Cross-country travelling

[JayRM]

There seem to be several online routing programs for planning a cross-country trip in a Tesla. What is the best thinking for planning a trip with a 2018 Tesla S 100D Long Range?

I've looked at the Tesla trip planner, online, but there's no option for selecting this car with its estimated range.

I've also looked at Plug Share and there doesn't seem to be a way of seeing distances and time between charging stations.

Has anyone got some reflections on planning and driving cross-country?

 

[EVRider-FL]

Although I don’t use it myself, many forum members recommend this one: A Better Routeplanner

Note that the 2018 Model S100D doesn’t use the term “Long Range” — Tesla started using that for the S when they stopped using battery sizes, maybe in 2019.

 

[Takumi]

Easiest way to do it, use he in-car navigation. Waypoints make it really easy now.
Watch your energy usage and slow down or speed up as necessary to reach the desired battery SoC upon reaching the supercharger.

If you like planning, A Better Routeplanner is a great place to start. Supercharger Reviews can help you decide if you want to take a longer stop or not.

In the beginning, I used to plan, but now I just plot it in the nav & go. Tesla's supercharger network reliability is the main reason (at least here in the US) why I don't look at other EVs. In fact, I've shortened my conversations with family & friends with that.

 

[JayRM]

Thank you, both.

Easiest way to do it, use he in-car navigation. Waypoints make it really easy now.
Watch your energy usage and slow down or speed up as necessary to reach the desired battery SoC upon reaching the supercharger.

If you like planning, A Better Routeplanner is a great place to start. Supercharger Reviews can help you decide if you want to take a longer stop or not.

In the beginning, I used to plan, but now I just plot it in the nav & go. Tesla's supercharger network reliability is the main reason (at least here in the US) why I don't look at other EVs. In fact, I've shortened my conversations with family & friends with that.

 

[JayRM]

When one uses the in-car navigation system, (I get my car in a week), does the computer calculate the next stop and where to go for charging?

 

[Ostrichsak]

When I use the Tesla Trip planner I just try to pick a similar range as best as possible. This was easier previously and even allowed me to pick options with ranges less than mine new which would more closely indicate the real world ETA. Now, on older cars, it's got to the point where none of the available options come even close in some cases. IMO, Tesla has done a real disservice to it's faithful who have used this interface for years to get an idea on trips across the country for cars other than what Tesla sells brand new. I get that that's what Tesla wants it used for (only new vehicles they sell) but offering the same interface in sort of a "legacy" edition for people who aren't into losing $50k in vehicle depreciation over the next 3-4 years would be a nice gesture.

tldr; just look at the ranges of the cars available and pick something with as close to your vehicle's estimated range at 100% as possible.

 

[airborne spoon]

People like to say use a better route planner, but i don't like it and its not accurate IMO. If I'm just planning a trip or something i just use the car nav. I'll sit in there and plot out the route and now that i can add waypoints i can adjust it for more logical stops because i know better than the car if I'll have enough juice to make it to any supercharger locations. Like when i travel from carson city to So-Cal it likes to tell me to stop at topaz and charge and then charge again in mammoth. Well that's stupid and unnecessary i skip both of them and charge in Bishop. Yes i get to bishop at about 3-9% but IMO that is perfectly fine and I've gone that lo or lower many times without issue.

 

[GtiMart]

Getting the big picture of how your trip could be achieved is great with ABetterRoutePlanner, it removes some of the anxiety for me. Once you start the trip, things could change, you don't have to stick to the plan. The car's navigation works well one leg at a time, and you can always re-run ABRP from where you currently are to understand how the next few legs will play out. Leaves the flexibility if you need it.

