Dr. J
Active Member
Not a compliance car, but an appliance car, eh?
I had one, too, before the 3. It gets you from point A to point B very economically and reliably, but that's about it.
Prius or Model 3 for Road Trip. Help a new owner decide
- Thread starter Ladyjade3
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I had one, too, before the 3. It gets you from point A to point B very economically and reliably, but that's about it.
This is what I do now, currently on a trip from San Diego to Las Vegas, I leave home with 100% charge which for me is 240 miles and then plug in what Superchargers along the way gets me down to around 45 miles. This allows me to run at 80 - 90mph with traffic of course and once I get to that first charger and since I’m low on the battery the Supercharger will kick into gear at the fastest rate of charge. When I’m close to my 230 miles or so and it’s time to leave I plug in the coordinates into the Nav for the last Tesla Supercharger that I am able to reach on this 230 mile charge leaving me around 35 - 45 miles left. 80 - 90mph between Superchargers gets me there. So use your Nav Map and see how far you can stretch it between Superchargers. Plan one of the stops to have a 1 hour lunch break but keep the charge limit at 100% on these trips. Take smaller trips so you can see how accurate the distances are.
Fred
Fred
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TimothyHW3
Member
Autopilot is enough. Not sure if you have SR+ or a downgraded SR. Anyways, there is nothing to worry about. There is a website called abetterrouteplanner.com which will give you a almost spot on representation of your drive including charging stops. I don't think you will face any issues. We did a no-problem 500mile + trip with a LR AWD with just two short stops. If you follow the nav inside the car you can't go wrong.
The suggestion to stay 1 hour above is over excessive. You will just loose a ton of time this way, because after a certain % your charge rate is very low. Unless you really need 1 hour charge stops, anything above 40-45 minutes or depending on your consumption even 35 minutes will slow you down unnecessary
The point about the 1 hour stop was to have lunch or dinner with the family while on that trip, we stop at Rancho Cucamonga to have ribs at Lucille’s, 50 min - 1 hour Lunch for us while on the way to Las Vegas, So what I’m saying is to plan your trip which includes food & bathroom breaks.
Fred
Hi all! Super new here. Just got our Model 3 on Sunday (3 days ago) and love it!
I'm surprised the range is not at all what I expected, but from browsing around here I see that its a problem with my expectations, not the car.
Thinking about our upcoming December road trip from Raleigh to Orlando. The Tesla route has us making 5 stops, 13 hours total. Google maps says its a 9 hour 21 minute trip. Realistically we'd stop at least twice anyway...
Our other car is a Prius and it gets like 500 miles per $20 fill up.
We'd have our two boys 7 and 9 in the back.
Should we take the Tesla and accept the road trip challenge? Or the boring old Prius... Advice, suggestions, dares pls.
It says it is a 600 mile trip. With a standard range Model 3 you would be making probably 4 or 5 stops, each about 30-45 minutes. With a Prius 1 stop would be required (but you would probably make 2 or 3 anyway).
I would probably take the Prius. Travelling with a family is stressful, no need to add a couple of hours to the long trip. And I suspect that the gas for Prius will be cheaper than supercharging (if you are paying for it). Also, Prius probably has more cargo room.
TimothyHW3
Member
Sure, but how many stops do you do? If they have to do 3-4-5 stops, wasting time on the first stop(because the car goes from 10-90% in 50 minutes which is plenty to get to the next stop) will take forever. Then they will wonder what to do on the next ,3-4 stops.
This is why I suggested to make shorter stops and have smaller snacks, this time the stops will not be that tedious. Also, OP, you have to understand that you will have to unplug the car after your and something if you are not gone if it is charged to avoid blocking fees. Also pay attention to A/B number combination on the stalls - if the 2A stall is used by another car go to 1 or 3 stall, but not 2B.
Also, charging above 86-90% will take extra amount of time, that if you don't really need, it is better to just drive to the next charger and charge faster at lower state of charge.
This is why I suggested to make shorter stops and have smaller snacks, this time the stops will not be that tedious. Also, OP, you have to understand that you will have to unplug the car after your and something if you are not gone if it is charged to avoid blocking fees. Also pay attention to A/B number combination on the stalls - if the 2A stall is used by another car go to 1 or 3 stall, but not 2B.
Also, charging above 86-90% will take extra amount of time, that if you don't really need, it is better to just drive to the next charger and charge faster at lower state of charge.
I have to say the results surprised me. In my LR-AWD, it's a no-brainer, easy trip to do with no anxiety and perfect segment lengths. But, in a SR or SR+ looking at the results in ABRP, the results don't look very appealing. It's Winter when the OP is going, so the heat will probably be on reducing range. ABRP is predicting 7 stops, with 3 segments only about 60 miles. Those segments are way too short to be convenient. Sure, you could skip Florence, SC and go from Lumberton to Santee, and you could do the same in Kingsland, to eliminate two short stops, but it increases the stop times to charge up to 100%. As much as it pains me, I'd take the Prius in Winter.
eprosenx
Active Member
Yeah, this is my main argument for why we need more supercharging stops along the I-5 corridor (and everywhere). With Tesla selling so many different models of vehicles with different ranges the stop points are not optimized for everyone. More options means smoother trips and more resiliency for outages.
This appears to be really acute in SR and SR+ units. In my LR I can stop at say every other SC but SR/SR+ may need to stop at every one but for short times which is really not optimal to go get lunch, etc...
On my trip to SFO this summer it would have been really nice to have more options for where (and when) to stop for lunch. Pretty much the locations of the SuperChargers dictated our schedule.
CharleyBC
Active Member
Warning: Potential unpopular opinion here. Take the Prius.
