How to plan a road trip - how long will it take?

[HankLloydRight]

Has anyone made it from the Somerset, PA supercharger to Columbus, OH (the TESLA showroom which has a few HPWC) in Easton Town Center?

My map says it's 240 miles. I have to do this trip in June, so no problem with heating the cabin or battery, but possible some A/C use. I do not know about the terrain.

I'm trying to see if I need to stop an RV site in Buckeye Lake which is about 210 miles from Somerset and 30 miles outside of Columbus, or if I can make it all the way to Easton Town Center, and would I have to hypermile it to make it that far.

(I'm pretty much a newbie, I've had my car for a couple of weeks, and haven't had much of a chance to drive it because of the weather around here.)

thanks.

 

[Cliff Hannel]

See what EVTripPlanner says. It is usually quite accurate if you get speed and other inputs right (payload, temperature, etc). We have thousand of Tesla drivers planning thousand of routes each week using this tool.

 

[HankLloydRight]

See what EVTripPlanner says. It is usually quite accurate if you get speed and other inputs right (payload, temperature, etc). We have thousand of Tesla drivers planning thousand of routes each week using this tool.

Thanks. I tried that. It says at 100% speed multiplier, that it will take 82.1 Kwh to get from Somerset to Easton Town Center. What's the max Kwh that one can reasonably expect to get from a range-charged pack? At 90% speed, it drops to 74.3 Kwh, which seems a bit safer, but looks like the max speed on the longest leg of the trip (109 miles) is 60mph.

Would you stop mid-way to charge at the RV park, or hypermile it the whole way? Yeah, I'm sure I can play it by ear as I go and see.. just trying to get an idea what other more experienced people would do/have done.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

It is always faster to just drive slower

If you can only charge at ~28 mph but can drive faster than this speed and still make it to your destination it is faster to skip the charge and drive slower. Kind of depends on traffic and the roads you are on for sanity/safety

the most I've done in hills is 242 miles driving ~60mph
used 75.9 kWhr (on firmware 4.4) ~70F,450lb passengers+stuff

 

[Cliff Hannel]

I wouldn't ever plan to use more than 80 kWh - and that's pushing things. The speed with a 1.0 speed factor is just what Google says traffic is moving at when the plan was made. My suggestion: slow it down to where the trip takes maybe 75 kWh (which is what you tried). A rule of thumb: if you don't have a supercharger, slowing down takes less time than charging at a conventional charger or RV park. You drive at 70, they charge at 30...

 

[HankLloydRight]

A rule of thumb: if you don't have a supercharger, slowing down takes less time than charging at a conventional charger or RV park. You drive at 70, they charge at 30...

Good advice I hadn't considered before. thanks.

 

[Zapped]

See what EVTripPlanner says. It is usually quite accurate if you get speed and other inputs right (payload, temperature, etc). We have thousand of Tesla drivers planning thousand of routes each week using this tool.

Why would the Model S 60kW calculate 8% better than the 85kW both with 19" tires for the same trip ?

 

[Cliff Hannel]

60 weighs less and it is also possible that electrical efficiency is different. If you look at EPA ratings and take kWh/range you'll see that EPA Wh/mi are less for 60 than 85. Let us know if you're getting bad estimates.

Why would the Model S 60kW calculate 8% better than the 85kW both with 19" tires for the same trip ?

 

[Zapped]

60 weighs less and it is also possible that electrical efficiency is different. If you look at EPA ratings and take kWh/range you'll see that EPA Wh/mi are less for 60 than 85. Let us know if you're getting bad estimates.

Yes weight makes sense. Didn't know the 85kW would be less efficient but possibly because of more HP
I'll let you know, what results I get.

 

[Cottonwood]

Planning a road trip soon. Below is an example of a spreadsheet I have been putting together to estimate times. It's an idea for some structure others may wish to use.

• Place - Obvious...
• Google Maps - Link to the Google Maps detailed view of the day.
• Distance - Segment miles from Google Maps.
• Travel Time - Segment time from Google Maps.
• Charge Time - Estimate of charge time from SOC, charger power, and need to next Place, usually conservative. Examples: Silverthorne is extra long, waiting for taper to equal Salida charge rate for time optimization. Salida is a 70A J1772 to top off between Silverthorne and Pagosa for insurance over Wolf Creek in the winter. Farmington is quick, because there was a 90-100% overnight charge before leaving from Pagosa. There is a 1:30, 99% charge at Flagstaff before heading off to the non-Supercharged wilds of the Grand Canyon. No time included for overnight charges; they are a few minutes of my time, some to plug in and some to unplug.
• Daily Time - Cumulative travel time for the day, including drive and on-the-road charge time.
• Daily Distance - Cumulative daily distance.
• Total Miles - Total trip miles.

