Charging on Road Trips for Newbie

[MacO512]

For your first few trips to a super charger sure aim to get there with 20% while you understand the process and the range estimates.

Once you get comfortable with this you can push your target arrival to a lower %.

If you want to minimize time at chargers you really want to aim to arrive closer to a 5% state of charge. The MY charges super fast up to 250kw/h from 5%-30% but then starts charging slower. So ideally you want to always utilize the time charging at that very fast 5-30% area. You also want to depart with less charge.

Also you want to ideally target 250kwh v3 superchargers and less stops at 150kwh v2 or older chargers.

I usually aim to arrive as I said at about 5%. But I plan that for cruising very fast maybe 80mph so probably speeding 5mph or so. Keep an eye on your range as you complete that leg of the trip. If you get into trouble where your estimated arrival creeps to 0% then slow down. EV are much more efficient at slower speeds. If you got into a severe range issue you could slow down to 50mph and you'll probably be able to go 50% farther.

I really enjoy doing road trips in my Tesla. If you can work on eventually doing some of these strategies to arrive closer to 5% I've seen where I cut about half the time off my charging stops.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

I still aim for ~20% upon arrival because I’ve experienced too many cases where the arrival estimate dropped 10% en route, even though I wasn’t driving particularly fast. I’m sure my long distance legs (180-200 miles between charging stops) don’t help, but that’s kind of the way things are in the American inland West.

 

[MacO512]

I still aim for ~20% upon arrival because I’ve experienced too many cases where the arrival estimate dropped 10% en route, even though I wasn’t driving particularly fast. I’m sure my long distance legs (180-200 miles between charging stops) don’t help, but that’s kind of the way things are in the American inland West.

Yeah I have seen where the estimates can swing, it takes a bit to understand why they will and what to keep an eye on for those projections. Early in the drive I can usually tell if an estimate was poor. If I am going fast enough I can always slow way down to easily make it to the destination even with a poor estimate - but that certainly takes practice to get comfortable with.

This process takes more time to keep an eye on with the efficiency graphs, so some people might just prefer the simplicity of charge to 20% or whatever and forget it. But over a 1000-2000 mile trip all those extra charging stops and with lower KWH charging speeds adds up to a significant difference of hours.

 

[fholbert]

Someone posted last month.

At 80mph, figure 2 miles per 1% of charge.​

That‘s a tad rough but easy to figure in your head. I was driving the same 92 mile round trip daily using about 43% of my charge (not a long range model), so on an 200 mile trip at 80mph I’d arrive with about 10% reserve.

 

[hmadsen]

Yeah I have seen where the estimates can swing, it takes a bit to understand why they will and what to keep an eye on for those projections. Early in the drive I can usually tell if an estimate was poor. If I am going fast enough I can always slow way down to easily make it to the destination even with a poor estimate - but that certainly takes practice to get comfortable with.

This process takes more time to keep an eye on with the efficiency graphs, so some people might just prefer the simplicity of charge to 20% or whatever and forget it. But over a 1000-2000 mile trip all those extra charging stops and with lower KWH charging speeds adds up to a significant difference of hours.

To be fair if you go to the power tab it often tells you why it is performing so bad compared to what you expected.

I have seen messages about "Keeping below X mph would have saved you x percent", "x knots of wind from a direction cost x percent on this trip" and so on.

Another thing that seems to really cost you range is if it is raining a fair bit. It seems like rain really takes up extra range.

My car often misjudges the SOT at arrival in the first 10-20 miles of the trip.

Here it is not THAT big of a problem as SuC's are fairly close together, most places, if i would have had 20% SOT when arriving at a certain SuC, i can easily get to the next one with atleast 5%

 

[AudreyHTX1]

When superchargers are 150 miles apart you tend to pay attention to the accuracy of the arrival SoC estimate and keep an eye on it. 50 miles between superchargers on route? Doesn’t really matter.

I do use the energy graph quite a bit on long trips. It even has a few intermittent bugs but overall quite useful.

