Sorry for the delayed update; I am fortunate enough to live in Atlanta and have a friend with a private plane, so I just got back last night from watching the Falcon Heavy launch!
So yes I did go for it, and let me tell you 11 hours in the Model S really beats 9 hours in a minivan (like I did last year for this trip). I think Autopilot makes a big difference on fatigue as I arrived in great shape after the drive.
I heeded advice here and took it real conservative for the last leg. I charged to 99% while eating dinner, put on my coat and gloves, turned off the heat, and did about 5mph under the speed limit. I arrived at 52% charge. I found the online estimates to be very accurate, and the car itself seems to be a lot better at estimating range than it used to be.
But I had arranged to park the car in a workshop and plug it in overnight. He ended up having 20-amp outlets (and I have the 20A plug) so I had gained about 60 miles rated range by the time I left the next morning. All that meant was I could take him on a quick joyride, and leave the heat on and drive a normal speed on the way back to the charger.
By my math with the charging rate being faster at lower battery levels, it seems best to arrive at every charger as low as possible on charge, so I got better and better at that as I trusted the car more. I arrived home with about 5 miles of rated range remaining. Of course I knew if things started going poorly I could always slow down again to conserve battery.
Thanks for all the tips and advice!
So yes I did go for it, and let me tell you 11 hours in the Model S really beats 9 hours in a minivan (like I did last year for this trip). I think Autopilot makes a big difference on fatigue as I arrived in great shape after the drive.
I heeded advice here and took it real conservative for the last leg. I charged to 99% while eating dinner, put on my coat and gloves, turned off the heat, and did about 5mph under the speed limit. I arrived at 52% charge. I found the online estimates to be very accurate, and the car itself seems to be a lot better at estimating range than it used to be.
But I had arranged to park the car in a workshop and plug it in overnight. He ended up having 20-amp outlets (and I have the 20A plug) so I had gained about 60 miles rated range by the time I left the next morning. All that meant was I could take him on a quick joyride, and leave the heat on and drive a normal speed on the way back to the charger.
By my math with the charging rate being faster at lower battery levels, it seems best to arrive at every charger as low as possible on charge, so I got better and better at that as I trusted the car more. I arrived home with about 5 miles of rated range remaining. Of course I knew if things started going poorly I could always slow down again to conserve battery.
Thanks for all the tips and advice!
All right, that's great to hear! Figured a little bump of extra charge in the middle would be all you needed.
Yes, the charging taper varies in its exact form across some of the various battery types they have had, but it's always there. One thing to keep in mind--some people don't quite think through how it works and think that it's still a thing for charging from outlets. You see the tapering at Superchargers because it's having to lower the power from 100kW+ down to 60, 40, 30, etc. and it's only down to about 10kW when the battery is very nearly full. Since even a 14-50 outlet is only 10kW, you basically won't ever see any tapering from AC charging until it's about 98% or more full, which people rarely do.
Wow, that's making the most of it, but you've got it right, that late in the drive, you can speed up to use that extra energy and just keep and eye on how much you have left. It's amazing how precisely speed changes can tune in your energy usage.
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