Yes, I skipped Gilroy. I've made two trips to LA from the Financial District of San Francisco and I've skipped Gilroy both times. In fact, I've never even been/seen the Gilroy supercharging stations. I would charge to Max Range and then set off to Harris Ranch. When I got there, I had 60 rated miles left. I also averaged 70mph on I-5
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Driving from SF to LA
- Thread starter Darren
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- California USA
Yes, I skipped Gilroy. I've made two trips to LA from the Financial District of San Francisco and I've skipped Gilroy both times. In fact, I've never even been/seen the Gilroy supercharging stations. I would charge to Max Range and then set off to Harris Ranch. When I got there, I had 60 rated miles left. I also averaged 70mph on I-5
contaygious
Active Member
contaygious
Active Member
I made it from sf to Harris ranch at 74 the whole way and 30 projected miles to spare. Only one charger there, but luckily someone was just leaving. Then I charged 90% and made it to tejon easily and to LA. I charged at some courthouse after to 200 rates miles. Do I have enough to make it up the hill to tejon? It's 100 miles, but that hill scares me.
Awesome! Yeah, the grapevine does scare me. I have never tried going from Harris Ranch straight to LA.
The drive from Harris Ranch back to SF is scarier. I felt like I had less range because I got down to 20 miles of range despite charging 95% at Harris Ranch and going 70mph. Then again it was at night, so the headlights drained more of the battery.
secobarbital
Member
My wife and I just did this trip (Los Altos to Fullerton, specifically) last night. The Harris Ranch Supercharger seems to be broken 
We were on the phone for a long time with Tesla Support trying to debug but in the end we had to use the 70A roadster charger instead. Fortunately there is a Model S adapter locked to that charger! We got software version 4.3 over dinner at the Ranch, but that didn't help (it does give us scheduled charging, though).
We took the gamble and drove to Tejon Ranch and the charge we got from the roadster charger got us there with only 2 mi to spare! Fortunately there was no problem with our car and we were able to supercharge at Tejon Ranch and make it to Fullerton.
The sign at Harris Ranch says Tejon Ranch is 111 mi South and you'd need 135 mi rated range to reach it. We started with 145 mi rated range and drove speed limit (70mph) with climate control off and still only had 2 mi left when we got there, so 135 is a bit optimistic!
We were on the phone for a long time with Tesla Support trying to debug but in the end we had to use the 70A roadster charger instead. Fortunately there is a Model S adapter locked to that charger! We got software version 4.3 over dinner at the Ranch, but that didn't help (it does give us scheduled charging, though).
We took the gamble and drove to Tejon Ranch and the charge we got from the roadster charger got us there with only 2 mi to spare! Fortunately there was no problem with our car and we were able to supercharge at Tejon Ranch and make it to Fullerton.
The sign at Harris Ranch says Tejon Ranch is 111 mi South and you'd need 135 mi rated range to reach it. We started with 145 mi rated range and drove speed limit (70mph) with climate control off and still only had 2 mi left when we got there, so 135 is a bit optimistic!
My wife and I just did this trip (Los Altos to Fullerton, specifically) last night. The Harris Ranch Supercharger seems to be broken
We were on the phone for a long time with Tesla Support trying to debug but in the end we had to use the 70A roadster charger instead. Fortunately there is a Model S adapter locked to that charger! We got software version 4.3 over dinner at the Ranch, but that didn't help (it does give us scheduled charging, though).
We took the gamble and drove to Tejon Ranch and the charge we got from the roadster charger got us there with only 2 mi to spare! Fortunately there was no problem with our car and we were able to supercharge at Tejon Ranch and make it to Fullerton.
The sign at Harris Ranch says Tejon Ranch is 111 mi South and you'd need 135 mi rated range to reach it. We started with 145 mi rated range and drove speed limit (70mph) with climate control off and still only had 2 mi left when we got there, so 135 is a bit optimistic!
This is important info. Should the forum have a section on Supercharger's up/down status? (Really something TM should have on their site, but...)
waidy
Member
I think Tesla should have a up-to-date web site to indicate whether any of their supercharger is in use or down, much like ChargePoint's online website and their smartphone app.
secobarbital
Member
The 135 isn't optimistic. The rated range speed is closer to 60-65 I believe. That 5mph difference between 65 and 70 knocks more than 20 miles off your ideal range. See below:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-efficiency-and-range
FredTMC
Model S VIN #4925
I agree, but we probably need a realistic number here. The speed limit on I-5 is 70. If you go 60, you'll get crushed or somebody will road rage you, or you'll be stuck behind all the truckers, getting blasted with wind and rocks and what have you.
