For those that paid for 60kWh to 75 kWh upgrade, was it worth it?

[rainforest]

I got 95kw at every supercharger on my X60D at a low charge level.

 

[ZenS60]

I have zero plans to upgrade to 75 and strongly suggest everyone enters their planned road trips into the EVTO app as an S60 and then as an S75. I've noticed most of my road trips end up being longer in the S75 due to the longer time it takes to charge.

I almost went ahead and upgraded due to a trip I was taking from Chicago to Princeton, NJ. I was shocked to see my trip would take an hour longer if I upgraded. I would stop at one less Supercharger but the added charging time made my trip longer. I thought why would I pay $2k to make my road trips even longer?!

I entered additional road trips just to compare and while none reached an hours difference, most trips had the S75 taking a few minutes longer which isn't a big deal. But again I'm not paying $2k to increase the time I'm in a road trip. With the amount of Superchargers in the US I've never needed the extra mileage because I was too far between Superchargers.

 

[J-Bus]

I have zero plans to upgrade to 75 and strongly suggest everyone enters their planned road trips into the EVTO app as an S60 and then as an S75. I've noticed most of my road trips end up being longer in the S75 due to the longer time it takes to charge.

I almost went ahead and upgraded due to a trip I was taking from Chicago to Princeton, NJ. I was shocked to see my trip would take an hour longer if I upgraded. I would stop at one less Supercharger but the added charging time made my trip longer. I thought why would I pay $2k to make my road trips even longer?!

I entered additional road trips just to compare and while none reached an hours difference, most trips had the S75 taking a few minutes longer which isn't a big deal. But again I'm not paying $2k to increase the time I'm in a road trip. With the amount of Superchargers in the US I've never needed the extra mileage because I was too far between Superchargers.

If anything it just shows that the planner is not calculating the optimal route when using the S75, or that the constraints you used were not comparable. For instance when you put in the constraint to arrive at your destination with 20% energy left you are basically saying for the S60 to not fall under 12kWh and for the S75 to not fall under 15kWh. Meaning that if both the S60 and S75 were charged to 60kWh prior to the trip, the S75 by definition would take longer because it has to arrive at the target destination with 3kWh more left.

There is not a single case thinkable in which a S60 will get you to your destination earlier than a S75 could have had, when making sure all constraints are equal. There are plenty of cases thinkable where the S75 will get you to your destination before the S60; the most obvious ones being the cases where A to B with a S75 could be done without charging, whereas the S60 would need some extra juice along the way.

 

[Red_DS]

I was shocked to see my trip would take an hour longer if I upgraded. I would stop at one less Supercharger but the added charging time made my trip longer. I thought why would I pay $2k to make my road trips even longer?!

Something doesn't add up with what you're saying. Did you choose to remove a supercharger from your trip to see how much time you'd save? Because I routed Chicago to Princeton (evtripplanner.com) and it looks like you'd save an hour on the 75D vs 60D.

You shouldn't be topping off at the supercharger since the topping off would be considerably slower than charging when you're close to empty. If you were planning on topping off, that could explain why you added an hour to the trip.

75 doesn't make sense for everyone and the extra capacity doesn't help if you plan on supercharging to 100% on a road trip in a 75. However, when you charge overnight, that extra range is really useful.

I plan on buying the upgrade because my trips to Boston from NYC require a supercharger stop with the 60D. I can easily make Boston without any stops on the 75D.

 

[ZenS60]

Something doesn't add up with what you're saying. Did you choose to remove a supercharger from your trip to see how much time you'd save? Because I routed Chicago to Princeton (evtripplanner.com) and it looks like you'd save an hour on the 75D vs 60D.

You shouldn't be topping off at the supercharger since the topping off would be considerably slower than charging when you're close to empty. If you were planning on topping off, that could explain why you added an hour to the trip.

75 doesn't make sense for everyone and the extra capacity doesn't help if you plan on supercharging to 100% on a road trip in a 75. However, when you charge overnight, that extra range is really useful.

I plan on buying the upgrade because my trips to Boston from NYC require a supercharger stop with the 60D. I can easily make Boston without any stops on the 75D.

