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First trip Up I-95

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Hi,
I am hoping some of you have more experience than I do with road tripping, and are wiling to give some pointers to a newbie.

I am considering taking my P85 on a trial run up I-95 and up to Greenville South Carolina for a business trip on the 13th of January. Hopefully the two new Superchargers in Georgia and South Carolina will be ready then. I spotted two possible problems. First the distance from the St. Augustine SC To Savannah at around 210 seems a stretch. I would probably have to do 55 the whole way.

Second I believe the trip from Santee to Greenville is mostly up hill. I would hate to have a range anxiety attack with my partner and district manager in the car.

Any ideas or thoughts?
 
The distance between Savannah Airport and the St. Augustine SC is 170 mi... you shouldn't have a problem there. I don't know the exact elevation change in your last leg, but if you charge to 85-90%, I think you will be fine since it's only about 160 miles
 
@Gwstephens,I posted this under another tread. Hope you find this useful even if you have the 85KW and I welcome your comments..

"I have the S60 for 9 months now. I love the car and really cannot tell the difference in performance between mine and the S85 test car. I rarely drove more than 150 miles a day and life is good until I took the car to New Jersey (from NC) one weekend (travel by myself with very light luggage in car). It was a 500+ miles trip and I am very familiar with this route. I wish I have the S85. It took me 16 hours with about 3 hours traffic (normally 8 hours with no traffic) Tesla Ownership Experience(OE) told me they plan to build the Superchargers about every 150 miles. It sounds good for the S60 owners right? With long trip, you have to consider these items: 1. Unexpected road construction/repair which will bring the long detour; 2. Closed highway exit which the Model S GPS cannot tell and that means you have to find the next exit, cause additional miles; 3. Travel uphill (usually from South to North) will need more energy. I experienced all of these during my i95 corridor trip and it was no fun at all. I had two stops (one at Nissan Level 2 charger) which I had 2 miles and 1 miles left with my heater off and cruse control on for 65 miles driving all the way. No spirited driving at all. I am grateful that I didn't need any tow, but imagine my range anxiety!!!

My suggestions for long distance travelers:

1. If you are debating between S60 vs S85 or P85 buying, get the 85KW if you can afford one. I really regret my purchase and want to upgrade and hopefully the 110KW or higher battery comes out sooner than later.
2. If you want to charge 200 miles (can only get 196 miles now with v5.8), the last 1/4 charge will be quite slow, so charge whatever you need to get to the next SC.
3. Be careful the in-between superchargers' distance on the monitor is not the same as the GPS (Garmin vs Google, short by about 15-20 miles). Tesla OE said they are working on this to consolidate.
4. Always put in the contingency (including weather condition and load) while you travel from SC to SC. I am now using 20% for uphill climb and 10% for downhill. Tesla OE told me they are working on the improvements for Model S Navigation, which will take into account elevation changes, more refined address searching, and potentially weather conditions. These are all good news.
This was my first long trip using my S60 and learned a lot from it. I hope this can provide some help for those of you who are planning for your next long trip."
 
Hi,
I am hoping some of you have more experience than I do with road tripping, and are wiling to give some pointers to a newbie.

I am considering taking my P85 on a trial run up I-95 and up to Greenville South Carolina for a business trip on the 13th of January. Hopefully the two new Superchargers in Georgia and South Carolina will be ready then. I spotted two possible problems. First the distance from the St. Augustine SC To Savannah at around 210 seems a stretch. I would probably have to do 55 the whole way.

Second I believe the trip from Santee to Greenville is mostly up hill. I would hate to have a range anxiety attack with my partner and district manager in the car.

Any ideas or thoughts?

The superchargers in St. Augustine and Savannah are still under construction. Hard to know if they'll be finished by the 1/13.
 
Hi,
I am hoping some of you have more experience than I do with road tripping, and are wiling to give some pointers to a newbie.

