Model S as a Long Range Commuter Car

[Altair7]

I am considering taking the plunge into EV's with a Model S, the technology and performance are the draw for me. It is also intriguing that there is not much to wear out vs. a conventional engine. This could be a car I could keep for a very long time. But there is a catch:

My drive to work is 220 miles round trip (by choice). Fortunately due to the nature of my job (pilot), I only have to do it four to five times per month.

There is an elevation change of 4000 feet (downhill to work, uphill going home), most of which is freeway driving. HVAC is mandatory on every drive (Arizona). I found the forum sticky note on Battery and Charging, and put together a simple spreadsheet to analyze the drive. Amazing how fast a 390 mile range evaporates.

I would have to slow down vs. my gasoline powered car (the irony is not lost on me). Not too bad, adding 5-10 minutes each way.

The uphill drive home is the big killer. Even with a 90/10 charge profile it looks like a 20 minute SuperCharger visit is inevitable. (My understanding of EV's is that 100% charge should not be done very often in order to preserve long-term battery health.)

I park at the airport, and they have limited EV charge points. The problem is the car sits for 2-1/2 days while I am flying my trip. My guess is that would be poor charge point etiquette and they will not allow me to tie-up a charge point for that long. OTOH, if that assumption is wrong suddenly things become ideal - I get back to an 80% charged car and enjoy a fast, quiet, and non-stop drive home!

So I am wondering from current Tesla owners, would this be a wise plan? Anything I am missing? Or am I trying to fit a round peg into a square hole?

 

[Locash]

I'm going to assume you live in northern AZ (fFagstaff?) and fly out of Sky Harbor. Luckily, there are multiple superchargers on that journey, and with a current long range car, you could do that trip and if needed, stop by the supercharger in Cordes Lakes or New River for a couple minutes just to be safe? Heck, you could drop the car off near one of the many destination chargers and I'll be happy to drive by and plug/unplug you while you're gone, as I have a shop next to Sky Harbor. haha.

 

[Wol747]

Is there a supercharger between home and airport?

Given that it's best not to regularly charge near full, and that you don't want to regularly get down to reserves plus contingency, I would surmise that planning a tech stop each way would be your best bet. If that makes it just a question of topping up 20-30% at a supercharger the time taken would not be too great and any out-and-return range anxiety wouldn't be there.

Purely hypothesizing - I'm taking delivery of my first Tesla this month so have no first hand experience!

 

[ucmndd]

Personally I don’t think you’ll have any problem with a 220 mile round trip and sitting for a few days at the airport probably 49 trips out of 50, driving any speed you want.

You’ll use relatively little energy on the way down with all the regen, saving most of the battery for the trip back up. So long as you shut off all of the energy sapping crap like sentry mode, summon standby, and cabin overheat, the car will only lose 1% or so per day when parked.

You may occasionally need a splash and go charging stop in the winter when it’s cold (like the poster above I’m assuming you’re driving from ~Sedona to PHX).

These cars are remarkably efficient in the heat, so don’t worry about the AC usage basically at all. It’s the heater that will have you making extra stops.

In short, I’d say go for it. I do 120 miles a day and the Model S is a wonderful commuter.

You might want to play around a bit on evtripplanner.com or abetterrouteplanner.com with your specific start and end points to get an idea of how much energy you’ll actually use. These sites are remarkably accurate.

 

[gaswalla]

A new S with near 400 state’s range will work well for you - probably will get real life 300 miles. A long range 3 will also get you real life 300 miles.
Having autopilot will make that long drive so much better. As a 3 and S owner, I’d recommend 3 for your need

 

[houstonian]

I park at the airport, and they have limited EV charge points. The problem is the car sits for 2-1/2 days while I am flying my trip. My guess is that would be poor charge point etiquette and they will not allow me to tie-up a charge point for that long. Anything I am missing?

1. Battery range will bleed off when parked. Uncertain if you've got covered parking, but the temp overheat protection running the AC in the summertime will be another ding.

2. You've got time - 2½ days - at the parking spot. If you can find a wall outlet @110, you won't hog up a L2 charger and you'll be charged up enough for the drive back.

 

[suraj1194]

I’ve done such a long commute in the past . It was easily manageable in terms of actual usage . You really just need to know where your charging options are and plan accordingly . I’ve left my car parked for days, even 2-3 weeks, and not had substantial range loss . During my longest trip I lost maybe 10-15 miles.

 

[Evoforce]

Piece of cake... One that you will really enjoy.

 

[f205v]

check the round trip with ABetterRoutePlanner.com
it's very very accurate.

 

[Altair7]

Thanks to all for the replies! Helps with the "range anxiety".

@ Locash: Close. I live in Prescott and work in Phoenix. I checked the Supercharger locations, and the two you mentioned would be along my route. Even if the I-17 closed due to accidents (not an uncommon occurrence) the New River location would be available before reaching the alternate route through Wickenburg.

Very kind of you to offer to keep my car exercised while I am gone ;-)

@ucmndd: Thanks for the links, they are now bookmarked. They are close to my quick-n-dirty spreadsheet results. Good point on the speeds - with a supercharge stop in the plan, I probably can work back up to my normal drive speeds. I am guessing that sitting in traffic the battery consumption is limited to HVAC?

@gaswalla: A SUV actually fits my needs well, and what I have been driving for the last 12 years. So I first looked at the X but range anxiety drove me to the S. And, it would be nicer for those occasional long road trips I guess. Keeping the current SUV in the family for hauling needs gives me a bit more flexibility.

@houstonian: Good to know about the battery-eaters. Is the temperature protection intended for the battery, or the passenger comfort upon return to the car?

