Nashville to Hilton Head

[ModelZ]

Has anyone here done this drive?

I'm in the process of getting a CPO P85 and this is, for the time being, the longest stretch I'd drive the car (the wife and I go down to HH every year for a few days to chill out for a week). We typically stop in Atlanta for the night on the way down and then power our way back home on the return.

I'm just curious about any charging/driving strategies you all would care to share.

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I forgot to mention...We always stay at the Westin on the island (one of the many perks of having a wife that works for Starwood), so I will definitely be using the Destination charger they have there.

 

[TNEVol]

No sweat. Have done this many times. Nville to Savannah. Let me know if you want more info. Also look at the Tennessee Tesla thread for more help.

 

[ModelZ]

Basically, I was just wondering about charging. EVTripPlanner says Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta or Macon-Savannah and then of course the Westin.

It's more about the trip back for me but I'd assume that it should be fine both ways.

 

[TNEVol]

I am going from memory and I live 40 miles East of Nville so I cut through the country. What I do is leave with about 230 miles and go to Chatt Airport. I usually get there with about 90 remaining. it is about 115 to Atlantic Station in Atlanta so I only take a pit stop at Chatt, 20 min or so to get to 200 miles. You may be able to bypass Chatt depending on your distance from Nashville to Alanta. I have driven it before. My advice would be set your cruise on 70when you leave and after Monteagle Mountain assess your charge. I would add a cushion of about 30 miles if you then try for Atlanta. The safe way is to stop in Chatt. After leaving Atlanta I always stop in Macon for as short a charge as possible to make it to the Savannah SC. There are some unique aspects of this SC. I cut the risk by having my CHaDeMo adapter with me. Dalton utilities has a charger just off the exit. I used it once before the Atlanta SC. I can lend to you if I'm not needing it.

 

[ModelZ]

Awesome! Appreciate it! I might have to take you up on that offer!

 

[TNEVol]

I am going on this route again in May. I have 5 Nashville to Fl round trips and a couple of Nashville to Savannah in the past.Each supercharger is somewhat unique.If you PM me your route and stops I can help you plan off of my mistakes. A big key is the adventure. For example I calculated a Macon to Dalton run through Atlanta (when Atlanta had no superchargers) only to spend about 4 hours in Atlanta traffic. ICE cars all around were running out of gas but my black MS in June with the AC on ended up using only slightly more miles than I calculated.. Since the engine uses nothing at stop and the speed was about 2 mph stop and go it didn't use much at all. Big lesson learned.

 

[MrSled]

I have an 85 myself and have done this trek numerous times. I can't make it all the way to Atlantic station so I stop at Chattanooga for 20 minutes for a bathroom break and a quick charge that gets me to Atlantic Station. Stop there for a Kilwin's ice cream with the kids (remember that the SCs are located in the RED section of the parking garage) and then onto Macon. I stop at Macon for nearly a full charge. Some people have issues stopping here for an extended time since the SCs are not in the nicest part of town but I've had no issues to date. We usually walk to the Barefoot Tavern for a bite to eat or the kids really love The Rookery for a great burger (both are on Cherry Street). We usually travel during the day so I don't feel unsafe in Macon when we arrive late afternoon. If I have a full charge and the weather is good with temps above 60, I can make it all the way to HHI from there but that involves arriving with less than 10 miles of range left which may be cutting it close for some. Most often we stop at Savannah for a bathroom break and and a charge. By the time we walk to the terminal, use the bathroom, get the parking validated at the Info desk, and get back to the car, we have charged enough to make it to our place with plenty of juice to spare. Have not used the Westin chargers myself since they have it reserved for guests only but I'm sure they would let someone use it in an emergency or if you are going to eat at the restaurant. This is the exact same route we would take in the ICE mobile (Except for the charging stop at Chattanooga). Supercharging is very close to the highways so there's not a lot of wasted time driving out of your way to get to a Supercharger. There is some of construction as you get close to Atlanta and some more beyond the Atlanta airport so you will run into some delays.... but they are always doing some sort of road construction in GA. Hope that helps.

 

[JohnQ]

A note to folks staying in the S. Forest Beach area, there are two destination chargers at Bomboras Grille. They allowed my to charge overnight both on my arrival and before my departure last week.

 

[ModelZ]

Just a quick update to this...

Finally took the road trip a couple of weeks ago...It was awesome! Used AP for about 90-95% of the time. It was raining pretty bad when we were driving down to Atlanta the first day and I75 is a complete mess once you start getting into the city. Combine that with the rain (and not being able to see the lane lines), AP didn't work out during that part. However, it made the rest of the trip super easy!

Also, the GPS decided to take us on a scenic tour of downtown Chattanooga when trying to get to the airport for the SuC. I knew there was an easier way, but for some reason, it routed us through some not-so-great areas to get there.

My only major concern was when we were driving back from Savannah to Macon. Made it there with about 40 miles (rated) left (after a 100% charge the night before). Just a bit under my cushion of 70-75 rMi.

Other than that, it was great having my own parking space at the Westin on HHI. The destination charger is in the self-parking garage, right next to the elevators! Talk about convenient! Didn't really need to charge anywhere else, and didn't get a chance to check out the DC at the Bomboras Grill...Perhaps next time?

The outlet malls in Bluffton have ChargePoint chargers with pretty decent parking to boot. Best of all, they're free!

Also, when stopping in Macon...If you're there early in the day (around breakfast time), check out Jeneane's Cafe. Great, inexpensive, breakfast! It's about a 3m walk from the SuC. Also, Molly's Cafe (right across the street from the SuC) is a pretty great little spot for lunch too.

All in all, for my first road trip with my Model S, I'd say it was pretty successful. I learned a lot about how the AP works in the car, and it helped me get comfortable with it (I'm still not used to how close it feels like it is to the lane to the right). It also helped calm my wife down about owning the car. She objected heavily to me getting it originally, but by the end of the trip, she relented (didn't help that she drove it too, and liked it).

 

[SW2Fiddler]

Thanks for the post-trip post, great tips. This helps others who may follow part of the route in the future. Sure makes me want to.

If more Teslas start coming to the Westin, I hope the charging spaces are considered more as fueling locations than as reserved parking. How are they marked?

 

[ModelZ]

It's marked in red on the pavement and "Tesla Only" on the wall. It's straight back when you enter the garage. The cable on the HPWC is long enough that you don't have to back in like I did in the picture below. My wife pointed that out on our last night and it reached the charge port while parked head-in with no issues.

There's also an EV charger on the other side of the path to the left of the space (right in the photo) that has a J1772 plug on it.

 

[ModelZ]

One other quick thing...Always make sure the hotels you are staying at know you are parking your car there and give you a parking pass. The Aloft in Atlanta didn't, and my car was almost booted/towed.

You can see the one from the Westin in my window in the picture above.