Brand New 22 MYP 4,400 Road Trip

[TriKKyOne]

Just got back home from a massive road trip. Took our brand new 22 MYP with 400 miles on it and went from Cincinnati, OH to Petrified Forest National Park in AZ (Painted desert), Grand Canyon, Vegas, Moab/Arches National Park, Telluride and back. We were completely new to EVs so this was huge trial by fire.

Before leaving, swapped 21s for Geminis with covers. Hate the look but wanted the efficiency and will become my winter set.

Efficiency:
Over 4,400 miles we charged 22 times - averaging 200 miles between charges.

Through all the mega elevation changes and heat in the west that hit 112 on multiple days keeping A/C between 68-70 incl rear vents, we averaged 314 Wh/mi or 1,394kWh/4,437mi. I generally drive 5-10 over the limit so this includes a big chunk of driving at 80-85mph out west and 75-80mph closer to Ohio (really Indiana).

Efficiency was honestly MUCH better than I had anticipated. I don’t know if my car is a unicorn or if I horror stories on here had me scared.

When near 90 degrees with AC running, my efficiency at 75mph is right around 295Wh/mi on flat ground.

Charging

Out of 22 charges, I used CCS adapter 2x and it really came in handy and saved us time.

I have not yet found ABRP settings that match my car and I paid for premium for the month. Despite my playing with all kinds of settings, it habitually overestimates how much energy it will take to get to next stop, sometimes dramatically.

Today, there was a stretch where it estimated it would take 80% of charge while the Tesla predicted 60% and it ended up taking 65%. I’ve played with reference consumption, etc and it just refuses to play nice. While I still used it throughout the trip, after the first two days I basically started using the Tesla as the “really really” saving me significant charging time and/or unnecessary stops.

Also, quickly learned about L2 SC and sharing and ended up striking up conversations with others to educate them as well as to how it worked.

Autopilot

Navigation in and of itself was fine. I paid the $299 for auto-lane change and navigate on autopilot.

This system is so much worse than imagined and I couldn’t be happier that I didn’t buy it outright.

If the issue was only phantom breaking I could even live with it. But the thing keeps wanting to change lanes for no reason at all. It pops up the visual like it wants to change lanes repeatedly for just a millisecond so I cannot even respond. Other times it asks me to change lanes to stay on route even when I’m on a long stretch with no exits on the road for MILES.

Then there are the times when it will either PB or something sets it off and it will just refuse to get back up to speed. Cruise set to 80? Slows to 70 and stays there….if I hit the accelerator to get it back to 80 and let off the accel, it will slow down again. I either have to let it slowly come back or fully cancel cruise and reset.

Had to learn that when I accelerate to pass and exceed 85 when in AP and then everything is pretty much disabled until I pull over and park. This happened a 2x before I learned I had to cancel it before accelerating. This is just something to learn and not a big deal.

Ran into construction a few times and had to ride over the lines to avoid cones and the system kept barking at me for it and ultimately disabled lane keeping until restart.

More than a few times, I’d want to change lanes, turn the signal full on, and the car would start to move over and then basically just give up, turn the signal off, and stay in the lane. No idea why.

Overall

Loved the car and the trip. The annoyances with AP were probably more pronounced due to the number of consecutive hours behind the wheel. That said, I really am glad I didn’t pay money for this. I don’t think I’ll ever pay for it again even on other road trips.

 

[acarney]

That's pretty solid info that the cars are the same except for the wheels. I see about 305 to 320 wh/mi with my LRY with Gemini's. Seems spot on for you. Would be so nice if Tesla just let you source the car with the Gemini wheels, even if they didn't give you a price decrease.

 

[Mingw]

I also made a 2200 miles trip with my 1 month old MYP. Paid FSD for a month also, and it was so bad I rarely engage it now. Too many unnecessary hard brakes and often it can't decide where to go.

 

[TomServo]

Thanks for the concise and informative trip report. I currently have a 2020 LR AWD with the Performance Boost Upgrade (I like o play Stop Light Grand Prix with the kids in their muscle cars) and my LifeTime is 264 wh/mi. I have 21,4xx miles and over 10K are long road trips.

