Need help. Driving my Model X 100D from Chicago to Orlando

[Barcius]

Hello all!

I am driving for the 1st time my Model X from Chicago to Orlando (1,200 miles). Planning to stop 5 times with roughly 190 miles on average between superchargers. My question to you is:
- How long it would take to charge it back to 100% from ~30% (my estimate we will have left in all stops)
- Anyone here tried more than 1,000 miles in one day? What is your experience.

Thank you for your help.

 

[kingjamez]

I'm pretty skeptical that you can do 1000 miles in a day. The most I've done is 600 and I don't think there is anyway I could do 1000 in a 24 hour period. Certainly not with my family.

30-100% depends on your luck of the draw on supercharing, if you have to share a stall, if your batteries are hot. etc. I'd say that 45 minutes is probably a good starting point though.

-Jim

 

[dm33]

Do folks really charge to 100% at a supercharger? Generally charge tapers after 80% making it not worth waiting. I think you'd do better figuring charging to 80%. Much faster even if you go lower than 30% on the low end.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Oh, i thought you were looking for drivers.

I always use A Better Routeplanner to plan trips.

 

[jelloslug]

You will waste a ton of time going to 100%. You would be much better off going 20% to 90%. In our Model S 75D, we did Greenville, SC to Orlando (a little more than half of your trip) in ~10 hours with two stops: one in Savannah, GA for about 45 minutes for lunch and another in St.Augustine for about 15 minutes to just build up a buffer. Your optimal charging speeds will be between 20% and 80% giver or take a little.

 

[outdoors]

I highly suggest you look at A Better Routeplanner If you plan on charging to 100% at each supercharger you will get nowhere fast. As in you won't cover as many miles in the day due to the last bit of charging to get to 100% is at a much slower charge rate without getting lost in the weeds on battery physics.

Goal is to spend as least amount of time charging and more safe time driving. Always try to leave a little buffer if you are unsure about temperature range loss, loaded down X. This buffer will help you have enjoyable experience learning about long distance road trips with your X.

Family of four headed to FL from MI. You can do it. We will be going non stop.

 

[Galve2000]

This is a an easy 2 day trip. You need to do an overnight at some point. Also supercharging speeds are not what they were although most have argued that the reduced speeds add "roughly 5 minutes" to each charging stop. When I did NYC to Naples, FL nearly 2 years ago (when SCing was still optimal) the car was always ready b4 we were so i don't expect the reduced SC speeds to effect you in any way.

PS I did NYC to Naples and the reverse in 3 days each way.. but I probably could have done it in 2 even though it is roughly 200 miles greater distance that what you are trying to do.

 

[idoco]

- How long it would take to charge it back to 100% from ~30% (my estimate we will have left in all stops)

Besides EVTripPlanner and BetterRoutePlanner...if you want to play with charging time here is a link to a spreadsheet that estimates charging based on starting and finishing SOC.

Supercharge Time Calculator

 

[IdaX]

I think you'd do better figuring charging to 80%.

This. Don't charge to 100% unless you're at a hotel Destination Charger overnight. The rest of the time, charge to 80-85% at most and stop at more chargers along the way. That last 10% charge takes about as long as 0-90% combined...

 

[Barcius]

Thank you. This is helpful.

Do folks really charge to 100% at a supercharger? Generally charge tapers after 80% making it not worth waiting. I think you'd do better figuring charging to 80%. Much faster even if you go lower than 30% on the low end.

 

[Barcius]

I'm pretty skeptical that you can do 1000 miles in a day. The most I've done is 600 and I don't think there is anyway I could do 1000 in a 24 hour period. Certainly not with my family.

30-100% depends on your luck of the draw on supercharing, if you have to share a stall, if your batteries are hot. etc. I'd say that 45 minutes is probably a good starting point though.

-Jim

Thank you Jim. We have done this trip multiple times in our old MDX and we usually leave home at 4am (to avoid Chicago traffic) and arrive around 11pm in Orlando. I believe it will take us longer (5 stops vs. 3-4 stops in the MDX), but hopefully the autopilot will relieve some of the stress.

I am planning to do a journal on our trip in the Model X this year to help other people do the same. Keep you guys posted.

 

[Barcius]

Besides EVTripPlanner and BetterRoutePlanner...if you want to play with charging time here is a link to a spreadsheet that estimates charging based on starting and finishing SOC.

Supercharge Time Calculator

Thank you Idoco. The spreasheet is helpful. I will leave home with 100% and plan to supercharge to 80% along the way.

 

[marsh1n]

I did 1,000 miles in my X 90D in July 2017 (Maryland to Florida). I started at 100% and stopped every time the nav told me to. Never charged to 100%, since going from 85% to 100% takes longer than the rest of the charge. Plan on stopping for 35 to 45 minutes per stop.

 

[Aieukl378]

Thank you Idoco. The spreasheet is helpful. I will leave home with 100% and plan to supercharge to 80% along the way.

Also, if you don't have it already get the PlugShare app which is super helpful. There are so many SCs now it's cool to research them on PlugShare then skip the SCs that are not so convenient (e.g. I always skip the Savannah SC which is a pain IMO).

