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Ohmman's Airstream Adventures

Discussion in 'Model X' started by ohmman, Dec 29, 2016.

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  1. dmurphy

    dmurphy Woof.

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    Very interesting analysis! I'm picking up what you're putting down, but curious why there's such a disparity between the rated consumption constant (284wh/mi) and the actual range consumed.

    There's definitely some monkey business going on around these parts - and I'm not sure that wk057's guidance is still accurate. I don't think the X pack has crossed the 100kWh usable threshold, but I could entirely be wrong.

    I'm missing something here but don't know what or where. If I stick with a 95kWh usable value for the battery pack, I think the IC's displayed consumption is fairly close to accurate. I'm wondering if the IC is still using that as a max-SoC?

    Anywho - have yourself a safe and enjoyable trip home! Thanks again for ALL your guidance... last question for now - on the 7-pin connector, did you need to rewire the AUX pin?
     
  2. ecarfan

    ecarfan Well-Known Member

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    Those are really long driving days when towing! What do you estimate; 10+ hours travel time each day?
     
  3. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    The problem is that there's no way around it for Tesla. Rated miles have to equal battery capacity divided by rated consumption just based off of the units. I can't see any other way to calculate it.

    Did not. But I do need the LED adapter.

    Yeah, these are long days. We are reaching for Bakersfield today. 30mph winds from the WSW (basically headwinds) throughout the Quartzsite - Indio corridor are not helping. We were able to leave camp at 6am this morning and hope to arrive by 9pm tonight. Tomorrow should be easier at about 8 hours, but we'll be once again heading into stiff northern winds associated with a widespread red flag event. And we have the joy of arriving home during a PSPS.
     
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  4. RichardL

    RichardL Member

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    @ohmman
    Must have been you I saw on 89A just out of Sedona, on Tuesday?

    looked like your rig, stopped at the roadside, as we headed in the opposite direction. I wondered if it might be you.
     
  5. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    Yep, that was us. I was not thrilled about that pull over for a kid’s school book. But, I lived. ;)
     
  6. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    We managed about 573 miles yesterday, much of it in aggressive head- and cross-winds, to arrive in Bakersfield last night after 10pm. 11 hours and 35 minutes of driving, 3 hours and 42 minutes of Supercharging (5 stops, 3 of which required unhitching).

    Today we have a much easier day. 317 miles and two Supercharger stops.
     
    • Like x 4
  7. rhumbliner

    rhumbliner Member

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    @ohmman, did you follow 89A all the way from Sedona to Prescott thru Jerome? I thought there was some restriction about pulling trailers on that stretch of highway.
     
  8. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    I didn’t. We stayed in Cottonwood and decided to come home south via I-17 to Wickenburg. Originally I’d planned on going back on I-40 but after some analysis realized that the distance was shorter but charging times greater due to elevation change on that route.
     
  9. BM3B

    BM3B “beaver”

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    Long day! Glad you made it ok. I am curious for your delta SOC and kWh data from the segments so we have more data on usable capacity for the -H battery in LR++. Also I recommend saving the data yourself direct from Tesla (write it down or screenshot) since TeslaFi is showing me 247 Wh/rated mile right now which is too low. We need to adjust the multiplier manually I think. I recorded 91.9 kWk usable drive capacity with a 100 mile leg in LA, seems too low.
     
  10. mbp11

    mbp11 Member

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    You will be driving by us in Pleasanton on Highway 580 on your way home today. I will wave at you as you go by!
     
  11. dmurphy

    dmurphy Woof.

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    Welcome home!

    Is that because your Airstream's lights are LED? Crap. I may have to do something similar - the Surveyor is 100% LED.

    And is your power back on at home, finally?

    Hopefully you have a photo or three to share with us ... I'm still waiting for my Surveyor to be built, but absolutely ogling Airstreams on YouTube. Wish they still made slideout versions; that might actually tempt SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) but for now, no slideout=no bueno.
     
    • Like x 1
  12. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    Yes, I have a Curt 57003. Some people don't seem to need them, but my X doesn't recognize the camper if I don't have it. No lights, no trailer mode. I think I recall reading that it's related to how much draw there is - more LED lights and it might be enough to alert the car that the trailer is connected. Maybe.

    Power is out at home still. Internet is down but Verizon LTE tether is working for now. By mid-morning it gets overloaded. I'm assuming they'll restore today as the wind has been still since yesterday. Powerwalls are keeping us in business otherwise. If only my Starlink beta were already approved..

    I'll get together some of the data I collected and do a summary at some point this week. Returning home after a month away leaves me with a huge to-do list.

    Photos to come.
     
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  13. dmurphy

    dmurphy Woof.

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    That makes sense - if it's "just" running lights, I can see that being a light enough load that the vehicle can't find it on the wire. In my case, I'll also have a backup camera connected so maybe that's enough draw for the X to "see" the trailer. Not going to worry about it until, well, the trailer actually gets here.