I really don’t care if I save a few minutes charging by arriving with 5% or 10%. After these long legs we tend to be busy catching up with things including restroom during the charging break.

On rain - I imagine air resistance increases significantly. Yes, I’ve seen driving through a thunderstorm cause a drop in estimated arrival SoC.

 

[scgaskill]

You'll be fine, just don't do what I did....

About 4 months ago I bought a 2014 MS 60 from a non-Tesla dealer who knew very little about the car other than basic driving. I picked up the car on a Saturday afternoon and got 1 key fob, that I wasn't shown how to use.

My wife and I had tickets to a concert about 85 miles from the house. My wife said we should probably take one of our ICE cars but I told her I wanted to start learning about the car and it's range, and better now than when I'm driving it for work, right? I had left my ICE car at the dealer and didn't feel like taking hers.

So we took the MS60 leaving the house with a SOC of 82%. Don't worry, I told her, I had installed Plugshare on my phone and saw that there were several destination chargers along the way, and there was a Tesla destination charger less than a mile from the location of the concert. We might have to stop and charge for say, 30 minutes before heading home I told her. Boy was that wishful thinking!

We had left early enough and got to the concert early, so we went to the Tesla destination charger at the harbor, it was about 7pm and dark. The harbor was on the other side of railroad tracks between it and the downtown area where the concert was.

It was a sketchy area at 7pm BEFORE the concert let alone at 11pm AFTER the concert. So I decided not to leave the car there charging, and likely get carjacked on day-1!!! We went to a parking garage but it didn't have chargers. No worries, we had a concert to go to, we'll figure it out after the concert!

After the concert we went to the car to head home. The doors didn't auto-present. Oh yeah, gotta push the handle. Nothing, the handles don't present. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem! No worries, I'll just call Roadside Assistance!

I had installed the Tesla app but hadn't added the car yet as it failed to add. The dealer did the state title transfer and plates of course but didn't tell me I had to call Tesla to transfer ownership of the car! When I spoke to Roadside Assistance I told them my situation and that this was DAY ONE and I really didn't know what I was doing.

I told them I had the key fob but it wasn't being recognized (thinking I had what I now know is Passive Entry - I don't!). Would've been nice if they would have asked me if I had tried clicking the remote - I hadn't, and didn't know I could, the buttons aren't marked. They had me put the fob near sensors on the door column and windshield but that didn't do anything. They didn't have much other advise so I was thinking I would need to call an Uber. We hung up with them.

My wife was holding the fob and had managed to open the trunk! What luck! I crawled into the back and found the latch for the rear seat. I also found the J1772 adapter, very fortunate! I got in the driver's seat and unlocked the car, the wife got in, the car started, and we left the parking garage after fooling around for about 20-25 minutes just trying to get in. It was like an episode of Seinfeld. We were finally on our way home.

Then I noticed the charge level, 32%. We had used 50% of the estimated charge to get there, and were now more than 20% short to get home. Uh oh...... No worries, fire up Plugshare and find a destination charger! We drove about 15 miles and my battery percentage was down to about 12%. I didn't know much, but I knew I didn't want to go much below 10% so we found the closest charger. Did I mention my MS60 was not licensed for SuC?

We find the L2 destination charger. Good thing I found the J1772 adapter in the dark trunk. I plugged it on the charger cord and plugged in the car. We'll be on our way shortly I assured the wife. Then we sat and waited.... 5 minutes..... 10 minutes.... Charging at a snails pace 5-6 kWh rate, it had added a couple percentage points. Uh oh.... We're gonna be here a while. It was midnight. After about 30-35 minutes we were back up to about 23%. I stopped charging and he headed off again.

And about 15 miles later, we were back down to 10%! Where's the next destination charger. Another 30-35 mins to get back to 22-23%, another 15 miles, back to 10%.... We did that ALL NIGHT LONG! We limped towards home 13-15 miles at a time, with a 30 min charging stop each time. We stopped at the dealer at about 5am and the wife drove the ICE car and followed me.

