First ever road trip in 2013 S85

[lar2599]

So…first ever road trip in 2013 Tesla S85. Range 235. Going to small town in Iowa….Anthon, from Glen Ellyn via I-355 to I-90 to Hwy 20.

Scenario one and two ……. Tesla route planner and ABRP….Glen Ellyn…..to Dubuque, Ia supercharger….169 miles.

Stop two….Waterloo, Ia 89 miles. Destination, ,Anthon 192 miles. Would mean that I arrive at destination with 11 miles on battery. Final destination 32 miles from nearest Supercharger. Under PERFECT conditions and perfect Tesla modeling for range !!! And driving at less than 70 mph., which NOBODY does on I-90 nor Hwy 20 !!!

Now in between Dubuque, Ia and Anthon….there is a Supercharger 16 miles off route but almost equal distance between Dubuque and Anthon….ie: Dubuque to Dow, Ia…..range is 165 miles …… leaving final leg to be 140 miles, with 95 miles range left.

So my question…..why would anyone stop at Waterloo??? Both Tesla routing does so and so does A Better Route Planner !! When I ADD Dow…..both planners keep Waterloo…..I can’t eliminate it !!!!

Now to be perfectly honest……my average speed was nowhere close to 70 !! And I came into final destination with less than 10 miles left anyway!! Poor planning on my part….but educational for the first ever trip !! Speed eats battery !!! Who knew?

So upon arriving in Anthon….with 10 miles left and nearest Supercharger 32 miles away……….not to worry. Our family house has 240 10-50 outlet !!!! And I have adapters !!! But of course…..my sister who lives there….informs me than she blew out the outlet frying the plug to her appliance and STRONGLY suggested I NOT plug into it !!! So I plug into a 110 outlet for 10 hours getting my range up to 41 miles and head off to the Sioux City , Ia supercharger 32 miles away……which of course when I navigated to it to warm the battery……the message …..REDUCED SERVICE at this location!!! But I’m committed now.

Upon arriving at Sioux City Supercharger…..8 stations……I plug into first one, then the second one, then the third one and the fourth and on the fifth station I get POWER !!!!

Return trip…….take Southern route I-80….MANY more superchargers to allow travel at 80 mph !!! So what if we have to stop a third time…..gotta keep up with the traffic which was very heavy last Sunday and 80mph keeps you in the SLOW lane !! Even trucks do 85 !!

So with my newly found range estimating ability…..leaving Davenport, Ia I told my wife we would arrive home with 31 miles left !!!! ACTUAL…..5 miles left but had to slow to 65 last 20 miles to get that !!

Had a great family reunion though!!!!! And EVERYBODY loved the car !!! And….so do I !!

 

[JimmyB]

Sounds like a great trip! If you’re going to be doing this a lot, it’s well worth springing for ABRP premium.

 

[WhiteWi]

I prefer to stay at 75 and coast behind semis. I get max range from my 16 S 75.

 

[El joe]

I prefer to stay at 75 and coast behind semis. I get max range from my 16 S 75.

My OCD goes into its highest gear thinking about those rocks kicking up chipping my windshield. :/

 

[WhiteWi]

My OCD goes into its highest gear thinking about those rocks kicking up chipping my windshield. :/

Haha just set follow distance at 4

 

[lar2599]

Sounds like a great trip! If you’re going to be doing this a lot, it’s well worth springing for ABRP premium.

Have Premium....still

 

[theflyer]

Great trip. As good as the route planners are, they have their biases and, as you described, you often can't force them into another solution.

You didn't say how many miles are on your 2013 MS but I encourage you to be careful about dropping below 10% state of charge. As the batteries age (150k+ miles), they become very finicky below 10%. Even expert road trippers have found themselves calling the flatbed of shame when their car gave out with 10, 20, or even more miles of range showing on the dash. @tes-s had quite the adventure in Arizona back in May but his car has something like 200,000 miles on the battery.

 

[lar2599]

100,213

 

[lar2599]

Great trip. As good as the route planners are, they have their biases and, as you described, you often can't force them into another solution.

You didn't say how many miles are on your 2013 MS but I encourage you to be careful about dropping below 10% state of charge. As the batteries age (150k+ miles), they become very finicky below 10%. Even expert road trippers have found themselves calling the flatbed of shame when their car gave out with 10, 20, or even more miles of range showing on the dash. @tes-s had quite the adventure in Arizona back in May but his car has something like 200,000 miles on the battery.

Thanks for the tip !