Current Owners: Question about range

[streetskooler]

Preface, I’ve never owned an EV before but am eagerly awaiting my model 3.

My question is when traveling round trip somewhere, how far away (either by time or miles) do you drive comfortably without checking if you can make it without stopping at a super charger? I do know about sites like a better route planner (which is great btw) and there’s plenty of variables that effect range but I’m just trying to get a feel about what traveling with the model 3 will be like. For example today I drove from Toms River, NJ out to Flourtown, Pa which was about 1.5 hours and 71 miles one way and it got me wondering. Thanks in advance!

 

[cmaster]

Tip is to change the distance to percentage.

And, use the navigate feature of the map to show how much remaining you'll have at the destination. This will give you a rough measurement of what to do next. Don't worry about the what to do next. I'm sure you are smart enough to do that.

Please don't take that last sentence as something that may be offensive.

Try to strategize what to do at the first super charger location when you see how much remaining is at the destination. Leave a buffer of 20%.

Preface, I’ve never owned an EV before but am eagerly awaiting my model 3.

My question is when traveling round trip somewhere, how far away (either by time or miles) do you drive comfortably without checking if you can make it without stopping at a super charger? I do know about sites like a better route planner (which is great btw) and there’s plenty of variables that effect range but I’m just trying to get a feel about what traveling with the model 3 will be like. Thanks in advance!

 

[ewoodrick]

It's not necessarily much different than what you do with your cars today. The biggest difference being that there aren't charging locations on every corner.
Supercharger locations are fairly reliable, but destination chargers can variable. There's a number of sites that list chargers, Tesla and PlugShare for example that can help seeing the reliability.
A battery will fill faster when empty, than when full, so 30 minutes at 30% battery adds more than 30 minutes at 70%.

But otherwise, Point A, Point B, do I have enough to reach Point B. If not, is there a charger along the route. If not, look for alternatives.

 

[streetskooler]

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess coming from an ICE background I just get in and go because there’s always a gas station somewhere. Today it got me thinking about how far from home I could comfortably drive to make it back without worrying about charging somewhere.

 

[nvx1977]

I look at round trip distance first. If it's shorter than my rated range, then I move on to weather. If it's really cold, I'll assume I only have 60% of my rated range and I re-evaluate. Next I look at elevation gain. One way might be mostly elevation gain, so even if by distance you have the rated range, you might not make it. If I can't make it, then I look for superchargers along the way. I then look for backup charging possibilities in case the SC is down/full.

I had a trip where the round trip required a single supercharger stop, but at my destination, there was no access to charging, and I would be there for a few days, driving a bit. So I supercharged on my way up just to play it safe. I ended up supercharging on my way down as well.

The reality is that for longer trips, it pays to do a bit of research and planning. That will significantly ease range anxiety. And always consider worst case scenarios too (your chosen SC is down or full during your trip, it rains, reducing traction and therefore efficiency).

Model 3 needs to pay for supercharging use, but I consider it worth the expense for a little peace of mind.

 

[PeterHG]

Enter destination in the navigation system--it will estimate battery remaining at destination and also remaining after a round trip back to start. These estimates will change as you drive. So you can see if you might run into trouble. Also, if you are going to need a supercharger stop, nav system will include this in your routing, even if the need is due to more energy expended than expected, not realized until the middle of your trip.

WRT buffer, the winter is tricky as you'll see. But if the weather is 50 or better, 10% is plenty.

 

[C141medic]

WRT buffer, the winter is tricky as you'll see. But if the weather is 50 or better, 10% is plenty.

Winter can be very tricky. I experienced range issues during the winter when I had my 2011 Leaf. On average expect 30-40% loss of range during the winter (also dependent upon your driving habits, use of heater, etc). With the availability of super chargers and the fantastic range of the M3, I don’t foresee “range anxiety” as an issue.

 

[mhan00]

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess coming from an ICE background I just get in and go because there’s always a gas station somewhere. Today it got me thinking about how far from home I could comfortably drive to make it back without worrying about charging somewhere.

Just to reassure you, if you have home charging, you’re golden. I drove a Leaf for three years, which had at best a third of the range of a LR 3, and I experienced more range anxiety when I had my Lexus ES350 and Pilot than I did with the Leaf. Of course, I was the type of driver who would feel his butt cheeks clench at least once a month or so when he glanced down at his gas gauge and saw the needle hovering at the big E, seemingly always while I was on a freeway with no idea where the nearest gas station was. Waking up everyday with a full “tank” and knowing how much range I had was a lot easier for me since it was consistent, even with the limited range of the Leaf. With the 3, unless you’re suffering a truly horrible daily commute, you won’t have to worry at all for your day to day, and the nav system with its range estimator and SC locations will take care of the more rare situations where you’re on a road trip or some such.