At about 6am we rolled into a community center about 1.5 miles from home, they have Tesla destination chargers. I parked the car, plugged in, and we went home and slept till noon. We got up, had a quick lunch, then went back for the car. It had been charging for about 6.5 hours at that point and was then at about 85%. I drove the car home. We made it home without being carjacked or needing a tow or Uber. Hallelujah!

Helluva day 1! I wanted to start the "learning curve" and boy did I! I learned a heckuva lot that night!

I now have a home charger installed, and Tuesday I'm getting SuC enabled. I have a much better understanding of the cars range, and the god awful painfully slow charging rate of destination chargers.

Had I left the car at the harbor charging at the destination charger (and not gotten carjacked) I likely would have gotten enough charge in the 4 hours we were at the concert to make it home without any stops at destination chargers. Live and learn.

What a crazy night, one to remember! We've got a story to tell, albeit an embarrassing one! We can laugh about it now!

 

[hmadsen]

You'll be fine, just don't do what I did....

About 4 months ago I bought a 2014 MS 60 from a non-Tesla dealer who knew very little about the car other than basic driving. I picked up the car on a Saturday afternoon and got 1 key fob, that I wasn't shown how to use.

My wife and I had tickets to a concert about 85 miles from the house. My wife said we should probably take one of our ICE cars but I told her I wanted to start learning about the car and it's range, and better now than when I'm driving it for work, right? I had left my ICE car at the dealer and didn't feel like taking hers.

So we took the MS60 leaving the house with a SOC of 82%. Don't worry, I told her, I had installed Plugshare on my phone and saw that there were several destination chargers along the way, and there was a Tesla destination charger less than a mile from the location of the concert. We might have to stop and charge for say, 30 minutes before heading home I told her. Boy was that wishful thinking!

We had left early enough and got to the concert early, so we went to the Tesla destination charger at the harbor, it was about 7pm and dark. The harbor was on the other side of railroad tracks between it and the downtown area where the concert was.

It was a sketchy area at 7pm BEFORE the concert let alone at 11pm AFTER the concert. So I decided not to leave the car there charging, and likely get carjacked on day-1!!! We went to a parking garage but it didn't have chargers. No worries, we had a concert to go to, we'll figure it out after the concert!

After the concert we went to the car to head home. The doors didn't auto-present. Oh yeah, gotta push the handle. Nothing, the handles don't present. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem! No worries, I'll just call Roadside Assistance!

I had installed the Tesla app but hadn't added the car yet as it failed to add. The dealer did the state title transfer and plates of course but didn't tell me I had to call Tesla to transfer ownership of the car! When I spoke to Roadside Assistance I told them my situation and that this was DAY ONE and I really didn't know what I was doing.

I told them I had the key fob but it wasn't being recognized (thinking I had what I now know is Passive Entry - I don't!). Would've been nice if they would have asked me if I had tried clicking the remote - I hadn't, and didn't know I could, the buttons aren't marked. They had me put the fob near sensors on the door column and windshield but that didn't do anything. They didn't have much other advise so I was thinking I would need to call an Uber. We hung up with them.

My wife was holding the fob and had managed to open the trunk! What luck! I crawled into the back and found the latch for the rear seat. I also found the J1772 adapter, very fortunate! I got in the driver's seat and unlocked the car, the wife got in, the car started, and we left the parking garage after fooling around for about 20-25 minutes just trying to get in. It was like an episode of Seinfeld. We were finally on our way home.

Then I noticed the charge level, 32%. We had used 50% of the estimated charge to get there, and were now more than 20% short to get home. Uh oh...... No worries, fire up Plugshare and find a destination charger! We drove about 15 miles and my battery percentage was down to about 12%. I didn't know much, but I knew I didn't want to go much below 10% so we found the closest charger. Did I mention my MS60 was not licensed for SuC?

