M3 Performance Range at 80mph? Road Trip Planning

[CorneliusRox]

As it turns out, driving behind a truck and trailer they whole time makes you get incredible range!

I pulled down an average of 260 Wh/mi yesterday and always had a ton of charge left when I got to superchargers. We even skipped the last one. Tire pressures were set to 46psi after playing around with what worked best for a bit.
Temps were 42F when we left (5am), 91F mid day, and 54F when we arrived (11:45pm).

Honestly, the Supercharger stops were refreshing and my kids loved getting out of the car at that time.
It's also kind of fun checking out your car while someone else drives it!

I'm charging off 120V right now at my brother's right now. It's painful. ha ha
I already have a plug ready to wire at our new house when we close tomorrow!


Thanks again for all the help guys!

 

[GtiMart]

Excellent. Mythbusters had done an episode on drafting a semi. They did show good gains, but mostly when driving way too close for security. In your case, you know each other, you might even be able to talk to each other live, it might be less dangerous

 

[CorneliusRox]

Excellent. Mythbusters had done an episode on drafting a semi. They did show good gains, but mostly when driving way too close for security. In your case, you know each other, you might even be able to talk to each other live, it might be less dangerous

I'll admit, the distance at which my wife tailed me was alarming, but... It worked out. She's a good driver, so I wasn't worried about her hitting me, but I was worried about rocks hitting the windshield.

 

[KenC]

As it turns out, driving behind a truck and trailer they whole time makes you get incredible range!
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I pulled down an average of 260 Wh/mi yesterday and always had a ton of charge left when I got to superchargers. We even skipped the last one. Tire pressures were set to 46psi after playing around with what worked best for a bit.
Temps were 42F when we left (5am), 91F mid day, and 54F when we arrived (11:45pm).

Honestly, the Supercharger stops were refreshing and my kids loved getting out of the car at that time.
It's also kind of fun checking out your car while someone else drives it!
View attachment 716257
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I'm charging off 120V right now at my brother's right now. It's painful. ha ha
I already have a plug ready to wire at our new house when we close tomorrow!


Thanks again for all the help guys!

Wow, super-impressive! At your projected highway speeds, I didn't think you'd get under 300Wh/mile. With family and kids, it's easier, because you have to make more stops, which kind of matches the optimal way to road trip with a Tesla, anyway, faster driving, more stops.

 

[dduffey]

Nice, thanks for following up.

 

[Apprunner]

talk about opposite ends of the ownership spectrum. lol. On a steady drive at 80mph, the energy drain isn't that bad. The bad mileage is when if i get frisky and do acceleration pulls to weave through traffic. Isn't road tripping a Tesla just awesome. I'd rather take a little more time and drive my Model 3 than take an ICE and get there a little faster with way worse driving experience.