 

[JayRM]

When I use the Tesla Trip planner I just try to pick a similar range as best as possible. This was easier previously and even allowed me to pick options with ranges less than mine new which would more closely indicate the real world ETA. Now, on older cars, it's got to the point where none of the available options come even close in some cases. IMO, Tesla has done a real disservice to it's faithful who have used this interface for years to get an idea on trips across the country for cars other than what Tesla sells brand new. I get that that's what Tesla wants it used for (only new vehicles they sell) but offering the same interface in sort of a "legacy" edition for people who aren't into losing $50k in vehicle depreciation over the next 3-4 years would be a nice gesture.

tldr; just look at the ranges of the cars available and pick something with as close to your vehicle's estimated range at 100% as possible.

Thank you. Good thought.

 

[EVRider-FL]

When one uses the in-car navigation system, (I get my car in a week), does the computer calculate the next stop and where to go for charging?

Yes, it does. I used EV Trip Planner before my first couple of road trips, but I don’t use anything but the car’s nav system now, especially since my current road trip car (2018 S100D) has more range than my first one (2016 S85 RWD).

 

[Takumi]

When one uses the in-car navigation system, (I get my car in a week), does the computer calculate the next stop and where to go for charging?

Yes, it does.

I recommend bringing along an air compressor, a tire repair kit, & jack pads (hockey pucks will work). Also, check with your AAA. The Model S does not have a spare tire.

If no superchargers are close to your final destination, using PlugShare to see what's available (reviews help with assessing how reliable that charger could be) will help you decide which hotel to use.

 

[EVEnergy]

When one uses the in-car navigation system, (I get my car in a week), does the computer calculate the next stop and where to go for charging?

Yes it does

 

[PCMc]

Personally I find EVTripplanner easier/more intuitive for me to use and tune in to match my car that ABetterRoutePlanner. Some of that may just be familiarity as I've been using EVTripplanner before ABRP really was anywhere as developed, but I'll acknowledged that EVTripplaner has not been updated for a couple years so likely doesn't handle newer cars as well. I've started using ABRP more, but still, my first pass at laying out a trip is EVTripplanner.

For those that say just doing it using the car NAV, there are a couple reasons why some may prefer and out of car tool

In my case, I spend most of my time on remote assignment, so do not have access to my car. I'll frequently be looking at planning the trip before I return home, so kind of hard to just plug in into the NAV when I'm 14 time zones away from my car.

Even when I'm at home, I still prefer working on my laptop versus in the car. First, car will only route based upon the current SOC. I'm not going to charge it to 90 or 100% just to plan a trip knowing I'll do that right before I start my first leg. The first supercharger stop for me on a couple common routes requires me to charge to near 100% to comfortably make it (some of us do not live in supercharger dense regions like on east/west coast US).

For multi-day trips, especially for initial planning I'll have multiple browser windows up at once, looking at approx. times via EVTripplanner, Plugshare to see what hotels might be in the area, various hotel searches looking for my favorite brands in the area, etc. Doing that type of initial what-if in the car for me is not practical.

Now once I start the trip, or just simple point A to point B, yes I'll just plug it into the in car NAV when I get ready to leave. But for long trip planner, I'll continue to use out of car options for this on a real laptop or my iPad where I have a real keyboard and not trying to type of the center console.

 

[ucmndd]

Honestly, in 2022, If your travel is on pretty much any major interstate, the best answer is just start driving and stop where you want to stop for convenience, biological needs, or interest. There are so many options for charging there’s really no need to obsessively pre-plan your trip.

I spend my planning cycles these days choosing hotels with good overnight L2 charging. That’s about it.

 

[airborne spoon]

I would also like to add that there is no need to stress over traveling long distances these days.

I bought my car in 2017 and took delivery in Fremont, CA. I was living in NC at the time so a friend and I flew over to pick it up and after a couple days with family we drove it clear across the country without issue. There was a few detours for sights and friend/family visits but having no real knowledge of charging network and all that it was simple as could be. And that was back in 2017 the SC network is MUCH better now and the nav is much easier to use as well.

People like to say crap like you need a spare tire and all that nonsense but think about it how many times in your life of driving have you gotten a flat that you couldn't just go to a gas station add air and drive to a random small town tire shop for a patch job that takes like 15 min? That's why tesla doesn't have a tire because its dead weight that unnecessary in todays world.