We find the L2 destination charger. Good thing I found the J1772 adapter in the dark trunk. I plugged it on the charger cord and plugged in the car. We'll be on our way shortly I assured the wife. Then we sat and waited.... 5 minutes..... 10 minutes.... Charging at a snails pace 5-6 kWh rate, it had added a couple percentage points. Uh oh.... We're gonna be here a while. It was midnight. After about 30-35 minutes we were back up to about 23%. I stopped charging and he headed off again.

And about 15 miles later, we were back down to 10%! Where's the next destination charger. Another 30-35 mins to get back to 22-23%, another 15 miles, back to 10%.... We did that ALL NIGHT LONG! We limped towards home 13-15 miles at a time, with a 30 min charging stop each time. We stopped at the dealer at about 5am and the wife drove the ICE car and followed me.

At about 6am we rolled into a community center about 1.5 miles from home, they have Tesla destination chargers. I parked the car, plugged in, and we went home and slept till noon. We got up, had a quick lunch, then went back for the car. It had been charging for about 6.5 hours at that point and was then at about 85%. I drove the car home. We made it home without being carjacked or needing a tow or Uber. Hallelujah!

Helluva day 1! I wanted to start the "learning curve" and boy did I! I learned a heckuva lot that night!

I now have a home charger installed, and Tuesday I'm getting SuC enabled. I have a much better understanding of the cars range, and the god awful painfully slow charging rate of destination chargers.

Had I left the car at the harbor charging at the destination charger (and not gotten carjacked) I likely would have gotten enough charge in the 4 hours we were at the concert to make it home without any stops at destination chargers. Live and learn.

What a crazy night, one to remember! We've got a story to tell, albeit an embarrassing one! We can laugh about it now!

Let me guess....Your wife did not find this experience anywhere as "enlightening" and "fun" as you did.

I would have probably have seen it just like you, as a "fun" learning experience, but at the same time i would BET, my wife would have viewed this very differently.

 

[scgaskill]

Let me guess....Your wife did not find this experience anywhere as "enlightening" and "fun" as you did.

I would have probably have seen it just like you, as a "fun" learning experience, but at the same time i would BET, my wife would have viewed this very differently.

Yeah, just when she was about to give me an "I told you we shouldn't have.....". I let out a primal scream and cursed "I paid $XX,XXX for THIS?!?!?!?! and she realized that it wasn't the time to poke the bear!

At about 4am we pulled into a very nice tennis facility that was set back in the woods. We drove about a quarter mile through a forested area and found the charger and plugged in for a while.

As I was sitting there all I could think of is all the "B" horror movies of the couple sitting in their car getting murdered in secluded places like that. Not a great feeling, sleep deprived at 4am, waiting for a crazed killer! Then I noticed across the big grass field that that side was on a road with cars driving by, and my fears subsided a bit. Just a bit, I was still glad to get out of there and back to more public areas!

 

[scgaskill]

In my defense, I hadn't planned on buying a Tesla, or an EV. My old paid off Sonata Hybrid still ran fine but I had spent $4500 on the transmission 1.5 years earlier, so I was planning on driving it for a few years for the ROI. It's like an old pair of jeans, comfortable but a bit frayed around the edges, but paid off!

But... The drivers rear fender started to show rust, and I hate rust. Rather than spending $xx,xxx for another car I thought I'd get the rust cleaned up and put a paint job on it. Lipstick on a pig, but cheap lipstick. The power train still has 35K miles on it, it had been extended by Hyundai.

I didn't realize how expensive paint jobs are these days, particularly when it's not covered by insurance. The body shops were like "you want to paint the WHOLE car?!?!?!". Ok, the lipstick just got more expensive! Let's look at spending the money to replace it.

Not excited about spending a big chunk of cash (I make very good money and hate monthly payments) I wasn't very impressed with the ICE cars I was considering. Then I saw the 2014 MS60 and it was (almost) love at first sight! It's a beautiful car!

2014 is older than I wanted, but it only had slightly less than 40K miles, was very clean inside and out, and with the aluminum body and frame, it'll never rust. I took it to Tesla and had it inspected and they assured me that the battery still had approx. 95% life left.

