Model S 75D Long Trip Questions

[kholy]

Hi! I am looking to make a trip from Cleveland Ohio to Folly Beach, SC. The farthest I've driven was to Chicago and it was pretty easy with about 2/3 30 minute charges on the way. I was looking online at some of the trip planners trying to figure out what the best route would be for this trip and the EVTripplanner came up almost 2 hours less than the tesla trip planner. I did notice that EV trip planner had a lot more stops but for less time than Tesla did. Is it better to stop more frequent and shorter times or is it better to stop less but for longer periods of time?

thanks!

 

[jbcarioca]

I recently drove an S70 from San Francisco to Atlanta. In practice I found it to be easiest to charge to 90% most fo the time. That takes a little extra time but also provides plenty of reserve in the event of unforeseen problems. Generally on your route there should be almost no problems. My first really long trip was in April 2015 Miami-Columbus, Ohio-Miami in my P85D. Then there were many fewer charging options but even then there was zero problem. Frankly, if you stop overnight just make certain you can charge overnight using even a 100V outlet, but hopefully a Tesla Destination Charger, that will allow you to skip some stops. Those are now pretty widespread. Checking on PlugShare also will help you find other overnight charging options. On most of my trips manage to get a full charge overnight , and even when no chargers appear on PlugShare there are almost always 110 V outlets somewhere which generally get ~4 to 5 MPH so often allow skipping charting stop.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[BIG ACH]

I've driven from Toronto, Canada to Washington DC with my 85. Used Tesla's route but I was more conservative and didn't cut it as close when it came to charging as Tesla was recommending (ie I stopped more frequently and charged longer just to be safe).

For the most part it was fine, we have kids, it was nice to stop and stretch our legs, and most superchargers had restaurants or coffee shops nearby.

 

[jeffpaul]

It depends if you "just want to get there" or if you're looking to take your time and enjoy the trip. Charging a bit longer at one stop will mean you'll need to charge less at the next one. I don't think there's any other benefit or downside to charging longer or shorter. There's lots of road trip tips if you do a search on these forums, but the most important guideline I follow is you should have at least 10-15% estimated for your next supercharger or you could end up cutting it too close.

Other than that, take a way that brings you through places you've never seen. That always makes the trip more fun for me.

 

[kholy]

Thanks for the advice! I am hoping to do the trip in 1 day... EV planner said 14:30 including charging. I am planning to take my drone too hopefully at some of the SC there might be some cool sights i could get up and fly

 

[Shock-On-T]

Plan meals at superchargers.
Otherwise, just leave the SC as soon as you have enough for the next one. Over 60% is a pain.

 

[ewoodrick]

On Superchargers, battery charge faster when they are empty than when they are full. Also, when reaching full charge, the charging slows down.
So when using Superchargers, don't plan to charge when the car drops to 50%, let it drop to 10% or so.

When you get to a destination or wall plug, let it charge all the way to 100%. In some cases, this may suggest that you stop at a Supercharger to bring it to 50% and then plug in at the hotel to bring it to 100% overnight.

Also, make sure you don't arrive on empty. You always need enough to get back to a charger.
Also, be watchful of the data, some mapping solutions factor in traffic and some don't. And for those that do, the start time becomes important, as well as stops for lunch.

 

[jbcarioca]

Ah, a drone. Don't forget, then, Asheville, NC Supercharger so you can fly over the Biltmore Estate, within distance for most drones with 30 min range. There are others too...

 

[gdh66]

See this site: evtripplanner.com, or this one abetterrouteplanner.com

 

[kavyboy]

See this site: evtripplanner.com, or this one abetterrouteplanner.com

And just plain Google maps for a comparison, to see what the quickest route is without charging. I've found some locations where the EV planners really want to go out of their way to charge because they miss the direct route that takes only a few minutes and/or miles longer but uses 30+ fewer rated miles.

The Cleveland/Folly beach trip looks straightforward (pretty much do what the car says, charge just a bit extra each stop), but as @ewoodrick mentions, charge to 100% at Santee before heading to Folly Beach unless you have an overnight destination charger. If you don't have destination charging, bring the UMC and the 120V adapter just in case there is a wall plug available where you are staying. Although slow, it's still probably going to be at least 50 miles a day of recharge. That can shift things from "sweating out a close call" to "not even thinking about it anymore."

 

[kholy]

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[namlio]

Thanks for all the feedback!

If you haven’t already, take a look at the detail sheet in evtripplanner application and see what the SoC is upon arrival and departure. If the charge time is very short, less than 15 minutes, tell the app to skip that SC and see if you can easily make the next one. If you use ‘route through superchargers’, the app will usually stop at all of them, even it it really isn’t necessary. Also look at the settings you are using to make sure they are realistic. You can use these apps like a black box, but it helps to understand what the results are telling you and then apply a little thinking power.

 

[twonius]

Drive speed limit or maybe 5 over for the first 30 minutes. If you hammer down right out the gate trip planner will extrapolate and freak out. It's not a bit issue if it does, you just slow down, but it ups the pucker factor.

 

[xyeahtony]

ev trip planner is fairly on point unless you run into unexpected traffic/construction. I've driven from baton route to Toronto and boston a few times. all multi-day long distance trips, no issues. I stayed at hotels with destination chargers too.

 

[whitex]

In addition to what others have said, when stopping overnight near supercharger, charge first, rather than on a cold morning - cold batteries charge really slow for the first little while (depending how cold it is and how cold soaked the car is). It sucks to get up in the morning ready to roll and have to spend an additional 20 minutes at a supercharger - preheating the car doesn't help either, tried that too.

 

[Zeromus-X]

Theoretically, you'll probably get the fastest charge by running as low as possible from your initial 100%, then charging the absolute minimum needed to make it to the next charger. There are three big problems though --

1. You probably don't want to do the speed limit the whole way
2. Weather can change and impact you pretty significantly, especially if you have no buffer
3. The time it takes to actually find the chargers and plug in can be significant

Websites can predict range pretty well, but they can't predict when you're driving around the lot angry because you just can't find the damn chargers anywhere, or you miss an entrance trying to get to them, etc. I'm sure you won't run out of battery trying to find them, but it can add a lot of time dropping off the highway and circling around a place hunting. Especially if they're in a parking garage!

 

[D.E.]

If your destination is a residence, the clothes dryer is usually on a 30A 240V circuit. If the dryer is close to where you park your Tesla, that might be an option. I bought a 50A 30 foot extension cord and an adapter to go from the 30A outlet to the 50A extension cord. Using the adapter, the cord, and the standard Tesla charging cord I was able to charge at 240V, 30A. It is much quicker to charge than the 4 miles per hour you get with the 120V 15A connecion. I got about 23 miles of charge for each hour with that 30 A setup. You should know that extension cord is heavy and about as thick as a garden hose.

 

[Duffer]

In case you missed it, check out the link below. There's a lot of great info that really helped me to feel comfortable making longer trips in our MS75D.

The Rules of Model S Road Tripping