A couple of weeks ago I had my first opportunity for a real road trip from Northern Virginia to Savannah. I planned to stop at each Supercharger along the way (except for Woodbridge VA on the southbound leg) so that I would have no restrictions on speed, use of A/C, etc etc etc.
The table below provides details of my trip. Average Wh/mi consumption for the entire trip was just over 300. That was with my driving at the speed limit (or perhaps +1 or +2 ??) on I-95 the entire way. The car performed superbly. I listed to internet radio the entire trip. I had only two minor problems during the trip. First, on the southbound journey I twice had the “TPMS system needs service” warning appear. The first time I pulled off the highway to a rest stop and checked all tires --- they appeared to be OK. The second time the warning cleared itself after about 20 minutes. Interestingly, I had the first annual service performed on my car about two weeks prior to the trip. About a week after the service, I checked tire pressure in preparation for my trip and found all tires to be at 55 lbs. Quite a surprise. I lowered the pressure to the recommended setting prior to my journey. The second minor problem occurred near the end of my northbound journey, as I was getting closer to the Woodbridge supercharger. My connectivity became spotty --- internet radio stopped and maps disappeared. This happened on and off for about 30 or 40 minutes or so. I had seen this problem previously (before this trip) and reported it to the service center for investigation during the annual service. I was told that logs were sent to HQ engineering for review, but I haven’t heard anything yet in response. I did check the 3G signal strength bars on the 17” display each time the connectivity was lost ---- and I was seeing 4 bars or higher. So signal strength didn’t seem to be the problem.
During my trip, I used the following settings/techniques:
1. Regen to low.
2. Used Range Mode for HVAC. I only used A/C for part of the trip, so this probably had little effect.
3. Used cruise control. I-95 between Northern Virginia and Savannah is fairly level.
Thoughts on Superchargers:
1. I saw very few other Teslas at the superchargers. At my first stop in Glen Allen, I plugged in and went to Panera Bread to get a cup of coffee. By the time I returned to my car, another Tesla had just pulled in. They were going from Northern Virginia to Norfolk to attend a meeting. On the remainder of my trip south, no other Teslas were at Rocky Mount, Lumberton, or Santee. When I arrived at the Savannah airport supercharger location (after driving a few miles first around the town), there was a Tesla with Florida plates in one of the bays. I had to wait inside the airport for a little over an hour to pick up someone flying in to town; upon returning to my car I noted that the other Tesla was gone.
2. On the southbound leg, the Santee SC didn’t provide full power. I was getting only about 57 Kw of power at the beginning. I arrived with 49 rated miles remaining, so I expected to get the full 90 Kw initially. I changed to a different bay but got the same results.
3. On my return northbound, the Santee SC worked at full power. At my next stop in Lumberton, I met a guy in a new (3 week old) white MS 85. It was raining cats and dogs and so we didn’t get to chat much. He was heading back to NY. I went to Texas Steakhouse to get a cup of coffee. When I departed, the white MS was still there. About ten minutes after I arrived in Rocky Mount, the white MS pulled in. He didn’t know about the power sharing schemes for the pedestals, so I provided that information to him. We compared charging rates on our phone apps --- I was jealous when I saw him charging at 120 Kw and I was getting only 90 Kw (I have an A battery). (Note: I have since seen the “Charge-off 90kW vs 120kW” test results reported in the Forum) I decided to eat lunch at Texas Steakhouse in Rocky Mount. When I returned to my car, it was nearly fully charged (58 minutes to get 174 miles) and the white MS was gone. I arrived at Glen Allen with no other car there; about 10 minutes later, the white MS pulled in. It seems he had gotten lost. So during my northbound trip, the only other Tesla I saw at any of the superchargers was the white one. I stopped at Woodbridge to top off and sat in another rain storm.
4. I used the supercharger charge time curves posted by wcalvin to estimate the time needed to charge to my desired level. the charge time curves are for 120 Kw charging, so taking that into consideration, I found them to be a good rough estimator.
