Planning First Trip

[NormVA]

I will be driving from Reston, VA to Huntersville, NC for Thanksgiving. The total is close to 400 miles each way. I will do it in two days with a stop at about 220 miles (Salem, VA). The hotel has chargers -- not SuperChargers.
A couple of questions:
1. Does the Tesla routing and recharge stops take into account degradation due to cold weather.
2. When I have looked at routing, it seems that you always arrive with a low battery level. This gives me some concern. If the hotel chargers are occupied, I am not sure that I would have enough charge to get to the next charging station. Rt 81 does not seem to have a lot of SuperChargers and using chargers with a J1772 connecter is extremely slow.
3. I have the same situation when I arrive at my destination in Huntersville, NC. Low battery level, no close SuperChargers.

I have only had the Tesla (M3) for a week. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Norm

 

[ewoodrick]

When routing with the car, it will try to keep you safe with the temps, brcabec it used numbers on the energy graph.
That should be an easy day trip. IvI' gone from Atlanta to DC numerous times.
The car will indeed bring you into a destination with 10%. Just charge on the way in to be safer. it
Don't shy away from Superchargers, use them as meal and rest breaks. They probably will be set to limit charge to 80% due to holiday traffic
Look at abrp.com for a little better routing.
Make sure to look at the hotel plug reliability at plug share.com

 

[NormVA]

When routing with the car, it will try to keep you safe with the temps, brcabec it used numbers on the energy graph.
That should be an easy day trip. IvI' gone from Atlanta to DC numerous times.
The car will indeed bring you into a destination with 10%. Just charge on the way in to be safer. it
Don't shy away from Superchargers, use them as meal and rest breaks. They probably will be set to limit charge to 80% due to holiday traffic
Look at abrp.com for a little better routing.
Make sure to look at the hotel plug reliability at plug share.com

Thanks. A lot of good advice.

 

[KenC]

I will be driving from Reston, VA to Huntersville, NC for Thanksgiving. The total is close to 400 miles each way. I will do it in two days with a stop at about 220 miles (Salem, VA). The hotel has chargers -- not SuperChargers.
A couple of questions:
1. Does the Tesla routing and recharge stops take into account degradation due to cold weather.
2. When I have looked at routing, it seems that you always arrive with a low battery level. This gives me some concern. If the hotel chargers are occupied, I am not sure that I would have enough charge to get to the next charging station. Rt 81 does not seem to have a lot of SuperChargers and using chargers with a J1772 connecter is extremely slow.
3. I have the same situation when I arrive at my destination in Huntersville, NC. Low battery level, no close SuperChargers.

I have only had the Tesla (M3) for a week. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Norm

Try some trip simulations with ABRP, abetterrouteplanner.com, because the problem with Tesla's sims, as far as I know, is that they don't factor temps into the equation, which have a significant factor. It does factor in elevation change. In ABRP, you can put in temps. Also, with ABRP, you can put in your arrival SOC %age. If you find 15% too low, you can put in 20%. You can also test whether charging up to 100% before you go, has any benefit. Often I find it doesn't, as it usually only means charging a couple minutes less at my first stop. The benefit is minor.

Also, ABRP lets you put in a stop at Salem. And, you can input that you're charging there.

Just punching in some simple figs, 45F, arrival charge of 40%, I get a 418m one-way in 6h:25m at 108% of speed limits. Stopping for 8 mins to charge at the M. Jackson SC. Charging on a destination charger to 90% overnight at Salem, then stopping at Mt. Airy SC for 13m, and wind up in Huntersville with 40%. There's a SC in Salem, if the hotel charger is occupied.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Before you leave, pre-condition the car to warm the battery and max heat the cabin. Also max charge it or 90% charge it if you are concerned about degradation. (I've owned 3 Model S's and the most I have lost at 100K miles is 10 miles on a P85+), the night before you leave.

There are tons of superchargers on your route now. In the early days I used to use this for trip planning
EV Trip Planner

and I also have an app called plug share, which shows all the locations with charging...

Your two largest enemies for range are - speed and cold temperatures. After 7 years of driving electric I can say I have never had an issue that can't be solved by slowing down..

 

[NormVA]

Try some trip simulations with ABRP, abetterrouteplanner.com, because the problem with Tesla's sims, as far as I know, is that they don't factor temps into the equation, which have a significant factor. It does factor in elevation change. In ABRP, you can put in temps. Also, with ABRP, you can put in your arrival SOC %age. If you find 15% too low, you can put in 20%. You can also test whether charging up to 100% before you go, has any benefit. Often I find it doesn't, as it usually only means charging a couple minutes less at my first stop. The benefit is minor.

Also, ABRP lets you put in a stop at Salem. And, you can input that you're charging there.

Just punching in some simple figs, 45F, arrival charge of 40%, I get a 418m one-way in 6h:25m at 108% of speed limits. Stopping for 8 mins to charge at the M. Jackson SC. Charging on a destination charger to 90% overnight at Salem, then stopping at Mt. Airy SC for 13m, and wind up in Huntersville with 40%. There's a SC in Salem, if the hotel charger is occupied.

