Got any road trip advice?

[runningdenver]

+1 on the CCS adapter.
We have a place in the mountains, and the only charger in town, needed it. I got the CCS Combo 1 Adapter from tesla. Works great.

 

[cwerdna]

Take take full advantage of "350 kW" CCS DC FCs, you need an 800+ volt system car.

Skip to ~1:45 of

or maybe 0:29 of

.

Others include EV6, Lucid Air, Taycan, e-tron GT (not on the non-GT), to name a few.

 

[IChillinz]

Ive done a few long road trips. usually tried finding hotel to charge at night as some have said. Tesla Find Us site is great for Super chargers and Destination Chargers.

One thing I found is not all hotels may have registered their Destination charger to Tesla. I stopped in a small town to stay over night that didnt appear to have any hotels with destination charger but there was a super charger close by so figured just drive over to charge up. So I did that, but then got back to head to bed and pulled up to park and as I backed into my spot, I saw a Tesla Destination charger at the hotel. I was mad because I just could have used that. I almost asked the front desk but figured not bother because I didnt see it on the Find us site. so that taught me to always always ask if they have one when traveling.

Second. The Tesla app on phone now shows Tesla chargers on the navigation tab. This can be handy too sometimes.

I'm all for FSD works the best on trips IMO

Im Jealous, enjoy your trip! Some of the places you can explore while charging is cool too.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
You can also check Plugshare, filtering by Tesla plug. Of course, someone has to add it there, as well. But, Plugshare is crowdsourced and users can add charging sites.

 

[SalisburySam]

Five additional suggestions:

1. Get familiar with the HVAC system’s “Dog Mode” if you aren’t already.
2. Others have suggested charging at the end of the day vs. starting out. Definitely agree. For my trips, I’ll hit a Supercharger hopefully near where I’ll spend the night to take advantage of a warm battery and faster charging.
3. As you get familiar with your car’s behavior for your driving style, you’ll likely begin to stop and charge to make use of the bottom of the battery, that is, the lower states of charge. You’ll charge MUCH faster just adding enough electrons to make the next stop plus a comfortable margin. For example, as my last charge of the day before stopping for the night, I’ll add enough juice to make the first leg of the next day’s trip, plus an amount for Sentry use overnight, plus any driving around I might wish to do at the stop.
4. Another reason for a CCS adapter is that, at least on the routes I’ve taken, CCS locations are considerably less expensive than Superchargers, a fairly recent phenomenon on my trips. A nearby example of both: 54¢/minute for Supercharging, 35¢/minute CCS. I know, less than a quarter a minute, but over a trip that can make a difference. And yes, there is less reliability annd availability at CCS locations, but at least the ones I’ve used are in better locations partially offsetting the negatives. The point here is it is nice to have options.
5. Enjoy your trip with your furry buddy. Our German Shepherd loves to travel but even at eight years old he requires a good bit of daily exercise and of course the requisite food and potty stops. We try to stop at locations where we can give him either a good and safe play session like a dog park, or a fairly long and brisk walk at the very least. That’s something to consider especially on your 11-hour days. Also, carry his papers should you have to stop enroute at a vet for any reasons. Those include the current shot record, rabies certificate, any prescriptions and why, health issues, etc. Lastly, I’d suggest ensuring he is microchipped and has a collar with his name and your cell phone number in bold and easily-read font should the unthinkable happen and he gets away and lost.

Have a wonderful, electron-driven trip!

 

[KerryOH]

You may want to purchase the Tesla CCS1 charging adapter. This adapter would enable you to use Electrify America or other DC Fast Charge network charging station in areas where there is no Tesla Supercharger available.

Amazon also sells several CCS adapters if Tesla is out of stock or you need it sooner. I have this one and successfully tested it at EA.


Good luck with your trip.

 

[jsight]

Thanks for the reply. At first I didn't understand this sentence, but then I figured it out. For the benefit of other simpletons like me:

volts x amps = watts, 1000 watts = 1 kilowatt (kW)
400 volts (approximate value for Tesla model 3 or Y) x 500 amps (approximate CCS limit) = 200,000 watts = 200 kW

After watching a couple youtube videos it seems very common that a CCS charger that supposedly is capable of 250 kW may deliver much less in real life, for reasons I haven't tried to understand. For all I know, the same may be true of Tesla's superchargers, but the videos I watched seemed to conclude that Tesla's superchargers are more reliable in their power output / charging rate (and easier to use).

Sorry if this is elementary to others, but I'm still coming up to speed.

That's a good addtiion. I wouldn't say any of this is elementary to most people. I bet very few normal CCS users have any idea about any of it, tbh.