    Sorry to hear your power is out - and I'm assuming you have cable Internet. We live in VZ Fios territory, and one of the fabulous things about it is that the entire "outside plant" is unpowered. As long as I have some form of power at home - solar, battery, generator, whatnot - I'll have Internet. That's one of those you-don't-realize-how-important-that-is-until-it's-important kind of things. I'm also on the Starlink beta list, but again - for the camper instead of home. Really want to be able to work from anywhere. My job (luckily) is super flexible that way. Wish I could help on the LTE front but the congestion is bad... and the spectrum just isn't available (yet) to remedy it. Big FCC auction in December should help that cause though.

    Curious how long your powerwalls last as well. I'm intrigued but the CFO has vetoed my solar+powerwall proposal based on aesthetics ("Solar panels are ugly!") so we may end up with a natural gas generator instead. Not nearly as cool - or money saving - as solar, but functional.

    And thanks for anything you can put together, but seriously - take your time. Being away for a month takes at least 2 to recover from. There's always a colossal laundry list, all of which is more pressing!

    Stay safe out there - as bad as I feel it is sometimes here on the east coast, you guys out there have had it worse. Wildfires, power outages, and yep - Covid like the rest of us too. Itching to get back out to CA, but afraid what I'll find - so many of my favorite spots are burned up now. :-(
     
    • Like x 1
  14. BM3B

    BM3B “beaver”

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    Do you happen to know how much energy was consumed in kWh for this drive? This will help estimate the usable discharge capacity. We estimated 87.76 kWh based on your miles and efficiency but is nice to know what the energy meter said.
     
  15. idoco

    idoco Member

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    @ohmman Slightly OT...Curious how losing free supercharging affected your decision to upgrade your MX? Also what were the costs for electricity per mile of towing? A decision we might have to face in the near future. (I'm assuming you had free SC on your original MX and no free SC on your new MX.)
     
  16. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    I waited and hoped for an end of quarter free Supercharging deal, but with a strong quarter this time, it didn't come.

    This last trip covered 3,715 miles and cost us $311.71. That number isn't representative of all of the energy we put into the car, of course - we spent a lot of time charging at campgrounds. But that divides out to $0.0839/mile for this particular trip. Calculating the actual cost per mile, excluding free charging at campgrounds, might look something like this:

    Average consumption: 0.6kWh/mi
    Average Supercharging costs: $0.28/kWh
    Charging/Discharge loss estimate: 0.9

    (0.6kWh/mi * $0.28/kWh)/0.9 = $0.187/mile

    Because my longer towing trips will always have at least a few full hookup campsites mixed in, I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. Hope this is helpful, and let me know if I missed anything. I'd have enjoyed the free Supercharging, obviously, but given that this trip was 3700 miles and only cost us just over $300, I am unconvinced we will spend more than a couple thousand dollars all-in on Supercharging while we own the car.
     
    • Informative x 1
  17. cpa

    cpa Active Member

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    If one assumes that an SUV pulls that trailer would achieve about 14MPG (just a WAG; I don’t know) with a fuel cost of $2.40/gallon, that equals about $634 of your hard-earned cash.

    More than double your actual outlay! And there is no fuel included at campgrounds for SUV’s.
     
    • Like x 1
  18. bob_p

    bob_p Active Member

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    We strongly considered purchasing a trailer to tow with our X (probably an Airstream Caravel), and ended up purchasing a Sprinter-based RV a few months ago instead.

    A primary factor was the trade-off between lower (free) fueling costs with our X vs. reduced travel time with the ICE RV.

    With our Class C motorhome, cpa's estimate of around $.17/mile is in the ballpark. With free supercharging, we would have no cost for fuel.

    However... We can go 250-280 miles between fueling stops with the RV, vs. likely having to stop every 150 miles with our 2018 X. And at each fueling stop, we're only there 5-10 minutes (able to get snacks and use the restroom in our RV) vs. spending 30-50 minutes per supercharging stop plus potentially having to disconnect/reconnect a trailer.

    Plus, as long we have dry roads and don't have high winds, we have driven the SUV 75-80 MPH.

    We're planning a cross-country trip in December, with several long hops of around 500 miles. With our X towing a trailer, averaging 55 MPH, we'd probably need 3 charging stops (averaging 45 minutes each), the drive would likely take over 11 hours. With our RV, averaging 65 MPH, with two fueling stops, the drive would take around 8 hours.

    We miss having our X - with free fuel costs, but we accepted the higher fueling costs in exchange for the reduced travel times (at least 30% for longer drives).

    We would prefer having an EV instead of an ICE. If the Cybertruck increases range when towing a trailer plus allows towing larger trailers, we'll strongly consider buying a Cybertruck and a trailer (we have a Cybertruck reservation).

    Another option that could be even more interesting would be building an RV using the Semi as a chassis (which at least one company has already raised as a possibility).
     
    • Like x 1
  19. BM3B

    BM3B “beaver”

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    @ohmman any data you can share from the drive home?
     
  20. ohmman

    ohmman Plaid-ish Moderator

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    Here is my entire trip home. I tried to calibrate these through TeslaFi to match the trip app numbers on my IC. It's as close as I could get, as each drive varied.

    Note: I edited this post to add the "Est. Capacity" which I calculated by dividing kWh Used by Battery % Used.


    Screen Shot 2020-11-13 at 11.25.05 AM.png
     
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