It was out of warranty due to the age, not the milage, so I checked into an extended service contract specifically for EVs. I got a CarShield warranty for $90/month that gave me some peace of mind that if it turned out to be a lemon, I would be covered.

It didn't have SuC licensed but the SC said it could be enabled for $2500. I held off until I had more experience with the car and understood it's range better. I really don't ever make long road trips. When I do occasionally, it's for work and I rent a car and expense it. Put the wear and tear on their car, not mine.

So I wasn't too concerned about SuC. I did not buy the car for any auto-driving capabilities, so wasn't concerned about AP1 hardware, or MCU1, etc.

I did some research before buying the car but didn't have a 100 point checklist like I will have the next time. In the end it's working out. I love the car.

 

[scgaskill]

Oh and the old Sonata Hybrid... The dealer didn't want to take it at all, but suggested selling it to CarMax. They offered $2K which is low, but considering the age/milage/condition, not a surprise. I decided to hold on to it, at least through the winter. Turned out to be a good call.

About a month later, on a Friday at 5pm as my wife was leaving work, her car broke down, a broken control arm. Beautiful, I was home packing to leave Saturday morning to go on a liveaboard scuba boat in Belize! Perfect timing. We had her car towed to my mechanic (the guy who replaced the trans) and left a voicemail saying "sorry but I'm out of country, help my wife out, thanks!". She drove the Hyundai that week, having not yet learned or was comfortable driving my Tesla.

Then, a month after getting the suspension fixed, a woman in a grocery store parking lot got the sun in her eyes and plowed into the car, caving in the driver side and bending the frame. How the hell do you hit a car that hard at low speed that you bend the frame?!?!? The insurance totaled out the car so the wife drove the Hybrid for a week until we got her another.

Finally, when we got our first big snowstorm, I parked the MS60 and drove the Hybrid until the snowy mess cleared up. The last thing I need is some idiot who doesn't know how to drive in snowy, ice conditions playing bumper cars with my MS60! So glad I kept the Sonata Hybrid as a backup vehicle!

Once I get SuC enabled and am comfortable with it's usage I'll put the Hybrid out to pasture, likely in the spring. She served me well from many years but I'm ready to move on and drive the MS60 now full time, into retirement in the next 2-5 years!

 

[scgaskill]

You'll be fine, just don't do what I did....

About 4 months ago I bought a 2014 MS 60 from a non-Tesla dealer who knew very little about the car other than basic driving. I picked up the car on a Saturday afternoon and got 1 key fob, that I wasn't shown how to use.

My wife and I had tickets to a concert about 85 miles from the house. My wife said we should probably take one of our ICE cars but I told her I wanted to start learning about the car and it's range, and better now than when I'm driving it for work, right? I had left my ICE car at the dealer and didn't feel like taking hers.

So we took the MS60 leaving the house with a SOC of 82%. Don't worry, I told her, I had installed Plugshare on my phone and saw that there were several destination chargers along the way, and there was a Tesla destination charger less than a mile from the location of the concert. We might have to stop and charge for say, 30 minutes before heading home I told her. Boy was that wishful thinking!

We had left early enough and got to the concert early, so we went to the Tesla destination charger at the harbor, it was about 7pm and dark. The harbor was on the other side of railroad tracks between it and the downtown area where the concert was.

It was a sketchy area at 7pm BEFORE the concert let alone at 11pm AFTER the concert. So I decided not to leave the car there charging, and likely get carjacked on day-1!!! We went to a parking garage but it didn't have chargers. No worries, we had a concert to go to, we'll figure it out after the concert!

After the concert we went to the car to head home. The doors didn't auto-present. Oh yeah, gotta push the handle. Nothing, the handles don't present. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem! No worries, I'll just call Roadside Assistance!

I had installed the Tesla app but hadn't added the car yet as it failed to add. The dealer did the state title transfer and plates of course but didn't tell me I had to call Tesla to transfer ownership of the car! When I spoke to Roadside Assistance I told them my situation and that this was DAY ONE and I really didn't know what I was doing.

