How my first road trip in my Model S, went

[2101Guy]

Highway trip from Richmond, VA to Franklin County, NC. About 135 miles or so each way primarily via interstates 85 and 95. Average speed was around 68 or so (65mph limit good portion of the way, 60 on some stretches, etc)

Charged the car (2017 90D with AP2 and MCU1, most current software downloaded on Friday) to 100% overnight. (294 estimated total range).
Used Enhanced Auto Pilot/Navigate on Autopilot for about 90% of the trip. Last 10% or so was two lane country back highways, but auto pilot worked very well on those roads too.

Few notes:

- Stopped at South Hill, VA SC station on the way down, but really didnt need to. In fact, it was non-efficient for me to do so as the battery was around the 62% mark or so. Rate of charge was about 65kwh so somewhat slow. Charged it to about 75%. On return trip, battery was much lower upon arrival to South Hill, VA sc, so the charge from wherever I was to the point where the MCU told me I'd have 21% upon arrival at home, was much faster charge. Lesson learned: next trip down to this location (relatives home), I'll simply charge once at South Hill on the return trip. More efficient use of time.

- Had my NOA set to auto lane change without confirmation. About 1/4 of the way into the trip, changed the setting to no-auto lane change/prompt me before changing. Why? I had speed set to maybe 5mph over the posted speed limit cruising along the empty right lane. Each time we neared an exit ramp, noticed that the car would auto-change to the left lane in anticipation of cars entering the interstate from the upcoming entrance ramp for the same exit. (but there were rarely any cars actually entering the interstate from said entrance ramps). And once the car would move into the left lane, it would stay there. And I dont like to cruise along in the left/passing lane.

- When I was still set to auto lane change without confirmation? More than once the car was halfway into an auto lane change from right lane to left lane, when it suddenly beeped warnings and jerked itself semi-violently, back into the right lane. Broad daylight, nothing in the road, no other vehicles around, road straight and clear. Then I saw the pattern. Anytime there were no shadows in the left lane, the lane changes were smooth. But if there were random shadows (see photo), high chance of a failed auto lane change.

-Overall, the use of auto pilot made the trip very pleasurable. Much more relaxing/less tiring.

 

[2101Guy]

Oh, one other small issue that occurred. On the return trip (very rural area, minimal cell), cell went from LTE to 3g. This happened around the time I was attempting to re-start a podcast + start the navigation again for the return trip. The navigation listed directions than I noticed after 5 mins..the distance to next turn wasnt changing and the podcast would not start, and the map was half/partially loaded. Then the MCU began to be non responsive at best. While driving, initiated a reboot of the MCU1. Came back to life after the ~4 minute reboot time.

Car is a 2017, but only has ~4100 miles. Still under full warranty and other than that, the MCU has always worked fine since Ive had the car (dec 2017). I may upgrade to MCU2 later this year anyways, based on the rave reviews its getting on here.

 

[Vector2]

I'll simply charge once at South Hill on the return trip. More efficient use of time.

This site let's you plug in the starting point, destination, car, and state of charge, and will give you the fastest, most efficient route and tell you where you should stop to supercharge and for how long.

A Better Routeplanner

 

[Hazelwood]

I'm impressed you still have 294 mile range. I have a 2016 and no longer have 294 anymore. Is yours super low mileage? I'm at 75k now.

 

[Uncle Paul]

This is an excellent example of how a new user can come quickly up the Tesla learning curve.

Starting out the OP used a very logical charging strategy to make a charging stop. Got to experience Supercharging, but quickly learned that charging a pretty full battery takes longer than charging a pretty empty one. Now has gone from novice to Supercharging expert.

Same with AutoPilot. OP observed carefully where and where not his Autopilot gave him an excellent experience, and where it could be tripped up. Again went quickly from novice to Pro in just one road trip.

OP then came to this forum to share his experiences and learning to help guide the next generation of novices.

Well done Sir!

 

[TravelFree]

I use the NOA with non-auto lane change and just tap the turn signal and let the car AP do the rest. I feel more comfortable deciding when to pass. This was after my exit was coming up in 3 miles in heavy traffic and the NOA decided to pass cars ahead of me and put me in the center lane. Now with too much traffic in the right lane I missed my exit. That's when I shut it off. Tap the turn signal to auto lane change is great but letting the car decide when to lane change is not so great...yet.

 

[2101Guy]

I'm impressed you still have 294 mile range. I have a 2016 and no longer have 294 anymore. Is yours super low mileage? I'm at 75k now.

