I typically used the 4s setting while drafting. It seemed safe to me. Of course, I remained vigilant and occasionally increased to 6s when it seemed appropriate (for example construction zones).
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Model X Road Trips
- Thread starter xkwizit
- Start date
I typically used the 4s setting while drafting. It seemed safe to me. Of course, I remained vigilant and occasionally increased to 6s when it seemed appropriate (for example construction zones).
Did you have Range Mode on? I try and remember to turn it off when arriving at an SC and turning it back on again when leaving if its really hot out.
With Range Mode off right.
Did you have Range Mode on? I try and remember to turn it off when arriving at an SC and turning it back on again when leaving if its really hot out.
With Range Mode off right.
I mostly didn't use Range Mode, didn't seem to provide much benefit and we needed max cooling! We had our AC set to 68F The entire trip....
That has worked well for me for 26,000 miles. In the "don't do as I did department" please be very careful to follow only pristine clean trucks. My carelessness gave me three rock chips in paint and a chipped windshield. My lack of thought about where it was safe to park yielded a minor ding in the right rear bumper. I can fix them all for the wee sum of $3,950 plus tax.
Right after i hit "post" it occurred to me that things might be different in very hot weather.
Although it can happen we don't get a lot of 95F days here in the NE.
I do think I've ever seen a semi that I would describe using those words.
Any truck or car can throw small rocks or gravel back behind them and cause paint chips and windshield damage on following vehicles.
Fluxed, thanks for the great write-up. I did a 50 state tour in my Model S last summer and experienced closer to 15% energy reduction when following a big truck. Looks like Model X gets a bigger benefit from it. In time, I learned that following a truck was safer than driving slowly when the traffic is zipping by me. I also noticed considerable improvements in energy use when I was part of heavy traffic that was traveling quickly. It seems many of the benefits of following a big truck can be realized following other similarly-sized vehicles when there are lots of vehicles on the road traveling at similar speeds. I even found that following a lone pickup truck provided benefits.
BTW, for a trip to Alaska with max charge in battery and 2% reserve showing for destination, I made the destination with 14% reserve by driving slowly (45 mph and as slow as 35 mph in seldom-traveled portions of the road). Watching how the reserve number changes is the most effective form of monitoring energy on a trip, as you know. Details of the trip are blogged at URL in my signature.
I too charge until I have a 20% reserve for the trip. The extra 7 or 8 minutes of charging made for a shorter charge needed at the next stop. Good choice.
BTW, for a trip to Alaska with max charge in battery and 2% reserve showing for destination, I made the destination with 14% reserve by driving slowly (45 mph and as slow as 35 mph in seldom-traveled portions of the road). Watching how the reserve number changes is the most effective form of monitoring energy on a trip, as you know. Details of the trip are blogged at URL in my signature.
I too charge until I have a 20% reserve for the trip. The extra 7 or 8 minutes of charging made for a shorter charge needed at the next stop. Good choice.
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NovemberXray
Member
Thanks for the post, great to compare notes. We are on a long trip right now, having just arrived in Washington DC from Portland, OR. We have covered about 3300 miles in the last 7 days.
Model X P90DL, 22" wheels, two passengers and a ton of cargo (moving stuff for our daughter), average temps in the mid 90's.
Our average energy use for any given leg seems to vary from about 360Wh/m at the lowest, to about 480 on the high end. It's been a great trip so far, much easier than expected in fact. The trip planner has been working well, and seems to be getting more accurate as we go, does it learn? We have never had to drive below the speed limit, nor draft to reach our next stop. Typically I have been driving 5 over the limit.
We started out always waiting until we had 20% for remaining at destination when charging, but have started going when the car says it's ready usually between 10 and 15 percent. Across all this distance and dozens of Superchargers, hot weather and wind, our max deviation from the trip planners predictions were +3% / -9%.
