How to save a lot of time on long trips

[TexLaw]

Perfect!

 

[digit2000]

The Model S and X are the only EVs that can do long distance traveling in a reasonable amount of time. Compared to an ICE car it takes about 20-25% longer for charging on the way. The shorter the trip, the less charging makes a difference. For example on a 300-400 mile trip, you start with a full charge, stop once at a Supercharger and then you can run the battery down to your destination where you (hopefully) have a charger. For 5-6 hours driving you would only have to spend maybe 40 min at a Supercharger.

The longer the trip, thought, the more charging stops you will need and the ratio between drive time and charge time is about 1:4 to 1:5. That's a significant amount of time on long trips. One mistake a lot of new owners make is to charge to a pretty high level mostly out of uncertainty how much they will need to make it to the next Supercharger. While this is safe it slows you down overall significantly.

Superchargers are fast, but the charge speed depends very much on the state of charge. IOW, how much is left in your battery when you arrive has a big impact on how fast it'll charge.

Here are some number that show how big the difference is. Let's say you arrive with 0%.
In the first 10 minutes you will gain 70 miles
in the next 10 minutes you will gain 46 miles
in the next 10 minutes you will gain 36 miles
in the next 10 minutes you will gain 29 miles

In 40 minutes you got 180 miles. The average is 4.5 miles per minute

Now lets see how the numbers look when you arrive at 30% battery left.
In the first 10 minutes you will gain 29 miles
in the next 10 minutes you will gain 27 miles
in the next 10 minutes you will gain 20 miles
in the next 10 minutes you will gain 18 miles

In 40 minutes you got 94 miles. The average is 2.35 miles per minute

The difference is huge! Almost twice the speed when you arrive at 0% vs 30%!

Now of course it's not very good for the battery to run it down to zero. It is also very stressful on you and if anything goes wrong, you have absolutely no buffer. You should always allow yourself a buffer. But just from a time point of view, you should aim to arrive at the next Supercharger at a low state of charge to significantly cut down charge time.

I remember a trip where I met another Model S owner going the same route. I arrived 15 min later than she did at the first Supercharger with almost zero on my battery. I charged just enough to make it to the next Supercharger. It was 100 miles away, but I charged to 150 knowing I was going fast and had head wind. I left the Supercharger before the other driver. I arrived at the next Supercharger with 10 miles left. Again I charged just enough to make it to the next one. As I was done charging and pulled out, I saw the other driver pull in. Not only did she charge much more than she needed at the previous Supercharger, she also arrived at a high state of charge slowing her down again. Over a 200 mile distance I gained aprox one hour over the other driver. Same cars, same driving speed, same conditions. Just by optimizing the charge speed.

Again, I don't advocate to run your battery down too low. My message is: don't add in a big buffer just to be safe and then drive slow on top of it. It'll slow you down a lot. As I said in the beginning, it won't matter much on trips where you only have one or maybe two Supercharger stops. But the longer the trip, the more it makes a difference.

Use the trip energy app. It will predicts (based on your driving and the conditions) how much you will have in your battery when you arrive. Keep an eye on it and use it to aim for a low state of charge without risking anything. It's very useful to optimize your trip.

Thanks for the insight. I just ordered a Model S and plan a cross-country drive in the late spring or early summer. I am trying to learn as much as I can before the trip.

 

[David99]

Thanks for the insight. I just ordered a Model S and plan a cross-country drive in the late spring or early summer. I am trying to learn as much as I can before the trip.

I have a pretty detailed video on YouTube about tips and trick for long road trips.

 

[digit2000]

thanks a bunch.

 

[digit2000]

I have a pretty detailed video on YouTube about tips and trick for long road trips.

David: I just watched your video. Thanks so much. As a new owner (almost--coming in early April or later March) I found this both helpful and reassuring.

 

[tomas]

You should always Supercharger to 100% if you are busy doing other things (like eating at a restaurant). If the car is waiting for you, always keep charging to 100%. On a road trip, there is never an advantage to charge less when you are busy doing other things.

if you are at busy supercharger, please don't!!!!!

 

[bxr140]

if you are at busy supercharger, please don't!!!!!

For the sake of keeping it short, there's a lot of caveats that aren't repeated every post.

One of those caveats is that if you're at a busy supercharger, only supercharge as much as you need to get to your next stop.

 

[digit2000]

I appreciate the need for courtesy to other EV drivers. A valid point.

 

[CHGolferJim]

isnt it advisable to calculate rated miles needed to your next stop + buffer, then set the charge limit to 100% in order to avoid idle charges? Then you can monitor the SOC on the phone app and head back and unhook when you get what you need. I don't want to pay idle charges if I happen to set it on 150 and get held up at a meal stop. Or am I misunderstanding how idle charges are applied?

 

[jerry33]

isnt it advisable to calculate rated miles needed to your next stop + buffer, then set the charge limit to 100% in order to avoid idle charges?

Traditionally, that is what I have done (at least once SCs were actually available in my area) just to get all the charging possible when I'm doing other things anyway (shortens the next charging stop). However, there is the question of what "full" means for idle time. Does it mean 90% or 100%? The App notifies that you are full when you reach 90%. Note that I haven't gone on any trips since the idle fees were introduced, so I don't know if that has changed.