And yeah, I've only very rarely seen the charger limit charging speeds with a Tesla V3. It happens much more frequently with the CCS units that I've seen.

 

[WNC-MY]

That's a good addtiion. I wouldn't say any of this is elementary to most people. I bet very few normal CCS users have any idea about any of it, tbh.

And yeah, I've only very rarely seen the charger limit charging speeds with a Tesla V3. It happens much more frequently with the CCS units that I've seen.

Agreed. For the vast majority of fast charging (both CCS and SC), the vehicle dictates charge rate and not the charger itself. Granted, from time to time the CCS fast charger will slow down because the cord is too hot or something but it is the vehicle that specifies the charge rate.

 

[gmetcalf18]

Went from Detroit to Boston and back and did all the planning you did, I thought I was going to outsmart the car and use better stops from ABRP. I paid for the premium ABRP and FSD for the month I was going, and in hindsight it was unnecessary. Speed and elevation will kill your range, I like to go 10-15 over the speed limit assuming it is safe to do so and I was always shocked at how much more energy it takes to go 85 MPH vs 70 MPH and New York has a lot more elevation than I was planning, going west to east in NY is mostly downhill, going east to west is mostly uphill, range was about 15% worse going back home to Michigan in my experiences, and Supercharging in NY costs a lot more than in MA or PA.

100% would suggest a plug kit and compressor, I promise you'll have room for it and if you need it you will be thanking yourself for bringing it. I bring glass cleaner and a rag in my frunk, spray off and wipe off the windshield at charger stops the wipers are good but those bugs STICK on road trips in my experience, if you have kids maybe an interior cleaner isn't a bad idea either!

Plug in your address and trust the car, Tesla will not lead you to being stranded in my experiences, after a few hundred miles you'll get a feel for your numbers and the percentage you want to arrive at with you'll be able to see if you want to skip a charger and pull into one further down the road with less reserves, and the navigation will send you to a different charger if possible if the one you're targeting is full.

I'm really against just "trusting the process" but I have to admit Tesla did a really nice job with actual range estimates during trips and taking your driving habits into consideration, foot down head up and go!

 

[Dennisis]

I really think you'll enjoy your MY for road trips! I've done quite a few long ones with two more lined up in the next several months - really looking forward to them and love the planning too.

Most of the best tips have been covered but I'll add a few:

1) Plug kit and compressor for sure but also pack needle nose pliers and/or a multi-tool along with coveralls and hand cleaner - stash extra rags. If you haven't yet plugged a tire watch a YouTube video too.

2) Plugshare: make sure you have an account and set it up to filter for the type of chargers you can use. It may come in handy.

3) Navigation: trust it. Once you've input your destination it will monitor and update your status as you drive depending on your speed, wind, etc... and tell you to slow to a certain speed or charge early if "over-burning". Also, in Colorado last year it told me to exit several miles before our destination in Glenwood Springs and I was skeptical but exited as per guidance. Just after I did I saw the highway we had been on was backed up for miles and we breezed on by on a parallel road, probably saved us an hour in traffic on I70. YMMV of course.

4) Try and find convenient car washes at times at night and clean off those bugs - the farther East you drive the more you'll find. You don't want them sitting on your paint too long.

5) Consider adding another day if possible. Several 11 hour days can be pretty tiring, even with charging stops. Leave those to the 20/30 somethings!

Enjoy!

 

[Mikey321]

In a couple weeks I'll be taking a roughly 3200 mile trip in my Model Y LR, driving from Santa Cruz, CA to Lovell, ME. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or advice for me. More details:

The car will be packed pretty full including me and a dog, and we'll do it in 7 days of driving. Five days are quite long, at 9-11hrs. Two days are shorter, at about 4 hrs because I have two brief visits planned on the way, in Salt Lake City and in upstate NY. I've planned my route (more info below) to arrive mid-day at these places so I can visit with my son (UT) and friends (NY) for an afternoon and evening. We'll stay in hotels/motels when we aren't visiting friends or family. My schedule is flexible, so if range predictions prove to be inaccurate or other troubles arise I can adjust accordingly.

I've used A Better Route Planner to get a feeling for driving distances and charging times, and then I settled on various intermediate way points that seem fit my needs. I plugged the whole route into ABRP with way points, desired charging limits and so on, and this is what the plan looks like:
Santa Cruz CA to Elko NV, 11hrs
Elko to Salt Lake City UT, 4hrs
Salt Lake to Ogalalla NE, 11hrs
Ogalalla to Iowa City IE, 10+hrs
Iowa City to Cleveland OH, 11hrs
Cleveland to Canandaigua NY, 5hrs
Canandaigua to Lovell ME, 9hrs

I also played around with the route planner on tesla.com, and it shows very similar (slightly faster) travel times including charging. I haven't used navigation in the car because I haven't figured out how to do point A to point B routes. As far as I can tell it only seems to let you begin a route from where the car is actually located at the time (i.e. my house right now). Am I missing something? Can you ask the car to plan a route that begins someplace other than your current location? I also haven't found a way to plan multiple destination routes like ABRP can do.