 

[Barcius]

I did 1,000 miles in my X 90D in July 2017 (Maryland to Florida). I started at 100% and stopped every time the nav told me to. Never charged to 100%, since going from 85% to 100% takes longer than the rest of the charge. Plan on stopping for 35 to 45 minutes per stop.

Thanks.

 

[bonnie]

Do folks really charge to 100% at a supercharger? Generally charge tapers after 80% making it not worth waiting. I think you'd do better figuring charging to 80%. Much faster even if you go lower than 30% on the low end.

This.

When I'm on a roadtrip, my goal is to pull into a supercharger with single digits & then only charging long enough to get to my next planned stop. There are times I stay longer, but that's when I've planned a meal in or just need to stretch my legs.

I always have enough for a backup plan, should it ever be necessary. But the fastest charging is upfront, not at the end. I explain it to people as if they're filling a glass with water ... as it gets near full, you taper off and pour more slowly.

 

[Darmie]

I look forward to your report.

Over the holidays, wife Karen and I took a trip from LA to SC. On the way back we stopped up in NC to visit my sister for lunch. 4am departure and getting to a hotel that night made for a very long day. yes, we had a large stop but 700 miles is about all we could do.

Being new to Tesla but knowing how time works on State Of Charge, I looked to come up with my own what I call a Launch number. Doing many day trips prior to our vacation, I knew what rated miles meant and I knew speed uses energy. With the help of EV trip planner looking at going faster than the road speed, you would use more rated mileage per miles driven. I used TeslafI since day one and observed that efficiency + or - is the key to know the energy that's used given highway speeds. So Evtrip planner would tell you what your miles would be to the next SC and how much energy you would use ect ect, but it never told me what rated Miles I needed before I started the next leg.

Simple math, I would take miles to next leg, multiply by 1.20 (as 80 percent efficiency). So 100 mile leg would be 120 miles. I would add 30 miles as a buffer (because you don't want to be at 0 miles at next SC), and when my rated miles shows 150 miles, I would unplug and leave. I considered this to be my launch number. Now with the colder weather and hills, I know that has to be factored in as well, but that's how I approached it. I never wanted to be charging longer that I needed for it was time wasted on a long trip.



Also consider that the trip tab under the energy icon will help guide you on what speed you need to be using to make it to next charger.

 

[ReturnZero]

Mostly good info in here. I wouldn't stop with the plan of always charging to 80%, you'll waste a lot of time doing that. The idea is to charge just enough to make it to the next stop, as the lower your battery charge level the faster the charge rate.

The car's internal route planner will figure a lot of this out for you, but these web tools are really good for planning and they are quite accurate. I've created a trip plan in A Better Routeplanner configured for your Model X 100D. You can probably skip the first stop in Lafayette but the rest are likely necessary. I think it's going to involve more stops and time than you may be thinking. It says the total driving time is just under 17 hours, about 4 hours of charging time for a total trip duration of 21 hours.

Click this link and take a look. It will tell you each stop you need to make, the expected charge level at arrival and how much charge you need to leave at. For example, it says for the Atlanta stop you'll pull in to the supercharger at about 20% charge, and you'll need to charge for 18 minutes to leave at 58% charge to make it to Macon.

A Better Routeplanner

 

[MarkDFW]

Good luck @Barcius I am planning a drive from Dallas to Orlando in a 24 hour non-stop stretch in April using my MX60D - complete with 2 kids and 1 grandparent. Yes I am sure I have scared everyone with that statement including myself! I'm hoping the kids will sleep through the night (grandpa sure will) and then I get rest when the sun comes up. We can nap on the beach. Looking at the route it looks like a stop every 2 hours roughly. Longest stretch between chargers is 140 miles.

Please post details of your journey as I always learn something new reading about the trips others have done. Good luck on this!

 

[Big Earl]

Mostly good info in here. I wouldn't stop with the plan of always charging to 80%, you'll waste a lot of time doing that. The idea is to charge just enough to make it to the next stop, as the lower your battery charge level the faster the charge rate.

The car's internal route planner will figure a lot of this out for you, but these web tools are really good for planning and they are quite accurate. I've created a trip plan in A Better Routeplanner configured for your Model X 100D. You can probably skip the first stop in Lafayette but the rest are likely necessary. I think it's going to involve more stops and time than you may be thinking. It says the total driving time is just under 17 hours, about 4 hours of charging time for a total trip duration of 21 hours.

Click this link and take a look. It will tell you each stop you need to make, the expected charge level at arrival and how much charge you need to leave at. For example, it says for the Atlanta stop you'll pull in to the supercharger at about 20% charge, and you'll need to charge for 18 minutes to leave at 58% charge to make it to Macon.

A Better Routeplanner

Yep. This trip is either 9 or 10 Supercharger stops and some four hours of charging without factoring in any cold temperatures or adverse weather conditions.

Adding an overnight stop with a destination charger saves nearly 40 minutes of Supercharging time.

I managed to force ABRP to do the trip using five Superchargers and charging to 100%. Total charge time was increased 25% (each stop would be roughly one hour), and that's discharging down to 5%, which is a pretty slim buffer. The route is also 50 miles longer. Again, not factoring any sort of cold temperatures or winter weather and traveling at the speed limit.

Here is the trip with five long stops: A Better Routeplanner