Long trip soon after delivery, any tips?

[ReturnZero]

When you're going on a long trip, do you put your final destination for the day into the Nav system? Or just the next Supercharger? If you put in your final destination, does the % remaining on the trip tap show just the current leg to the next supercharger, or the entire trip?

Hopefully that makes sense...

 

[PA70D]

Have just over 15,000 on our 70D and have taken (1) 1200 mile and (2) 500 mile plus trips. Have always been conservative starting out and if we are in excess of 160 miles between super chargers. Have never had a problem with this distance regardless of weather (includes cold weather and mountains) when charged to 100%. We used the Nav trip planner on each of these and found we are most comfortable when we stick around an extra 5 to 10 minutes after the notification of being charged enough to continue our trip. The most important tip I could give is to use your energy app with the Navigation programmed to your destination, next super charger or final destination. It will provide you with the estimated % of battery left upon reaching it, we typically drive 5 to 10 mph over the speed limit. Found going continuously over 75 and supercharging does not help, only spend more time at the charger. My wife and I start to slow down to the speed limit if early in the trip and the projection is 15% or less and below the speed limit if 7% or less usually by 5 then to to 10 mph under if still decreasing. Early on we had some range anxiety today we are very comfortable taking longer legs between charging, so I expect you will too, and in time will also be very comfortable.

 

[Jool]

I always keep a buffer of at least 20% more miles than what I would need to get to my destination. It helps account for traffic, elevation changes, headwinds, and other things that sap range faster than normal.

I keep my speed at 70 to 75mph, unless I'm zooming through the desert to get to Las Vegas No need to go faster than that really unless you enjoy sitting at the supercharger longer.

Other than that, make good use of Autopilot's capabilities and have a great trip!

 

[kort677]

When you're going on a long trip, do you put your final destination for the day into the Nav system? Or just the next Supercharger? If you put in your final destination, does the % remaining on the trip tap show just the current leg to the next supercharger, or the entire trip?

Hopefully that makes sense...

the % shown is what you'll be at when arriving at the next SC

 

[Max*]

When you're going on a long trip, do you put your final destination for the day into the Nav system? Or just the next Supercharger? If you put in your final destination, does the % remaining on the trip tap show just the current leg to the next supercharger, or the entire trip?

Hopefully that makes sense...

I start off by putting the final destination in, but often enough the nav sucks, so I end up cancelling out and putting the next supercharger. Sometimes I'd skip a supercharger, so the nav will navigate me to the next one and tell me how long to charge.

 

[Max*]

elevation changes

The trip tab can keep track of that. And temperature, somewhat.

Not sure it does anything for traffic (though a small slowdown = more range), and it doesn't account for headwind, you're right about that.

 

[Jool]

The trip tab can keep track of that. And temperature, somewhat.

Not sure it does anything for traffic (though a small slowdown = more range), and it doesn't account for headwind, you're right about that.

It does? Hmm I'll have to check that out! For me, the trip planner tends to be a bit optimistic with travel times in traffic, so I just assume it takes more energy than what is stated. I prefer to be safe rather than sorry, especially with the way Southern California traffic is at times

 

[stevezzzz]

The math works out such that you can drive as fast as you like between Superchargers as long as you don't run out of charge getting there. Rule of thumb: the best average cross-country speed is achieved when you expend energy while driving at the same rate as you will charge at the next charging stop.

So long as you have enough charge to get to the next SpC, your overall speed-made-good improves with higher cruising speeds, because it's almost impossible to expend energy while driving at a rate faster than you'll get it back at the next SpC stop. If you've got a mid-day stop at an L2 charger, however, you'll do much better by slowing down dramatically and arriving at the charger with a higher SOC. In the latter case, the extra time you spend on the road will more than be made up by a shorter charging stop.

 

[Max*]

The trip tab

It does? Hmm I'll have to check that out! For me, the trip planner tends to be a bit optimistic with travel times in traffic, so I just assume it takes more energy than what is stated. I prefer to be safe rather than sorry, especially with the way Southern California traffic is at times

Not trip planner (Tesla's crappy nav plugin, which routes you through superchargers), trip tab. Energy -> Trip. The graph that shows you the green/yellow/red when you navigate somewhere.

I know some people say it's optimistic, and it might be an east coast/west coast thing, but I've found it to be very accurate and often better than expected (and I usually speed +10/+15 on the east coast, so about 75mph average)

 

[stevezzzz]

Energy->Trip is extremely useful as a way of monitoring your progress on a cross-country leg. Let's say you charge up to the point where it predicts you'll have 15% SOC on arriving at the next stop. As you begin driving, it makes adjustments to the prediction based on actual consumption. Let's say you've got an unexpected headwind, and within the first 15 miles or so the buffer drops from 15% to 10%; there's no reason to panic, because by that point the calculations have baked in the effects of the headwind: if nothing else changes the predicted buffer won't continue to drop, and you'll arrive with 10%.

 

[Max*]

As you begin driving, it makes adjustments to the prediction based on actual consumption.

To add to this, don't panic when you start driving off and the energy prediction is sinking like a rock for the first 5 miles, it'll climb back up. Some oddity with the Tesla algorithm.

Check on the status about 20mins later to get a more realistic estimate.