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

[deonb]

I've driven the supercharger highway coast to coast. Didn't read through all ten pages of this thread, but the answer, for me, is to divide distance by 50 miles ie over long distances, one averages about 50MPH when taking charging into account.

I've once done a spreadsheet, and the maximum speed you can average using the SuperCharger network on the West Coast (with the current spacing) is 59mph - by travelling on average at around 78mph, and targeting single digit stops (which is risky). Above this point you will lose more time to longer charging than the time gained with extra speed.

This is on a 85 with 19" tires. Other configurations will differ.

 

[gavine]

Hopefully not too dumb a question, but does everyone leave their UMC at home unless planning to go on a long road trip, or do you take it with you every day in case you need to charge somewhere?

I understand the supercharger has a gas pump like device but if I needed to plug into an ordinary wall socket it seems I would need the UMC. Do you only get the one with the car?

You SHOULD keep the J1772 adapter in the car though, since public charging stations use that connector. The UMC is good for charging at a Tesla store or service center in the event that their HPWC's are taken. The stores usually have NEMA 14-50's available for customer use.

 

[Bugeater]

Hopefully not too dumb a question, but does everyone leave their UMC at home unless planning to go on a long road trip, or do you take it with you every day in case you need to charge somewhere?

I understand the supercharger has a gas pump like device but if I needed to plug into an ordinary wall socket it seems I would need the UMC. Do you only get the one with the car?

Yea, not a dumb question at all...
Even before we got our HPWC we would always take the UMC with us all the time. It was necessary when we went on a long trip over a year ago. I bought every one of the adapters! Unfortunately one of the adapters is NOT the one needed for RV parks with 30amp 120V hookups. You need an adapter. Even now if we went on another long trip we would take the UMC with us without hesitation. There are so many more options if you have it with you.

 

[Ugliest1]

I'm currently in Reno, arrived last night. Left Victoria BC Sunday morning on the Coho ferry to Port Angeles, then the lovely drive down 101 to I-5, starting to head east at Mt Shasta. I just wanted to post saying that the superchargers change everything. Our route had superchargers every 100-120mi (160-200km), and the extent of my planning was to charge enough to get to the next supercharger, plus 20-50 mi (40-80km) depending on TripPlanner's Rated Miles estimate. This makes for very quick stops (usually 15-20 minutes) at the superchargers, which gives us a break to stretch our backs etc. We fluctuated between 20-50mi left on arrival at each supercharger. And as usual the car was ready before we were, at 90% of the stops.

The first several months with the car, and on our 17,000km (11,500mi) trip, I took note of a whole bunch of numbers at every charge. But I don't want to have to do that, and, routes with superchargers make it superfluous. This trip I didn't record anything, and there was so much NOT range anxiety I can't believe it.

I continue to be amazed, truly amazed at Tesla's strategic vision, planning, and execution.

 

[Bighorn]

I just read part of the blog where the Edmunds' team wanted to break the Tesla cross-country record. They managed to cut 6 or 7 hours off, in light of the fact that Tesla faced blizzards and road closures. The average speed of the new record is 49.5 MPH.

 

[Shooter]

I'm getting ready to drive from here in England over to Switzerland and back. Miles aren't too many, about 700 each way. Out on a Wednesday, go to the show on the Thursday, come back on Friday.

At the moment, looks like only superchargers all the way although there is one stretch between chargers of 216 miles which is a bit tight based on what I've seen as my actual range across a mix of driving speeds.

just hoping the Calais supercharger might be ready by March No worries then!

 

[David Bayley]

Chad, many thanks for your excellent article on BEV range and charge planning. I am based in the UK and I am considering the purchase of a Model S as my next company car. I drive 36K miles/year and many trips are 250-300 miles. Tesla came to the UK only last year so the Supercharger network is not yet extensive but they are getting there. Unfortunately, most of the gaps are where I travel the most. The UK also has a lot of fast chargers with the Nissan Chademo plug so an adaptor to the Tesla Mennekes plug would fill in the gaps before the Superchargers become more common.
Regards
David

 

[MyJoule]

I just completed an 1800+ mile trip and used Superchargers all but 3 times- (Chadamo's twice and one RV park 14-50)

A few comments from my trip:

1. If you drive 70-75MPH don't count on the range - as others have stated, to get the range as advertised you need to be around 300WH/M
2 I did best matching the predicted range at about 60-65 MPH in rolling farmland-
3. Superchargers- They are great- when they are working- I had an issue with one being down ( Perry) and while others have successfully charged there- it appears to be an input power stability problem some have successfully charged there. Tesla will advise you if you call them about status of a supercharger. I hope they eventually put the status on the car's screen. that would be helpful.
4. Add some extra range at the supercharger- I will probably add about 50-60 miles more range than I need in the future at each charger- that way I can drive a little faster than 60 The energy prediction algorithm today is using the 300WH/m from what I can tell- so if you start with a 20-30% cushion and drive faster ( or use more than 300WH/M) then you will eat up the cushion before you know it.
5. I think we'll have a problem in a couple of years between ICe'd charger stalls and more people using the superchargers across the country- I was amazed I saw another Tesla at 1/2 of the chargers I used ( I used 13 superchargers in 3 days) I also saw ICe'd spots in Independence and St Charles
6. If you haven't done a road trip- do it- the cars are a dream to drive, and I drove my non-autopilot equipped car.
7. As other have said- if you are unsure of getting there on the charge- start out slow and make sure you have enough range as you proceed, once you know you'll make it, you can speed up. ( I used this technique quite successfully between Independence and St Charles, I range charged to 265 at Independence and drove 64MPH till I reached mid way, then sped up to 70MPH- arrived at St Charles with 46 miles of range, so I could have sped up sooner.
8. Chademo's are good- but two things- Usually only one stall- and not always 50 KW- I had both an in use one and a < 50KW one on my trip-

Enjoy!

