First Road Trip - Am I Doing It Right?

[ek993]

I am going to drive from CT to Quebec City tomorrow. 506 miles door to door. I have searched and read various threads on road trips - just want to make sure I am doing things right before I leave

- Put journey into a better rout planner. Doesn't matter if I start out at 90% or 100% I still need to hit the same 4 SC's. Any reason to go with 100% over 90%?

- Temperature where I am is 60, Quebec is 40. I entered 40 into the route planner. Should I be going with the lowest temperature?

- I entered 15% for charger & goal arrival charge. Am I cutting it too fine and should increase? Moving to 20% adds one more charging stop.

Some additional info - just me and the wife going, packing light. I am around 150lb and she is close to 110lb so car isn't going to be loaded up / heavy

Am really looking forward to the trip and seeing how autopilot and its advanced tech can transform the road trip experience for the better - this is where I hope the Tesla comes into its own and its shortcomings over "luxury brands" are cast aside
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[kavyboy]

Put journey into a better rout planner. Doesn't matter if I start out at 90% or 100% I still need to hit the same 4 SC's. Any reason to go with 100% over 90%?

At 100%, you'll have less wait time at your first stop. If that is a place that you want to do a bio-break and get a snack, it might not matter at all. (I always set my charge to 100% when doing supercharger jumps because if I don't get back on time I'll be using that energy to make the next stop shorter.)

I entered 15% for charger & goal arrival charge. Am I cutting it too fine and should increase? Moving to 20% adds one more charging stop.

I (personally) would be OK with 15%, but that's in my car at my driving style. Display the trip planner (energy graph, press "Trip") and if en route you're sinking below the projected grey line, slow down. A few MPH less makes a huge difference. Or, you could just charge for 10 minutes more at that one location. Look at your charge before, add some extra energy, and see if you would have cut it close at the next stop had you not.

EDIT: It gets less scary fast. Have fun!

 

[HugoBoss]

I have never used anything else except Teslas in car navigation system. I think its good enough and a better route planner is overkill. I fooled around with it and to me it seems it's more for people who have range anxiety. Charg to 100% and go. Enjoy your trip. The in car navigation will take care of you.

 

[Lasttoy]

Start at 95%
U can cut your travel time by leaving the instant it says you can go.
I have made the trip to DC many times. If i go the instant it says go, i cut over hour off time
Also i have to maintain 70mph. Anything over that burns juice faster.
Example: if i run around 100mph for 40 miles, i burn an extra 20 miles of juice.
Have fun ..

 

[P85_DA]

If u are going to hit 4 SCs why charge beyond 90 ..doesn’t make sense you want lower soc when u hit SC so charges faster ...unless a 100% charge will enable u to skip charger no reason to charge that high

 

[ek993]

U can cut your travel time by leaving the instant it says you can go.....If i go the instant it says go, i cut over hour off time

Can you elaborate on that a little - leave the instant when what says I can go?

 

[P85_DA]

Can you elaborate on that a little - leave the instant when what says I can go?

When u put route in trip planner it will tell u how long to charge at SC ..when u are charging a message will pop up when u have enough to make next SC

 

[ek993]

If u are going to hit 4 SCs why charge beyond 90 ..doesn’t make sense you want lower soc when u hit SC so charges faster ...unless a 100% charge will enable u to skip charger no reason to charge that high

Exactly my thinking - 100% doesn't allow me to skip a charger. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something here.

Changing the target arrival charge from 15% to 20% adds an additional charge stop however.

 

[ek993]

When u put route in trip planner it will tell u how long to charge at SC ..when u are charging a message will pop up when u have enough to make next SC

Ah, got it. This is going to be a good learning experience for me.

 

[P85_DA]

Exactly my thinking - 100% doesn't allow me to skip a charger. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something here.

Changing the target arrival charge from 15% to 20% adds an additional charge stop however.

A better route planner is overkill ..use in car nav ..set AP ~70-75 max and u will be good u can adjust driving based on what planner tells u ..in general I leave 10% buffer unless cold or windy ...sounds like u have enough SCs along the way ..also not sure if u have 75 or 100 batt ..u will be fine

 

[ek993]

A better route planner is overkill ..use in car nav ..set AP ~70-75 max and u will be good u can adjust driving based on what planner tells u ..in general I leave 10% buffer unless cold or windy ...sounds like u have enough SCs along the way ..also not sure if u have 75 or 100 batt ..u will be fine

Its a 75. Yes seems to be an impressive amount of SC's all the way from CT through to QC. There's even a SC within 20 mins of where I will be staying.

Appreciate all the responses, I'm going to go with 90% and let the nav figure out the best route for me.