Used AP about 70% of the time, works great, but as others have noted, pay attention, it can be erratic occasionally. Often when passing a vehicle with some sort of trailer it would suddenly slow down not wanting to pass.
Also, as others have mentioned, very impressed with how good I feel after driving 600 miles in a day. Not tired at all! I attribute it to the technology and the amazing car, but also to the regular stops to get out and move around and get blood flowing!
Model X P90DL, 22" wheels, two passengers and a ton of cargo (moving stuff for our daughter), average temps in the mid 90's.
Our average energy use for any given leg seems to vary from about 360Wh/m at the lowest, to about 480 on the high end. It's been a great trip so far, much easier than expected in fact. The trip planner has been working well, and seems to be getting more accurate as we go, does it learn? We have never had to drive below the speed limit, nor draft to reach our next stop. Typically I have been driving 5 over the limit.
We started out always waiting until we had 20% for remaining at destination when charging, but have started going when the car says it's ready usually between 10 and 15 percent. Across all this distance and dozens of Superchargers, hot weather and wind, our max deviation from the trip planners predictions were +3% / -9%.
Used AP about 70% of the time, works great, but as others have noted, pay attention, it can be erratic occasionally. Often when passing a vehicle with some sort of trailer it would suddenly slow down not wanting to pass.
Also, as others have mentioned, very impressed with how good I feel after driving 600 miles in a day. Not tired at all! I attribute it to the technology and the amazing car, but also to the regular stops to get out and move around and get blood flowing!
fallen888
Participant
Don't think I'll ever want to follow any truck. I'll take the milage loss over a rock to my car.
goneskiian
Active Member
This is all excellent information! Thank you all for sharing. We haven't yest done a road trip but I'm looking forward to it!
Cheers!
Cheers!
There is a movement toward equipping heavy trucks with systems that allow them to travel in platoons for fuel savings. You can do this in a Tesla with TACC, in a sort of limited way. The trick with trucks doing it is that the braking systems of all the trucks in the platoon are slaved off the truck in front, so that there is near zero delay in braking in case the lead truck has to slow down suddenly. With TACC, you still have the limitation that the following distance has to decrease for the Tesla to realize it has to slow down. (This limitation will probably go away someday when there are V2V standards for platooning across vehicle types. States will still need to buy into this so that properly equipped vehicles will not be cited for tailgating).
My X doesn't work like my S. Even with Range Mode off (I never turn it on), I couldn't supercharge and run the AC at the same time on my recent trip. It "reduces cooling", which is code for "completely disables cooling". My car rapidly got to 100+ inside while charging and we had to find places to hide from the heat. Not ideal. It also meant I couldn't precool the cabin while connected to the Supercharger, which meant that my effective range was reduced due to high cooling load as soon as I unplugged.
All that said, I believe I have a malfunctioning AC, so that could be the root cause of it all.
NovemberXray
Member
They're all amazing of course, depends on how much time you have... We just did a month long road trip in our X from Portland, OR across the country and back and had a fabulous time. I was truly stunned by Badlands National Park and Custer State Park in South Dakota, wasn't expecting it, but it was gorgeous. Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier are all spectacular, and you shouldn't miss Crater Lake in Oregon. You could do a big loop and hit them all!
HookBill
Member
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
Yes, definitely check out the destination chargers. There's a nice lodge right at the gates to Zion National Park that has 2 Tesla chargers. (Cliffrose Lodge) if you want to stay overnight. Worked out great for us, we were able to leave the car at the lodge and walk right into Zion. From there, Zion shuttles take you through the park, as they don't allow cars to drive through.
ecrsail
Member
I visited all of these and more on road trip earlier this year. Details of portions of the trip have been previously posted here:
Model X Road Trips - Zion
Model X Road Trips - Grand Tetons / Yellowstone
Model S and Glacier National Park, MT - Help with how to approach - Glacier
Bend <--> Crater Lake on a Single Charge - Crater Lake, OR
Go for it!
--Eric
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