This is really odd. I just put the trip in again (see photos--1st photo is S60, 2nd is S75) and the trip actually has only 4 Supercharger stops now with the S75, yet the S75 still takes about 40 minutes longer.

Also @J-Bus i have my settings set at arriving at 10% reserve. I honestly don't know how much of a difference that makes when compared to 20% reserve. I'm pretty new to this, but appreciate your feedback.

 

[Red_DS]

I'm not familiar with the app you're using. Do you have a preference set in there somewhere to minimize supercharger visits?

I recommend using evtripplanner.com

 

[Red_DS]

EV Trip Planner shows 5 supercharging stops with approximately 30 mins or less of charging at each stop on a 75 battery.

 

[dknisely]

If anything it just shows that the planner is not calculating the optimal route when using the S75, or that the constraints you used were not comparable. For instance when you put in the constraint to arrive at your destination with 20% energy left you are basically saying for the S60 to not fall under 12kWh and for the S75 to not fall under 15kWh. Meaning that if both the S60 and S75 were charged to 60kWh prior to the trip, the S75 by definition would take longer because it has to arrive at the target destination with 3kWh more left.

There is not a single case thinkable in which a S60 will get you to your destination earlier than a S75 could have had, when making sure all constraints are equal. There are plenty of cases thinkable where the S75 will get you to your destination before the S60; the most obvious ones being the cases where A to B with a S75 could be done without charging, whereas the S60 would need some extra juice along the way.

It's not an issue of point-to-point-to-point, which you can do in a 60. That much I learned before buying the car. The problem is having anything left at your destination to do anything while you are there and still make it back, at least to an SC. As it turns out, despite a few scattered SCs between Seattle and central WA, they aren't located anywhere near you want to visit, and even with a 75, it is essential to find a destination charger to get a significant charge back overnight. With 60, it would have been absolute misery.

Seattle to Vancouver is the same situation. There are no SCs in Vancouver, just one well north. Even if you go out of your way to include that SC, the cost of driving up to and back from that SC eats a lot of margin, and you have little charge to enjoy the Vancouver area if you reserve enough charge to get all the way back to the (single) SC between Seattle and Vancouver.

The same is true when visiting Rainier or Olympic or ... from Seattle. If you want ANY charge to do anything at your destination, you MUST have a destination charger, or it won't work as SCs are laid out.

I'm guessing from your description that you live in CA, and SC life is different there.

 

[dknisely]

Oh, P.S. everything I said is for summer. In winter, forget it with a 60. Evtripplanner will tell you that much.

 

[dknisely]

This was on my 60 RWD in March.
View attachment 236836

Ahhh, in March -- Yes! I saw 96 kW in March, but not since. Highest I saw was 84 or 85 for a brief time @ 10% SoC, and otherwise never above 40 kW.

 

[whitex]

It's not an issue of point-to-point-to-point, which you can do in a 60. That much I learned before buying the car. The problem is having anything left at your destination to do anything while you are there and still make it back, at least to an SC. As it turns out, despite a few scattered SCs between Seattle and central WA, they aren't located anywhere near you want to visit, and even with a 75, it is essential to find a destination charger to get a significant charge back overnight. With 60, it would have been absolute misery.

Seattle to Vancouver is the same situation. There are no SCs in Vancouver, just one well north. Even if you go out of your way to include that SC, the cost of driving up to and back from that SC eats a lot of margin, and you have little charge to enjoy the Vancouver area if you reserve enough charge to get all the way back to the (single) SC between Seattle and Vancouver.

The same is true when visiting Rainier or Olympic or ... from Seattle. If you want ANY charge to do anything at your destination, you MUST have a destination charger, or it won't work as SCs are laid out.

I'm guessing from your description that you live in CA, and SC life is different there.

Vancouver has a bunch of chargers, including a dual Tesla 80A HPWC near the border. If you have a Chademo adapter, there are even more choices. Have you looked at plugshare? Nice thing about the NW is the winters are mild so even in December you can travel around in a classic 60 (had one for 2 years).