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Be honest: is SCing on a long trip annoying?

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Ironically, this picture was taken at a Supercharger rest stop. We were in and out in 15 minutes at the Supercharger. I wonder how long the wait was for gas.

I'm mainly posting b/c of your avatar pic as I will be driving to Disney World this weekend and will enjoy my Supercharger stops, just as I did in driving to/from Key West and Charlotte two weeks ago. :)
 
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So I love how Tesla has more or less eliminated range anxiety with their rapid buildout of SCs nationwide in the US. But I've been mapping out some long trips on evtripplanner.com. Because SCs are currently spaced so that you really can't afford to skip one (even if you have the 90D), it seems like the longest you can drive (on average) in a leg is about 2 or 2.5 hours. Then you have to stop for 30-60 minutes.

For those who've done significant long distance trips, doesn't this get tiring/annoying? Compare it to an ICE car where you could literally go 4-5 hours without stopping (and maybe more) if you wanted to.
Not as annoying a long drive with a droning ICE and no autopilot.
 
My point is - No pre-Tesla forms of transportation have been eliminated yet. Why subject yourself to SC frustration IF you don't like SC'ing?

People who only have a tesla ( MS or MX ) - in my opinion - certainly have the money to rent an ICE minivan or such..... If SC'ing is frustrating there are options.

I would SC every 100 miles rather than go through an airport in many situations. Flying isn't that bad, though they have crammed the seats together so much those of us with longer legs are usually uncomfortable. But since 9/11 airports have gone from a moderately unpleasant ordeal to one of the deepest circles of hell.

I haven't done more than a day trip yet, but I think I could physically do a longer driving day with superchargers and autopilot than it could be done with an ICE. If need be, I could nap at superchargers and while I would probably be pretty tired after being on the road for 12 hours or so, but getting a half hour to 45 minute map every few hours would help from getting overly tired. The last time I tried to make it from the Bay Area to home near Portland in one day, I was just too tired to keep my eyes open by the time we hit Salem, OR.
 
The temp was at least 106+ in the desert, I had my dog with me so I couldn't leave the car, it was painful.
I don't mean to sound like I'm questioning your decision, but I'm just curious whether you considered leaving your dog and turning the A/C on from the phone app? I don't have a dog, but I tend to leave the A/C on while charging anyway, just because it doesn't affect charging rates (that I can tell) and keeps the car comfortable for me when I return.
 
I don't mean to sound like I'm questioning your decision, but I'm just curious whether you considered leaving your dog and turning the A/C on from the phone app? I don't have a dog, but I tend to leave the A/C on while charging anyway, just because it doesn't affect charging rates (that I can tell) and keeps the car comfortable for me when I return.
The main reason is that some passerby is likely break the windows to "rescue" the dog.
 
The main reason is that some passerby is likely break the windows to "rescue" the dog.
My dog travels with me in the Tesla often. When I do need to leave her in the car, I open the sunroof about 25% and then use the phone app to turn on the air.

Anyone that walks by can see and hear that the air is running and that the dog is OK.

You just need to be aware that after about 20 minutes the AC will shut off on its own. Most of the time I am only gone for 5 or 10 minutes so its not a problem that way.
 
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My dog travels with me in the Tesla often. When I do need to leave her in the car, I open the sunroof about 25% and then use the phone app to turn on the air.

Anyone that walks by can see and hear that the air is running and that the dog is OK.
You just need to be aware that after about 20 minutes the AC will shut off on its own. Most of the time I am only gone for 5 or 10 minutes so its not a problem that way.

My dog is almost always with me. I usually park so far away that they'd be no passers by, but my Tesla guy convinced me to place a sign in the window because the SvC has been repairing so many broken ones.

I like this one......

dog-in-car-sign-picture-475x480.jpg
 
Until last week, I hadn't bought gas since mid 2011. It took me 20 minutes to buy 2 gallons, pumping gas is often slower than Supercharging. Why is it that people only want to count ideal fill up times, not real world times?
The thing with charging - you plug in, then you walk away and not worry about it. With gassing up - you have to stand there, breathing the fumes, sometimes freezing, sometimes hot, so even without the lineups it's annoying. This for the trips - for standard days, plug in at home, not have to drive out of the way to stop at a gas station - awesome.
 
Or, and this has happened to me, you are desperate for gas and have to find a station in the worst part of Albany at 11:00 P.M.
And it was the slowest pump I have ever encountered. I was getting "robbery" looks from 2 locals and got out of there real fast!
 
Until my last road trip, it was no problem at all. However, with the significantly reduced charging rates that seem to be ubiquitous, charging times have increased upwards of 40%.

Fresno to Mt. Shasta City used to take me about 7 1/2 hours, charging at Manteca and Corning. This last time it took me about 8 1/4.

Forty minutes of charging at Manteca turned into 1:05, and 35 minutes of charging at Corning turned into 50 minutes.
 
Or, and this has happened to me, you are desperate for gas and have to find a station in the worst part of Albany at 11:00 P.M.
And it was the slowest pump I have ever encountered. I was getting "robbery" looks from 2 locals and got out of there real fast!

Hmm. Try driving I10 across the south and using superchargers in LA, AL, GA at night. Really, some are in the outer edges of malls with nobody around in some pretty sketchy neighborhoods.

The most worried I've ever been was Ukiah, CA. It's next to a public park filled with homeless and drug addicts. I had my iPhone out with the phone app open ready to dial 911. And, that was mid-afternoon full daylight. No joke.
 
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During this summer's road trip I had a few disconcerting moments around Superchargers that should be mentioned here... saw a few examples of down or broken Superchargers. In one case -- on my first leg, of course -- the entire Supercharger station was powered down. Back in an hour or so (I called Service) but it was a scary moment as the only other plug in town was really slow. It kinda messed up part of my first day of vacation.

Yes, the power can even go out at the pumps (though it's pretty rare) but at the Supercharger it could be just you and tumbleweed / tundra.

But the whole SC during a long trip thing is still great with me, and it can't be mentioned enough how nice it is to chat with friendly Tesla folks especially when far away from home ( hi to my new Ontario, Quebec, MA, VT, NH and NY friends : ) and of course the technology will just get better over time. But it seems to me that these things can not be treated quite as "maintenance free"... even though they designed it so you can't drive away with the cord still plugged in :p
 
SC is very easy and makes the trip a bit better in my opinion. No more gas station stops and most SC are near interesting places with something to do. This weekend we barely finished eating and the app buzzed to let me know it was full charge - no delay for us at all. Again NO GAS---hard to compare to anything else. Go drive and enjoy it...its catching on fast...had many ask me all about Tesla on this trip.
 
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I love my Model S but, yes, trips out of town are a major pain in the ass for me. I drove from San Diego to Phoenix and had to stop at least 3 times each way at a SC. The temp was at least 106+ in the desert, I had my dog with me so I couldn't leave the car, it was painful. Unfortunately, I'm just going to rent a car when I leave town from now on. :-/
I too am in San Diego and have to drive either to Las Vegas or San Luis Obispo every 6 weeks. Is SCing convenient - no, not really. But I do have it down to a science. When going to SLO, I charge to 100% and leave early a.m. just as the car reaches 100%. That easily gets me to Oxnard, where I stretch my legs for a bit, hit the Starbucks, walk around the mall while I charge up to 90%. I quick 15 minute top-off in Buellton. This gets me to SLO and back to Buellton with 30 miles to spare. Charge up to 90% (or higher) while I grab some food and I can easily make it to Redondo Beach. Charge there for 25 minutes and I have more than enough range to get back to SD and still make my normal workday commute for the week.