Is Tesla only good for local driving?

[RTPEV]

My wife and I are getting more comfortable stretching the range than early on. Have run down to the mid-20s on our recent trip. I would push further but my wife gets nervous at 30%. Our first trip she got nervous at 50% so we are making progress.

You need to pop up the Trip Energy Consumption graph and just watch it during the trip.

This will show you the predicted SOC at the end of the trip and additionally show you how you are doing (the green line) versus how the car originally predicted (the gray line). If you consistently stay near or above the line (like shown above), you can trust your driving and the car's ability to predict SOC accurately (or at least pessimistically, which is what you want). The more you watch this, the more confidence you will have.

Of course if you ware watching it and the line is BELOW the gray line, you may need to figure out what is going on and adjust your plan (maybe the roads are wet, or there is a strong headwind, or you are towing something, or just driving like a madman!)

 

[ULEWZ]

In Texas, one of my destinations, the speed limit is 80mph, so all bets with suggested range are going to be off at that speed. I find a useful range of 180 miles at that speed (from 80% charge) in my P3D. I also find the suggested distances are for 70mph or less which I hardly ever do, so plan accordingly for that. This is my experience, YMMV.

 

[Tman317]

This isn't meant to be critical, but hopefully helpful.

All you really need to do is use the car's nav system to enter your destination (which is as easy as tapping the right scroll wheel and saying "Drive to <X>"). The car will do the rest for you. You don't need to plan or anything. If it decides it needs to stop at a charger, it will tell you which one and for how long. I actually find that less of a burden than with gas, where the strategy is more about waiting until you're down to 1/4 tank and then hoping that you can spot a convenient gas station, of a brand you trust, at an upcoming exit. With the Tesla, there is no mystery.

Yes, if you take the time to plan your trip in advance (using ABRP) you can probably get a more ideal plan. But if this is too onerous for people, you don't actually need to do that. But at a minimum you should at least always use the in-car nav whenever you are traveling near or beyond the range of your car.

I did use the Nav and it did show the chargers. I don't think I knew how to evaluate round trip in the Nav system. It indicated all was well for one way. Guess I need to enter trip home after I got there. Perhaps I don't; I'll have to figure it out. I disagree that it is less of a burden than gas, there is really no thinking with gas. I don't think I can find a location w/o one. Ever exit has 1-6 stations. I still love the car, but ICE is less stressful. I may take the Tesla on a road trip as an experiment, but that's just what it will be - an experiment not a vacation trip.

 

[RTPEV]

I did use the Nav and it did show the chargers. I don't think I knew how to evaluate round trip in the Nav system. It indicated all was well for one way. Guess I need to enter trip home after I got there. Perhaps I don't; I'll have to figure it out. I disagree that it is less of a burden than gas, there is really no thinking with gas. I don't think I can find a location w/o one. Ever exit has 1-6 stations. I still love the car, but ICE is less stressful. I may take the Tesla on a road trip as an experiment, but that's just what it will be - an experiment not a vacation trip.

You're right it doesn't do round trips (yet), although it does show you the round trip arrival SOC in the nav, so if you see below 10% in that display, you do know that you'll need to make at least one charging stop. But the point is that unless you get to a remote destination with a very low SOC not in reach of a Supercharger, when you hop back in your car at the remote end, it will still be able to route you home.

In the local metro area, I agree that every exit has at least one (and usually several) gas stations. But this is not the case on a road trip as you are on unfamiliar highways between cities. One particular example I can give you is I-81 between Harrisburg, PA and Hazelton, PA, I-81 north of Syracuse, NY, or I-88 between Binghamton, NY and Albany, NY. There are very long stretches of highway between exits, and many exits have no amenities at them. I once got off I-81 with my low fuel light on and found that the gas station that was indicated was a few miles off the highway, and then it was not a 24 hour station.

 

[AlexHung]

You're right it doesn't do round trips (yet), although it does show you the round trip arrival SOC in the nav, so if you see below 10% in that display, you do know that you'll need to make at least one charging stop. But the point is that unless you get to a remote destination with a very low SOC not in reach of a Supercharger, when you hop back in your car at the remote end, it will still be able to route you home.

In the local metro area, I agree that every exit has at least one (and usually several) gas stations. But this is not the case on a road trip as you are on unfamiliar highways between cities. One particular example I can give you is I-81 between Harrisburg, PA and Hazelton, PA, I-81 north of Syracuse, NY, or I-88 between Binghamton, NY and Albany, NY. There are very long stretches of highway between exits, and many exits have no amenities at them. I once got off I-81 with my low fuel light on and found that the gas station that was indicated was a few miles off the highway, and then it was not a 24 hour station.

It kinda does actually because when it plots a route, the text shows how much charge for a round trip. The text is in grey and smaller font so it’s easy to miss.

 

[ZilWin]

I have done many coast to coast trips in different ICE vehicles. The 'fueling' dynamic is the same as with an EV. I am always doing mental calculations based on fuel mileage and distance to next desired fuel stop on the fly. I suspect it is the same for EVs. I just did a 750 mile trip in my M3 with quite a bit of sightseeing detours. With a little advance planning we added charge to accommodate that. Sure the spontaneous 70 mile side trip to see the "Beer can Preying Mantis" might have to be foregone in your EV while your ICE vehicle will happily guzzle overpriced gas at "Gus's Preying Mantis Emporium and gift shop" but until DCFCs are as ubiquitous as gas stations that's the reality. I will be doing my coast-coast trip in my M3 in September and I have no reservations about it at all.
I suspect the OP will never modify his thought process to effectively use his EV for anything more than grocery runs and garage charging. He probably should have bought a Leaf and used the saved money for those ICE vacations.

