Model Y 6400 mile road trip

[ElectricIAC]

No issues in Oklahoma

Those SC bills seem high. Bad peak rates?

 

[Dennisis]

So sorry man, got busy with life, ok I’ve never had to use the CHAdeMO adapter once on this trip or any long distance trips, I’ve only used it locally a few times to make sure it worked and that was EA, Blink & Charge Point. So in long cross country trips like this one it’s good to have because some areas might not have SC’ers. But there were plenty of Super Chargers everywhere. I recommend not to buy one. Only if your town doesn’t have a Supercharger working 200 miles.



Note: that my first CHAdeMO didn’t work out of the box, it would make a Pop sound and then you can smell the smoke. Had it replaced and the new one works fine.

Fred

Thanks! I'm going to pass on it - hasn't been a problem yet and seems like it's going to go away..

 

[mparrish03]

The wooden table shown above slips down under the passenger seat and you can pull it out for when you’re ready to eat, the bottom folds open with magnets. Company that makes them is posted below. I purchased the plain one and painted it myself.View attachment 670010View attachment 670011View attachment 670013

That’s awesome!

 

[ZilWin]

Took a road trip 2 weeks ago so (14 days) with the AWD 2020 Model Y with 19” aftermarket light weight wheels (19.6 Lbs each)


This trip took me from San Diego California to Erwin Tennessee, then from Tennessee to Key West Florida. From Key West up the panhandle of Florida and back West to San Diego.


I took my modern spare tire which thankfully I didn’t have to use, also took all of the tools needed to fix a flat and replace the tire.


Tire pressure was set to 46 cold and reached 50psi when temps were 109 degrees in the Arizona area.


I also took my 6” mattress for that back where I would take a 1 hour nap during charger times.


Out of all of the chargers that I stopped to use, at only one station 4 stalls were down out of 8, I just waited 5 minutes to get one to charge. No other issues with all of the Tesla Superchargers I used nationwide.


60% of the Tesla Superchargers were located behind a hotel like Hampton Suites or Holiday Inn and most were located by a Loves Travel Center or a Pilot gas station with many food options.


90% of my drive was on Auto Pilot, so the drive was very pleasant. Weapon against dead bugs on the Windshield & front bumper is glass cleaner with a micro fiber cloth, make sure you bring 3 cans of windshield cleaner to keep those areas super clean. when I stopped to charge I was cleaning bugs off the car, except for areas that were 109 degrees out.


Never had any issues with running low on juice, if the Nav station said you would arrive at your next Supercharger with 10%, you got there with 10%. I always charged enough to arrive with 20% so that I can hit speeds at 75 - 80mph. Only Texas out of all states had the 80mph speed limit sign while other states had 75mph speed limit signs.

If you have anyone questions hit me up.
Boss tip: make sure you hit any Texas BBQ when in Texas, The places I stopped was super good.

Fred

Nice report. I am travelling cross country to the east coast next month in my M3. Jacksonville, FL then Myrtle Beach. My question is regarding Tesla Nav and actual energy consumption. Does the navigation dynamically adjust arrival SoC and charge level to next SC based on actual consumption? What I mean is if I am driving speed limit +5 mph, will navigation dynamically adjust how much charge it expects I will need to get at (SC...next) to arrive at (SC...next+1) with the desired remaining SoC?
Thanks for the bug report as I was thinking about what I need to clean windshield and front bumper at SCs.

 

[Dennisis]

Nice report. I am travelling cross country to the east coast next month in my M3. Jacksonville, FL then Myrtle Beach. My question is regarding Tesla Nav and actual energy consumption. Does the navigation dynamically adjust arrival SoC and charge level to next SC based on actual consumption? What I mean is if I am driving speed limit +5 mph, will navigation dynamically adjust how much charge it expects I will need to get at (SC...next) to arrive at (SC...next+1) with the desired remaining SoC?
Thanks for the bug report as I was thinking about what I need to clean windshield and front bumper at SCs.

Yes, it monitors how you drive and adjusts accordingly. Will tell you to slow down to a certain speed to reach the one planned or will have you stop at an closer one, painless!

 

[Pianewman]

Dennisis: Are you sure about that? I think I've read otherwise here. I'm under the impression that Nav calculates at the time of charging, but does NOT make any adjustments for excessive energy use (post charging) caused by headwind, rain, excessive speed.

I'm confused. Can someone elaborate with proof? Maybe a new thread with this specific question?

 

[Dennisis]

Yes I’m positive- if you drive too fast/ use more energy it will tell you to slow to a specific speed to reach you destination or will recalculate to have you charge earlier. But I’ll let you do your own search to confirm, I’ve experienced it many times myself.

 

[ElectricIAC]

Yes I’m positive- if you drive too fast/ use more energy it will tell you to slow to a specific speed to reach you destination or will recalculate to have you charge earlier. But I’ll let you do your own search to confirm, I’ve experienced it many times myself.

I’ve found that while it can calculate, it can be a little too optimistic initially and it remains best practice to self-calculate based on worst case climate.