I told them I had the key fob but it wasn't being recognized (thinking I had what I now know is Passive Entry - I don't!). Would've been nice if they would have asked me if I had tried clicking the remote - I hadn't, and didn't know I could, the buttons aren't marked. They had me put the fob near sensors on the door column and windshield but that didn't do anything. They didn't have much other advise so I was thinking I would need to call an Uber. We hung up with them.

My wife was holding the fob and had managed to open the trunk! What luck! I crawled into the back and found the latch for the rear seat. I also found the J1772 adapter, very fortunate! I got in the driver's seat and unlocked the car, the wife got in, the car started, and we left the parking garage after fooling around for about 20-25 minutes just trying to get in. It was like an episode of Seinfeld. We were finally on our way home.

Then I noticed the charge level, 32%. We had used 50% of the estimated charge to get there, and were now more than 20% short to get home. Uh oh...... No worries, fire up Plugshare and find a destination charger! We drove about 15 miles and my battery percentage was down to about 12%. I didn't know much, but I knew I didn't want to go much below 10% so we found the closest charger. Did I mention my MS60 was not licensed for SuC?

We find the L2 destination charger. Good thing I found the J1772 adapter in the dark trunk. I plugged it on the charger cord and plugged in the car. We'll be on our way shortly I assured the wife. Then we sat and waited.... 5 minutes..... 10 minutes.... Charging at a snails pace 5-6 kWh rate, it had added a couple percentage points. Uh oh.... We're gonna be here a while. It was midnight. After about 30-35 minutes we were back up to about 23%. I stopped charging and he headed off again.

And about 15 miles later, we were back down to 10%! Where's the next destination charger. Another 30-35 mins to get back to 22-23%, another 15 miles, back to 10%.... We did that ALL NIGHT LONG! We limped towards home 13-15 miles at a time, with a 30 min charging stop each time. We stopped at the dealer at about 5am and the wife drove the ICE car and followed me.

At about 6am we rolled into a community center about 1.5 miles from home, they have Tesla destination chargers. I parked the car, plugged in, and we went home and slept till noon. We got up, had a quick lunch, then went back for the car. It had been charging for about 6.5 hours at that point and was then at about 85%. I drove the car home. We made it home without being carjacked or needing a tow or Uber. Hallelujah!

Helluva day 1! I wanted to start the "learning curve" and boy did I! I learned a heckuva lot that night!

I now have a home charger installed, and Tuesday I'm getting SuC enabled. I have a much better understanding of the cars range, and the god awful painfully slow charging rate of destination chargers.

Had I left the car at the harbor charging at the destination charger (and not gotten carjacked) I likely would have gotten enough charge in the 4 hours we were at the concert to make it home without any stops at destination chargers. Live and learn.

What a crazy night, one to remember! We've got a story to tell, albeit an embarrassing one! We can laugh about it now!

In the immortal words of the great philosopher Jerry Garcia... "What a looooong strange trip it's been"......

 

[tga]

You'll be fine, just don't do what I did....

About 4 months ago I bought a 2014 MS 60 from a non-Tesla dealer who knew very little about the car other than basic driving. I picked up the car on a Saturday afternoon and got 1 key fob, that I wasn't shown how to use.

My wife and I had tickets to a concert about 85 miles from the house. My wife said we should probably take one of our ICE cars but I told her I wanted to start learning about the car and it's range, and better now than when I'm driving it for work, right? I had left my ICE car at the dealer and didn't feel like taking hers.

So we took the MS60 leaving the house with a SOC of 82%. Don't worry, I told her, I had installed Plugshare on my phone and saw that there were several destination chargers along the way, and there was a Tesla destination charger less than a mile from the location of the concert. We might have to stop and charge for say, 30 minutes before heading home I told her. Boy was that wishful thinking!

We had left early enough and got to the concert early, so we went to the Tesla destination charger at the harbor, it was about 7pm and dark. The harbor was on the other side of railroad tracks between it and the downtown area where the concert was.