5. The location of the Woodbridge SC is painful. I’ve lived in this area for 26 years and I avoid going to that area because it is always crowded.
6. I made a point at each SC (except for Woodbridge) to stop in at the local restaurant or café to eat or get a cup of coffee and let them know I was charging my Tesla and appreciated having the supercharger there.
Plugshare was useful in Savannah. I utilized public charging at the Savannah Visitors Center and in one of the city's parking garages. Charging was free. A day long parking pass cost $7.00.
The table below provides details of my trip. Average Wh/mi consumption for the entire trip was just over 300. That was with my driving at the speed limit (or perhaps +1 or +2 ??) on I-95 the entire way. The car performed superbly. I listed to internet radio the entire trip. I had only two minor problems during the trip. First, on the southbound journey I twice had the “TPMS system needs service” warning appear. The first time I pulled off the highway to a rest stop and checked all tires --- they appeared to be OK. The second time the warning cleared itself after about 20 minutes. Interestingly, I had the first annual service performed on my car about two weeks prior to the trip. About a week after the service, I checked tire pressure in preparation for my trip and found all tires to be at 55 lbs. Quite a surprise. I lowered the pressure to the recommended setting prior to my journey. The second minor problem occurred near the end of my northbound journey, as I was getting closer to the Woodbridge supercharger. My connectivity became spotty --- internet radio stopped and maps disappeared. This happened on and off for about 30 or 40 minutes or so. I had seen this problem previously (before this trip) and reported it to the service center for investigation during the annual service. I was told that logs were sent to HQ engineering for review, but I haven’t heard anything yet in response. I did check the 3G signal strength bars on the 17” display each time the connectivity was lost ---- and I was seeing 4 bars or higher. So signal strength didn’t seem to be the problem.
| Time Arr | Time Dep | Elapsed Driving Time (hrs:min) | Rated Mile Arr | Rated Mile Dep | Rated Miles Used | Odometer Arr/Dep | Actual Odometer Miles | Average Speed | Tot Eng Used KwH | Avg WH/Mi | Charging Rate (at start) | Time at Charger (mins) | Rated Miles Added | Weather | A/C? | |
| SOUTHBOUND | ||||||||||||||||
| Home | 5:50 | 227 | 11984 | |||||||||||||
| Glen Allen | 7:30 | 8:15 | 1:40 | 123 | 185 | 104 | 12092 | 108 | 64.80 | 29.3 | 272 | ?? | 20 | 62 | Clear 70[SUP]o[/SUP] | No |
| Rocky Mount | 10:25 | 11:00 | 2:10 | 42 | 181 | 143 | 12229 | 137 | 63.23 | 41 | 299 | 90 Kw / 285 mph | 35 | 139 | Clear 76[SUP]o[/SUP] | No |
| Lumberton | 12:50 | 13:25 | 1:50 | 45 | 180 | 136 | 12350 | 121 | 66.00 | 39 | 324 | 90 Kw / 285 mph | 35 | 135 | Clear 88[SUP]o[/SUP] | Yes |
| Santee | 15:15 | 15:50 | 1:50 | 49 | 170 | 131 | 12473 | 123 | 67.09 | 37.7 | 306 | 57 Kw / 190 mph | 35 | 121 | Clear 90[SUP]o[/SUP] | Yes |
| Savannah | 18:30 | 20:00 | 2:40 | 20 | 229 | 150 | 12610 | 137 | 51.38 | 39 | 285 | 90 Kw / 285 mph | 85 | 209 | Clear 90[SUP]o[/SUP] | Yes |
| NORTHBOUND | ||||||||||||||||
| Savannah | 6:30 | 227 | 12699 | |||||||||||||
| Santee | 8:30 | 8:57 | 2:00 | 89 | 175 | 138 | 12828 | 129 | 64.50 | 43.8 | 305 | 82 Kw / 256 mph | 25 | 86 | Rain 75 - 80[SUP]o[/SUP] | Yes |
| Lumberton | 10:46 | 11:20 | 1:49 | 44 | 171 | 131 | 12952 | 124 | 68.26 | 38 | 308 | 89 Kw / 270 mph | 33 | 127 | Rain 75[SUP]o[/SUP] | Yes |
| Rocky Mount | 13:15 | 14:13 | 1:55 | 48 | 222 | 123 | 13071 | 119 | 62.09 | 35.5 | 297 | ?? | 58 | 174 | Rain 75 - 80[SUP]o[/SUP] | No |
| Glen Allen | 16:15 | 16:30 | 2:02 | 83 | 140 | 139 | 13208 | 137 | 67.38 | 40 | 292 | 90 Kw / 285 mph | 13 | 57 | Cloudy 75 - 80[SUP]o[/SUP] | Yes |
| Woodbridge | 17:57 | 18:40 | 1:27 | 68 | 212 | 72 | 13283 | 75 | 51.72 | 20.9 | 280 | 90 Kw / 272 mph | 43 | 144 | Drizzle 75[SUP]o[/SUP] | No |
