Go Anywhere app short hops between charging stations unnecessary?

[brjr]

I am planning my first road trip, a distance of about 605 mi per the Go Anywhere app. I have M3 extended range. Should be able to travel 300 mi between recharges right? However the app shows stops on average 115 mi. For example, leaving Columbus Ohio, the app directs me to a charging station in Cincinnati, Ohio, a distance of 110 mi from Columbus. Then the app directs me to a charging station in Louisville, Ky, a distance of 105 mi from Cinn. Why would i need to recharge in Cinn when i have enough range starting out from Columbus Ohio to make it to Louisville a total of 225 mi from Columbus.
Further.. the charge time in Cincinnati is ten minutes. Any thoughts?

 

[jjrandorin]

. Should be able to travel 300 mi between recharges right? ?

No, you will not get anywhere near "300 miles between charges" unless you are driving about 50 MPH on a completely flat commute, and start at 100% and drive to 0.

Thats not how you road trip in a tesla (or any EV really). You start at 100% and drive down to "some percentage", like 20-30% stop, charge up to about 70-80% and then keep going. Short quick charges.

But, no, to the quote above... you do not get 300 miles between charges.

 

[brjr]

Thanks for the reply. Disappointed to hear that. What should i expect going 65 mph on highway mostly flat?

 

[RayK]

Assume when you say "extended range", you mean Long Range (as defined by Tesla). Whether you have a RWD or AWD, is a small difference in range. Consistent 65mph on interstate highway over flat terrain with cool, calm weather, I'd say you'd get about 260-270 miles before you're in danger of running out. But, like @jjrandorin said, long trips in an EV are accomplished by fairly short drives and quick charges assuming you're using the Supercharger network. Charging the battery is quicker when it's mostly depleted; therefore the philosophy from the built-in navigation says to make trips that will run the battery down to ~20% and then quickly charge back up to ~60-70% before continuing on.

If you really like to play with the numbers, try abetterrouteplanner.com. Most of the settings in the control panel are intuitive. About the only one you might have trouble with if you don't have a lot of experience with the car, is the Reference Consumption. That's the Wh/mi that your car normally consumes at 65mph. If you have a real lead foot, 280-300 might be typical, otherwise use the default 250 figure.

 

[camalaio]

As a rough rule, charging below 50% is fast and above 50% is slow. Close to 100% is unbearably slow.

More frequent charging stops can keep you using the lower end of the battery more, meaning you overall are charging faster and thus getting to your destination faster.

Furthermore, one cannot simply go 300mi and expect a Supercharger at mile 300. It's probably back at mile 200, or ahead to mile 350, where you can't quite reach.

Notably, the Tesla route planner behaves more like you'd expect though. It gets you to make fewer but longer stops, and overall usually takes more time.

Being above 90% can feel good, but it's slow getting there.

 

[jjrandorin]

Also, I have no idea what the "Go anywhere" app is, and its the first time I remember anyone mentioning it here. OP, you should also check the tesla route planer, or the "abetterrouteplanner" sites. Tesla becase, well, tesla. Abetterrouteplanner, because its the most popular third party EV routing app.

Using abetterrouteplanner and having plugshare app on your smartphone and you should be good.... or conversely just put your address into the tesla nav and it will also get you there as long as you listen to it.

 

[Wennfred]

You will also be using your A/C as it’s pretty hot in most areas today, and since it’s hot the handle on the Superchargers will get hot especially out in the hot sun, Carry a cold damp towel that you can wrap around the handle to keep the station from throttling down due to the heat. Just make sure to wring our the water and just have it damp.

I use ABRP premium which it just came out and now it gives you weather and wind conditions into the mix. YouTube Bjorn out of Norway just did a video on Tesla Nav, ABRP and his own numbers and ABRP was dead on at the first me of this trip.

Good luck on your trip, Look into getting some tools to change out a flat tire and possibly get a spare tire from Modern Spare. Tesla wheels will slice open the side wall of your tires so a patch/plug kit won’t work.

Fred

 

[smartypnz]

Just completed approx 5400 mile trip involving about 46 charging stops. The average between stops was close to 120 miles - so roughly 2 hours. No that wasn't exactly how it went Charging opportunities are not exactly the same distance apart. We have learned long ago,(also from what others above mentioned) that shorter legs are better. Yeah, there were instances where we had to charge to max (for me 312 - just a relative number - it changes based on usage), but we paid for it in time. One example - charging from 51 to the max took 1 1/2 hrs. In that example, the next (Tesla) charger was 240 miles away (Kennewick to Bend OR. Arrived with 50 to spare - but lucky cuz was able to dial it down and terrain, wind and weather were on our side. But, having never done that leg, didn't want to risk - and there was a backup by diverting to The Dalles if usage was higher than expected. Also, some Level 2's were along the route if things suddenly turned ugly.

But for the most part, had all the chargers lined up to use - didn't have to do each one. Did most for the novelty of saying I was there. But 2 hours in a car seems like enough before a break. And the more people in the car - the more reasons pop up to stop. I'd say average charge session was 20 - 25 minutes. Enough time to re-group, clean glass, scope out next leg, take care of personal needs (rest room, coffee, meal, or snack) - Oh, a hint - if stopping for in-car food, pick up before you go to plug in.
Correction: a couple of those charging stops were overnight at hotels with Level 2.

 

[Wennfred]

Pretty cool video, will give you an idea want to expect and various sources to charge.

 

[Gasaraki]

OH boy...

