Charging on the road

[njroward]

Let me start by saying I love, love, love my Tesla. Did have a bit of a scare today on the Jersey Parkway though. Started running very low on miles, and with heavy traffic (as always) around Newark was getting very frightened about making it back home. There are very few Superchargers in North Jersey, and none along the Parkway between Edison and Paramus. I explain this because even though it is only about 30 miles, it can take a very long time to travel this distance. There are however a few rest stops, and locations near the Parkway that have EV chargers.

So my question is, short of stopping at each one and seeing if the charging station takes the J1772 charger that came with my Tesla...how do i know where I can stop? I was getting so low on battery power that i certainly didn't want to just drive around trying to figure it out I have also found that the rest stops on the New York State Thruway don't take the J1772.

Do i need to invest the $450.00 in a CHAdeMO or CCSE adapter? How do you manage this?

PS...made it home with 16 miles left...whew!! Thank you all in advance for any and all advice.

 

[CO_MY]

Let me start by saying I love, love, love my Tesla. Did have a bit of a scare today on the Jersey Parkway though. Started running very low on miles, and with heavy traffic (as always) around Newark was getting very frightened about making it back home. There are very few Superchargers in North Jersey, and none along the Parkway between Edison and Paramus. I explain this because even though it is only about 30 miles, it can take a very long time to travel this distance. There are however a few rest stops, and locations near the Parkway that have EV chargers.

So my question is, short of stopping at each one and seeing if the charging station takes the J1772 charger that came with my Tesla...how do i know where I can stop? I was getting so low on battery power that i certainly didn't want to just drive around trying to figure it out I have also found that the rest stops on the New York State Thruway don't take the J1772.

Do i need to invest the $450.00 in a CHAdeMO or CCSE adapter? How do you manage this?

PS...made it home with 16 miles left...whew!! Thank you all in advance for any and all advice.

Recommend using PlugShare and looking at your options along the route. I think you’ll be surprised at what is available in an emergency.

 

[Barrygold]

Let me start by saying I love, love, love my Tesla. Did have a bit of a scare today on the Jersey Parkway though. Started running very low on miles, and with heavy traffic (as always) around Newark was getting very frightened about making it back home. There are very few Superchargers in North Jersey, and none along the Parkway between Edison and Paramus. I explain this because even though it is only about 30 miles, it can take a very long time to travel this distance. There are however a few rest stops, and locations near the Parkway that have EV chargers.

So my question is, short of stopping at each one and seeing if the charging station takes the J1772 charger that came with my Tesla...how do i know where I can stop? I was getting so low on battery power that i certainly didn't want to just drive around trying to figure it out I have also found that the rest stops on the New York State Thruway don't take the J1772.

Do i need to invest the $450.00 in a CHAdeMO or CCSE adapter? How do you manage this?

PS...made it home with 16 miles left...whew!! Thank you all in advance for any and all advice.

CHAdeMO is only other option, CCSE is not. I have a CHAdeMO for peace of mind. It won’t hurt to have one and you can sell it for just a few dollars less than you bought it if you no longer need it. I’ve been on a few trips where the CHAdeMO came in handy, since the nearest supercharger was 30 miles off my route and 50 kW is better than 6-11kW from J1772.

 

[brkaus]

PlugShare is your friend. Also, if it gets tight - slow down and turn off the ac/heat.

 

[animorph]

PlugShare.

The nice thing about getting stuck in traffic is that you can get great efficiency. That has extended our range significantly when driving out of L.A..

Our last road trip had a one hour delay on the Interstate, much of it just sitting there with only climate on. No problem at all, even though it was an unexpected delay and we had only charged enough to reach the next Supercharger with 15% charge remaining.

Any time you run into a range problem, slow down as needed. Which pretty much happens automatically with traffic jams.

 

[Electric > Gas]

Isn't the CHAdeMO mostly for Canada? I can't seem to figure CHAdeMO out.

 

[GtiMart]

CHAdeMO is one of the two DC fast charging standards outside of the Tesla proprietary superchargers. In America in general there are less CHAdeMO than there are CCS (the other DC fast charging) but Tesla only sell the CHAdeMO adapter. You can get ~44kW with it. It's not mandatory... There are tons of level 2 (AC) charging stations all around. The only problem is that they're 3kW, 6kW, 7kW speeds in general. It'S not great for road trips but it can save you in an emergency. If you're just missing a few miles, you plug 30 minutes and off you go.

Your car came with a J1772 adapter, all level 2 stations use that plug. You can use pretty much any of them, provided you have the membership for that provider.

EDIT: we talk more about it in Canada because we complain that there are less superchargers here than in the USA

EDIT 2: You said: "the rest stops on the New York State Thruway don't take the J1772." There were probably not level 2, they were probably DC fast chargers, so either CHAdeMO or CCS...

