Best road trip times

[SeanReynoldsCS]

I’m on the last leg of a 350 mile each way trip.

What I don’t understand is: My tesla recommends I stop twice with one charger for over one hour on my trip each way for a total charge time of around 1.5 hours; however I’ve found stopping at all 3 chargers along the way allows me to stop for only 20 min each giving me a total charge time of one hour saving 30 min.

Is there a reason my tesla doesn’t recommend this? I can imagine that maxing out the 480mph charge could degrade my battery over time but would it matter if I do this once every six months or so?

Just curious if others have found this to be true as well?

 

[Tam]

...Just curious...

My practice is based on the knowledge that Supercharing rate is faster when SOC is low and slower when SOC is high.

Thus, the goal is not to wait once the Supercharging rate has slowed down significantly and drive to aim to exhaust the SOC by the time of reaching to the next Supercharger.

I wouldn't rely on Tesla's Navigation Supercharging's algorithm. It's beta and I think it is designed for beginners.

 

[smatthew]

Check out ABetterRoutePlanner.com. It will save you time on long trips.

Basically: Charge enough to get to the next supercharger. Don't charge above 60% on a trip - you want fast charge speeds!

 

[Sw0rdf1sh]

I tend to stick around about another 10 minutes than normal, just because I like to compensate for any driving, weather issues. That one time the car told me to drive under 60 to get to my next Supercharger was a moment I realized I needed to use better judgement.

 

[ℬête Noire]

I answered 20 min but really it's "sub-30 min" most of the time. 25 min is probably closer.

The car's tendency to skip intervening SC is usually the wrong "overall time" choice. However not all SC are created equal** and the car is much better at cutting corners to skip superfluous SC than any website out there, so it's a mix and match.

** Some are buried off the highway quite a way. Chattanooga SC for example is inside the pay lot at the airport, a number of miles off the Interstate. You don't have to pay for the parking unless you hit the 2 hr mark before leaving but still you've got to drive all the way there, get a ticket, get in, and then get your way back out of the airport complex and take a couple roads to get back on the Interstate.

 

[Poonlarp]

Check out ABetterRoutePlanner.com. It will save you time on long trips.

Gotta say, not a fan. Much prefer EVtripplanner.com. Easy to edit trips to figure out fastest route

 

[ewoodrick]

It's all algorithms, and one optimization may not be the best for you. Also, few algorithms that I've seen tend to give you range to get around when you get to your destination. It's all just suggestions.

For me, I try not to stop at Superchargers, now don't get me wrong, I do stop, but I don't stop for Superchargers. What I do is to plan for combinations of feeding the car and taking care of my biology breaks. In that case, I may make stops for 20 minutes for bathroom breaks and then 1 hour stops for meal breaks. With this concept, Supercharging often adds very little time to my trip. A recent trip from Miami to Atlanta needed about 30 minutes extra for charging, all of the other was done while taking care of biology.

 

[ℬête Noire]

It's all algorithms, and one optimization may not be the best for you. Also, few algorithms that I've seen tend to give you range to get around when you get to your destination. It's all just suggestions.

For me, I try not to stop at Superchargers, now don't get me wrong, I do stop, but I don't stop for Superchargers. What I do is to plan for combinations of feeding the car and taking care of my biology breaks. In that case, I may make stops for 20 minutes for bathroom breaks and then 1 hour stops for meal breaks. With this concept, Supercharging often adds very little time to my trip. A recent trip from Miami to Atlanta needed about 30 minutes extra for charging, all of the other was done while taking care of biology.

Yes. This is how BEV trips can be as fast as ICE trips. You arrange charging times to do dual duty, as much as possible. Coupled with EAP's help in keeping you fresh and rested, you can make great time with a Tesla. Especially the longer range ones that give you more flexibility in choices, and allow near maximum charge rates for more kWh on your battery.