 

[DanCar]

I wonder what you charging options are at the airport? Even if you can find a 110 volt outlet, that will help significantly. You'll love autopilot and perhaps FSD. If you want to save money over a Model S, then the Model 3 or Y will also work well. Anyways you'll love your Tesla, no issue with the range as you have many options like charging in route.

 

[Airforcebj]

As a fellow pilot, I can tell you a Tesla certainly works as a commuter car. With my first model S, I drove about 150 miles one way from home to Memphis to commute to work. That was back in 2017, and my max range was 255 miles. But it was still doable because I would plan to hit a supercharger either on the way to work, or sometimes on the way home. Most people are more eager to get home, so I avoided the stops coming home. I would charge before parking it to maybe 90%, because I was flying two week trips. That would allow me to be able to drive straight home once I returned. I am on my 5th Tesla, and my current one is the long range Model S. It performs much better than my first S in terms of efficiency and phantom drain. If you’re doing 2-3 day work trips, you may see times when you loose less than 5 miles the entire time. Just make sure sentry mode is off. Good luck, and fly safe!

 

[Magellan55]

@houstonian: Good to know about the battery-eaters. Is the temperature protection intended for the battery, or the passenger comfort upon return to the car?

It's cabin overheat - keeps the interior below 40C. In NC that eats about 15 miles a day with the cream interior in our summers, so in AZ it might be more. you can switch it off.

 

[Evoforce]

It is both, the cabin temp you can turn off. The traction battery protection you cannot. I'm a pilot myself but not as a profession! Started at getting a Flight Tech Degree but changed to construction because the Vietnam war had ended and there was a flooded market of pilots with lots of experience. So I didn't feel that I could get a good job with little flight time coming out of college.

 

[suraj1194]

Since you're in AZ, you want to turn cabin overheat protection off when you leave the car parked, otherwise it'll eat the battery trying to keep the interior cool in a parking lot.

Unless you've no supercharging options at all, you don't need to worry about range anxiety with any current Tesla model for such a commute, if you're reliably able to make a single supercharging stop per trip.

With a slightly longer round trip commute at one time, I either squeaked in without charging at all (100% charge when leaving home, not advisable behavior) or just stopped at a convenient supercharger - I had at least four to pick from - and charged there. Usually I'd pack my gym attire, plug the car in and run around the mall, then continue home. I also had Chargepoint at work but did not always use it.

From my perspective it was a question of supercharger access reliability . The outer ring of superchargers around the Bay Area (Fairfield, Vacaville, Manteca) almost always had a few stalls free during the times I commuted, so it worked out - I don't recall ever having to wait for a charge there.

In general the Model S was a great GT / long range commuter car for us.

 

[2101Guy]

If it helps: Dropped of my model s on a Sunday at 2pm recently at an airport. Average temps was low 40f. (Parking garage that was outdoors, but covered). 74% battery when I parked it. Made sure to turn energy saver (its a 2017 90D, so not sure if this feature is on all models) on via the MCU and did not enable sentry. Did not touch the app while I was away. Got back to the car 4 days later/Thursday at 11pm. My battery % was 72%.

 

[Altair7]

An update: This is specifically for people parking at Phoenix Sky Harbor, but may apply generally to multi-day parkers at other airports:

The 44th street lot has EV charge stalls that are designated by length of parking time. Two were shorter time periods (I can't recall the length), but also stalls where an EV can charge for up to 72 hours.

How many of these multi-day stalls exist and how over-subscribed they are is unknown. But it sure would be nice to get back from a trip to a topped-off battery and avoid a 20 minute Supercharger visit late at night. And my highway speed would not be constrained by range concerns. Win/win.

 

[wemetzger]

So, you have a three hour commute one way. Where do you usually eat?

So, if you get the 400 mile range S, or 350 mile X, either would work. I have both an S and an X, and if you really love an SUV, I would highly reconsider an X. I love it. But in either case, your drive there will be downhill, so I bet you will end up leaving with a 90% charge, have plenty when you get there. Enough to not worry about drain, and get you back up the hill to one of the superchargers. Then you have a few options:

1) If there is a v3 charger, those will get up to 190Kw per hour in the beginning if you start off with a fairly empty battery. A v2 charger will start at 140Kw. In either case, I bet these will be fast enough to do a 15 minute bathroom break charge, and roll into your house with 5% left, which is plenty. You have to remember, the charging at the beginning, is much much faster.

If you buy new right now, Supercharging is free. Its not a major cost. So even if you dont have free supercharging you might want to consider ways to charge for longer uphill.... Remember you just came back from a long trip, so you might want to check out what stores are near your supercharger:

2) Charge while you eat. You are saving money by charging, so it's basically a free meal.
3) Grocery shop. After a long trip your fridge is probably empty.
4) I also have a barber, dry cleaner, target, post office, my gym and my bank near my superchargers that are inbetween work and home.

Also, you can also charge on teh way down and eat or run an errand and have basically the same result. BUt whatever you do, don't drive slow. It is faster to wildly break the speed limit and charge for an extra minute to make up for it.... plus its more fun

 

[365gtb4]

I would also get a white car with the white interior. Arizona summers can be brutal. 220 miles is easy. Your phantom drain will be at most 5 miles if sentry is off. Charged to 350 and you'll be fine. I've done many trips like this. I just did a couple of hundred miles and left the car for 15 days, (a raven long range X), and came home with 70 miles of range.

 

[ucmndd]

But it sure would be nice to get back from a trip to a topped-off battery and avoid a 20 minute Supercharger visit late at night. And my highway speed would not be constrained by range concerns. Win/win.

I’m telling you. 99 times out of 100 you won’t need to make a stop. A long range Model S can make this round trip no problem, at almost any semi-socially-acceptable freeway speed you wish to drive. I understand your hesitation but it’s just not warranted in this situation.