First Trip Roadtrip

[X.l.r.8]

So after reading pretty much all I can find, cross referencing options and a healthy dose of reality from Ari
ROAD TRIP: From Florida to Ohio in a 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport 3.0
I decided I'll be driving my car back. With the support of the Toucan's, the MC240 and a wealth of advice again from Ari I believe I have charging covered.
Of course a local car would have been ideal but that never happens in my world so I found one as far away as possible, crossing land with the least places to charge and all in a car I know next to nothing about. So from Anacortes to Toronto I will either be grinning ear to ear enjoying the relaxed drive, or looking miserable in a u-haul truck towing a trailer. Either way I have 2600 miles to cover. My route I would upload but its in excel format. But its pretty much finalized with 2 stops at campgrounds to recharge both myself and the car for a night. No doubt I will learn a lot on the way and will be keeping efficiency at the forefront until I am comfortable with range projection. I have a few uncomfortable long stretches of 167-177 miles which thankfully are between 80 amp chargers so I can get moving again fairly quickly, I also have contingency camp ground chargers planned just in case. I have projected my travel times driving around 55-60 mph and listening to a lot of audio books. I-90 to I-94 will be the preferred route and once across the boarder I will be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
I have had to spend countless hours sorting routes. rest stops and reading the endless internet misinformation regarding moving/importing/transporting vehicles from Provence to State to Country and thankfully I now have a good understanding of how it works finally and I can faithfully say 99% of the internet opinions are not only wrong but thoroughly misleading.
If anyone is interested I will post my planned route and will welcome any further advice for anyone who knows any of the I-90 as on the map is looks quite daunting.
I will obviously be documenting my trip and updating my progress and figured I would start here with 8 weeks to go. Impatiently waiting for funds to clear so I can get this chapter started.

 

[arijaycomet]

Watching thread. . Glad that my blog post was helpful. Are you planning to cross into Canada over in Detroit? We should try to organize a Roadster meetup or something just before you cross! Safe travels.

 

[djp]

Good luck! One word of advice from my experience with longer road trips - try to avoid freeways and take more direct routes on two-lane highways where possible. The shorter distance and lower speed both help to minimize the time spent recharging. Smaller highways are also more fun to drive as an added benefit.

MapQuest has a route planning option to optimize by shortest distance rather than shortest time.

Multi-Stop Route Planning and Optimization Tools - MapQuest

 

[slcasner]

2600 miles in three days seems like a real stretch to me. Remember that your fastest charging rate is about 55 miles of charge per hour with 240V 70A. Many places that can deliver 70A, such as a Tesla Destination Charger configured for 80A, are on commercial circuits at 208V, which drops the rate to about 47 mph.

 

[X.l.r.8]

Oh no, It wil take as long as it takes, I only plan on sleeping 2 nights, I'll rest when the car is charging other times. I figure at best I'm looking at 6 solid days. I want to spend a morning in Deadwood, after that I have a few private roadster HPWC's on the way but the rest I'm counting on 40-48 miles hour, driving speeds are averagede on 50 mph for the long ones and 60 for the short ones. I'm not after taking any chances, especially when I have mountains to drive over.
I'll take into account of the lower voltage though, I have some redundancy time built in, I may have to increase that. Does the MC240 charge at the 40 amps or 32A It may mean I can move on quicker clawing back an hour or two.

 

[gregd]

Does the MC240 charge at the 40 amps or 32A It may mean I can move on quicker clawing back an hour or two.

The Roadster's mobile connector can do 40 amps charging rate, assuming a 50 amp circuit.

Also remember that charging speed ramps down as the battery gets full.

 

[Roadster]

I'm always inspired by those of you who take on these long journeys. Best of luck to you and pack tons of patience!

I have a few uncomfortable long stretches of 167-177 miles

Make sure you check any elevation changes through those stretches and factor that in as well since you'll be pushing the range. Also hoping the weather cooperates and it isn't too hot/humid throughout your route. Running the HVAC will certainly put a dent in your ideal miles.

Does the MC240 charge at the 40 amps or 32A

My experience is the latter but YMMV. Be advised, the MC240 is a finicky piece of equipment with a less than stellar track record. Hoping you can add @asgard's CANs to your kit bag for added peace of mind.

 

[supersnoop]

My experience is the latter but YMMV. Be advised, the MC240 is a finicky piece of equipment with a less than stellar track record. Hoping you can add @asgard's CANs to your kit bag for added peace of mind.

The MC240 is a tank. I’ve never seen a problem reported. The UMC, however, is an entirely different story.

The MC240 tops out at 30A, while the UMC will charge at 40A.

 

[gregd]

The MC240 tops out at 30A, while the UMC will charge at 40A.

I really wish Tesla had been clearer on their product naming vs product labeling... I keep getting this wrong, sorry. Supersnoop is correct.

The thing I got with my car (a 2.0) says "240 mobile connector" on its front, but I guess it's referred to as the UMC, not to be confused with the UMC (generations 1 and 2) that comes with the Models S/X/3. That one does 40 amps, and so far mine continues to work (er, at least last time I used it back in April). Because of it's sorted history, I replaced it for my at-home charging with an OpenEVSE. A bit bigger (designed for wall mounting, but can go portable in a pinch), but it also does 40 amps.