 

[Az_Rael]

For example today I drove from Toms River, NJ out to Flourtown, Pa which was about 1.5 hours and 71 miles one way and it got me wondering. Thanks in advance!

I find that with the long range 3, these type of "day trip" sort of ranges I don't even really think about. I start every morning with a 90% charge which equates to 273ish rated miles. That easily gets me to/from a 70 mile one-way destination.

If I am ever worried about my range, I just type the address into the NAV and get the estimate on remaining %. More than 20% at my destination and I am golden (it will calculate round trips). Now, you will have to learn through experience how weather affects your range, but once you get a handle on that, it is pretty easy.

Long trips I always plan my stops and my destination charging. That is the one place where you really feel like you are a "pioneer" in an EV.

 

[NickFie]

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess coming from an ICE background I just get in and go because there’s always a gas station somewhere. Today it got me thinking about how far from home I could comfortably drive to make it back without worrying about charging somewhere.

After about 4 months and 4,000 miles I've adopted this approach:

A. Within easy round-trip range? i.e. route planner shows 20% battery or more on return. Before leaving, find possible chargers near your destination, also convenient SuperChargers for the last half of the return leg. That way you know your options if energy consumption is higher than you expected.

We live just west of Philadelphia. One afternoon I wanted a short trip. Decided to have barbeque for dinner, but at a suitably distant venue. Jersey Shore BBQ is 85 miles away in Belmar, fit the specs. Battery was below 50%. Plugged in HPWC, dialed up to 72 Amps, realized I would leave home with barely adequate charge. Verified SuperCharger close to 195/NJ Turnpike intersection (Barnes & Noble); another at Wawa just before the bridge to PA Turnpike connector. Battery looked adequate when I arrived. On my return trip, energy diagram forecast about 15% battery on return home. I told myself that I would go to Wawa near the 130 exit from the connector if the forecast level on arrival dropped to 12%. Didn't need to stop, arrived home with 12% battery. Plugged in charger, dialed back to about 32 Amps for overnight recharge. No "range anxiety" because I had options and guidelines. And tasty meat. The sweet potato fries were incredible.

B. Longer distance than a single charge can handle? Identify SuperChargers and alternatives along the route. As another comment mentioned, miles pack in more quickly at low charge level than high.

Our younger daughter lives in DC, our car's range would be barely sufficient for a round trip slightly below the speed limit, plus typical DC congestion. Last Saturday I drove our older daughter and her twin boys to DC for a day with their aunt. I advised our daughter that we would probably stop at Maryland House on the return trip for a bathroom and battery break. The SuperCharger is near the Sunoco station, which is smaller and less crowded than the main structure.

Set the car for optimal range:
- Chill acceleration. Daughter observed that AutoPilot was much gentler in that mode. Milder acceleration also stretches range.
- Range mode.
- SAS set to automatically lower above 50 mph - better handling and aerodynamics.
- Tire pressure about 48 psi when we left. Small percentage range improvement.

The battery was at 100% when I left to pick up our daughter and sons to start the trip. I asked my daughter to locate the Superchargers as we passed the other two rest areas so we could find them easily if we needed them on the return trip. We stopped at Maryland House on our way down for a bathroom break. The car estimated we would reach DC with 52% battery charge. Even though we had relatively high charge, I figured we might as well squeeze more juice into the battery when it was easy. One grandson plugged in the SuperCharger, and we headed to the bathrooms. Add a few minutes to buy a hot dog for the other grandson, then back to the car. Showed a grandson how to unplug the SuperCharger, strapped the boys into their booster seats, and back on the road. New estimate was 62% battery charge at destination. We arrived with just over 50% due to heavy traffic coming into the city.

Long day in DC, the twins were in pajamas for the return trip after dinner. Daughter was reluctant to stop on the way back for fear the children would wake up, so we skipped Maryland House. My fallback was to stop at Newark Delaware rest area if battery looked too low to confidently complete the trip. Traffic was light, we arrived home with about 14% remaining. I raised cruise speed as it became clear we would have enough charge.

No range anxiety, same travel time as an ICE vehicle.