And everybody knows that the defacto speed limit on I-5 in central California is 90, until you get to Kern County and the Grapevine, where you need to slow it down a bit. :biggrin:
So, since it's 111 actual miles you are saying that at 70 it should consume about 135 rated miles. Except that it took more for seco. Headwinds could certainly be a variable.
Yeah, headwinds, tire size, temperature, elevation changes, cruise control vs. manual... so many variables.
I disagree. I drove from Napa to Tejon with a stop at Harris and did 5 mph under the whole way. Wasn't a problem as the trucks keep the flow of traffic down. Just relax and enjoy the quiet ride. At 60-65 mph rated mileage is an easy target.
Norbert
TSLA will win
It surprises me to read that apparently few leave a larger safety buffer on the battery range. Ignoring for a moment that charging speed is a bit slower when the battery is fuller, one can save charging time only on the last leg of the trip. Otherwise, there is no point in not leaving a safety buffer, since one can use any remaining charge for the following leg. Traveling with a safety buffer means charging more at the first Supercharger stop, but then you have the option to charge less at the last stop.
BTW, charging longer (at a Supercharger) to allow driving faster, does reduce total travel time (including the charging time).
BTW, charging longer (at a Supercharger) to allow driving faster, does reduce total travel time (including the charging time).
secobarbital
Member
Agree that we should have a comfortable buffer, which was why we waited at the 70A charger till we had 145 mi rated range before we set off in spite of the sign claiming 135 was enough. Tesla support, BTW, told us that we could make it to Tejon without charging, with 93 mi rated range!! At speed limit (70mph) and climate control off we were actually tracking rated range all the way until the last <5 mi when it started climbing and the range plummeted.
Kipernicus
Model S Res#P1440
Maybe it's the same person that told Broder he could go 60 miles with 30 range in the cold. They didn't fire that person yet?
Norbert
TSLA will win
It doesn't seem anyone actually told him that. (My theory would be that he might have been told, still at the hotel, that about 1 hour of charging would be needed to replace the range he lost overnight, which was roughly correct, however a) the Level 2 charger (eventually) chosen added a detour of about 20 miles, and b) he tried to condition the battery without being plugged in.)
Open windows or open sunroof. BTW, according to maps.google.com the distance is 116 miles.
The sign actually says: 'At 70 mph you need "135 miles of rated range" to arrive with roughly 10 miles to spare.' So actually 125 miles rated range. If secobarbital needed 143 miles rated range (145 - 2), then that's almost 20 miles more. I'd think there is a reason for that, unless that is a common experience and the sign is simply wrong, but that would have to be a significant amount. Since secobarbital said they drove without climate control, I'm assuming the outside temperature wasn't very low. So I'd think there has to be some reason.
Also I'm not sure I understand what was meant with "tracking rated range all the way until the last <5 mi when it started climbing and the range plummeted."
I'd usually take it to mean that for the first 105 miles, they were consuming 105 miles rate range. Having started with 145 mile rated range, that should have left them with 40 miles rated range for the last 5 miles. Consuming 38 miles rated range, even uphill, seems huge for <5 miles.
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Cliff Hannel
Member
I created a "Route Energy Estimator" at http://RVTripPlanner.com/planner - it is in "beta test", but seems to do a pretty good job per my own testing. We'll be integrating weather into the calculations (wind, temperature), which should make it even better. I have also posted charts/tables/spreadsheets for range-vs-speed, electricity costs and other stuff at http://RVTripPlanner.com/calcs.php - let me know how your actuals vary with the predictions.
secobarbital
Member
You understood correctly what I meant by tracking rated range. I took a picture of the dash when we arrived at Tejon which I attached. Looks like we started climbing 10 mi before Tejon, not <5. So there, my contribution to the art of brodering!
Trip A (Harris to Tejon @70mph): 116.2mi 41kWh 353Wh/mi
Trip B (Los Altos to Tejon @74mph): 268.5mi 91.4kWh 341Wh/mi