On those 2Kmile trips, I easily average 28x wh/mi.

I have a PMY on order and went Uber extreme and bought some 18 tires/wheels from TSportLine to replace the 21s. I don't see ANY value in the 21s aside from looks.
TST 18" Tesla Model Y Wheel and Tire Package (Set of 4)

I hope it comes close to my 2020s efficiency. And I won't worry as much about curbing/potholes, a better ride, cheaper replacement costs, and the ability to rotate them. I'll store the 21s for that day I sell or trade it in.

 

[nate704]

Thanks for the concise and informative trip report. I currently have a 2020 LR AWD with the Performance Boost Upgrade (I like o play Stop Light Grand Prix with the kids in their muscle cars) and my LifeTime is 264 wh/mi. I have 21,4xx miles and over 10K are long road trips.

On those 2Kmile trips, I easily average 28x wh/mi.

I have a PMY on order and went Uber extreme and bought some 18 tires/wheels from TSportLine to replace the 21s. I don't see ANY value in the 21s aside from looks.
TST 18" Tesla Model Y Wheel and Tire Package (Set of 4)

I hope it comes close to my 2020s efficiency. And I won't worry as much about curbing/potholes, a better ride, cheaper replacement costs, and the ability to rotate them. I'll store the 21s for that day I sell or trade it in.

It has great value to use 21" Ubers by not spending $3000.

It is the best looking in terms of matching and complementing the design of the car, and it is strong enough to keep you and your precious ones safe. Yes, it is heavy which will impact the efficiency but not by much when comparing to 19" Gemini wheels.

 

[TriKKyOne]

It has great value to use 21" Ubers by not spending $3000.

It is the best looking in terms of matching and complementing the design of the car, and it is strong enough to keep you and your precious ones safe. Yes, it is heavy which will impact the efficiency but not by much when comparing to 19" Gemini wheels.

Sure, but another major driver of me picking up Gemini for $1900 with tires and sensors especially for the road trip was sidewall.
I think I hit a few things on the trip that could have caused an issue with the rubber bands in the 21”.

Basically, Geminis are my road trip and winter wheels. Ubers are for summer.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

Wow, your energy use performance looks pretty good considering your speeds, AC use, elevation changes, etc.

We drive our MXLR more conservatively - usually at or just a few miles above speed limit, never exceeding 75mph, and use higher temp settings on the AC which is more than comfortable for us especially with the chair cooling. This last 1300 mile long trip we managed 300 Wh/mi average and were very happy with that number.

Yeah, I pretty much turned off autosteer during highway construction zones because nonexistent or poorly painted lines, especially old lines crossing the lane, confused the car.

No FSD. Used autosteer quite a bit and it performed beautifully on curvy up and down stretches that used to be tiring before. Even some 2 lane stretches it did very well.

I don’t mind the manual lane changing at this point, is so easy to reengage autosteer from the yoke, and I use the thumb wheel to quickly adjust speeds as needed.

Our biggest driving hassle was missed speed limit signs, wrong/misread speed limit signs, and many times picking up a far away speed limit sign that was for access roads or exit ramps and not us. It seemed worse compared to before software version 2022.20.7.

 

[Watts_Up]

Autopilot
Navigation in and of itself was fine. I paid the $299 for auto-lane change and navigate on autopilot.
This system is so much worse than imagined and I couldn’t be happier that I didn’t buy it outright.

If the issue was only phantom breaking I could even live with it. But the thing keeps wanting to change lanes for no reason at all. It pops up the visual like it wants to change lanes repeatedly for just a millisecond so I cannot even respond. Other times it asks me to change lanes to stay on route even when I’m on a long stretch with no exits on the road for MILES.

Then there are the times when it will either PB or something sets it off and it will just refuse to get back up to speed. Cruise set to 80? Slows to 70 and stays there….if I hit the accelerator to get it back to 80 and let off the accel, it will slow down again. I either have to let it slowly come back or fully cancel cruise and reset.