Thank you very much. A lot of good data. I had not seen the SC in Salem. Very happy to hear that. I will have to get familiar with using ABRP.

Norm

 

[Xenoilphobe]

 

[NormVA]

View attachment 477653

Thank you. We are planning to go Rt 81 because the Shenandoah Valley is such a beautiful drive. Stopping at Hampton Inn in Salem. They have chargers.

 

[kavyboy]

At a couple of destination chargers I've been to, employees park at the charging spots so they can move if anyone needing a charge shows up. You might want to call ahead and request that they do that. Also, if the spots are full when you get there, you might want to mention it to the desk people to see if they can help.

PS: This trip should be no problem. Sounds great. I'm a little jealous.

 

[ewoodrick]

Before you leave, pre-condition the car to warm the battery and max heat the cabin. Also max charge it or 90% charge it if you are concerned about degradation. (I've owned 3 Model S's and the most I have lost at 100K miles is 10 miles on a P85+), the night before you leave.

I have to totally disagree with this. Not only is charging to 100% recommended exactly for this situation, it allows the batteries to equalize and the calculations to reset.

NEVER hesitate to charging to 100% for trips, or even during trips (just don't do it on a Supercharger). It does a battery good.

 

[kavyboy]

I have to totally disagree with this. Not only is charging to 100% recommended exactly for this situation, it allows the batteries to equalize and the calculations to reset.

NEVER hesitate to charging to 100% for trips, or even during trips (just don't do it on a Supercharger). It does a battery good.

Agreed.
I often roll in at less than 10%. I need my 100% sometimes. Other times it's just to cut down the time on my first stop of the day.
Anecdotal info: after 4 years and 30k miles and many 100% charges, degradation is less than 1%.

 

[NormVA]

Try some trip simulations with ABRP, abetterrouteplanner.com, because the problem with Tesla's sims, as far as I know, is that they don't factor temps into the equation, which have a significant factor. It does factor in elevation change. In ABRP, you can put in temps. Also, with ABRP, you can put in your arrival SOC %age. If you find 15% too low, you can put in 20%. You can also test whether charging up to 100% before you go, has any benefit. Often I find it doesn't, as it usually only means charging a couple minutes less at my first stop. The benefit is minor.

Also, ABRP lets you put in a stop at Salem. And, you can input that you're charging there.

Just punching in some simple figs, 45F, arrival charge of 40%, I get a 418m one-way in 6h:25m at 108% of speed limits. Stopping for 8 mins to charge at the M. Jackson SC. Charging on a destination charger to 90% overnight at Salem, then stopping at Mt. Airy SC for 13m, and wind up in Huntersville with 40%. There's a SC in Salem, if the hotel charger is occupied.

That looks like a plan that will work for me. Thank you.

 

[Led Jetson]

We just did a trip from Naples, FL to South New Jersey and left at night. It was expected, but I was surprised at how much energy the headlights used versus daytime driving (330 vs 285-290 or so), so keep that in mind to on top of other conditions if driving over 75 mph.

We hit seven Supercharger stops, took the Delaware Lewe's car ferry and it took 25 hours driving straight through. We passed so many Superchargers that we didn't need, with zero issues!

 

[Big Earl]

We just did a trip from Naples, FL to South New Jersey and left at night. It was expected, but I was surprised at how much energy the headlights used versus daytime driving (330 vs 285-290 or so), so keep that in mind to on top of other conditions if driving over 75 mph.

We hit seven Supercharger stops, took the Delaware Lewe's car ferry and it took 25 hours driving straight through. We passed so many Superchargers that we didn't need, with zero issues!

The headlights aren't consuming that much power (maybe 50 watts total compared to 20,000 watts for propulsion). Daytime brings solar heat to the cabin from the sun, while nighttime requires electric cabin heat. There could have been a change in wind direction, as well.

 

[Big Earl]

Rt 81 does not seem to have a lot of SuperChargers and using chargers with a J1772 connecter is extremely slow.

There are Superchargers every 25 - 75 miles along I-81 in Virginia. There are numerous charging opportunities and you can pretty-much take your pick of locations without having to worry about range.

I recommend charging to 60-70% and running the battery down to between 10% and 20% - maybe a little higher for your first trip until you get comfortable with range estimations and energy consumption.

Conditions permitting, you should have enough range to take some of the alternate, more scenic routs that run along I-81 if you so choose.

I highly recommend playing around on A Better Routeplanner ... be sure to adjust settings and more settings and leave yourself enough buffer when you arrive that you can scoot around town without having to worry about your range (35% arrival charge?).

 

[Porkchop205]

Thank you very much. A lot of good data. I had not seen the SC in Salem. Very happy to hear that. I will have to get familiar with using ABRP.

Norm

We are on our first long trip and we’re worried about getting down to 6% that showed on the projected battery use on the screen. Slowed down due to traffic and we went up to 15%. This post really helped! Thanks for posting!

 

[BeeBee]

“Your two largest enemies for range are - speed and cold temperatures.”
I would add head winds and hills as big range eaters too.