1. Regen to low.
2. Used Range Mode for HVAC. I only used A/C for part of the trip, so this probably had little effect.
3. Used cruise control. I-95 between Northern Virginia and Savannah is fairly level.
Thoughts on Superchargers:
1. I saw very few other Teslas at the superchargers. At my first stop in Glen Allen, I plugged in and went to Panera Bread to get a cup of coffee. By the time I returned to my car, another Tesla had just pulled in. They were going from Northern Virginia to Norfolk to attend a meeting. On the remainder of my trip south, no other Teslas were at Rocky Mount, Lumberton, or Santee. When I arrived at the Savannah airport supercharger location (after driving a few miles first around the town), there was a Tesla with Florida plates in one of the bays. I had to wait inside the airport for a little over an hour to pick up someone flying in to town; upon returning to my car I noted that the other Tesla was gone.
2. On the southbound leg, the Santee SC didn’t provide full power. I was getting only about 57 Kw of power at the beginning. I arrived with 49 rated miles remaining, so I expected to get the full 90 Kw initially. I changed to a different bay but got the same results.
3. On my return northbound, the Santee SC worked at full power. At my next stop in Lumberton, I met a guy in a new (3 week old) white MS 85. It was raining cats and dogs and so we didn’t get to chat much. He was heading back to NY. I went to Texas Steakhouse to get a cup of coffee. When I departed, the white MS was still there. About ten minutes after I arrived in Rocky Mount, the white MS pulled in. He didn’t know about the power sharing schemes for the pedestals, so I provided that information to him. We compared charging rates on our phone apps --- I was jealous when I saw him charging at 120 Kw and I was getting only 90 Kw (I have an A battery). (Note: I have since seen the “Charge-off 90kW vs 120kW” test results reported in the Forum) I decided to eat lunch at Texas Steakhouse in Rocky Mount. When I returned to my car, it was nearly fully charged (58 minutes to get 174 miles) and the white MS was gone. I arrived at Glen Allen with no other car there; about 10 minutes later, the white MS pulled in. It seems he had gotten lost. So during my northbound trip, the only other Tesla I saw at any of the superchargers was the white one. I stopped at Woodbridge to top off and sat in another rain storm.
4. I used the supercharger charge time curves posted by wcalvin to estimate the time needed to charge to my desired level. the charge time curves are for 120 Kw charging, so taking that into consideration, I found them to be a good rough estimator.
5. The location of the Woodbridge SC is painful. I’ve lived in this area for 26 years and I avoid going to that area because it is always crowded.
6. I made a point at each SC (except for Woodbridge) to stop in at the local restaurant or café to eat or get a cup of coffee and let them know I was charging my Tesla and appreciated having the supercharger there.
Plugshare was useful in Savannah. I utilized public charging at the Savannah Visitors Center and in one of the city's parking garages. Charging was free. A day long parking pass cost $7.00.