Had to learn that when I accelerate to pass and exceed 85 when in AP and then everything is pretty much disabled until I pull over and park. This happened a 2x before I learned I had to cancel it before accelerating. This is just something to learn and not a big deal.

Ran into construction a few times and had to ride over the lines to avoid cones and the system kept barking at me for it and ultimately disabled lane keeping until restart.

More than a few times, I’d want to change lanes, turn the signal full on, and the car would start to move over and then basically just give up, turn the signal off, and stay in the lane. No idea why.

Overall

Loved the car and the trip. The annoyances with AP were probably more pronounced due to the number of consecutive hours behind the wheel. That said, I really am glad I didn’t pay money for this. I don’t think I’ll ever pay for it again even on other road trips.

Hi @TriKKyOne , I would agree that FSD is not perfect but I really like to use some of the FSD features when doing a long trip.

- About the line change, I changed the setting so this manoeuver is activated only when I press the turn signal.
I didn't like the automatic mode, as you mentioned it, because the car wanted to constantly change lane when I was following another car.

- About the car starting to change lane and going back, unless another car was detected, I think the car was going back in the lane
because I believe that you needed to keep making pressure on the turn signal.

- About the construction areas, if you have to pass over a painted line, FSD try to put back between two lines,
so you need to disconnect FSD, otherwise when there are cones (and no painted lanes) FSD is able find the correct way.

- I never experienced phantom breaking, maybe it's because I kept my feet just above the accelerator
and sometime touching it just a little bit, and not keeping my feet flat on the floor.
Keeping my feet flat on the floor would be more relaxing but I would not be comfortable
doing so just in case I needed to use the brake pedal.

A feature I like is when driving on an highway, is that the car follow the posted speed limit when approaching a small town.
This is very relaxing, especially at night. Honestly, for a human, it is very difficult to slow down, and I often noticed cars been pull over...

I really like also using the automatic lane change, but in manual mode were I have to use the turn signal to trigger it.
This allows keeping you looking at the road in front of you, instead to constantly looking at you rear mirror and side mirror, and in front of you.
So when the car find it safe to move, then the car starts to change lane and you can cancel it by releasing the turn signal.

This is also particularly useful when you try to go back to your lane after passing a truck, especially when another car is just behind you.
I always find difficult to estimate how much you are from a truck before moving back into your lane, and having the car doing it by itself is very helpful.

I think FSD need time to get use to it. For example, I prefer controlling the speed using the right button on the steering wheel,
especially on a curbing highway because the car would otherwise approach too fast a curb and brake in the middle of it.

I made several one long day trips, like at least 800 miles, and I arrived not tired at all, maybe having to take a break to charge helped.
And I felt a little bit like having been in front of a computer all the day than been driving a car.

 

[Corndart]

Not to re-litigate the camera only thing and how far FSD/Autopilot/TACC need to evolve but having to keep my foot hovering over the pedal for hundreds of miles / day is completely ridiculous. The following are challenging for camera-only Tesla's IME:

- twilight in general, that halfway light halfway dark
- entering heavily shadowed/shaded areas from full sun (not as much the inverse strangely)
- heat mirages
- cresting a hill
- some low overpasses

This is only on TACC, no FSD here. I'm not mad about it, but disappointed that a $67k Tesla performs worse than a Honda Civic and Toyota Highlander, which both perform nearly flawlessly on the exact same stretches of highway. That lurch when the car slows down quickly at highway speeds is disconcerting, and downright terrifying when it applies the brakes and goes from 75-40 in a few seconds for no apparent reason. Better hope nobody is behind you ...

 

[nate704]

This is only on TACC, no FSD here. I'm not mad about it, but disappointed that a $67k Tesla performs worse than a Honda Civic and Toyota Highlander, which both perform nearly flawlessly on the exact same stretches of highway. That lurch when the car slows down quickly at highway speeds is disconcerting, and downright terrifying when it applies the brakes and goes from 75-40 in a few seconds for no apparent reason. Better hope nobody is behind you ...

Yet , no official report of being rear ended Tesla cars due to the TACC/FSD braking during highway driving.

