Lack of home charging on trip is stressful

[FlatSix911]

This is an interesting post. I picked up my 70D last summer and have done several road trips over 1000 miles. I charge exclusively at SCs. My first trip I forgot my charging cable at home. I've actually never charged anywhere but SC or at my house. SO, here are a few things I'll mention that I hope helps you.

3. Settings: Make sure you are in Range Mode for long trips. You lose AC/Heat efficiency, and your rear wheel drive if have dual motors. Some people say there is a whine, but I haven't heard it.

Make sure you turn the Range Mode back off at night, as it spends energy when it's parked heating the battery or something, or it's hard on the battery, I can't remember what, but I read it here so I know it's true!

OT but interesting ... can you us more about the Range Mode effect on the battery when parked overnight?

 

[sorka]

OT but interesting ... can you us more about the Range Mode effect on the battery when parked overnight?

Just the opposite. range mode uses less energy while your parked to heat the battery. even then it only makes a difference if it gets below 0 F.

 

[FlatSix911]

Just the opposite. range mode uses less energy while your parked to heat the battery. even then it only makes a difference if it gets below 0 F.

So, keep the car in Range Mode all of the time for maximum efficiency ... any downside?

 

[mknox]

So, keep the car in Range Mode all of the time for maximum efficiency ... any downside?

I am just getting through my 5th winter with my Model S. I use Range Mode mainly in the summer. Why? To keep the a/c compressor from sounding like a jet ready for takeoff. Range Mode seems to tame the compressor a bit but the car still gets plenty cool.

In the winter, I stopped using range mode because a) the difference in range was so insignificant that it hardly seemed worth it and b) the fan speed was limited to 7 or something near that. I think I heard that the fan speed limit has gone away in later firmware releases but I just leave Range Mode off anyway.

BTW, I have an earlier RWD car, so there is no difference in the propulsion system either way for me.

 

[jmsurpri]

Did you only look at Chargepoint stations or at Plugshare? Santa Rosa looks pretty well covered unless your rental is out in the sticks somewhere.

View attachment 220695

I was staying in occidental which is about 15 miles away from Santa Rosa. Occidental is hilly too so I probably would've needed to charge for two hours just to cover the round trip.

There was, however, a destination charger at a hotel in Occidental, a mile away from where I was staying. I did not feel comfortable asking them if I could charge since I wasn't staying there.

 

[Az_Rael]

I was staying in occidental which is about 15 miles away from Santa Rosa. Occidental is hilly too so I probably would've needed to charge for two hours just to cover the round trip.

There was, however, a destination charger at a hotel in Occidental, a mile away from where I was staying. I did not feel comfortable asking them if I could charge since I wasn't staying there.

Ah. Sometimes if a hotel has a restaurant, you can charge while eating, since you are a patron at that point. So one solution might have been to eat breakfast there each morning while you charged.

 

[Ulmo]

On my first long road trip with my 85D. Drove from Portland OR to Santa Rosa CA. Staying in an airbnb with no charging. The closest supercharger is 30 miles away.

Sorry, but I am completely baffled by your claim:

Breaking it down; I have Chademo, so first, I look at SuperChargers and Chademo:

Further, I have the monthly plan with EVGO, so I look for EVGO since they're the cheapest usually but not always:

Woops, even better, while doing that, I zoomed out accidentally and found even more Chademo EVGO and Chargepoint:

Here's the ChargePoint Chademo, and you could look at each one for pricing:

If you don't have Chademo (only $450+shipping+tax new), then you can slum at all the many J1772's out there fending off various problems with long term charging, but that's a lifestyle choice.

Stay in nicer places. I'm at the four seasons right now, they always have tesla chargers.

This. In an AirBNB, checkmark the option in the App that says you need to have EV charging plug in at the AirBNB. AirBNB doesn't offer that? Go elsewhere. You want to use AirBNB anyway? I still don't see it as an issue: find a Chademo, SuperCharger or AirBNB that you can email them asking if they have a dryer plug you can plug into (for negotiation). 5kW would charge your 85 fully in 15 hours.

 

[Ulmo]

I was staying in occidental which is about 15 miles away from Santa Rosa. Occidental is hilly too so I probably would've needed to charge for two hours just to cover the round trip.

There was, however, a destination charger at a hotel in Occidental, a mile away from where I was staying. I did not feel comfortable asking them if I could charge since I wasn't staying there.

Ok, well, that's different from Santa Rosa. I presume part of the trip was the beauty of being away from an urban area. I wish I knew that from your original post. (I'm about to leave for a camping trip myself in about 15 minutes, so I planned that last night in terms of charging.)

One option would be to stay someplace that has charging.

So:

You're right: Occidental Inn is restricted to guests. Ideas:

• Stay at Occidental Inn. Requires different lodgings than you have, and may cost much more money.
  
• Use the Home Charger in Blue that is midway from there to Sebastapool. Requires slow charging and asking for permission.
  
• Use the Fast DC charger in Sebastapool that is Chademo. Requires a $500 device you might not already own and takes time to order. Can rent one for $40 + deposit ($500). CHAdeMo charging for Tesla - Adapter, Rent by the week
  
• Use the electric dryer plug at the AirBNB. This requires negotiation before reservation, and the proper plugs, which themselves may cost money. You may have to ask the AirBNB person to take a photo of the plug AND measure the distance to the parking spot, so you bring the proper adapters and extensions; those can cost some money from Tesla and other sources, and if you use non-Tesla extensions (it's better to use extensions by places that prevent this Tesla UMC extension ) you could cause a fire. Requires proper plug; that's why you have to ask them for picture of socket. Requires some research.

So, the way I see it, is that the electric car is causing you to spend more money to charge, and restrict your choices of places to go according to which allow you to charge in reasonable ways. Since it's a Tesla, I can presume that we ought to (although I know sometimes we don't) see that it is inexpensive enough to make the financial leap to getting a Chademo and/or staying at pricier places that have destination charging, and bring appropriate adapters if trying to do something a little more specific. The way around that is to only stay at places that have SuperCharging nearby.

 

[MocosMan]

College trip with son last week from Cleveland to Boston - 3 hotels only 2 of which had chargers. Agreed it makes a big difference and I will only stay at places with chargers in the future. Waking up full is priceless