I don't yet have a tire repair kit or a spare. I don't have room and don't want to buy or carry a spare tire. I have 200 mile towing on my AAA membership. I'm open to getting a repair kit and compressor, but my current thinking is I don't really need it because flats are unlikely and I can get towed to a tire repair place if I really need it. What do you think, am I being stupid?

Would it be worth subscribing to FSD ($199) for a month to get a few extra features for the drive? It's not entirely clear to me what features I would get because I definitely wouldn't get enrolled in the FSD beta program before this trip (time is short, and I'm on a later software release than the FSD beta). I believe I would get navigation while on highways, and maybe automatic lane changes with autosteer on the highway. There might be some minor in-town features activate, but I don't really care about anything except the long stretches on highways.

Honestly at this point I'm ready to pack the car, load up the first destination and go. What else should I be thinking about?

Thanks,
Dan

You should also try Plugshare for locating charging stations. Why do I suggest this? Because it allows you to see reviews of other EV owners (which helps a lot in checking the reliability of the station).

Find charging stations here:

Tesla Supercharger Map | PlugShare

Looking for Tesla Superchargers? Use PlugShare's map of Tesla Superchargers to view photos and reviews from the Tesla community.

www.plugshare.com

Tesla Charging Station Map | PlugShare

Looking for Tesla charging stations? Use PlugShare's map of Tesla charging locations to view photos and reviews from the Tesla community.

www.plugshare.com

Good luck with your trip! Be safe! Drive Safe!

 

[MattM24]

A new thing. You can now do navigation plans from the app. They seem to be limited to starting from where you are, but you don’t need to do it from the screen in car anymore. Also, you can pick a starting battery percentage.

 

[ColoradoMike]

A new thing. You can now do navigation plans from the app. They seem to be limited to starting from where you are, but you don’t need to do it from the screen in car anymore. Also, you can pick a starting battery percentage.

Is this a new addition? We cannot find that yet. What software in the app are you using?

Thanks a ton

 

[AJ..]

I strongly suggest bringing a tire plug kit and a small compressor. These won't take much room. Otherwise you could lose hours waiting for a tow vehicle (ideally a flat bed) when you could be back on the road in almost no time.

Won’t you need to all Jack up the car to use tire plug kit?

 

[jcanoe]

Won’t you need to all Jack up the car to use tire plug kit?

Not if the puncture is in a front tire. You just turn the steering wheel and roll forward half a tire rotation to expose the puncture. For a rear tire puncture you will probably need to use a jack, even remove the wheel to insert the plug (You don't want to be pushing hard against a vehicle where one side is supported only by a portable jack.)

 

[Dennisis]

Not if the puncture is in a front tire. You just turn the steering wheel and roll forward half a tire rotation to expose the puncture. For a rear tire puncture you will probably need to use a jack, even remove the wheel to insert the plug (You don't want to be pushing hard against a vehicle where one side is supported only by a portable jack.)

Or position the tire on top of a curb while rotated into position - I've done this. Might take a little more maneuvering but will give you more room to work - a spotter would help.

 

[MattM24]

Is this a new addition? We cannot find that yet. What software in the app are you using?

Thanks a ton

App is iOS 4.20.69 (they really are childish).

 

[ColoradoMike]

ON Android and wife is on IOS so I will check later tonight! Thanks!

 

[Jim R]

Just took a trip from Ottawa Ontario, Canada, to Orlando Florida. Trip planning? None. Got in the car, pressed the right hand scroll wheel and said "take me to (resort name). Passed by 2 or 3 Superchargers for every one I used. Car even changed charging locations a few times on its own, when I drove fast and used up battery power early. CCS? Bring it if you have it, but don't expect to use it. Tire stuff? I haven't had a flat in the last 40 years, so I just go without. My last car (Mercedes E250) had no spare. It had tire sealant and an inflater. Not used.

 

[smartino]

A new thing. You can now do navigation plans from the app. They seem to be limited to starting from where you are, but you don’t need to do it from the screen in car anymore. Also, you can pick a starting battery percentage.

Actually you can change the starting point after it routes from your current location. Click on the edit link and then you can change the starting location for the route. Kludgy but it works.