I'm planning my first long road trip at the end of the month (Long Island, NY to Orlando) with my long range Tesla model 3.
As a background, I've had the car for 18 months. Put on about 11,000 miles in the first 6 months then transitioned to working from home. Put on 2000 miles in 12 months since. The car has free supercharging until October. Plan was 2 or 3 trips to Florida during the two year free charging period but Covid changed that.
I do have some questions and thoughts and would like some input if possible.
Most importantly- I know the best way to maximize charging is to charge just enough to get to the next charger with 5-10% of charge remaining. However, I am thinking about modifying that based on how we attacked long distance trips in our ICE. I know we stop every 2.5 to3 hours (makes the end of the day driving a lot easier). We usually alternate short (5-10 minute) and long (30-40 minute) stops. I figure I’ll stretch the shorter stops to about 20-25 minutes and that should work for us. In other words, we leave at 7 am, stop (probably in Delaware) at about 10 for 20-25 minutes,. Car should be at 80%, then drive another 3 hours and stop at 1:30 to walk around, eat lunch and have a bathroom break. At that point the car will definitely be above 80% (unless we are sharing a charger) and might even close to 100% depending on the length of the stay (not our goal, just might happen because we haven’t left yet). We then stop for a short charge 2.5 hours later, then longer dinner break (similar to lunch) 3 hours after that, then drive to our overnight hotel in South Carolina (it has a destination charger and if it isn’t working or available there is a supercharger nearby). I’m thinking this would only add about 45 minutes to our normal driving routine (so much for electric cars being inconvenient on road trips). Does this sound like a good alternative to the dash and drive strategy? FYI- for the second day we will just hit the superchargers along the way. More spaced out further south and less pressure to get a lot of miles in.
As far as planning goes- we are going to have a list of all superchargers and amenities nearby (if someone has a list of those that would be really helpful and save a lot of research hours). We plan to plot it out with ABRP and see how we are doing vs anticipated using that and the in-car system.
I’m also considering rejoining AAA. I let my membership lapse when I got the Tesla because of the included roadside assistance. I’m not sure how it stacks up to AAA as far as potential flat tire fixes or other roadside problems. Really don’t want to be stuck on I-95 waiting for a truck to show up for hours.
I might actually buy a tire fix kit or even a spare tire and jack just in case. I have the 18 inch tires and still have a lot of tread left so it’s really just me being extra cautious against Murphy's Law. This will literally be the first time the car has been overnight outside of a garage!
The hotel we are staying at in Orlando doesn’t have chargers but I figure I can Supercharge in the middle of the week and that should be enough to get back and forth to the parks and allow for the anticipated 24 hour a day Sentry Mode drain. In a pinch, I could pay to charge at the park but I doubt it will be needed.
I also need to subscribe to get internet access. Does anyone know if it starts at the first of the month or can it be reactivated anytime? I know it's just $5 a month but since I'm barely driving I just never signed up when it lapsed (I just use my phone as a hotspot during any short drives I take).
Other than that, I think I’m good but would welcome any suggestions. I’ll have my 17-year old son with me (my wife is flying down the next day because of work) and I’m looking forward to the quality time together on the trip.
As a background, I've had the car for 18 months. Put on about 11,000 miles in the first 6 months then transitioned to working from home. Put on 2000 miles in 12 months since. The car has free supercharging until October. Plan was 2 or 3 trips to Florida during the two year free charging period but Covid changed that.
I do have some questions and thoughts and would like some input if possible.
Most importantly- I know the best way to maximize charging is to charge just enough to get to the next charger with 5-10% of charge remaining. However, I am thinking about modifying that based on how we attacked long distance trips in our ICE. I know we stop every 2.5 to3 hours (makes the end of the day driving a lot easier). We usually alternate short (5-10 minute) and long (30-40 minute) stops. I figure I’ll stretch the shorter stops to about 20-25 minutes and that should work for us. In other words, we leave at 7 am, stop (probably in Delaware) at about 10 for 20-25 minutes,. Car should be at 80%, then drive another 3 hours and stop at 1:30 to walk around, eat lunch and have a bathroom break. At that point the car will definitely be above 80% (unless we are sharing a charger) and might even close to 100% depending on the length of the stay (not our goal, just might happen because we haven’t left yet). We then stop for a short charge 2.5 hours later, then longer dinner break (similar to lunch) 3 hours after that, then drive to our overnight hotel in South Carolina (it has a destination charger and if it isn’t working or available there is a supercharger nearby). I’m thinking this would only add about 45 minutes to our normal driving routine (so much for electric cars being inconvenient on road trips). Does this sound like a good alternative to the dash and drive strategy? FYI- for the second day we will just hit the superchargers along the way. More spaced out further south and less pressure to get a lot of miles in.
As far as planning goes- we are going to have a list of all superchargers and amenities nearby (if someone has a list of those that would be really helpful and save a lot of research hours). We plan to plot it out with ABRP and see how we are doing vs anticipated using that and the in-car system.
I’m also considering rejoining AAA. I let my membership lapse when I got the Tesla because of the included roadside assistance. I’m not sure how it stacks up to AAA as far as potential flat tire fixes or other roadside problems. Really don’t want to be stuck on I-95 waiting for a truck to show up for hours.
I might actually buy a tire fix kit or even a spare tire and jack just in case. I have the 18 inch tires and still have a lot of tread left so it’s really just me being extra cautious against Murphy's Law. This will literally be the first time the car has been overnight outside of a garage!
The hotel we are staying at in Orlando doesn’t have chargers but I figure I can Supercharge in the middle of the week and that should be enough to get back and forth to the parks and allow for the anticipated 24 hour a day Sentry Mode drain. In a pinch, I could pay to charge at the park but I doubt it will be needed.
I also need to subscribe to get internet access. Does anyone know if it starts at the first of the month or can it be reactivated anytime? I know it's just $5 a month but since I'm barely driving I just never signed up when it lapsed (I just use my phone as a hotspot during any short drives I take).
Other than that, I think I’m good but would welcome any suggestions. I’ll have my 17-year old son with me (my wife is flying down the next day because of work) and I’m looking forward to the quality time together on the trip.
