How to save a lot of time on long trips

[Olds442]

Great thread and info/posts.

 

[guipingfang]

Lol,I think you can go out for a coffee drink.That will be easy to kill the time.

 

[NOLA_Mike]

Related to this thread, I recently had my SOC go down to about 3% when I reached a supercharging station. When I plugged in, it wouldn't charge. I tried moving to a couple other stations but none of them would work. While plugged in, I noticed that there were a few pulses of some current ~10A but mostly nothing. My percentage went down to about 2%. I called Tesla service and they looked me up and said that there was nothing wrong and that when the SOC gets really low, it takes some time to get the charge up before supercharging can start. So relieved, I left it to charge. Sure enough, about 15 minutes of seeming to do nothing, it started to charge slowly and then eventually started to supercharge. I was searching online and in the manual about this "feature" but couldn't find anything. Has anybody else experienced this? At what point is it best to be in a low SOC when supercharging before hitting this special circumstance?

That's really odd. I have arrived at Superchargers with just a few miles left or even less and there was never a delay. That must be a bug they can hopefully fix.

I know these posts are a year old but I just wanted to add my data point(s) to this.

In my experience, things have changed over time. My first two Teslas (2013 P85+, 2014 P85D) would supercharge similar to what @David99 describes - at the maximum rate with 1% or just a few miles range showing remaining on the battery. I would often try and arrive with the lowest possible charge to experience the fastest charging times.

My current Tesla (2016 90D) behaves similarly to what @limo describes - if I arrive with less than about 10% remaining the charging starts slow, slowly ramps up and hits the maximum charge rate when the battery passes about 12 - 15% capacity on the way up. Having said that, the newer 90D will also maintain a high charge rate for longer in to the charge than the previous cars would - they would start tapering off sooner.

My speculation is the chemistry of the batteries has changed slightly over the years of production and this is to protect the battery longevity.

Mike

 

[David99]

Mike, you are right, the 90 battery has a different charge curve. Definitely not good to arrive close to zero when you want to save time. I'm not sure how the 100 behaves. I know the newer batteries all maintain a higher charge rate longer. They don't taper off as much, so the time saved on charging isn't as much dependent on state of charge.

 

[GTKAZ]

Mike, you are right, the 90 battery has a different charge curve. Definitely not good to arrive close to zero when you want to save time. I'm not sure how the 100 behaves. I know the newer batteries all maintain a higher charge rate longer. They don't taper off as much, so the time saved on charging isn't as much dependent on state of charge.

I believe the last time I used a SC for my 100D under 10% it went directly to full charge, but it'd be nice to see if someone gets actual data on this

 

[David99]

The 90 also behaved like this when they first came out. Then a software updated changed it to be reduced below 10%. After a certain amount of supercharging the max power will also be limited. Maybe the 100s will see some changes over time as well.

 

[KArnold]

I believe the last time I used a SC for my 100D under 10% it went directly to full charge, but it'd be nice to see if someone gets actual data on this

In my 100D I came to SC with about 7% charge and 35F outside temperature. Plugged in and it only went to about 20 kw. Thinking perhaps it was the charger, I moved over 1 slot - same thing (no other cars). Sat there thinking about what to do and it started to climb after maybe 5 minutes, slowly getting to 120 kw, but I didn't time it so this is seat-of- the-pants timing. But it clearly took a bit of time to start and get up to full speed, unlike higher starting SOC. This is a '17.

 

[Chaserr]

I saw the same behavior tonight. Cold weather seems to have limited SC speed, as it warmed the charge sped up.

 

[Lasttoy]

It averages out. I have done the Florida to D.C. and back many times. 75 to 100mph just burns charge. Stay extra time allows for more speed, but need more charge. He is right, 75 on cruise it optima. 4 stops up and back, eat and relax, makes you a more alert driver, rather than a full tank of gas and go till you drop.

 

[WannabeOwner]

it'd be nice to see if someone gets actual data on this

The "A Better Route Planner" APP is able to collect charging data, and he posts graphs of the Stats for various battery Configs. from time-to-time

A Better Routeplanner

75 on cruise it optima.

That was my understanding too, but that same thread has some drive-data that suggests that even faster is still charge-time-effective. Not sure there was enough data to have confidence, and clearly the charging characteristics of each battery impact the formula.

 

[bxr140]

That was my understanding too, but that same thread has some drive-data that suggests that even faster is still charge-time-effective. Not sure there was enough data to have confidence, and clearly the charging characteristics of each battery impact the formula.

There’s obviously many variables (as discussed pretty thoroughly upthread and elsewhere), and it depends on how one interprets ‘optimized’.

Without rehashing it all, in general 75 is too slow if you’re looking to minimize total trip time.

 

[The Duke]

Things to consider:
1) Sights to see
2) Rest and eating stops
3) Overnights
SuperCharge when they align. Destination charge when you can. Our last 3K mile trip we waited in the car 20 mins total for charging, the rest of the charging was done while we did other things. We never walked over 1/4 mile from the chargers.

Scheduling charging is a skill you get better at.

 

[bxr140]

...and that’s exactly why it’s important for the individual to define ‘optimal’.

 

[WannabeOwner]

(as discussed pretty thoroughly upthread and elsewhere

I mentioned the link because it provides fleet-data which suggests that even 100 MPH may be optimal for some batteries, which surprised me because it is a long way North of the 75 MPH that has been the upshot of most discussions that I have read.

 

[GTKAZ]

In my 100D I came to SC with about 7% charge and 35F outside temperature. Plugged in and it only went to about 20 kw. Thinking perhaps it was the charger, I moved over 1 slot - same thing (no other cars). Sat there thinking about what to do and it started to climb after maybe 5 minutes, slowly getting to 120 kw, but I didn't time it so this is seat-of- the-pants timing. But it clearly took a bit of time to start and get up to full speed, unlike higher starting SOC. This is a '17.

Mine is a 2017 as well. Thanks for the info. I do not live close to a SC so I still haven't tried myself. Will report when i do.

 

[terrykiwi]

(just out of the red and into the yellow on the trip planner tab).

Would someone please help me understand what this means?

 

[Chaserr]

The energy graph app (on the big screen, not the IC version) tells you whm for your current trip. Keeping it "out of the red" means your efficiency is not so lead-footed and your range is up.

 

[terrykiwi]

I'm a new owner! Are you talking about the screen that shows the average energy consumption over the last 5/15/30 miles? If so, where does the color come into it?

 

[Chaserr]

Yes. Set a GPS trip location to drive to (home, work, wherever) and then go to the "trip" tab in that app. It has a different graph for your trip than the normal orange one that you can also see on the dash display, but that trip graph only works with a GPS destination set. The colors are on that trip display.

 

[Max*]

Would someone please help me understand what this means?

As @Chaserr said, on the big screen, hit the energy button on the top, then on the graph click on the trip tab (you need to be navigated somewhere). It'll give you percentage of charge the car thinks you'll arrive at your next destination.

The energy graph app (on the big screen, not the IC version) tells you whm for your current trip. Keeping it "out of the red" means your efficiency is not so lead-footed and your range is up.

Not exactly. It's not about your whm, it's about the percent for the next destination.