 

[GtiMart]

...I see the Elizabeth and Kearny superchargers between Edison and Paramus... You guys are lucky to have so many SCs
There are also quite a few J1772 plugs available on that route. Also, as I think someone else said, if you're in traffic then you really don't consume much compared to when driving. You might even make better mileage so that's not an issue.

 

[wws]

Isn't the CHAdeMO mostly for Canada? I can't seem to figure CHAdeMO out.

CHAdeMO was developed in Japan a decade ago. In North America the primary beneficiary has been the Nissan Leaf. When Tesla started selling cars in Japan, a CHAdeMO capability was required. The resulting adapters can be useful in places where CHAdeMO chargers exist, but Superchargers haven't been deployed yet. At 25-50 kW, they aren't as fast as Superchargers - but a lot better than L2 charging.

As others have said, use PlugShare and enable the CHAdeMO filter to see what is available.

 

[Rocky_H]

Isn't the CHAdeMO mostly for Canada? I can't seem to figure CHAdeMO out.

It's not really specifically "for" any country or place. It just depends on what charging resources are in the places you're going. There are still a few routes that are 250-ish miles near me that I travel occasionally that still don't have Superchargers, but DO have CHAdeMO stations, so of course the adapter is useful to me. And I frequently get people from this area asking me if they can borrow my adapter for a trip along these routes.

 

[jsight]

The CHAdeMO is really useful for some routes. It isn't fast, but I've seen pretty consistent 40kw+ at Electrify America and peaked at 48kw. The price was pretty reasonable for travel charging too, though that varies regionally.

There are a lot of available options so it makes a great backup for peace of mind.

 

[Tycofa]

I have a rebuilt title Model 3, so I can only use CHAdeMO. Typically I find 50kw DC fast options that get me 180miles/hour. Appears they may be a adapter for CHAdeMO and CCS? Not sure. Only having CHAdeMO option and not super charge capability seems to be issue when I need to travel more than 600 miles... charge time just gets unbearable.

 

[Mtb2020]

Does anyone post maps of proposed SC builds for future considerations?

 

[jsight]

There's a third party CCS adapter for pre-order, but it claims to be max 80kw. I'm not sure that is trust it, tbh.

 

[jsight]

Does anyone post maps of proposed SC builds for future considerations?

The Tesla website does, but it doesn't tend to be accurate. A lot of sites get constructed without showing up on the site first, and others that are listed get continuously delayed.

 

[Rocky_H]

Does anyone post maps of proposed SC builds for future considerations?

Well, this one is like the consolidated scouting report. When people discover a site where a building permit has been filed or construction started, they post a thread here, and then the marker gets added to this user-maintained map:
www.supercharge.info

 

[mark95476]

I'd rather be stuck in heavy traffic in an EV than a gasser. You can "idle" for a long time expending little energy in an EV. Creeping along at <5mph is amazingly efficient as well.

Idling in a gasser is very stressful. I haven't had to turn my car off to save gas, but I got close. Starting a gasser consumes a lot of gas when you're already low so there was that unknown math.

Definitely get additional charger adapters if you feel like it might come in handy.

Let me start by saying I love, love, love my Tesla. Did have a bit of a scare today on the Jersey Parkway though. Started running very low on miles, and with heavy traffic (as always) around Newark was getting very frightened about making it back home. There are very few Superchargers in North Jersey, and none along the Parkway between Edison and Paramus. I explain this because even though it is only about 30 miles, it can take a very long time to travel this distance. There are however a few rest stops, and locations near the Parkway that have EV chargers.

So my question is, short of stopping at each one and seeing if the charging station takes the J1772 charger that came with my Tesla...how do i know where I can stop? I was getting so low on battery power that i certainly didn't want to just drive around trying to figure it out I have also found that the rest stops on the New York State Thruway don't take the J1772.

Do i need to invest the $450.00 in a CHAdeMO or CCSE adapter? How do you manage this?

PS...made it home with 16 miles left...whew!! Thank you all in advance for any and all advice.

 

[mark95476]

This is from years ago, but going slow = hypermiling. All Teslas will exceed it's rated range by hundreds of miles when going slow. Here are the numbers for Model 3 and it'll be similar for Model Y. So, creeping along in heavy traffic while being low on charge in your Tesla shouldn't be too stressful.

Hypermiling Records: nextmove sets world records - Lausitzring

Machine beats man: Unmanned Tesla Model 3 drives 1,001 kilometers (622 miles) on a single charge

• Tesla Model 3 on autopilot achieves a distance record on Lausitzring test circuit Identical Model 3 with alternating drivers only achieves 978 kilometers (608 miles) Video shows Spacey, Starman’s younger brother, on board of the self-driving Tesla