 

[Zapped]

Looks good. I also had a column for "Range (miles)", "Charger Charge Rate" which would be used to calculate the charge time back to full

 

[Cottonwood]

Looks good. I also had a column for "Range (miles)", "Charger Charge Rate" which would be used to calculate the charge time back to full

I thought about putting in a table for the Supercharger taper curve, but decided it was not worth the work. I am an O^2 (Obsessive Optimizer), but there are limits. Besides, I have done enough Supercharging that I can get within 5-10 minutes from memory. :wink:

 

[brianman]

It is always faster to just drive slower

As an "always" generality this is incorrect.

Police and traffic delays aside, it can be fastest to drive at 90+mph between superchargers. Note that this only probably applies to certain areas of California so far.

 

[David99]

As an "always" generality this is incorrect.

Police and traffic delays aside, it can be fastest to drive at 90+mph between superchargers. Note that this only probably applies to certain areas of California so far.

True. Assuming there are no delays due to road conditions and traffic, the best travel speed depends on the charge speed.
Here are three examples of driving 110 miles (average distance between Superchargers)

At 85 mph it takes 77 min to drive, 5 min to get off freeway and to the Supercharger and then 25 min to recharge the used energy. Total 107 min
At 75 mph it takes 88 min to drive, 5 min to get off freeway and to the Supercharger and then 23 min to recharge the used energy. Total 116 min
At 65 mph it takes 101 min to drive, 5 min to get off freeway and to the Supercharger and then 18 min to recharge the used energy. Total 124 min

Going faster is overall faster provided you can charge faster than you drive. Theoretically the optimal speed to drive at is equal to the speed you can charge. Now if the Model S could actually go 300 mph to match the Superchargers LOL

 

[brianman]

Now if the Model S could actually go 300 mph to match the Superchargers LOL

I'd like them to solve the traffic problem first. Perhaps some phasing technology? Then you could safely (well, after the beta testers die off) travel at 300mph or more.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Planning a road trip soon. Below is an example of a spreadsheet I have been putting together to estimate times. It's an idea for some structure others may wish to use.

• Place - Obvious...
• Google Maps - Link to the Google Maps detailed view of the day.
• Distance - Segment miles from Google Maps.
• Travel Time - Segment time from Google Maps.
• Charge Time - Estimate of charge time from SOC, charger power, and need to next Place, usually conservative. Examples: Silverthorne is extra long, waiting for taper to equal Salida charge rate for time optimization. Salida is a 70A J1772 to top off between Silverthorne and Pagosa for insurance over Wolf Creek in the winter. Farmington is quick, because there was a 90-100% overnight charge before leaving from Pagosa. There is a 1:30, 99% charge at Flagstaff before heading off to the non-Supercharged wilds of the Grand Canyon. No time included for overnight charges; they are a few minutes of my time, some to plug in and some to unplug.
• Daily Time - Cumulative travel time for the day, including drive and on-the-road charge time.
• Daily Distance - Cumulative daily distance.
• Total Miles - Total trip miles.

Have you seen Andy's Google spreadsheet? doesn't take charging taper, weight, or wind into consideration, but it does all the other stuff you're doing... Google Drive

You can go to file>make a copy and edit away..

 

[jerry33]

I'd like them to solve the traffic problem versus. Perhaps some phasing technology? Then you could safely (well, after the beta testers die off) travel at 300mph or more.

That works until the other drivers start adding shields to their cars.

 

[David99]

Have you seen Andy's Google spreadsheet? doesn't take charging taper, weight, or wind into consideration, but it does all the other stuff you're doing... Google Drive

You can go to file>make a copy and edit away..

Wow, that's very cool! Thanks for posting the link

 

[HankLloydRight]

I'm planning a trip out to Chicago this summer, and need some advice/suggestions:

For now, I'm assuming the Allentown, PA supercharger will be in operation by June and I'll do a full range charge there. If not, then this plan is moot. My longest trip segment is between the Allentown, PA and Somerset, PA superchargers. Google says it is 215 miles. EVTripPlanner says it's 252 rated miles and 77.7 KwH of energy. I'm thinking that's pushing it a bit for my P85+ with 21" wheels and two adults with luggage. So I have a few alternatives:

Option 1: Slow down A LOT, limit HVAC, and stretch the battery as much as possible to make it to Somerset, PA SC without any stops (although we do want to make a stop in Carisle, PA for a meal, but no L2 chargers in the area, as far as I can tell.)

Option 2: Stop somewhere in the Harrisburg, PA area at one of several available L2 chargers to top up enough to make it to the Somerset SC more comfortably (i.e. less range anxiety) I do have dual on-board chargers.

Option 3: (see map) Divert the trip plan south on Rt 81 to the Haggerstown, MD SC for a partial charge, then back north to Rt 76 on the way to Somerset. This adds about 52 miles of driving to the trip plan, but I'm thinking the SC will charge faster than the L2 chargers in Harrisburg. But will this be better than just waiting it out in Harrisburg at an L2 charger?

Any suggestions/advice for a noob?

Thanks.

 

[Cliff Hannel]

In EVTripPlanner, did you set correct car/wheels, payload, temperature, etc? Once you've done this, your 'margin' isn't too bad, just slowing it down a little (and doing some checks along the way) should get you there. Other variables that could impact are temperature and headwind - that is why checking along the way helps.