 

[Roadster]

Ah, if you’ve got the old school MC240 s/snoop noted (as opposed to the UMC) you should be good!

 

[X.l.r.8]

Asgard’s cans are in the post. I’m still confused on the MC and UMC, it’s a founders 240 120, I assume that’s the MC240 but if it works twice I’m golden. I don’t think I’ll need more than 30A for the night stops but that’s a shame it’s not quicker in case I need help on the way.

 

[arijaycomet]

Indeed I’m also not 100% sure about the nomenclature for the various cables that came with the Roadster. I’ll say this much, I use the 110v cable for daily small refills on the Roadster. But use the CAN SR and my wife’s model S HPWC for faster. I don’t have a NEMA outlet at home so the included cable does me no good. All our chargers from Florida were HPWC, save for the two overnight stays (J1772/CAN JR). I’ll be curious what your stops end up being as far as hardware. It sounds like you have some campgrounds planned so the NEMA Adapter will be a necessity there. And yeah overnight we charged at 30-32A stations and it was plenty. More/faster is better but I found those J1772/30A to be suffice. You’ve got a fun adventure ahead!

 

[DeedWest]

This will be awesome to see! As someone who just completed a 2,200 mile round-trip in my Roadster 2.0, I'm thrilled to see others doing the same. I intend to post a summary of my travels here soon, but in the meantime, there are a few things you might want to advise:

- Note that the PEM will get considerably hotter while charging at higher amperage (56, 64, and 70A - ESPECIALLY in the summer & direct sunlight. My PEM temps reached 61C at one point, which was very close to limiting itself. I manually brought it down to 56A which dropped the temps to 57-58C. It helps to keep the trunk open if you're around the car, as this will allow wind and airflow to the PEM. Some have even suggested putting bags of ice or pouring cold water carefully on the top.

- Henry's CAN SR. adapter works with almost all of the Destination Chargers. I encountered one of the original HPWC's in Albuquerque, which did not work with the CAN. You may want to check Plugshare for other owners' reviews to make sure it'll work.

- Try not to exceed 40 Amps continuous (which is displayed on the orange screen) while driving and you will always achieve Ideal Miles shown. Yes, this means lower average speeds on hills, but you can make up the average on downhill sections.

I'm not sure which car you're purchasing, but if it's a 2.0 or above, you can utilize the helpful kW meter to the right of the speedo to ensure it as well, by keeping the needle at the 12.5 kW mark (halfway between the 0 and the 25). If you're getting a 1.5, you can just monitor the Amps on the orange screen as mentioned above.

Keep us updated!!!

 

[X.l.r.8]

2.0 as I need to use it in Canada. I figure I'm going to be travelling around 50-55 for the really long sections, and 60-65 for the shorter ones. Once I'm through to South Dakota I don't think i have many mountains, but I'm checking with all known maps just in case. i was wondering about the accumulated high temperature by using it non stop driving and charging. I am hoping the night time driving will keep things cooler and the days I will see how it goes.

 

[X.l.r.8]

Well it’s started, the Can Sr living up to its name.
Yes #690 has another new owner. First stop of many. Still grinning through range anxiety. Pulled over already by a trooper that just wanted to look at the car, Big sigh of relief on that one. Running a little behind schedule but some careful planning on stops and that 40 amp monster charger I can claw some hours back here and there.

 

[X.l.r.8]

Huge thanks to Twiersum who went above and beyond gettting paperwork sorted, picking me up from the airport and keeping me company while patiently waiting for the car to charge.

 

[DeedWest]

Still the most interesting Roadster I've ever seen. Congratulations! I think I can speak on behalf of all Roadster owners on here - we are thrilled to have you joining us.

 

[X.l.r.8]

Thanks. I’m loving this. Still I’m unsure how much to trust the car. I have a question, on range charge I had 210 on the green screen and 238 on the other screen. Which one to trust. It wasn’t fully charged but I was keen to keep driving, trying to make up some time.

 

[DeedWest]

View attachment 329823 Thanks. I’m loving this. Still I’m unsure how much to trust the car. I have a question, on range charge I had 210 on the green screen and 238 on the other screen. Which one to trust. It wasn’t fully charged but I was keen to keep driving, trying to make up some time.

The VDS screen will always show Ideal Miles, while the orange meter screen will show estimated range based on the past 30 miles of driving. If you're exceeding the expectations of energy consumption, that number will rise. Hypothetically, the car will actually travel that far if you maintain the average Wh/Mi.

 

[dhrivnak]

View attachment 329823 Thanks. I’m loving this. Still I’m unsure how much to trust the car. I have a question, on range charge I had 210 on the green screen and 238 on the other screen. Which one to trust. It wasn’t fully charged but I was keen to keep driving, trying to make up some time.

The VDS can be set to show ideal miles or estimated based on last 40 miles of driving. Normally I use the lower number for range. The ideal miles is based on 225 watts/mile which is level driving, no head wind, 60 mph and no heat or air. Basically ideal conditions. If you are driving at 70, with AC and/or in the rain you will get far less range. So the current estimate is normally lower, BUT one day after a nice 5500 ft descend on and ideal day my estimated range was showing 720 miles to go. Definitely off but the very long downhill through off the estimates based on my last 40 miles.