It was a sketchy area at 7pm BEFORE the concert let alone at 11pm AFTER the concert. So I decided not to leave the car there charging, and likely get carjacked on day-1!!! We went to a parking garage but it didn't have chargers. No worries, we had a concert to go to, we'll figure it out after the concert!

After the concert we went to the car to head home. The doors didn't auto-present. Oh yeah, gotta push the handle. Nothing, the handles don't present. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem! No worries, I'll just call Roadside Assistance!

I had installed the Tesla app but hadn't added the car yet as it failed to add. The dealer did the state title transfer and plates of course but didn't tell me I had to call Tesla to transfer ownership of the car! When I spoke to Roadside Assistance I told them my situation and that this was DAY ONE and I really didn't know what I was doing.

I told them I had the key fob but it wasn't being recognized (thinking I had what I now know is Passive Entry - I don't!). Would've been nice if they would have asked me if I had tried clicking the remote - I hadn't, and didn't know I could, the buttons aren't marked. They had me put the fob near sensors on the door column and windshield but that didn't do anything. They didn't have much other advise so I was thinking I would need to call an Uber. We hung up with them.

My wife was holding the fob and had managed to open the trunk! What luck! I crawled into the back and found the latch for the rear seat. I also found the J1772 adapter, very fortunate! I got in the driver's seat and unlocked the car, the wife got in, the car started, and we left the parking garage after fooling around for about 20-25 minutes just trying to get in. It was like an episode of Seinfeld. We were finally on our way home.

Then I noticed the charge level, 32%. We had used 50% of the estimated charge to get there, and were now more than 20% short to get home. Uh oh...... No worries, fire up Plugshare and find a destination charger! We drove about 15 miles and my battery percentage was down to about 12%. I didn't know much, but I knew I didn't want to go much below 10% so we found the closest charger. Did I mention my MS60 was not licensed for SuC?

We find the L2 destination charger. Good thing I found the J1772 adapter in the dark trunk. I plugged it on the charger cord and plugged in the car. We'll be on our way shortly I assured the wife. Then we sat and waited.... 5 minutes..... 10 minutes.... Charging at a snails pace 5-6 kWh rate, it had added a couple percentage points. Uh oh.... We're gonna be here a while. It was midnight. After about 30-35 minutes we were back up to about 23%. I stopped charging and he headed off again.

And about 15 miles later, we were back down to 10%! Where's the next destination charger. Another 30-35 mins to get back to 22-23%, another 15 miles, back to 10%.... We did that ALL NIGHT LONG! We limped towards home 13-15 miles at a time, with a 30 min charging stop each time. We stopped at the dealer at about 5am and the wife drove the ICE car and followed me.

At about 6am we rolled into a community center about 1.5 miles from home, they have Tesla destination chargers. I parked the car, plugged in, and we went home and slept till noon. We got up, had a quick lunch, then went back for the car. It had been charging for about 6.5 hours at that point and was then at about 85%. I drove the car home. We made it home without being carjacked or needing a tow or Uber. Hallelujah!

Helluva day 1! I wanted to start the "learning curve" and boy did I! I learned a heckuva lot that night!

I now have a home charger installed, and Tuesday I'm getting SuC enabled. I have a much better understanding of the cars range, and the god awful painfully slow charging rate of destination chargers.

Had I left the car at the harbor charging at the destination charger (and not gotten carjacked) I likely would have gotten enough charge in the 4 hours we were at the concert to make it home without any stops at destination chargers. Live and learn.

What a crazy night, one to remember! We've got a story to tell, albeit an embarrassing one! We can laugh about it now!

This reminds me of the time I bought a 30 year old Triumph Spitfire and immediately decided it would be a good idea to take it on a 150 mile road trip. Spoiler alert - it wasn't.

 

[Rocky_H]

My wife and I had tickets to a concert about 85 miles from the house. My wife said we should probably take one of our ICE cars but I told her I wanted to start learning about the car and it's range, and better now than when I'm driving it for work, right?

