First Long Distance Road Trip

[Techie-HEX]

I just completed my first long distance road trip with my Model Y. We traveled 1,200 miles from PA to FL. The car performed perfectly and I was glad to have Autopilot for the long drive down RT95. It does take some of the stress out of a long drive. Being new to an EV I had range anxiety so I planned on doing more recharge stops than the Tesla navigation calculated. I used Plug Share to break the trip down in 3 legs, 3 days of driving with 2 overnights. My goal was to come into a supercharger with no less than 40% battery remaining. I used the Tesla navigation to navigate from one supercharger to the next. I was pleased with the battery range especially on the first day in cold temps leaving PA. I did pre-warm the battery and cabin with my home charger before leaving. All of the superchargers worked fine although charging speed varied. I didn’t realize charging speed slows down as the battery reaches 80%. I have seen the KW drop from 130KW to 10KW as the battery filled. I did all of the charging at Tesla superchargers. I tried to select 250KW chargers and hotels located next to superchargers. Some hotels do have free destination chargers but I found it was better to find a good hotel rate versus paying a premium just because they have a 10KW charger. Total charging cost for the trip was $80.15. Comparatively the prior year I did this trip with my Acura MDX using premium fuel and it cost $145.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

40%?! I'd target 10%. faster to charger. less stops.

 

[Techie-HEX]

All that is true but my fear was getting to a supercharger with 10% and there was a problem with the charger. No options left to go to the next one. I am feeing more confident now that I visited all those chargers and there were no problems. We made the best use of the stops by making sure there were food and restroom options.

 

[GregW]

After 5 years and many, many road trips I've never had a problem with a Supercharger where all stalls were inoperative. Yes, I have heard of this, but extremely rare. The Nav should also show this rarity before you arrive. Now 1 or 2 stalls may not function well, usually can just switch stalls.

 

[jpfive]

All that is true but my fear was getting to a supercharger with 10% and there was a problem with the charger. No options left to go to the next one. I am feeing more confident now that I visited all those chargers and there were no problems. We made the best use of the stops by making sure there were food and restroom options.

I took the same cautious approach on my first long trip. Both normal and reasonable IMO. That first trip built the confidence for the several that I have taken since. Glad you had an enjoyable and relaxing trip.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

after 6 years, I regularly get home with < 20 miles to spare
It's fiiiinnnnnneeeeeeeee

 

[patnshan]

There are at least two bad ones in Louisville right now. Plenty of others though, agreed. Does anyone know how to report bad superchargers?

 

[theothertom]

Have you seen the charging curves? Note that V3 (250kW) charging speed is the same as V2 after about 45%.
See post#2 in the attached link:
Updated Model 3 Charging Profiles & Durations

 

[Zcd1]

I just completed my first long distance road trip with my Model Y. We traveled 1,200 miles from PA to FL...Being new to an EV I had range anxiety so I planned on doing more recharge stops than the Tesla navigation calculated. My goal was to come into a supercharger with no less than 40% battery remaining...

Now that you've made that trip and come to that realization, next time just let the car tell you where and for how long to stop. As you've discovered, Supercharging is MUCH faster below about 60% SOC, so I try to arrive at each Supercharger <20% to make the trip as quick as it can be.

If it's an overnight trip, hit a Supercharger before going to the hotel so you're ready for the next day.

 

[2101Guy]

There are at least two bad ones in Louisville right now. Plenty of others though, agreed. Does anyone know how to report bad superchargers?

i recently read where TEsla monitors and gets info via internet on broken chargers. I also read where its not good practice to hang the charging cord over the top of the charger, to indicate to other Tesla drivers an outage with that charger. Causes some sort of stress/damage on a certain part of the cord.

 

[2101Guy]

All that is true but my fear was getting to a supercharger with 10% and there was a problem with the charger. No options left to go to the next one. I am feeing more confident now that I visited all those chargers and there were no problems. We made the best use of the stops by making sure there were food and restroom options.

on your trip back? I suggest using this service. Can even have it up and running in your browser on your MCU. Will ensure that your route is planned in the most efficient manner. Even more efficient than the tesla nav. A Better Routeplanner

Also, as others have stated...optimum travel time is accomplished when keeping the battery between around 10% and about 70% or no more than 80%. More frequent stops, but much less time at each stop.

 

[J Spence]

I just completed my first long distance road trip with my Model Y. We traveled 1,200 miles from PA to FL. The car performed perfectly and I was glad to have Autopilot for the long drive down RT95. It does take some of the stress out of a long drive. Being new to an EV I had range anxiety so I planned on doing more recharge stops than the Tesla navigation calculated. I used Plug Share to break the trip down in 3 legs, 3 days of driving with 2 overnights. My goal was to come into a supercharger with no less than 40% battery remaining. I used the Tesla navigation to navigate from one supercharger to the next. I was pleased with the battery range especially on the first day in cold temps leaving PA. I did pre-warm the battery and cabin with my home charger before leaving. All of the superchargers worked fine although charging speed varied. I didn’t realize charging speed slows down as the battery reaches 80%. I have seen the KW drop from 130KW to 10KW as the battery filled. I did all of the charging at Tesla superchargers. I tried to select 250KW chargers and hotels located next to superchargers. Some hotels do have free destination chargers but I found it was better to find a good hotel rate versus paying a premium just because they have a 10KW charger. Total charging cost for the trip was $80.15. Comparatively the prior year I did this trip with my Acura MDX using premium fuel and it cost $145.
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When I Lived in NY, I’d go from Manhattan to Montréal (and back) a few time’s a year. Also made trips from Manhattan to Cleveland, and Manhattan to Denver. This was in my 2018 M3 LR/RWD. Exclusively used super chargers- except i would only stay at motels with EV chargers, which makes a huge difference. Point being an EV is just as capable as any other car long-distance. Just have to re-wire our brains a bit. The charging and detours to get to the chargers had me finding some cool places I’d normally never venture into on a road trip

 

[Ncgo4]

Just took a long 4 day trip from Hilton Head to Ft. Myers (Captiva) and back on family business and had a great trip. Over 1,200 miles and no Tesla problems. Bike week was finishing on the Sunday we left and Spring Break was turning over 1 weeks guests for another. Traffic was unbelievable and made me glad to have my Tesla‘s self drive. A few times it took 30 minutes to go 10 miles (goodness you just have to love I-95) and letting the car tell you it’s time to go again removed much of the strain.

We had to make 4 stops for charging because of the spacing of the super chargers, but this meant we only charged to about 70% which eliminated any long stops. Was surprised to find that several of the super chargers were located at WAWA gas stations which was great. Always clean rest rooms and very good (for a travel stop) food service. This seems like very good strategy for a chain of convenience stores.

Ours is the standard range 3 so we probably could have made it in 2 or 3 stops with the long range model, but at our age (mid 70’s) we need to stop more often than that anyway. Good trip, very good car.