First, Somewhat, Long Trip

[jsordelet]

Anyone here from the Eastern Washington region? I am planning a trip from Pullman, WA to The Dalles, OR. The trip would be about 268 miles each way, so my question is related to range during the cold winter months. I am driving a Model 3 Performance that is only a couple of week old so I am confident in the vehicles range, generally speaking. However, since there is only one Supercharging option on trip, Pendleton, OR which is 155 miles from my starting point. Should I be at all concerned? I have heard some people say to expect approximately 50-60% range loss during the winter so that would put my range around 157 miles (or 50% of the 315 estimated range). Obviously, 157 miles of range is only slightly more than the 155 miles I need to travel to make it to the Supercharger.

Thoughts?

 

[jjrandorin]

You wont have any issues going 155 miles, unless you try to drive 90+MPH. What tires do you have on your car? Tesla used to only deliver performance model 3s with summer tires, and that would be more of a concern to me.

 

[jsordelet]

You wont have any issues going 155 miles, unless you try to drive 90+MPH. What tires do you have on your car? Tesla used to only delivery performance model 3s with summer tires, and that would be more of a concern to me.

I have the all-season Conti Extreme Contact DWS 06+ tires

 

[jjrandorin]

I dont know what the speed limits are on the road you are taking (or elevation ). You can put the trip into a website like abetterrouteplanner and see, but I dont think you will have a problem going 150 miles in a model 3, even a performance one, in the cold, with a car full of people, provided you dont drive at excessively high speeds.

 

[GtiMart]

double the consumption, or 50% efficiency, happens when you live in -20C weather like we have here today. The weather in your origin and destination is a bit over freezing so it won't be as bad. Seriously, use ABetterRoutePlanner to understand what's going to happen. I plugged in your car, source, destination, assumed 32F with a bit of headwind, assumed you drive 20-25% over the limit. Takes ~70% to get to the SuperCharger.

 

[LoudMusic]

I've just punched this up in ABRP and I disagree with it, as usual, but it's at least marginally informative.

ABRP

ABetterRouteplanner is the world's most popular consumer EV routeplanner - both for beginner and experienced EV drivers. And of course for anyone curious about EVs.

abetterrouteplanner.com

ABRP allows you to set all kinds of conditions, such as outside temperature, headwind speed, road conditions, and then preferences like what % you want to arrive at Superchargers and your destination.

I gave it pretty bad conditions like a 10mph headwind, 20f temp, rainy/snowy roads, and driving 110% of the speed limit (you have a Performance, I suspect you speed ).

Charge to 100% (or near enough) before leaving home.

ABRP thinks you can get to The Dalles with a 30 minute stop in Kennewick. I think it might be less. Depends on what you want to arrive with and what actual conditions are like en route. The car will tell you how long you need to charge, or when you are able to depart and arrive at the next location with enough battery charge remaining. During winter trips I usually click the "continue trip" button in the Navigation and wait for the next arrival percentage to be 15 to 20% for plenty of winter buffer.

Another 30 minute charge in The Dalles to get charged up to return to Kennewick. Same same.

ABRP then states you will need to drive slower on the trip back to Pullman. Without looking I'm guessing Pullman is plenty higher elevation than Kennewick, which would instigate that kind of calculation result. It says to charge to 99% in order to arrive at 8%. ABRP does a fair amount of padding in order to be successful. I would still charge that much, but anticipate arriving with plenty more juice than that.

The car will recalculate arrival percentage during your drive. You can adjust your speed to accommodate the arrival percentage. On longer segments that I'm unsure of I tend to drive more conservative the first half and once the percentage seems pretty well locked in I might pick up the pace if I'm comfortable with what it's showing. Especially returning home where I know I can park the car and let it charge overnight.

Arriving at a Supercharger or home with a small battery percentage is fine. You aren't going to damage anything. The car is pretty good at estimating those values and if it says 3% it's probably going to be 3%. Learning to trust this tech can be a big hurdle but after you've done it once it starts to make a lot of sense. The car takes into account known elevation changes and other static affects on range. You can see this in the consumption/trip graphs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnIfDD_W0AEKCkr.jpg

I suspect not a lot of people have driven a Tesla out that way and if there's any truth to the shared machine learning then that data may be a little less accurate than the data for the section that is I-84/I-82.

I think you will have no problem making the trip. For cold weather I recommend waiting for the Navigation to show 15 to 20 % for the next destination arrival. Keep an eye on the arrival % while driving and slow down as necessary to ensure the arrival % is adequate. Head winds are the worst. I know it gets windy out there.

 

[roblab]

Been there, done that. No problems.

 

[jsordelet]

I've just punched this up in ABRP and I disagree with it, as usual, but it's at least marginally informative.

ABRP

ABetterRouteplanner is the world's most popular consumer EV routeplanner - both for beginner and experienced EV drivers. And of course for anyone curious about EVs.

abetterrouteplanner.com

ABRP allows you to set all kinds of conditions, such as outside temperature, headwind speed, road conditions, and then preferences like what % you want to arrive at Superchargers and your destination.

I gave it pretty bad conditions like a 10mph headwind, 20f temp, rainy/snowy roads, and driving 110% of the speed limit (you have a Performance, I suspect you speed ).

Charge to 100% (or near enough) before leaving home.

ABRP thinks you can get to The Dalles with a 30 minute stop in Kennewick. I think it might be less. Depends on what you want to arrive with and what actual conditions are like en route. The car will tell you how long you need to charge, or when you are able to depart and arrive at the next location with enough battery charge remaining. During winter trips I usually click the "continue trip" button in the Navigation and wait for the next arrival percentage to be 15 to 20% for plenty of winter buffer.

Another 30 minute charge in The Dalles to get charged up to return to Kennewick. Same same.