I have an LR-AWD. My SO has an ICE (Audi Q5). A while back we took a ~250 mile weekend road trip. As much as I wanted to take the Tesla, common sense kicked in and I decided on the Audi. My decision was validated when - as predicted - I noticed every Supercharger location along the way was completely slammed with multiple cars waiting in line for a charge. So not only would I need to stop more often but those stops would be long and frustrating while having to wait, plus V2 superchargers aren't very fast anyway when the entire location is full and people are sharing. Meanwhile the Q5 covered the entire one-way distance without having to refill.
Weekend/vacation time is too valuable to be wasted on charging.
I love my Tesla and 99% of the time it's preferable over the other car, but I'm not afraid to admit its weaknesses and to set it aside when there's a better tool for the job.
I have an LR-AWD. My SO has an ICE (Audi Q5). A while back we took a ~250 mile weekend road trip. As much as I wanted to take the Tesla, common sense kicked in and I decided on the Audi. My decision was validated when - as predicted - I noticed every Supercharger location along the way was completely slammed with multiple cars waiting in line for a charge. So not only would I need to stop more often but those stops would be long and frustrating while having to wait, plus V2 superchargers aren't very fast anyway when the entire location is full and people are sharing. Meanwhile the Q5 covered the entire one-way distance without having to refill.
Weekend/vacation time is too valuable to be wasted on charging.
I love my Tesla and 99% of the time it's preferable over the other car, but I'm not afraid to admit its weaknesses and to set it aside when there's a better tool for the job.
You have your left coast glasses on. I'm sure that is the case for you there where you are in Southern California. This trip is Raleigh to Orlando, and the East coast (or anywhere else in the country) does not have anywhere near the congestion and capacity problems that California has. I think it is still pretty rare to have cars waiting at any stations along this route.
Take the 3 and have fun doing it. Superchargers along I-95 are pretty sparsely used with the only probably pain point being the savannah airport.
eprosenx
Active Member
I generally agree with you about the “right tool for the job” and not wanting to burn weekend time on charging stops.
But I want to challenge a couple of comments:
V2 even with sharing is generally very fast. It is a small percentage of the time that your battery is in a state to take a charge rate say greater than 72kW AND the paired car is also drawing a lot of current. Once their battery gets more full they will slow down and provide more to you. (I would love to see stats on how often the max current your battery is in a state to accept but that you get limited by the SC due to pairing)
The other is that for a 250 mile trip you should have been almost able to make that on a single charge from home. If you could even do 120v charging at your destination overnight that might have given you enough range to make it back without any superchargers.
Take the Model 3 if you want to treat the trip as an educational learning experience.
Otherwise, if getting there in the least amount of time with the least amount of stops is your primary goal, then take the Prius.
Otherwise, if getting there in the least amount of time with the least amount of stops is your primary goal, then take the Prius.
AND if you are paired with a car that is into it's taper you are getting a great price if you on a per minute billed charger because it's always the lower rate if sharing even if you are pulling 100+kW.
Try to make sure you have enough charge to make it out of the cities. I've run between OC and SFO a few times and never had issues charging or waiting once on the road out of the city. City charging is another story...
Agree, I did nearly the same trip at Spring Break this year. I to was concerned about having to wait for charges since it was Easter time. We did not have to wait for any. But we were the last car into Santee making it a full house for about 5 min, then another car pulled out freeing up a stall.
V2 even with sharing is generally very fast. It is a small percentage of the time that your battery is in a state to take a charge rate say greater than 72kW AND the paired car is also drawing a lot of current. Once their battery gets more full they will slow down and provide more to you. (I would love to see stats on how often the max current your battery is in a state to accept but that you get limited by the SC due to pairing)
The other is that for a 250 mile trip you should have been almost able to make that on a single charge from home. If you could even do 120v charging at your destination overnight that might have given you enough range to make it back without any superchargers.
This doesn't jive with my experience.
Every time I've hooked up to a V2 Supercharger when another car is already there on the other half of the pair, I've never pulled more than about 50-60kW. Simple math says charging will take 2X as long as it would if I could get the full beans (120kW+), at least when the battery SoC is fairly low. Couple that with having to wait in line and what ABRP says might take 10-15 minutes could easily balloon into a 45+ minute stop.
Also, 250 miles without charging would be cutting it waaaay too close for comfort. Not with highway speeds (~75+), running A/C, etc. My 310 mile LR AWD - which is really more like ~290 now at 100% after a year's worth of usage - has an effective highway range of maybe 240-ish miles? Range anxiety is the last thing I want to deal with on a holiday weekend drive. The SO's Audi has a ~525 mile range on a full tank. No brainer in this case.
This is a valid point. I would also add that if OP can do the drive on a weekday and not a weekend, Supercharger usage should be even lower. Nonetheless, I stand by my claim that ICE vehicles are better road trip cars. They have twice the range, gas stations are much more common and fill-up times are a fraction of charging times. These things make a difference when time is limited and you're trying to enjoy a vacation.
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
Paired charging math does not work that way.
When you plug in, next to an already charging Tesla, they will get the full charge they can handle, while you will get the rest.
As they fill up, their charging will slow down, and yours will begin to charge faster.
As they begin to taper, you will begin to get the full amount you can handle.
Very efficient system.
Usually when I pull into an already paired slot, the first car us usually near to their taper point, and I still get a pretty fast charge.
Only if your paired Tesla has just begun to charge, do you get a severly reduced flow.
When you plug in, next to an already charging Tesla, they will get the full charge they can handle, while you will get the rest.
As they fill up, their charging will slow down, and yours will begin to charge faster.
As they begin to taper, you will begin to get the full amount you can handle.
Very efficient system.
Usually when I pull into an already paired slot, the first car us usually near to their taper point, and I still get a pretty fast charge.
Only if your paired Tesla has just begun to charge, do you get a severly reduced flow.
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