I took a little mini road trip yesterday and a bit the day before (about 450 miles). We left home in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento with 80% SOC in our 90D. It was just the two of us. Weather was warm but not hot so no real AC load. There were some good head and cross winds around Fairfield. Got to Pleasanton in the late evening after stopping for dinner. Had about 42 kwh left (47%). We averaged around 330 w/mile at 70 mph most of the way.
Not seen in this photo but there were actually 6 Model X's in front of the Dublin Service center while we were there.
The next AM we went over to the Dublin SC to charge to get us to Monterey. There are at least 12 stalls and everyone was full. We followed a Model S into the lot and immediately another Model X and S were right behind us. I counted about 6 Model X's at that location that were either being sold or waiting to charge or ???. These were not ones in the back getting serviced. Anyway we had to wait about 10 minutes for a second slot to free up. The Trip planner said to charge for 10 minutes but I decided I wanted 20% because we were going to drive around Monterey a bit and I don't like going in with just 10% (see my comments later).
The queue at Dublin, CA late Thursday morning. Seemed like there was always 2-4 cars waiting.
We drove to Monterey after stopping in Morgan Hill for lunch. There was a bit of stop and go traffic on 101 south of Gilroy and there was the usual gusty winds from the SW (so a head/cross wind of about 20 mph). Speed was 70 mph when we could but there were sections on 156 and 101 where we could only do 60 mph. Got to Monterey averaging 318 w/mile. We then did our business and went to the ocean for awhile looking at seals, otters and seabirds. About 5:30 we headed to Seaside Tesla to charge before heading back home. The distance to our house from Monterey was about 230 miles. That was too much for one charge even at 100% so we decided to charge half way in Manteca. It's not the shortest route home but avoids the bay area which has it's share of issues. The trip planner said to charge for 10 minutes and 10% SOC at destination but I decided to go for 20 min and 20%.
Our Model X pointed out across Monterey bay.
The trip to Manteca was not trivial. There was lots of slow traffic on 156 and 152 and then I5 had issues with construction delays so we opted for back highways. Probably extended the trip time by 30 minutes and much of the trip was at 60 mph so we ended up averaging 310 w/mi. So when we got to Manteca we actually had 28% charge left versus the 10% the Trip planner advised. Again it asked us to charge for 10 minutes to reach 10% SOC at the destination but I went for my 20%. It only took an additional 5 minutes, so 15 minutes total. BTW there was one Model S there at 9:30 PM and that was it.
Our red X along with a black and white. There was a Midnight Silver Metallic across the parking lot.
On the way home we hit all sorts of construction on hwy 99 which really delayed our trip again. We probably lost another 30 minutes in waiting in slow traffic to squeeze by the construction zones on a 75 mile trip. When we were driving it was at 70 mph. The temp was 65 outside and 76 was our interior setting. No real winds.
It was clear we were not going to get home with the 20% we were supposed to have when we left Manteca. When we got home it was 12%. While I would have made it by charging to 10%, I don't think arriving with 2% SOC a very wise thing to do. There is a bit of a hill at the end of the journey but on this 75 mile leg the average was more like 360 w/mi. Not sure why our average got so bad. It was 348 before we climbed the hill.
So to sum it up charging 4 times in the day for 15 to 20 minutes each was not too bad. We alway rolled into at SC around 20% SOC or less and we either got lucky (Dublin) or made sure we had no one paired with us so charges were at least 200 mph and sometimes 300+ mph. That helped a lot. We also never charged so our destination SOC was going to be over 20%. In all cases that was more than enough. I am now comfortable to scale that back to 15% when I know the weather is not a factor.
I also learned something new at the SC Tesla site. They have a lounge and bathroom for charges and I guess people waiting to get their car serviced. There is a separate outside door with a key code. We left just after 6pm and the crew was leaving while we were there. They pointed out that we could touch the icon on the cars map for the supercharger and it showed us the door code for the lounge. Way cool. Not sure if other sites that have service centers with lounges and chargers do that too.
The next AM we went over to the Dublin SC to charge to get us to Monterey. There are at least 12 stalls and everyone was full. We followed a Model S into the lot and immediately another Model X and S were right behind us. I counted about 6 Model X's at that location that were either being sold or waiting to charge or ???. These were not ones in the back getting serviced. Anyway we had to wait about 10 minutes for a second slot to free up. The Trip planner said to charge for 10 minutes but I decided I wanted 20% because we were going to drive around Monterey a bit and I don't like going in with just 10% (see my comments later).
The queue at Dublin, CA late Thursday morning. Seemed like there was always 2-4 cars waiting.
We drove to Monterey after stopping in Morgan Hill for lunch. There was a bit of stop and go traffic on 101 south of Gilroy and there was the usual gusty winds from the SW (so a head/cross wind of about 20 mph). Speed was 70 mph when we could but there were sections on 156 and 101 where we could only do 60 mph. Got to Monterey averaging 318 w/mile. We then did our business and went to the ocean for awhile looking at seals, otters and seabirds. About 5:30 we headed to Seaside Tesla to charge before heading back home. The distance to our house from Monterey was about 230 miles. That was too much for one charge even at 100% so we decided to charge half way in Manteca. It's not the shortest route home but avoids the bay area which has it's share of issues. The trip planner said to charge for 10 minutes and 10% SOC at destination but I decided to go for 20 min and 20%.
Our Model X pointed out across Monterey bay.
The trip to Manteca was not trivial. There was lots of slow traffic on 156 and 152 and then I5 had issues with construction delays so we opted for back highways. Probably extended the trip time by 30 minutes and much of the trip was at 60 mph so we ended up averaging 310 w/mi. So when we got to Manteca we actually had 28% charge left versus the 10% the Trip planner advised. Again it asked us to charge for 10 minutes to reach 10% SOC at the destination but I went for my 20%. It only took an additional 5 minutes, so 15 minutes total. BTW there was one Model S there at 9:30 PM and that was it.
Our red X along with a black and white. There was a Midnight Silver Metallic across the parking lot.
On the way home we hit all sorts of construction on hwy 99 which really delayed our trip again. We probably lost another 30 minutes in waiting in slow traffic to squeeze by the construction zones on a 75 mile trip. When we were driving it was at 70 mph. The temp was 65 outside and 76 was our interior setting. No real winds.
It was clear we were not going to get home with the 20% we were supposed to have when we left Manteca. When we got home it was 12%. While I would have made it by charging to 10%, I don't think arriving with 2% SOC a very wise thing to do. There is a bit of a hill at the end of the journey but on this 75 mile leg the average was more like 360 w/mi. Not sure why our average got so bad. It was 348 before we climbed the hill.
So to sum it up charging 4 times in the day for 15 to 20 minutes each was not too bad. We alway rolled into at SC around 20% SOC or less and we either got lucky (Dublin) or made sure we had no one paired with us so charges were at least 200 mph and sometimes 300+ mph. That helped a lot. We also never charged so our destination SOC was going to be over 20%. In all cases that was more than enough. I am now comfortable to scale that back to 15% when I know the weather is not a factor.
I also learned something new at the SC Tesla site. They have a lounge and bathroom for charges and I guess people waiting to get their car serviced. There is a separate outside door with a key code. We left just after 6pm and the crew was leaving while we were there. They pointed out that we could touch the icon on the cars map for the supercharger and it showed us the door code for the lounge. Way cool. Not sure if other sites that have service centers with lounges and chargers do that too.