I am considering taking my P85 on a trial run up I-95 and up to Greenville South Carolina for a business trip on the 13th of January. Hopefully the two new Superchargers in Georgia and South Carolina will be ready then. I spotted two possible problems. First the distance from the St. Augustine SC To Savannah at around 210 seems a stretch. I would probably have to do 55 the whole way.

Second I believe the trip from Santee to Greenville is mostly up hill. I would hate to have a range anxiety attack with my partner and district manager in the car.

Any ideas or thoughts?

I am going to tag onto artsci's comment: you should not plan your trip around the future Superchargers in St. Augustine nor Savannah.
While things are happening very quickly in the Supercharger roll-outs, you might need to make alternate plans in case either of those two locations fail to open and be fully operational on 1-13-14.
That might leave you high and dry without another quick charging option.
Other charging options are available, but they might take six hours or more to give you enough charge for your next destination/charge location.
I always try to give myself a 30 mile buffer (reserve battery) when driving long distances, because you never know all the upcoming road, terrain and weather conditions...

Also, just to reiterate to what you have already noted: longer distance driving probably indicates slightly lower speeds (than posted maximum speeds) to accomplish your intended destination.
 
Ultimately, I want to take her back home to Whitley City, Ky on the Tennessee border above Knoxville. I might make it if i could charge at a welding shop in Columbia and then sleep over in Asheville, NC, then find another welding shop in Knoxville. I would consider helping to finance a High speed charger for a restaurant along that route. Maybe some of us could pitch in?

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Obviously, I have other vehicles if the superchargers are not open then.
 
Ultimately, I want to take her back home to Whitley City, Ky on the Tennessee border above Knoxville. I might make it if i could charge at a welding shop in Columbia and then sleep over in Asheville, NC, then find another welding shop in Knoxville. I would consider helping to finance a High speed charger for a restaurant along that route. Maybe some of us could pitch in?

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I drove from CT to Jacksboro, TN the week before T'giving in very cold (single digit F) temperatures. The full thread is here (Road Trip from Redding, CT to Caryville, TN (north of Knoville))
Obviously, I have other vehicles if the superchargers are not open then.

The jaunt from Burlington, NC to Asheville caused me a lot of anxiety but turned out to be painless. I did 60 mph (drove very conservatively) in the cold and had 40 miles remaining on arrival. The climb up Black Mountain turned out to be a non-event. I overnighted in Asheville (there are two J1772 chargers in the municipal parking garage next to the Marriott Renaissance, across the street from the Sheraton Four Points) and both units were functional. The drive from Asheville to Jacksboro was about 140 miles and I got pretty much rated range the whole way since much was downhill to Knoxville. I didn't google Whitley City but I can't imagine it's more than 40 miles north of Jacksboro.

If you're in need of a charge, there's a 30A charger at the Holiday Inn Express in Clinton and a 30A charger at a Shell station in La Follette. Given your concerns I presume you have a 60kWh?
 
The superchargers in St. Augustine and Savannah are still under construction. Hard to know if they'll be finished by the 1/13.


We are just making a drip from Tampa to Savannah and stopped by th St Augustine this morning. The construction is 99.9% finished, I will post photos when I am back home. We range charged in Port Orange, arrived with 188 miles in St Augustine. Lst 10 miles over night (I assume due to temp) map said 170 to Savannah and NO WAY to make it ! Strong winds kept us at 380 wh/mile at 65 mph and we are now charging at the Nissan dealer in Brunswick. 3 hour wa8t , it sucks ! Be careful of the wind, it could us more than once! It will be very hard to make those trips with a 60 at decent speed and wind! I would also always range charge on tripw. Imagine a charger not working !
 
Don't believe comments like 210 miles at 70 mph is no problem. I have a P85 with Michelin Pilot tires. The best range I can get, going no more than 65 mph (and usually less), with HVAC off, cruise control on, no quick accelerations, etc., and doing a max range change before leaving is 208 miles with a 6 mile reserve. Maybe if you have the 19 inch tires, you may make it, but not with the 21 inch tires. Tesla told me the 21 inch Michelins "costs" me about between 20 and 30 miles in range.
 