Well, no, not right. This kind of thing worries me that people brand new to electric cars are going to do this. Going 85 miles away where you KNOW that you will NEED to charge to make it back home is not the time to try to learn about charging for the first time, what you need, what works and what doesn't, what you have or don't that might be needed, etc. Experimenting and learning about it for the first attempt would be better within a few miles of home.

 

[scgaskill]

Well, no, not right. This kind of thing worries me that people brand new to electric cars are going to do this. Going 85 miles away where you KNOW that you will NEED to charge to make it back home is not the time to try to learn about charging for the first time, what you need, what works and what doesn't, what you have or don't that might be needed, etc. Experimenting and learning about it for the first attempt would be better within a few miles of home.

Agreed, I let my excitement about the new car skew my better judgement. I blame no one but myself. This is a "cautionary tale" that I thought would give many a laugh, at my expense, self deprecating.

 

[scgaskill]

owngnot the best of me! that 208ilWell, no, not right. This kind of thing worries me that people brand new to electric cars are going to do this. GiI didn't realize ng oio all this ng 85 miles away where you KNOW that you will NEED to charge to make it back home is not the time to try to learn about charging for the first time, what you need, what works and what doesn't, what you have or don't that might be needed, etc. Experimenting and learning about it for the first attempt would be better within a few miles of home.

And actually no, I didn't KNOW I would need to stop for HOURS to charge at L2 destination charger speeds. The car has a rated range of 208 miles, at least new. And yes, just like EPA gas estimates, these are usually overly optimistic, so I should have known that 208 miles was a stretch.

"Your Milage May Vary" (YMMV) has been a mantra long before any of our cars were built and is not specific to any brand, and has become so common it's used beyond autos as a generic statement meaning "it varies".

And yes, I should have realized that in 9 years the battery would have some degradation, so even in "real-life" range, it would have been a stretch. I knew that I should have driven the ICE then started the MS60 "learning curve" for Sunday, closer to home, like you say. My excitement got the best of me!

To simplify range estimates, as a rule of thumb, particularly for non-EV owners, I've told a few people now that it's "85% of 85%" meaning that the EPA estimate is likely too high, assume maybe 85% of it, and that's for 100% charge. From what I've read, at least for older models, it's not good to regularly charge to 100%, and you really don't want to go down to 0%, so if you assume 85% of your real-life range (the first 85%) you've got some buffer at the top and bottom of the range, say from 10% to 95%.

I've used this more to show that you cannot just read the EPA estimate and assume you'll get it. Not to mention the cold weather and it's effect on range, or driving habits. I haven't done the math so not sure 85%/85% is the best or super accurate. That's irrelevant, it's not the point, this isn't intended to be taken literally as a formula to calculate your range! And it's a "rule of thumb" and to get newbies realizing that it's a bit complicated.

 

[scgaskill]

Ok, I just did the math and the 85% of 85% actually works pretty well for my car, particularly if you factor in 7% degradation due to age.... 208 x .85 x .85 x .93 = 140 miles which is probably pretty close to my real-life range!

 

[mborkow]

If anything, 85% of 85% (which is 72.25%) might be too optimistic unless you started at 100% and were driving sorta slow!

 

[scgaskill]

If anything, 85% of 85% (which is 72.25%) might be too optimistic unless you started at 100% and were driving sorta slow!

Yeah, there are other variables as well. so YMMV but it emphasizes to a new EV'er that the EPA estimates are unrealistic and you never use 100% of your charge. That was the original intent rather than it being an actual formula.

But 72.25% of the EPA estimate and factoring in some reserved charge to not run down to zero.... How does that equate for your vehicle? Is it a lot closer than assuming 100% of the EPA estimate?

And if you were driving slow you'd be using less energy so you'd have longer range, not shorter.

 

[scgaskill]

If anything, 85% of 85% (which is 72.25%) might be too optimistic unless you started at 100% and were driving sorta slow!

And yeah, starting at 100% was the point. Most people don't. Most people don't get the EPA estimated range. My example wasn't to put a specific number on what a new owner should expect, it was to realize that you don't use 100% of an unrealistically high EPA estimate.