 

[P85_DA]

Its a 75. Yes seems to be an impressive amount of SC's all the way from CT through to QC. There's even a SC within 20 mins of where I will be staying.

Appreciate all the responses, I'm going to go with 90% and let the nav figure out the best route for me.

Even more so why u want to start with 90 ..the charge taper is in ur favor when u hit a SC at a lower SOC ..since u can’t skip anyway at a 100% ..no need to charge that high ..I have done long trips and never do beyond 90 as the spacings of SCs where I’m at don’t really allow skipping

 

[ewoodrick]

I like to arrive with a little more, unless I'm arriving at a place with a charger. Generally I'm not, so I spend some time at the last available charger so that I have some local driving around energy and don't have to immediately run to a charger.

 

[ek993]

I like to arrive with a little more, unless I'm arriving at a place with a charger. Generally I'm not, so I spend some time at the last available charger so that I have some local driving around energy and don't have to immediately run to a charger.

Good advice - thanks.

 

[MXn00b]

CT is a bigger state than I imagined. With a 200 mile range (100%-15% of your 75D) I only see stopping at West Lebanon and Drummondville SCs. Assuming you will need to charge once before West Lebanon, where is the 4th stop? I'm using plugshare's planner. If I could convince my Model X is was in CT, I'd try that out.

My impression is the Tesla Nav is pretty conservative, almost to the point where you can't believe it. I'm only on month 4 of driving, and don't drive every day, so I'm not sure how well the car learns its own actual usage based on the driver. My driving is pretty varied, speeding around town, but 55-60 mph on road trips, sometimes 75 if I know I have plenty of charge and time.

When I first went electric I had read somewhere that 55mph is ideal speed to minimize time, that is driving faster means more time charging before you can make your next stop. I'm sure it depends on many factors, but I have seen the Tesla Nav tell me to stay below 75mph, 65mph or 55mph to make my destination. I think that means under 55mph doesn't significantly improve mileage. Of course it depends on how you value your time. Maybe driving slower gets you there 15 min earlier, but you have to spend 1 hour more actually driving. I just made those numbers up, but hopefully you get the idea. I usually get lost on the internet while charging and spend way more time than necessary, so I leave it at 100% limit so it doesn't sit there not charging.

 

[TexasEV]

Leaving home with 100% charge shortens your first supercharger stop. It’s irrelevant that charging starts faster if you arrive with a lower SOC. Whatever target range you’re charging to, you’ll get to it faster if you start with 10% higher charge!

 

[Richt]

Ok some advice after having done a bunch of trips. First off charging to 100% is basically about having a buffet in case there’s an issue. We had one where we missed an exit and had to detour 15 miles.

Also if you get behind a truck you will oftentimes find very good performance. At highway speeds, wind resistance is the main issue.

Also make sure to warm up the battery. It is unintuitive but you want to have car plugged in and remotely turn on the climate control. This also turns on the battery. The battery does best when it is at a nice toasty 70 or so. You can tell if it is cold because you will see in the battery charge meter, little dashes in yellow. You don’t want to waste energy when you driving. Use the wall power.

Since Quebec is pretty cold, you will want to try to do the same there. Hopefully you will be able to use your level 1 charger while you are visiting.

Finally, I do use better route planner for really long trips. I’ve found that to be accurate it needs to know your driving state so the true nerd will record actually va expected. Turns out that we normally limit speeds as wind resistance increases to the square of velocity. So going a little faster is really worse and try to find a nice truck of Big truck to trail. The ideal are those big RVs that like to go 75-80

 

[ek993]

I only see stopping at West Lebanon and Drummondville SCs. Assuming you will need to charge once before West Lebanon, where is the 4th stop?.

ABRP showed Brattleboro, West Lebanon, Magog and Drummondville.

 

[MXn00b]

ABRP showed Brattleboro, West Lebanon, Magog and Drummondville.

Very interesting. evtripplanner.com (with Model S 75D since they don't have X data) says to stop in Berlin, VT AND Magog, but not Drummondville. I didn't realize ABRP was an actual product instead of a generic term. Good to know they all have differences.

One thing you can do while driving is ask the Nav to recalculate. It will mess up your trip energy curve, but it will definitely tell you if you can skip Brattleboro or Magog (or Drummondville if the QC supercharger is convenient). I'm jealous of your options and hope to hear back how it goes.

 

[rush6410]

The on board navigation works great to see real time consumption estimates. While en-route, pay attention to the estimated % at destination. Never go below 10% allowing for emergencies. Adjust speed to keep estimate above target. The estimated % at destination adjusts based on current driving habits and road conditions. So, it will always be more accurate than any 3rd party planner.