First roadtrip

[M3Posh]

Hello all,
Next week, I will be taking my M3P on its first road trip from the LA area to Albuquerque, NM.
I‘m looking forward to the drive, Im not too worried about range anxiety, I typically drive in the low to mid 80MPH range, with minimal A/C usage. I hope not to adjust my driving style too much if needed.
Before departing, Should I charge to 100% vs the usual 80%? Any advice for a road trip? Thank you all in advance.

 

[Watts_Up]

Use A Better Route Planner to study in advance your itinerary, in particular to choose your superchargers.
Try in general to stop at a 250 kW supercharger, but also check the amenities, such as restroom and place to eat.
Check that the food places will be open at the time you will arrive.

You can charge at 100% since you will going up the hill but you will not get regen braking until 92%,
So in general I only charge up to 95% unless there is a need because of the distance between superchargers.
And if you know that you will be going down the hill, try not having a full charged battery.

If you are more interested saving time for supercharging, some recommend charging often
from as low as 10% and less that 60%, so you will get the best charging time.

However, I prefer charging to at least 80% and not going below 40%, just because I experienced having
some unexpected detours when the highway get closed because of an accident or work on the road.

Also it is difficult to predict if there will be a lot of wind, or you will have to use AC, which will affect consumption.
Also in some states, the speed limit is 80 mph, so you might be driving then at 85 mph, which will reduce your range.

If you have passengers, I think they would prefer having a lesser number of stops, and having a nice place to eat.
I often charge then up to 90%, in this situation, but check that you will not get overtime.

Do you have FSD? If so, one feature I like is the auto-lane change so you don't have to constantly check your mirrors
when passing a truck or when going back to the right lane.

 

[Petermcg]

I always charge to 100% before a long trip. It stretches out the time before my first stop and is far cheaper than charging on the road. I set my charge to complete just before I leave.

 

[UncertainTimes]

Charge to 100%. Never know when those few percentages might be crucial…

 

[chrstna4]

I use ABRP to generally plan the trip then go to Tesla.com/findus to find all the 250kw on the route and out those into the route plan (I also prefer stops near a Target or grocery store and amenities are listed on that site). My tolerance is 15-20% SOC (that gives me extra if I miss a turn, have lots of head wind, or get re-routed) for arrival and that means I can get higher charging speeds. I put in the next chargers I planned to stop at and charge until I have at least a 20% buffer (I like to charge more often and not charge as high into the pack unless I have to because charging above 80% is so slow - if there are a lot of chargers close off my route, I leave when charge rate drops below 100kw).

I bring my mobile charger and J1772 adapter all the time. I also bring a tire repair kit and a 12v air compressor.

I’ve done over 20k miles of road trips and 99.99% of the time, I just plot out my route with as many 250kw chargers as I can find and enjoy the drive. That remaining 0.01% was some trouble getting rerouted due to wild fires - had a little anxiety about range but I knew I could always use my mobile connector or stop at an RV site for a charge if I could find a supercharger or a J1772 on PlugShare.

 

[Watts_Up]

I knew I could always use my mobile connector or stop at an RV site for a charge if I could find a supercharger or a J1772 on PlugShare.

Yes, install in your phone, all the major EV charging Apps (ChargePoint, Plugshare, Volta, EV Charging Point, EV Go, ...)
Some CCS or CHAdeMo charging stations might also have J1772 L2 chargers.
This would be also useful if you stay in an hotel.

RV apps, like Campendium, Hipcamp, or KOA, will provide the locations of campsites with NEMA 14-50 (240 V 50 A) or NEMA TT-30 (120 V 30A).

 

[swaltner]

I have it set to 90% overnight and then bump that to 100% when I wake up in the morning or about 45 minutes before departure. I'll leave it at 100% for the duration of a road trip, except for if I'm going to plug in overnight as a Destination Charger at a hotel or something like that. In that case, I'll again drop if to 90% for overnight and then bump it to 100% in the morning for my departure the next day.

Traveling solo, my routine is to arrive at a Supercharger with about 15% (45 miles) remaining. I'll only charge up to about 55% (165 miles) or so and then hit the road. That leaves enough time to hit the restroom, fill my water bottle, take a couple minutes to walk around the parking lot if the restroom wasn't a long walk from the charging station, and then hit the road to repeat the process in about 100 miles down the road at the next Supercharger. You generally can't make a ~12 minute charging stop like that at a 250 kW Supercharger station if you've got kids with you, but you can find a routine that works for the family.

At 80+ mph you're efficiency isn't going to be the rated rate. Keep track of your progress to the next charging station using the Trip tab in the Energy app on the main display. If you're ever coming up shy, slow down early in the leg, or look on the map for a closer charging station. Slowing down to 75 mph is a LOT faster than waiting for a tow if you come up shy making it to the next charging stop! Pay attention to the "you need to slow do to X mph to reach your next charging stop" alerts.