I think Tesla should start separating TACC from FSD meaning Tesla should numb it down its sensitivity for the TACC since it does not need to navigate the city streets or navigate to destination or doing the summon function.
I think all these "freaked out Tesla cars" issues are the sensitivity issue, so lowering the sensitivity gradually on every updates and see which sensitivity level satisfies people (most people since it is impossible to satisfy all people).

 

[Watts_Up]

I'm not mad about it, but disappointed that a $67k Tesla performs worse than a Honda Civic and Toyota Highlander, which both perform nearly flawlessly on the exact same stretches of highway.

Does the Honda Civic or Toyota Highlander use a radar in front of the car or a camera?

I drove a VW with a radar, so when following a car,
when there was a curb the car in front was not any longer detected by the radar,
so the car started to accelerate when approaching the curb, this was very scary.

 

[Corndart]

Does the Honda Civic or Toyota Highlander use a radar in front of the car or a camera?

I drove a VW with a radar, so when following a car,
when there was a curb the car in front was not any longer detected by the radar,
so the car started to accelerate when approaching the curb, this was very scary.

Honda uses radar + a laser IIRC, not sure about the Toyota. They're both pretty new (2020 and 2021 respectively.

 

[nate704]

Honda uses radar + a laser IIRC, not sure about the Toyota. They're both pretty new (2020 and 2021 respectively.

I don't think any auto maker uses actual laser. Some auto makers call their headlight laser headlight.

 

[Corndart]

I don't think any auto maker uses actual laser. Some auto makers call their headlight laser headlight.

Not certain but they call it a "laser radar", mounted in the same housing as the front camera, which is located near the top of the windshield inside the cabin, similar to where Tesla puts a bunch of cameras. This is in addition to another radar unit in the front bumper area.

 

[nate704]

Not certain but they call it a "laser radar", mounted in the same housing as the front camera, which is located near the top of the windshield inside the cabin, similar to where Tesla puts a bunch of cameras. This is in addition to another radar unit in the front bumper area.

That's a Lidar

"A typical lidar sensor emits pulsed light waves from a laser into the environment. These pulses bounce off surrounding objects and return to the sensor. The sensor uses the time it took for each pulse to return to the sensor to calculate the distance it traveled. Repeating this process millions of times per second creates a real-time 3D map of the environment. An onboard computer can utilize this 3D map of the surrounding environment for navigation."

No production car has lidar yet.

 

[Watts_Up]

No production car has lidar yet.

Maybe in the US....

Xpeng P5 becomes first car on sale with built-in lidar

The Xpeng P5 is a compact electric sedan with world-first technology.

www.motorauthority.com

 

[RPM51]

Not to re-litigate the camera only thing and how far FSD/Autopilot/TACC need to evolve but having to keep my foot hovering over the pedal for hundreds of miles / day is completely ridiculous. The following are challenging for camera-only Tesla's IME:

- twilight in general, that halfway light halfway dark
- entering heavily shadowed/shaded areas from full sun (not as much the inverse strangely)
- heat mirages
- cresting a hill
- some low overpasses

This is only on TACC, no FSD here. I'm not mad about it, but disappointed that a $67k Tesla performs worse than a Honda Civic and Toyota Highlander, which both perform nearly flawlessly on the exact same stretches of highway. That lurch when the car slows down quickly at highway speeds is disconcerting, and downright terrifying when it applies the brakes and goes from 75-40 in a few seconds for no apparent reason. Better hope nobody is behind you ...

add
- concrete freeways with expansion joints. Incredibly annoying I can't use cruise control on this type of surface which are everywhere around us. The time of day doesn't matter. Slams on the brakes randomly on these sections of the road, with nothing else around, no trees, cars, or overpasses.

 

[TriKKyOne]

add
- concrete freeways with expansion joints. Incredibly annoying I can't use cruise control on this type of surface which are everywhere around us. The time of day doesn't matter. Slams on the brakes randomly on these sections of the road, with nothing else around, no trees, cars, or overpasses.

Yeah, makes no sense as to why it’s so bad. My ‘18 Q7 does a way better job.