 

[streetskooler]

Thanks everyone for the informative responses. As someone else said I do like the idea of waking up with a full tank everyday. Very much looking forward to my model 3! And I’ll have to check out that BBQ place too

 

[cmaster]

Just a mention on my first time taking a long distance trip about 120 miles when I first took delivery of my Model S75.

I was so concerned that I might not be able to make it back home if there's a traffic jam, take some stops along the route. So, what I made sure of, at every chance I get with Level 2 chargers and Chademo on Plugshare....try to fill it up to 90% as much as possible whenever I can. I was also in the sub zero temps.

Turns out over time, I only need to hit the super chargers not often. So, I slowly moved back to the way I managed the fuel with a gas car.

 

[Gwgan]

there’s always a gas station somewhere.

Not always. I have had more range anxiety in my gas car with an imprecise gas gauge at night when small town stations are closed even after gaining the ability to find stations on my phone. Gas stations continue closing in urban areas.

 

[davedavedave]

Not a Tesla owner... yet! (Can't wait)

One thought that I've had is that not only will I never have to hit a "station" (gas station or supercharger) as part of my daily routine, but also that on road-trips, there are effectively "electric jerry cans" - i.e., 120v and 240v outlets *everywhere*. Of course 4 to 10 mph of charging isn't generally worth it, but it's really nice to know that the worst case scenario of being stranded with no "fuel" is generally better than it is with a stinker car.
Another hot emergency tip that I read here on TMC: if you ever need an emergency top-up and SuperChargers are out of range, look for RV campgrounds where you can use the mobile charger and get up to 37 miles per hour from a NEMA 14-50 plug.

 

[buddhra]

Not a Tesla owner... yet! (Can't wait)

One thought that I've had is that not only will I never have to hit a "station" (gas station or supercharger) as part of my daily routine, but also that on road-trips, there are effectively "electric jerry cans" - i.e., 120v and 240v outlets *everywhere*. Of course 4 to 10 mph of charging isn't generally worth it, but it's really nice to know that the worst case scenario of being stranded with no "fuel" is generally better than it is with a stinker car.
Another hot emergency tip that I read here on TMC: if you ever need an emergency top-up and SuperChargers are out of range, look for RV campgrounds where you can use the mobile charger and get up to 37 miles per hour from a NEMA 14-50 plug.

I second this. People forget that these cars can charge from regular outlets too. Yes, it can be slow, but in a pinch we have "gas stations" everywhere.

 

[insaneoctane]

Since I'm planning on putting more than the average bear's worth of mileage on my Model 3, I'm planning on limiting my charging to either 70% (probably) or 80% to minimize battery wear. This is because I put on 20K/year and plan to keep the car 10 years. Now, for my 110 mi round-trip commute, this is still provides a decent buffer. If I know I have more driving, I would increase to 90% or even 100% for those cases. I figure that's the norm. Now, an occasion might arise that will, in hindsight, have required that I charged higher than 70% (or 80%) for that day...I'm expecting that to be rare and it has a GREAT solution- The supercharger. So, if I find myself having made a bad choice or unexpected things happen, I can use the trusty Nav to find a supercharger and fix the problem. Anyway, I'm not overly worried and one of the big reason I chose Telsa was just for this.

 

[run-the-joules]

Of course 4 to 10 mph of charging isn't generally worth it, but it's really nice to know that the worst case scenario of being stranded with no "fuel" is generally better than it is with a stinker car.

This is a reach. If I run completely out of juice with the Tesla I need to get towed to somewhere that I can plug in, and wait for hours. With an ICE, someone can just bring a can of fuel.

 

[dhrivnak]

On my Model 3 with the aero wheels I seem to get the rated range. So even a trip of 150 miles out and back would not concern me if weather is good.

 

[davedavedave]

This is a reach. If I run completely out of juice with the Tesla I need to get towed to somewhere that I can plug in, and wait for hours. With an ICE, someone can just bring a can of fuel.

At least from my experience, having had to use a Jerry can twice in my life, it’s the kind of thing you only do once in your life.

That said, I can confidently say that as soon as I’m aware that I’m going to be stranded unless I do something about it, I’ll find a plug well before I’m at zero SOC.

 

[FlyF4]

Some good advice above, but different from that, I tell the husband I want to stop at places where there are better services (places to eat, safety, maybe a little shopping, good restrooms, etc.) So regardless of range, we know the places on our routes that have super chargers locations to meet that criteria. Even if we have 50 miles or more remaining, we stop at favorite places. The over-riding decision is he never lets charge go below 5% in summer and 15% (I think) in winter just in case some issue comes up with location charging, weather, other things.