 

[BrokerDon]

Traditionally, that is what I have done (at least once SCs were actually available in my area) just to get all the charging possible when I'm doing other things anyway (shortens the next charging stop). However, there is the question of what "full" means for idle time. Does it mean 90% or 100%? The App notifies that you are full when you reach 90%. Note that I haven't gone on any trips since the idle fees were introduced, so I don't know if that has changed.

Actually doesn't the Tesla app notify you when you're charging is sufficient to reach your next Supercharger or destination with a energy buffer? When we've done our round trips between Newport Beach & Las Vegas I remember our Tesla app notifying us while we were eating at El Pollo Loco in Barstow about 25 minutes into our Supercharger session our Tesla now had enough energy to reach our destinations: Primm Supercharger going East and our home in Newport Beach going West. These Tesla app notifications were definitely less than our 90% "full" setting in the Tesla app. We had the same experience on our Supercharger stop required road trips to Buellton, Santa Barbara, Temecula, Palm Springs, San Diego, etc.

I'd actually "pre-flighted" all these trips at EVtripPlanner.com which also showed Supercharging "just enough" to get to your next stop with a buffer was the most time efficient way to road trip via Superchargers. Play with the variables (% Battery Buffer, Speed Multiplier, etc.) and you'll see it too.

Supercharging to get enough power to your next Supercharger stop or final destination typically eliminates the slow "taper" charge rate and unnecessarily long Supercharging times... Plus your Supercharger stops are shorter, you empty the Supercharger stall sooner, and you minimize the negative effects of charging your Tesla's battery to 100%. WIN - WIN - WIN

 

[jerry33]

Actually doesn't the Tesla app notify you when you're charging is sufficient to reach your next Supercharger or destination with a energy buffer?

It does that too, but that calculation does not take wind, rain, snow, cold, or traffic delays into consideration, so depending upon when and where you're traveling, you may need to increase the margin of safety.

 

[bxr140]

Actually doesn't the Tesla app notify you when you're charging is sufficient to reach your next Supercharger or destination with a energy buffer?

Only if you have a destination in the nav.

 

[Ugliest1]

Even in 2014 with only one route W-E (or E-W) across the US, supercharging to Rated Miles needed + 30mi buffer would typically only take us 30-40 minutes. Now there are more routes and more choices. Going up or down the west coast now, we find that we're comfortable with a 15-30 minute supercharge and a lower (15-20mi) buffer. And generally, the car is "ready" before we are finished coffee, or a walk, or whatever. We don't dawdle but I have no problem leaving the car set to 100% and then leaving when we get back (with the car only at 85%, or 93%, or whatever). And I believe that is within the spirit of Tesla's intent, and general use of "the commons".

 

[Ugliest1]

Actually doesn't the Tesla app notify you when you're charging is sufficient to reach your next Supercharger or destination with a energy buffer?

To add to my comment above, yes the app notifies when it thinks you have enough to get to the next supercharger. However I plan all trips with EVTripPlanner, and that notification is always given before the car reaches what I consider to be a safe buffer... I guess given my slight exuberance while driving. So the notification is informative, but I have never acted solely upon it.

Supercharging to get enough power to your next Supercharger stop or final destination typically eliminates the slow "taper" charge rate and unnecessarily long Supercharging times... Plus your Supercharger stops are shorter, you empty the Supercharger stall sooner, and you minimize the negative effects of charging your Tesla's battery to 100%. WIN - WIN - WIN

It's quite tiresome waiting that extra 30+ minutes for a complete 100% charge, the few times we've had to do it based on our planned needs. Totally agree, win-win-win when people leave after only charging to their next distance requirements (including whatever buffer their comfort needs are, and finishing whatever their personal needs are).

 

[BrokerDon]

To add to my comment above, yes the app notifies when it thinks you have enough to get to the next supercharger. However I plan all trips with EVTripPlanner, and that notification is always given before the car reaches what I consider to be a safe buffer... I guess given my slight exuberance while driving. So the notification is informative, but I have never acted solely upon it.

You might want to consider increasing your EVTripPlanner "Speed Multiplier" for your driving exuberance and to leave a larger charge buffer. I usually use a "Speed Multiplier" of 1.2 for those reasons and it's worked well. Driving any PXXD is conducive to "speed exuberance".

 

[Ugliest1]

You might want to consider increasing your EVTripPlanner "Speed Multiplier" for your driving exuberance and to leave a larger charge buffer. I usually use a "Speed Multiplier" of 1.2 for those reasons and it's worked well. Driving any PXXD is conducive to "speed exuberance".

Yeah... 1.1 doesn't seem to do it!

 

[FlatSix911]

You should always Supercharger to 100% if you are busy doing other things (like eating at a restaurant). If the car is waiting for you, always keep charging to 100%. On a road trip, there is never an advantage to charge less when you are busy doing other things.

Best not to supercharge to 100% for two reasons ...

• The charging taper is significantly 2X slower between 80-100%
• You may also receive idle charges if you stay over the grace period

Take a look at the Tesla Supercharging graph below: Supercharger | Tesla

 

[jerry33]

Best not to supercharge to 100% for two reasons ...

• The charging taper is significantly 2X slower between 80-100%
• You may also receive idle charges if you stay over the grace period.

That works in nice weather on an SC route. Doesn't work so well in bad weather or if you are going where there isn't an SC.

 

[kort677]

• You may also receive idle charges if you stay over the grace period

this is not correct, if you are charging then there is no worries about being assessed any charges.