ABRP then states you will need to drive slower on the trip back to Pullman. Without looking I'm guessing Pullman is plenty higher elevation than Kennewick, which would instigate that kind of calculation result. It says to charge to 99% in order to arrive at 8%. ABRP does a fair amount of padding in order to be successful. I would still charge that much, but anticipate arriving with plenty more juice than that.

The car will recalculate arrival percentage during your drive. You can adjust your speed to accommodate the arrival percentage. On longer segments that I'm unsure of I tend to drive more conservative the first half and once the percentage seems pretty well locked in I might pick up the pace if I'm comfortable with what it's showing. Especially returning home where I know I can park the car and let it charge overnight.

Arriving at a Supercharger or home with a small battery percentage is fine. You aren't going to damage anything. The car is pretty good at estimating those values and if it says 3% it's probably going to be 3%. Learning to trust this tech can be a big hurdle but after you've done it once it starts to make a lot of sense. The car takes into account known elevation changes and other static affects on range. You can see this in the consumption/trip graphs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnIfDD_W0AEKCkr.jpg

I suspect not a lot of people have driven a Tesla out that way and if there's any truth to the shared machine learning then that data may be a little less accurate than the data for the section that is I-84/I-82.

I think you will have no problem making the trip. For cold weather I recommend waiting for the Navigation to show 15 to 20 % for the next destination arrival. Keep an eye on the arrival % while driving and slow down as necessary to ensure the arrival % is adequate. Head winds are the worst. I know it gets windy out there.



View attachment 754674

Thanks! I appreciate the work and level of detail you have provided me here.

 

[Rocky_H]

only one Supercharging option on trip, Pendleton, OR which is 155 miles from my starting point. Should I be at all concerned? I have heard some people say to expect approximately 50-60% range loss during the winter

No, that will be no trouble at all. I've heard that B.S. fear mongering from electric car haters often, but it's not nearly that bad. It is shocking, but it's more like 25-30% loss in actual really cold single digit Fahrenheit temperatures, not near 50%.

I think you will have no problem making the trip. For cold weather I recommend waiting for the Navigation to show 15 to 20 % for the next destination arrival. Keep an eye on the arrival % while driving and slow down as necessary to ensure the arrival % is adequate. Head winds are the worst. I know it gets windy out there.

This is a really good tip, though. If you have the Nav set at the end destination, and you're charging midway through, don't just unplug and go when the car says ready to leave. It's going on more standard default conditions and not accounting for cold and extra heating energy, so it's probably going to tell you to leave when it's about a projection of arrival with 10%, and that's not enough margin. In Winter, I usually stay until the arrival % for the next leg shows about 20-25, and then that will be pretty comfy for heating and not having to slow down for it.

 

[Hebert]

I have done this trip a few times. It was easy except for the one trip when the wind was blowing 30mph plus along the Columbia River. If it's a windy day when you head west, you can always add more charge at Kennewick.

 

[LoudMusic]

I have done this trip a few times. It was easy except for the one trip when the wind was blowing 30mph plus along the Columbia River. If it's a windy day when you head west, you can always add more charge at Kennewick.

That sounds like what I was dealing with driving across Kansas both westbound to Denver and then later on the eastbound trip home. I'm so lucky

 

[3'sterly]

Anyone here from the Eastern Washington region? I am planning a trip from Pullman, WA to The Dalles, OR. The trip would be about 268 miles each way, so my question is related to range during the cold winter months. I am driving a Model 3 Performance that is only a couple of week old so I am confident in the vehicles range, generally speaking. However, since there is only one Supercharging option on trip, Pendleton, OR which is 155 miles from my starting point. Should I be at all concerned? I have heard some people say to expect approximately 50-60% range loss during the winter so that would put my range around 157 miles (or 50% of the 315 estimated range). Obviously, 157 miles of range is only slightly more than the 155 miles I need to travel to make it to the Supercharger.

Thoughts?

Not sure if you’ve already done this trip, but if not, check current conditions of the Pendleton SuC. I just posted at that TMC thread.
“He said it (Pendleton) was ‘down’. I just checked our car Nav map and Pendleton shows as ‘Temporarily Closed’. The X driver had been talking about the Spokane charger being closed….”

 

[jsordelet]

Not sure if you’ve already done this trip, but if not, check current conditions of the Pendleton SuC. I just posted at that TMC thread.
“He said it (Pendleton) was ‘down’. I just checked our car Nav map and Pendleton shows as ‘Temporarily Closed’. The X driver had been talking about the Spokane charger being closed….”

Thanks for the heads up. I am making the trip this weekend. I have opted to go through the Tri Cities and hit the Kennewick SC on the way there and then charge up at the SC in The Dalles before heading back to the Kennewick SC and heading home from there. This is the route that the nav in the car recommended as well.

 

[CarrieMullins]

Hello! I realize this is a long shot but I’m wondering if you live in Pullman. My family and I came up yesterday for the game and it was our first time coming up this way. Unfortunately our battery is almost completely dead. Do you happen to live in Pullman and have a garage charger. We are trying to get on the destination charger at the Holiday Inn with no luck. We are a bit desperate. Thanks so much for help, if you see this message.

 

[Eric33432]

Hello! I realize this is a long shot but I’m wondering if you live in Pullman. My family and I came up yesterday for the game and it was our first time coming up this way. Unfortunately our battery is almost completely dead. Do you happen to live in Pullman and have a garage charger. We are trying to get on the destination charger at the Holiday Inn with no luck. We are a bit desperate. Thanks so much for help, if you see this message.

Curious: what did you end up with?

 

[RayK]

Curious: what did you end up with?

See here: HELP!! We are stranded in Pullman, WA!