 

[drtimhill]

I agree with OP. Traveling long distances and stopping to charge for 30 minutes every 100 miles or so is a royal PITA.

On what do you base these numbers? All the long trips I have made require charging for maybe 15-20 mins every 150 to 200 miles, and I'm pretty conservative when it comes to charging habits.

Also, isnt it a PITA to have to go to a gas station once a week every week just to fill up for your daily commute? With my Tesla, I wake up every morning to a fully charged car with zero effort on my part.

 

[srs5694]

I suggest changing to show miles to empty, not percentage. 22% is difficult to understand, 68 miles is easier.

Just as a side comment, I saw a news report this morning that there's a new Tesla firmware update that's begun rolling out that enables toggling that display between percentage and miles just by touching it on the screen. I don't yet have that update, but that sounds like a nice feature.

 

[srs5694]

In the local metro area, I agree that every exit has at least one (and usually several) gas stations. But this is not the case on a road trip as you are on unfamiliar highways between cities. One particular example I can give you is I-81 between Harrisburg, PA and Hazelton, PA, I-81 north of Syracuse, NY, or I-88 between Binghamton, NY and Albany, NY. There are very long stretches of highway between exits, and many exits have no amenities at them. I once got off I-81 with my low fuel light on and found that the gas station that was indicated was a few miles off the highway, and then it was not a 24 hour station.

Tangentially related to this, on my latest road trip, I noticed that the amenities signs for Connecticut service plazas on I-95 now include gas pump icons with an "E" inside them to identify sites with DC fast chargers (all of which were Tesla Superchargers, as far as I could tell). Most of them had this amenity, but a few didn't. Of course, that's just one major highway in one state; I don't know how common signage like this is elsewhere. There's also the big issue that we have three different types of DC fast charging (Tesla, CHAdeMO, and CCS), and the signage didn't indicate which was available. At the moment, in-car navigation remains the best way to find DC fast charging, but I consider it promising that signage is starting to appear, even if it's not completely adequate.

 

[DelPhonic1]

My solution for when I want to reach destination with a near full charge, is to plan the journey, see the supercharger that is closest to the end destination but still is on the way, and reset the route to that one.

My experience is the opposite. I don't want to get close to the destination without the hammer down and arriving soon to take part in exactly what I went there for. I plan for 20% 'running around money (charge)' at the destination city, then hotel destination charge while sleeping peacefully. We wake up fully topped up for the next day.

 

[Lloyd]

Lets say you only had a Shell gas Card. Here are your choices!

 

[glide]

On what do you base these numbers?

Real-word experience having owned 3 Teslas.

 

[jeremymc7]

I’ve got several friends that have driven half way across the county. I also know people that have drive all the way across the US and some across Canada.

Totally doable, and only getting better.

 

[qdeathstar]

I saw this topic yesterday and I didn’t click it because there is no debate about it, the answer is a simple no. Why the **** are there four pages on this? Tesla’s get 300 miles of range and can get 150 miles of range in 15 minutes.

The answer is no. Lock the topic. Move on.

 

[qdeathstar]

Ah god damn, OP has 7 posts and negative 21 reputation score.

Says it all.

“Trolls get 86’s”

 

[drtimhill]

Real-word experience having owned 3 Teslas.

Well I can't comment on your driving habits, but I rarely need to stop to recharge before 150 to 180 miles driven, and I'm usually up and going again with 20 mins. I don't think is unusual either, based on other posts on these forums.

 

[Tman317]

Lets say you only had a Shell gas Card. Here are your choices!

View attachment 690137

While I appreciate and respect your example, problems can generally be formulated with selective criteria. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but In 60 years of driving I have never given thought to where to get gas on a trip no matter where I went. I knew there would be some place to top off. It took the country many years to get to that point and I'll be extremely happy when charging stations are about everywhere. If gas stations want to stay relevant they should set up charging stations so they can participate in the transition. I certainly agree that with some planning I could take my Y about anywhere; I just don't like the fact I need to do such planning. Perhaps with more experience with the vehicle I'll be more comfortable. Right now my mind says if I do run out of gas I call AAA and they bring 5 gals of gas. My Y is a much more involved issue.

 

[glide]

Well I can't comment on your driving habits, but I rarely need to stop to recharge before 150 to 180 miles driven, and I'm usually up and going again with 20 mins. I don't think is unusual either, based on other posts on these forums.

Try owning a P85D in New England. Report back when done.

 

[Exelion]

Right now my mind says if I do run out of gas I call AAA and they bring 5 gals of gas. My Y is a much more involved issue.

If you run out of electricity in your Y, the same AAA can tow it to the nearest supercharger (or DC if you have the adapters)

But I totally get the message. Truth is, range anxiety and trip planning has very little to do with range and almost everything to do with how many and where the DC chargers are, and how fast they charge. We’re almost there with the second part, a very, very long way to go on the first.

Case in point: plenty of ICE vehicles have less than 200 mile range. Motorcycles especially. But I’ve never heard (or read) of those owners having any kind of range anxiety. They just use the remaining 7-10 miles and *look for a nearby gas station* which, are everywhere, sometimes two to even four on the same intersection.

The phrase *we’ll just pull over at the next station* is one I hope to be able to use one day while driving an EV.

 

[drtimhill]

Try owning a P85D in New England. Report back when done.

So your experience is bad, therefore everyone else's is also bad??? makes perfect sense.

I'm sorry if you have had poor results .. but the fact is for the vast majority of Tesla's the charging experience is vastly different from yours. By all means say your experience is bad, and expand on that in detail, but saying "my experience is bad therefore all Tesla's are bad is silly".