 

[ruby110]

I'm not surprised about ICing at St. Charles but Independence?? There must have been a big sale at the Bass Pro Shop!

i agree, road trips are a dream if you can stay on the Supercharger highway.

 

[Bugeater]

Just finished a trip from Silicon Valley to Portland Oregon and back. 670 miles door to door. Took 13:20 up and 14:20 back. Our S said it would take 12:30 each way. Due to prior experience we always charge more than our S says to. We didn't start any leg with less than 10% predicted remaining while the S said to head out with just 4% remaining. The extra charging time and eating were what took the extra time. Oh yea, we used 4 SCs on the way up and all 6 on the way back. That's because we started at 100% charge in our P85 when we left and were able to skip Vacaville. The last charger, Woodburn, was unnecessary by simply charging a few minutes extra at Springfield. On the way back we started with about 150 miles range due to no destination charging in Portland so we charged at Woodburn. Since temps on the way back hit up to 107℉ we charged a bit more too.

 

[Khatsalano]

Bugeater, I am about to do a similar trip right after TMC Connect. We are going all the way to Victoria and Vancouver, BC and back. On the way up, you were able to go from the Bay Area to Corning comfortably without range anxiety? Did you have to limit your cruise speed? EVtripplanner.com is putting my first leg at 253 RM, which is doable in my S85D. Did you do this on the way up:

Corning
Mt. Shasta
Grants Pass
Springfield

Thank you for being a pioneer on the trail.

- K

 

[Bighorn]

Bugeater, I am about to do a similar trip right after TMC Connect. We are going all the way to Victoria and Vancouver, BC and back. On the way up, you were able to go from the Bay Area to Corning comfortably without range anxiety? Did you have to limit your cruise speed? EVtripplanner.com is putting my first leg at 253 RM, which is doable in my S85D. Did you do this on the way up:

Corning
Mt. Shasta
Grants Pass
Springfield

Thank you for being a pioneer on the trail.

- K

Is there a reason to bypass Vacaville?

 

[Bugeater]

Bugeater, I am about to do a similar trip right after TMC Connect. We are going all the way to Victoria and Vancouver, BC and back. On the way up, you were able to go from the Bay Area to Corning comfortably without range anxiety? Did you have to limit your cruise speed? EVtripplanner.com is putting my first leg at 253 RM, which is doable in my S85D. Did you do this on the way up:

Corning
Mt. Shasta
Grants Pass
Springfield

Thank you for being a pioneer on the trail.

- K

Yes. The first leg straight to Corning was a slight stretch and I slowed only a bit. Starting with ~160 rated miles it was OK though. I skipped Vacaville only because I could. More to charge at Corning but it kept saying I know needed to charge for 5 minutes or so at Vacaville. Didn't quite understand why... The worst part was that the nav really wanted me to turn around.

 

[smilepak]

From Inland Empire to San Jose, I guess the toughest would be between Tejon Ranch and Harris Ranch. There isn't any charging stations in between that two spot huh. We usually stop at Kettleman in the past for GAS and IN/OUT, I guess no more with Tesla.

The EVPlanner doesn't have 70D spec in here. But by looking at it, the 70D, it would be an extremely tight situation.

Would you say speed multiplier 1.5 is a good scenario to use against, especially during this route the average speed would be 80-85 mph?

 

[ra-san]

Remember the speed multiple is a multiple of the "normal" speed of that segment, not of the speed limit. Note the segment mph of 104 in one of those lines :scared: 1.5 is probably a bit excessive.

Lol. Just saw the 108 and 109 averages too. That'll be a harsh ticket if pulled over, not even mentioning safety and efficiency that'd be impacted by that average.

 

[Rocky_H]

Wow, that 1.5 speed multiplier was good for a laugh. That would be why your average consumption is almost 550 wh/mile! I have good news for you--it's not as dire as you think.

 

[smilepak]

Wow, that 1.5 speed multiplier was good for a laugh. That would be why your average consumption is almost 550 wh/mile! I have good news for you--it's not as dire as you think.

:tongue: Glad to be of service lol. Wanted to do worst case scenario. Driving out of the greater LA, traffic gets you..

what would be an average multiplier? 1.15?

 

[paulkva]

:tongue: Glad to be of service lol. Wanted to do worst case scenario. Driving out of the greater LA, traffic gets you..

what would be an average multiplier? 1.15?

One nice thing about EVTripPlanner is you can just try a bunch of different numbers / scenarios and see what it says. Try them out and see what the "segment mph" column says, though keep in mind that's an average that includes on/off ramp time, possibly some turns / local streets, etc. I'd guess that "1.0" on your route would be 70-75 mph cruising speed, so you probably want 1.05 or 1.1 if you want to drive 80-85 mph.

 

[CHGolferJim]

What math adjustment are 70D owners making when using EVTP? Are you making some trial runs and comparing results to what EVTP says for 85D? How about using an average of 85 and 60 projections (if latter is still and remains available)?

 

[travwill]

To play it safe with the trip planner I'd just use the 60 algo and not worry then much about the difference, it should definitely account for HVAC, any unaccounted for situations, and you can still use a small speed multiplier.

On the overall topic though, if superchargers and destination charges are enough, shouldn't you just be able to use the built-in trip planner in car now?

-T