Don't believe comments like 210 miles at 70 mph is no problem. I have a P85 with Michelin Pilot tires. The best range I can get, going no more than 65 mph (and usually less), with HVAC off, cruise control on, no quick accelerations, etc., and doing a max range change before leaving is 208 miles with a 6 mile reserve. Maybe if you have the 19 inch tires, you may make it, but not with the 21 inch tires. Tesla told me the 21 inch Michelins "costs" me about between 20 and 30 miles in range.

Believe it. I along with countless of people on this site (search the forums) have done this and better. :) I drove to LaGuardia and back last week when the weather was 32 and hvac on at 70 and averaged 308 wh/mile which translates to 260 miles. I drive on 19's. Not everyone has 21's :)
 
Everyone (or almost everyone) that says they can do it have the 19 inch tires. Those of us with 21 inch tires don't get the same range. That is why I emphasized the tire size. As an aside, yesterday I averaged 411 wh/mile driving 50-55 mph in 40 degree weather. My lifetime average is 339 wh/mile over 8600 miles.
 
Everyone (or almost everyone) that says they can do it have the 19 inch tires. Those of us with 21 inch tires don't get the same range. That is why I emphasized the tire size. As an aside, yesterday I averaged 411 wh/mile driving 50-55 mph in 40 degree weather. My lifetime average is 339 wh/mile over 8600 miles.

Headwind? Rain? Hills? Short trip with initial battery heating? That sounds high at that temp even with 21" wheels.
 
Was driving in Montgomery County, MD. No rain, no real hills, just cold.

As another example, a week and a half ago I drove up I95 from Savannah GA to Florence SC. Left Savannah with a rated charge of 240 miles, for an actual travel distance of 177 miles. I got to the hotel in Florence with a 4 mile range left on the car. It was about 45 degrees, raining and windy. The last 65 miles of the trip I drove at 50 mph (used cruise control the entire trip) because I was afraid I would run out of battery. It is not fun driving 50 in a 75 mph speed limit and have other cars come zooming up on you rear and not get over until they are right on top of you.
 
No, fully loaded p85 performance. Whitley city is 80 miles north of Knoxville, nearly all vertical. I am used to driving my p85 in Florida. Driving in the mountains is more like flying an airplane. Hence my concern.


AND PLEASE FOLKS OF COURSE I HAVE AN ICE VEHICLE IN CASE THE SUPERCHARGERS ARE NOT READY. A WHOLE FLEET. GEEZE!

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So the CHADEMO system is actually a workable situation?

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I have the 21's
 
No, fully loaded p85 performance. Whitley city is 80 miles north of Knoxville, nearly all vertical. I am used to driving my p85 in Florida. Driving in the mountains is more like flying an airplane. Hence my concern.

I can tell you that I had 90 miles of rated range left after driving from Asheville to Jacksboro, TN, about 50 miles from Whitley City. I started with 250 miles rated that morning. I'm on 19" wheels, the temperature was in the mid-20s, and no wind to speak of. I averaged 5 mph over the speed limit to Knoxville, then 10 mph over the last 40 miles going north of Knoxville.

I think you can make it without an additional charge provided headwinds are minimal and no precipitation. Of course, you'll have to have enough time to charge at your destination as well.
 
Does everyone that has 19 inch tires and says all trips are doable realize that 21 inch tires reduce the car's range by about 30 miles? That is, if two identical cars (but for different size tires) travel the same course at the same speed, temperature, headwind, etc, at the same time, the car with the 19 inch tires will travel about 30 miles further. This is according to Tesla. I love my car, but Tesla never warned me (when I ordered the car years ago) that the 21 inch tires would cause such a distance hit. Had I known that, I would have gone with 19 inch tires. The only warning they gave me was the increased risk of pothole damage with 21 inch tires. This is the only real complaint I have about the car.