Driving and riding style affect on Range. Planning to stop more often, drive and use “normally.” Thoughts?

[Sunvalleylaw]

After reading up, talking to a neighbor who travels regularly for work in his Model Y, and another friend who travels across the West in his Model S for pleasure, thinking on a style of travel that maximizes comfort and enjoyment, but may result in an extra stop or two a long the way.

Basically, I will run the AC/climate control as I want do, drive what would be normal freeway speeds, play my music as loud as I want, carry my bike (on a rack if I need to, but solo travel inside will work well), starting on a full charge, and stopping every 150-180 miles of range used, and taking a walk, getting a bite, going to a store, whatever. As long as I am traveling on larger highways/freeways with superchargers. Then I don’t have to worry about it, and can just enjoy the ride.

Another strategy my second friend suggested is if he tries to charge not long after he has 100 miles left. So he can drive normally as I said.

If I am traveling in the central mountains of Idaho, or through some areas of Wyoming or CO, Utah, etc. then my strategy might be different, and I might have to plan differently, or at least find the alternate charging options. And frankly, will plan to camp in the car and use RV parks as destination options, trying to keep the overall mileage as less of a goal, and touring experience out in the country up.

Thoughts?

 

[GtiMart]

Please travel as you would any other car. Teslas are possibly the best for road trips. Charging is faster when the battery is low so it's a good rule of thumb to arrive low-ish, but it's not a requirement. Stopping more often and surfing 10-60% SOC is faster but not essential.
You can sacrifice your comfort if you want but you don't have to in a car that has 300+ miles of EPA range.

 

[Sunvalleylaw]

Please travel as you would any other car. Teslas are possibly the best for road trips. Charging is faster when the battery is low so it's a good rule of thumb to arrive low-ish, but it's not a requirement. Stopping more often and surfing 10-60% SOC is faster but not essential.
You can sacrifice your comfort if you want but you don't have to in a car that has 300+ miles of EPA range.

Yep, confirmation of what I was thinking. Because my travel is in the Intermountain West mostly, where it is often windy, cold (or hot) and well, mountainous, I will probably prefer to stop more often and not rely on the last percentage points of range. Long stretches of nothing but sage, ranch roads, and the like, and I don’t fancy the idea of showing up at some rancher’s house in my tesla with an extension cord and a five dollar bill and a smile, if I can help it.

But, with some planning and research, none of that should be necessary, and driving should be normal+ accessing all the nice comfort features of the car and enjoying the ride. With some appropriate precautions learned in other threads taken to aid in that comfort. And When I am on or near I-5 on the coast, my style will likely change, with more comfort in drawing the battery down further.

And as I travel known routes, (and most trips will be well known soon, as there are only so many ways to get from state to state around here unless you are really galavanting), I will also become more comfortable with drawing the battery down further, as long as weather is not expected to change too suddenly.

 

[GtiMart]

Have a look at the ABetterRoutePlanner web and mobile apps. It's one of the best tools to plan a trip in advance, play with the advanced settings and see how the trip changes. It helps understsanding how things will play out. Then on the day you still use the car's navigation, maybe open ABRP while charging and plan the remaining. Lets you adjust your trip as you go.

 

[patnshan]

I just drove from Milwaukee to St Louis and back this past weekend (about 370 miles each way). I found that watching the "energy" trip screen at various speeds gave me a lot of information in terms of how range changes at various speeds, climate on or off, etc. I found that speed was the biggest factor. I would use the predicted arrival percentage on that screen to decide if I could go faster (or use more resources as you described) or not based on range increase or drop. I found it to be very accurate. One other observation is that head winds make a HUGE difference in range. We drove the first leg straight west pretty much, with a 20-30 mph head wind. Terrible.

 

[Sunvalleylaw]

I just drove from Milwaukee to St Louis and back this past weekend (about 370 miles each way). I found that watching the "energy" trip screen at various speeds gave me a lot of information in terms of how range changes at various speeds, climate on or off, etc. I found that speed was the biggest factor. I would use the predicted arrival percentage on that screen to decide if I could go faster (or use more resources as you described) or not based on range increase or drop. I found it to be very accurate. One other observation is that head winds make a HUGE difference in range. We drove the first leg straight west pretty much, with a 20-30 mph head wind. Terrible.

Thanks. Winds through the high desert plains and passes that intermountain roads use are a huge factor. So based on your experience, and what I guessed, I am sure I will be factoring that sort of thing in. And a reason that unless I have two, and two bikes in the car, I plan to avoid racking as much as I can. Though I will when I need to and just plan an additional stop or whatever. The difference in average mileage for my VW Passat TDI wagon has always been significant with winds, and racking things. (especially bikes on the roof). So, no reason to expect it won't be a factor in this car.

 

[Empiro]

Playing music won't use any appreciable amount of power. The climate might reduce your range if the weather is very hot or very cold. However, heating and cooling the battery and motors is out of your control and can contribute more to the range loss than interior climate control.

Carrying bikes or anything outside your vehicle will significantly affect aerodynamics and reduce your range quite a bit. Even just having the racks installed will affect range a noticeable amount.

Speed affects range a significant amount as well, particularly if your aerodynamics is affected by carrying stuff outside the car.

If your goal is to get somewhere as quickly as possible, generally it's still fastest to drive quickly and charge more often. It will just cost you more money.

 

[v8eater]

Thanks. Winds through the high desert plains and passes that intermountain roads use are a huge factor. So based on your experience, and what I guessed, I am sure I will be factoring that sort of thing in. And a reason that unless I have two, and two bikes in the car, I plan to avoid racking as much as I can. Though I will when I need to and just plan an additional stop or whatever. The difference in average mileage for my VW Passat TDI wagon has always been significant with winds, and racking things. (especially bikes on the roof). So, no reason to expect it won't be a factor in this car.

I've made a drive from Western WA to Pullman twice now. Winds and speed are the two biggest variables for range.

Car does a ok job of routing your through SC's but I find it to be conservative. After my first trip to Pullman, I learned the SC stops on the way and prefer to skip two of them. I stop about 80 miles from my house at a 250kw unit for just a few min to allow me to skip the other two 150kw options. I get to the Moses Lake 250kw location.

Enjoy the drive and learn the vehicle.

 

[db93]

One thing I noticed on a recent road trip from SoCal to Boise
Self driving, especially in heavy cross winds is almost un-noticeable, except for the hi speed tumble weeds
This makes for a really relaxed drive, less stress, more energy and joy upon arrival

 

[Sunvalleylaw]

One thing I noticed on a recent road trip from SoCal to Boise
Self driving, especially in heavy cross winds is almost un-noticeable, except for the hi speed tumble weeds
This makes for a really relaxed drive, less stress, more energy and joy upon arrival

Yeah, the routes are already well known. It will just be the car and charger opportunities and which are better for the style of trip I want.