 

[Dennisis]

This is one of the main benefits of using the nav - it's always monitoring your driving style and conditions and their impact on energy usage. If it only checked when you charged you'd be royally screwed quite often and it would be of little help. One good road trip should be all you need to experience how it works. Driving 85 into a headwind? Chances are at some point you'll get a "slow to 70 mph to reach your destination" message. If you don't you'll likely then find it's selected a closer supercharger as your next stop to account for the conditions. People tend to really overthink the charging stops, though if you're traveling in really remote areas that may be prudent of course...

 

[Pianewman]

Thanks for all of the clarification. Two road trips, 5k miles total, I guess I never challenged the system by exceeding the speed parameter, although now I recall two instances when the arrival SOC got higher while driving conservatively. That experience should have answered my question!! HA!

 

[ZilWin]

And this discussion was the basis of my question. On my upcoming x-country trip I am sure I will be exposed to a variety of speed, weather, and other conditions. I wanted to know if/how well the Nav system updated the SC requirements. Obviously whatever it does has to be based on past rearward looking data. I can see where on a given leg it would recalculate the arrival SoC and give speed adjustment advice/warnings to get to the next SC successfully. Will it then use that data to recalculate the required charge required to the NEXT SC station based on the discrepancies in the just completed leg? I guess I am asking, 'How smart is the AI and it's planning algorithm?" Will it say "I miscalculated the last leg by 14% starting SoC, so on the next leg I am going to remap and require an additional 14% to get to the next supercharger based on energy consumption for the previous leg"? or will it just simply say "Starting SoC to next SC is 55% based on the standard energy use template and i don't care what happened back there"!

 

[finman100]

standard energy use template. i don't think there's AI involved in the nav and energy use.

I've done my share of half country trips (1300 miles over 2 days. same on return trips) and what i see happening is the energy use is based on speed limit and terrain. (soon to be a weather variable introduced?).

So what happens on the 80 MPH speed limit roads, you get enough juice to get you to that next stop plus your personal cushion (energy tab, then trip). I am good with 15% extra. if you travel at 75 MPH it'll give you plenty of cushion to get to the next stop. if you travel at 85 MPH it will definitely give you the slow down to X MPH to make the next stop. unless of course a super tail wind is happening, since the weather variable is not part of the algorithm...yet.

YMMV

 

[iamnid]

You can see all of this by going into the consumption graph. It will show you what your expected destination charge is and how that will change along the plotted route. There is a grey line that shows rated consumption and a colored line that shows how you are actually doing. You will be able to tell where the hills will be along your route based on the curve of the graph. You will also see what your anticipated arrival charge will be etc. So, no, it does not just do the calculation while you are charging.

 

[ZilWin]

So the calcs use fixed parameter factors to plan (speed limit, terrain, distance) and only use real time data to estimate adjusted destination values. Next leg planning uses the fixed parameters for that leg so if you are using more energy and want to compensate you must do that 'outside' of the planner. I am told SCs use the Tesla Nav 'estimated charge required to next planned SC' value and will over ride a manually selected charge level on the slider. So to compensate for that you would have to do something like put in a larger arrival SoC cushion?
I apologize if I am overthinking this but I am trying to get a handle on how Tesla does the calcs and the limitations of the system. You know, the old 'Trust but verify' policy. LOL

 

[ZilWin]

You can see all of this by going into the consumption graph. It will show you what your expected destination charge is and how that will change along the plotted route. There is a grey line that shows rated consumption and a colored line that shows how you are actually doing. You will be able to tell where the hills will be along your route based on the curve of the graph. You will also see what your anticipated arrival charge will be etc. So, no, it does not just do the calculation while you are charging.

yeah I have seen that part of the graph. pretty cool the way it'll show you sucking up energy going up hil and then harvesting on the downhill side.

 

[Pianewman]

Having done "only" 2 road trips, one a flat drive FW/Tampa/FW, and the other FW/Denver/Aspen/FW, I'm still at the point where I'm not allowing my arrival SOC to drop below 20%. I met a long-time Tesla owner in Trinidad, CO, and he smiled when I said this, and said he is finally comfortable allowing the NAV to work, allowing an arrival SOC of 2-5%. Says he has never run out of juice.

Uhh...well...I'll continue to stay on the conservative side. I have no need to rush/minimize the overall trip time by keeping SOC between 10 and 65%.

YMMV.

 

[Wennfred]

Currently on the road, will answer questions when I get home.

Thanks

Fred

 

[Wennfred]

I’m back, Dennisis correct, if you set the Nav straight to your destination, for example San Diego to Key West Florida, it will map it all out. Each stop it tells you how much you need to charge up to this Percentage and go. It was so cool because no matter if you hammered it or not you always made it to that next destination period. If you feel like going 85 and it looks like you might be using too much juice, a yellow box will appear with a warning stating to keep it down to 75 to make it to your destination.

This is my Pro Tip of the day, Always start off conservatively at first and as you get closer let’s say 50 miles and you have plenty of juice left, that’s when you can hammer it. Look for those 250kw stations and try and get there at under 10%.

Fred

 

[finman100]

...and use the pre-conditioning feature! Preconditoning sets up the battery for perfect conditions for a fast charge. Input a Supercharger location as the destination so the battery will pre-conditon for optimal DC fast charging. it's yet another secret sauce item that Tesla uses for long distance EV travels. Easy peasy.