 

[krsgio]

People like to say crap like you need a spare tire and all that nonsense but think about it how many times in your life of driving have you gotten a flat that you couldn't just go to a gas station add air and drive to a random small town tire shop for a patch job that takes like 15 min? That's why tesla doesn't have a tire because its dead weight that unnecessary in todays world.

Normally I'd agree with you as I never had any issues with cars in the past but since owning my Tesla I've had 4 flats. The 2 most recent were within 1 week of each other and both required the tires be replaced and they only had 2k miles on them. The first I had to be towed home, the second I was grabbing some food and on my way home when I pulled into the garage I could hear the tire leaking. Luckily I wasn't road tripping and could just drive to the tirerack warehouse to replace them but that wouldnt be possible without having an extra car or set of wheels. I run model x wheels on my Model S in the winter so a Tesla spare isn't an option.

2 diff large metal objects from different days, in different locations, different tires. talk about luck.

 

[airborne spoon]

Normally I'd agree with you as I never had any issues with cars in the past but since owning my Tesla I've had 4 flats. The 2 most recent were within 1 week of each other and both required the tires be replaced and they only had 2k miles on them. The first I had to be towed home, the second I was grabbing some food and on my way home when I pulled into the garage I could hear the tire leaking. Luckily I wasn't road tripping and could just drive to the tirerack warehouse to replace them but that wouldnt be possible without having an extra car or set of wheels. I run model x wheels on my Model S in the winter so a Tesla spare isn't an option.

2 diff large metal objects from different days, in different locations, different tires. talk about luck.

haha damn that sucks, WTF is that, you driving around a bunch of construction sites or something? Ive gotten a nail in the tesla but i just go to chevron or someplace and get air and drive to an indy tire shop no issues, but damn those are some big ass chunks of crap you got there.

 

[krsgio]

haha damn that sucks, WTF is that, you driving around a bunch of construction sites or something? Ive gotten a nail in the tesla but i just go to chevron or someplace and get air and drive to an indy tire shop no issues, but damn those are some big ass chunks of crap you got there.

Nope, the bottom tire was on the highway (I-70) went flat so fast barely had time to exit the highway. The top one was about 1.5 miles from my house on surface streets. Saw debris from what looked like an accident that never was cleaned up, swerved to avoid it but clearly didn't help. The size and thickness of that metal was impressive. When they removed my tire they were shocked it didn't damage the wheel. The amount of road debris I see littering the roadways anymore is mind blowing.

 

[Zcd1]

People like to say use a better route planner, but i don't like it and its not accurate IMO….

By contrast, I find ABRP to be EXTREMELY accurate, especially when I enter all of the weather and other adjustment factors.

 

[StoicKiwi]

There seem to be several online routing programs for planning a cross-country trip in a Tesla. What is the best thinking for planning a trip with a 2018 Tesla S 100D Long Range?

I've looked at the Tesla trip planner, online, but there's no option for selecting this car with its estimated range.

I've also looked at Plug Share and there doesn't seem to be a way of seeing distances and time between charging stations.

Has anyone got some reflections on planning and driving cross-country?

I don't want to parrot many of the comments that have been made here already, but really there is virtually no planning involved. My family has made 4 trips from Texas to the East Coast and for all but the first, I really did no planning.

I usually punch my info into A Better Route Planner (ABRP) to get a good estimate of things, then just go enter the destination on the day of the trip and drive. As others have said, the only real thing to consider is finding a nice hotel with a Level 2 charging access or at least Level 1 if there is a Supercharger near by. You can use PlugShare to find this as others have suggested.

Only things I would say to bring along are a window cleaner/ squeegee, and a tire inflator. Since you aren't stopping at gas stations, stubborn bug residue can build up, making it harder to see at night and it's always nice to be able to top off your tires if you need to.

Happy travels!