As others have said:
I’m curious, do you all do long journeys with it engaged ?
Yes, always. I've looked down at dash to check something, or twiddle a virtual-knob, and traffic in front of me slowed up, AP slowing down caused me to look up ... pre-AP maybe I would have piled into the car in front; probably not (they didn't brake dramatically), but.
I arrive far more refreshed on longer journeys. I think that reduced driver-workload is a part of that. I'm now on lookout for more distant hazards, front-and-rear, than if I was at the helm. And I have follow-distance set to max; undoubtedly if it was me driving at some point I'd be creeping nearer to car in front ... increasing my risk, and stress.
I don't care if AP or me spots the threat; the two of us is better than me on my own. Even allowing for some phantom-braking that my First Officer indulges in.
(iii) Long distance journey planner
Use ABetterRoutePlanner, put in model of vehicle and expected air temperature. If its going to be a wet day set Road Conditions to Rain (that can be significant). Factor in wind if that is likely to be an issue, and weight if you have passengers and cargo (much less of a range issue)
There are things ABetterRoutePlanner can do that car SatNav won't - e.g. enter a DWELL TIME at a location where you will stop for lunch, so that the departure SOC is accurate. Similarly you can set arrival SOC for a waypoint, or destination. Enough to get you to Supercharger the next morning, or for some running around / sightseeing.
Set a Waypoint for a specific Supercharger if you want to - e.g. where you know you can cross over to other side of motorway where there is only a Supercharger on opposite carriageway. Or an Ionity charger you want to use. Or a stop at a work client location which has charging available
What is the point of buying an EV with a 530km range if the Tesla route process plans superchrger stops every 210km ?
When I drive to the Alps I find the Supercharger placement are too far apart such that I often skip one. So I have to stop at average of 1h30m - 2h instead of 2h - 2h30m interval. Its a lot better (more locations) than a few years ago ...
My first leg will start with 100% charge. Ideally I will reach Supercharger at 10%, but I am cautious so will usually plan for 20% arrival. En route if consumption is good I will speed up (rather than planning for 10% and slowing down if consumption is poor). Heavy traffic and Roadworks will increase my range ... meaning that I may well arrive over 20% (sometime that will mean that I then do have range for the next Supercharger, or to reach my destination without charging)
Car will charge faster from 10%. I will aim not to charge above 70% (charging rate slows down), 80% is OK-ish but any more than that is too slow, and above 90% is extremely slow. But I will stop for 50 minutes or so for a decent lunch, and that is enough to get from 10% to, say, 95% which may mean I can leapfrog the next Supercharger. On a continental journey location of the lunch stop, or similarly an overnight hotel, is critical as to how many other charging stops I have to make
So for Leg-2 onwards charging from 10% to 70% is only 60% of absolutely maximum Motorway range, perhaps 3 miles / kWh at best, and in the wet probably only 2.5 miles. For me that is 200 miles - but at 80 MPH on the continent that would definitely be 2h30m. But then I would need a supercharger at exactly that location
You can click on a more distant supercharger (on Map) and then press "Navigate" there. Then look at Consumption graph (the TRIP tab) to see predicted arrival SOC. As you drive the graph will show a second line for revised prediction (base on consumption). You can then judge whether you will make it, and if not whether you want to slow down or change to navigate to nearer Supercharger when you definitely aren't going to make it.
Bit different to using an ICE, and probably not everyone's cup-of-tea. Stopping more often is fine, but its 5-minutes or so on-and-off the Motorway each time
it’s not perfect and that one moment, even if it was only one in 10k miles, could get you into a heap of trouble
Indeed. People have died reading a book / phone / watching a movie and assuming AP is going to do a 100% job. So my own rule is to always be paying attention - fully aware of that death risk - even if it is as low as once-in-several-cars-ownership . But my look ahead/behind distance is greatly increased when AP is doing the minutia work, so I think overall that is better.
I have right foot resting over the accelerator. I don't get much phantom braking, but I can counter with accelerator fast enough to not be a threat to following traffic - they may wrongly think I'm brake-checking them though ...
Are you a teacher perchance?
by Doric Jim.
