Cross Country Tribute - Driving P85

[DadsP85]

Hello everyone,

Recently my father (a retired software engineer for HP) passed away and left me his Tesla Model S P85.

I will be picking up the car next week and making the drive across the country using the Super Charger Network as a tribute to my father, technology, and the pursuit of a sustainable future.

My father wanted to make the trip but was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer about 3 months ago and was not able to make the trip from Sunnyvale CA to Southern MD. My brother and I are going to make the trip for him. I will do my best to post updates with pics along the way.

We would appreciate any suggestions from anyone that has made long trips in their Model S. Of course I am concerned about the high summer temperatures, getting stranded in the middle of nowhere, and just being new to the EV environment.

Once I do arrive at my destination on the East Coast, I will be able to charge the car in my own garage thanks to my installation of the NEMA 14-50R, 50A breaker, 6 gauge wire, conduit, etc... ($169.50 in parts from Home Depot plus 3 hours of my time and it is very safe and looks great too).

Cheers,
Jeff
"DadsP85"

 

[ModelX]

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry for your loss. I hope you enjoy the TESLA and the trip!

 

[kavyboy]

First of all... relax.
It's an emotional time for both you and your brother. Let the roadtrip be a part of the whole coping process instead of seeing at it as a source of anxiety. The difficulties of driving an EV are minimal, and can actually be a blessing. It forces you to be more thoughtful in your actions... to plan ahead just a bit and take breaks. It's not all a race. You'll get there, the trip just might have its own intrinsic value, and it will all work out just fine. It really is a different mindset.
Start with evtripplanner.com for your route. Look for destination chargers on the Tesla website for your overnights. As backup, look at plugshare.com. There are chargers all over the place! With even minimal preparation, it's very, very, very unlikely that you'll have any kind of real problem or will be stranded. When in doubt, slow down and keep an eye on the nav!

I am sorry for your loss. Enjoy the wonderful gift you father has given you... not the car, but the Great American Roadtrip with you brother. You can't buy that.

 

[DadsP85]

Thanks for the great reply kavyboy.
We are going to take our time and are very excited about the trip. The longest leg of our trip is ~650 miles the rest are ~550, 450, 350, 450, and 610 miles so it certainly better than last I drove across in 3 days many years ago. Great advice. Thanks again.

Cheers,
Jeff
"DadsP85"

 

[DadsP85]

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry for your loss. I hope you enjoy the TESLA and the trip!

Thanks for the kind words ModelX - I will certainly enjoy the car and the trip for many years to come. I actually had a Roadster reserved many years ago but chose to wait for the Model S (which I have test driven at Tesla showrooms in Washington DC and Santana Row in CA). I can't wait to sell my ICE car when I get back home.

Cheers,
Jeff
"DadsP85"

 

[DadsP85]

Hello everyone,
The trip went very well. My brother and I made it from Sunnyvale CA to Southern MD. ~3200 total miles. We took our time (5 days) and stayed overnight in Elko NV, Green River UT, Denver CO, Salina KS, and Indianapolis IN.
Thanks to the advice and especially the post about not skipping super charging stations specifically the part about using the lower part of the battery pack as the charging rate slows down significantly from 60% to max (my max is set to 90%). This greatly reduced the charge time (versus waiting for a complete charge at every stop). Basically, you have to stop more often but you're only on the charger for 15-25 minutes to get to the next stop (most of the time).
The Supercharging system is wonderful and the equipment was in great shape at all of the stops we made. We only waited at one location and that was a mall in Denver that has a Tesla showroom inside so some of the test drive vehicles were connected to the Superchargers but the Tesla person was very accommodating and quickly moved one of the test vehicles to make room for me.
My "range anxiety" is completely gone now that I have made this trip without a single issue. We did get close (or I thought we were close to running out of juice) traveling from Lovelock NV to Elko NV but it turned out to be just me not being used to the difference between MPG and EV Range/Power Consumption.
Observations:
- The cruise control lever location: I found myself using this by accident when I was trying to use the turn signals very often. Got used to it.
- The trip path rendering and refresh: The blue path overlay on the map wasn't always painted correctly. Sometimes the blue line appeared to be drawn under the map in sections. I found myself having to manually refresh the map after stopping before continuing otherwise the blue path would be going in the wrong direction.

These were very minor issues and I acclimated to them quickly. The car is absolutely amazing and now that it is in its new home, I've washed it, put it in the garage and used my new NEME 14-50 outlet to charge it with no problems. I was amazed at how much storage space is in this car. I had this filled with my father's Tektronix O-Scope collection (he restored them as a hobby in his retirement), Espresso machine, and enough other test equipment to cover my pool table.
If you'd like to see pics of the trip (not really exciting mostly just the different Supercharging stations along the way) send me (Jeff Davidson) a friend request on Facebook.

If you have the time, make the cross country trip in a Tesla. It was a great experience.

Cheers,
Jeff
"DadsP85"