Ok here's how I do long road trips. I first go to A Better Route Planner, config all the settings, let it plan a route. I look and see if the route makes sense and is using the road I would like to use. Once I have an idea, of the route and the first super charger I need to use, the rest of the planning can be done in the car computer. IN the car computer I plot a route to the supercharger I want to go. Let the car give you an estimated battery level left when you would get there to the supercharger.

THE MAIN TAKEAWAY. You want to arrive at your supercharger with under 15% (I like 9-14%) battery. When you have the car plot to a supercharger and arrive between 9 and 15% you will get the fastest charging speeds (150Kw for gen2 superchargers, 250Kw for gen3 superchargers). Now when you get to the supercharger, plot your way to the second supecharger that you want to stop at. You want to charge till the car tells you that you'll arrive at the next charger with 9-15% charge left. Your charging times at each station should be between 15 to 25 mins. You don't want to charge the car past 75% usually unless the car says you need more charge to reach the next supercharger. The reason why is because charging speeds drop like a rock past 50%. Once it hits under 90Kw, you should be ready to hit the road again.

TLDR: Charge more often with shorter charging sessions each time.

 

[Gasaraki]

Thanks for the reply. Disappointed to hear that. What should i expect going 65 mph on highway mostly flat?

I would say in general if you do 65mph and you drive from 100% battery to 0%, you should get 300 miles. This all depends on the weather, temperature outside, wind, elevation changes, etc. HOWEVER, no one drives from 100 - 0% unless you want to be stuck in the middle of no where.

 

[rickdogg82]

These are all guides and cannot predict the actual conditions that you will encounter. 225 should be easy but if you have 2 passengers and luggage, rain, a headwind, you leave at 4AM and want to use the heater because it is chilly out, and you don't fell comfortable driving under 20%, you will have to make more stops.

 

[TX_M3P+]

Some of the videos I have seen on YouTube about how to travel long distances in a Tesla really helped me understand the process. Your mindset cannot be the same as with an ICE vehicle, which is gas up and drive as far as your can on one tank of gas. The main thing to remember with electric vehicles is that you get the fastest charging rates between 0-50% and after 50% charging rates start to slow down. So the mindset for long distance traveling in an EV is how much charge to I need to get to the next charging station, not how far can I go on a single charge, because you don't want to take the extended time that it takes to fully charge to 100%. As an example, if you got to a charging station with 5% and charged to 100%, that would take roughly 1 hr (not exact numbers here but figurative). Then that 100% would get you maybe 200-220 miles, which might allow you to skip 1 or maybe 2 charging station and get you to a 3rd. However, with that same 5%, if you only need 100 miles to get to the next charging station, then you would only charge up enough to go just a little further than 100 miles and that would only take you 15-20 minutes to charge to that level. If you hit those 2 charging station that you would have otherwise skipped when charging to 100%, you have 2 additional stops and charges that only take 15-20 minutes and you get a lot further in the long run this way by minimizing the time you need between charges.

This is the first video that I watched that really helped to explain the process. Hope it helps you too!

 

[PittCaleb]

Can you post the start/end cities?

I feel like you're getting some decent advice, but not the full picture I got when I joined the Tesla Community a year ago.

I own an SR+ with a rated range of 240 miles. The most I have gone on a segment is about 190 miles.

In general, you start a road trip at 90-100 from home, drive to about 20%, less if you're trusting, and refuel only to 70-85% depending on how far stations are in your area.

Your first segment will be longer due to charging at home to a higher %.

The rate at which you can recharge varies based on your cars state of charge. Charging at 25% is MUCH FASTER than charging at 75% and you can see this on the dash screen when you start doing this. it ramps down drastically.

So your trip may have more stops, but be faster overall, if you only ever charge from 20-60/70 on your trip once underway.

So a Long Range, which is rated at 322 miles, your first charge should get you around 250 miles. From there, you have 355 miles remaining. Since you have to make a stop regardless, you can either mid-point this around 175 and refuel to about 200 miles (65%) and then do same at the second stop. Both stops will be quick, and you will arrive with about 20% charge, so you'll need to top off there somewhere (destination charger perhaps) before you can do much upon arrival. If you need to have charge when you get there, get extra on that last charge.

I've never heard of this Go Anywhere app. Most people love the ABetterRoutePlanner.com website.

Since I don't know where you're going, I laid in a route from Columbus, OH (Go Blue) to just past Memphis to simulate going through Lousville and getting in 600 miles. I guessed and set LR RWD Aero wheels, set the departure SOC at 95% and arrival to 20%.

It shows only 3 stops, Louisville for 17 mins, 16-60%; Bowling Green 15 mins 15-55% and Dickson, TN 36 mins from 15-91%.

Last hop is a doozy. Your miles between stops are 207, 113, 98 and 181 miles.

You can do it in 2 stops, but your total time stopped would be greater. That's all about preference honestly.

The Tesla nav will guide you and you don't need to do any of this planning. it will auto-update as you drive based on conditions and you'll never go wrong. The only downside is the Tesla app will def do only 2 stops, which looking at this route, wouldn't be horrible.

In my SR+, I very rarely stop more than 20 mins, but I stop more frequently of course. This same route for me shows 5 stops, averaging 100 miles between for a total of 88 minutes. Your LR shows 3 for 68 mins.

The stops are "easy" plan to eat your meals and use the bathroom at those places. Park, immediately plug in, then take your time doing what you need to do. By the time you get back to the car, you should be done - except that 36 minute one, lol.

Your trip will go great! Have fun. Once you do it a few times, it all makes sense.

I routinely road-trip 800 miles from NJ to ATL. Let us know how it goes!