Yes. I currently only have 4200 miles on my 2017. Purchased it from Tesla December 2017 with about 1200 miles at the time. Inventory car. By far, the majority of my driving are "trips" of less than 20 miles. (When I was going into the office, my commute was 9 highway miles each way door to door). So I typically charge to a max of about 75% and a few days later when it gets down to about 35% or so, I charge back up. I charge At home, via the mobile charger that came with the car, plugged into a 240v outlet. I've supercharged a grand total of 5 times including yesterday.

 

[2101Guy]

I use the NOA with non-auto lane change and just tap the turn signal and let the car AP do the rest. I feel more comfortable deciding when to pass. This was after my exit was coming up in 3 miles in heavy traffic and the NOA decided to pass cars ahead of me and put me in the center lane. Now with too much traffic in the right lane I missed my exit. That's when I shut it off. Tap the turn signal to auto lane change is great but letting the car decide when to lane change is not so great...yet.

After yesterday, I tend to agree with you on this.

Also, there is another time when the auto lane change is annoying. On my commute home from work, there is a portion where the 4 lanes heading in same direction, split off into 2 and 2. 2 lanes head north to 95, the other two continue westerly on 295. For some reason, right where it splits, it always initiates a lane change from the second lane from left, to the far left lane. (Both of these lanes go in the same direction before and after the split.) The car would be fine if it remained in that second from left lane, where I typically am cruising. But it likes to want to move to that left lane and just stay there.

So in the end, while the auto lane change does work, and I understand why it does what it does? Based on my experience with it, I prefer it let me confirm.

 

[roblab]

All of this FSD and auto drive stuff is a work in progress. Updates are always happening, and software is constantly being upgraded and honed to better do what you want done. It will continue to upgrade and improve. In the end, either we will adapt to the software, or the programmers will get it figured out as to what is best for the driver.

Just take a deep breath. All is well. Or it will be.

 

[TravelFree]

As a long time beta tester of various software and hardware, I completely understand how that works. With Tesla, I recognize that some of the features released are beta and the reporting is automatic as we use it. So when a new software is released my first reaction to it is to go test it in a semi controlled environment to see how well it works. If it works perfectly, I don't mind making it a regular feature I enjoy using. But if it fails my driving testing then I assume the failure was reported and I shut it down for safety reasons mainly. When a new version is sent to me, I test again. Example-

When stop sign recognition was first released it would slam on the brakes too late. The next release fixed that and now stopping at a stop sign slows me to a stop. However, I do find activating it also fails to slow on dangerous curves where FSD AP maintains normal speed limit. Seems city driving is far more complex to achieve than highway driving, but highway driving long distances is where I appreciate the FSD most. I know Tesla wants to achieve autonomous driving with FSD but I don't see that possible in my future. There are too many complex situations to calculate. One day when all cars have to be controlled by computer and have a cooperative communication between all cars on the road it will happen. For now, there is no way for the current system to anticipate the other vehicle's driving habits.

So my final point is when we post our observations in these forums, much is based on the version of software we have loaded. I've decided to add that to my sig. It's probably important to allow others to understand why I may be critical of some things others with a bug fix don't see. I'm on 2020.12.11.1

 

[2101Guy]

Good point. Cant edit my original post now, but for recordkeeping: I was/am on 2020.16.2.1

 

[TravelFree]

It would be nice if everyone added a sig with what EV's and options they drive. I just thought since Tesla has so many software versions on the roads I added that as well and it will need to be updated. Just select signature on "Your Profile Page" icon at the top.

 

[bmah]

It would be nice if everyone added a sig with what EV's and options they drive. I just thought since Tesla has so many software versions on the roads I added that as well and it will need to be updated. Just select signature on "Your Profile Page" icon at the top.

Software version information that is relevant to a post is probably best expressed in the body. When you update your signature, this changes the text displayed at the bottom of all of your posts on the forum, not just new ones. Not sure if that makes sense, haven't had my morning caffeine yet.

Bruce.

PS. @2101Guy, nice trip report!

 

[TravelFree]

He Bruce- Right you are and I didn't think about that. Appreciate the heads up. Thank you.

PS you do fine without that morning caffeine.

 

[Evoyager]

there is a portion where the 4 lanes heading in same direction, split off into 2 and 2. 2 lanes head north to 95, the other two continue westerly on 295. For some reason, right where it splits, it always initiates a lane change from the second lane from left, to the far left lane.

Thanks for input. I've experienced same behavior 2X at a similar junction, seems a challenge for NOA. Will navigate that junction again a few more times on NOA and AP to note any differences.

Ver. 2020.16.2.1