Road Trip Charging - Best Practices

[JPoldo]

We are planning a road trip to the Woodstock reunion in NY mid-August. Based on information in this forum and Tesla manual, I believe it's best charging to 80% the day before trip. Since departure is morning, I'll should schedule home charging to 100% during the early morning hours of departure day. I assume the scheduler starts charging at a predetermined time.

My goal is to minimize time the battery sits idle at 100% SoC. Are these best practices?

 

[Ostrichsak]

Yes but don't stress too much about it.

 

[SilverGS]

Yes but don't stress too much about it.

Agreed.

 

[Gwgan]

Before retiring set the charge to 100% to see how long it would take then set the start time so that it finishes around the time of departure and then bump it back to 95-99% so you don’t have worry about it. Do you need a full battery for the first leg? Best use of on-route supercharging time is to fill the battery from under 20% to 60% (more if you need it of course).
Personally fond of tesla_to | Digital Auto Guides to play around with charging options before a trip. There are threads around here about this software.
There are enough superchargers along this trip now you could just get in the car and go.

 

[Rockster]

Do you really need to charge 100% for your departure? I would think that the first supercharger would be close enough to avoid needing to.

 

[NovemberXray]

If you wish to minimize the battery degradation and plan to keep your car for 10 years, then avoiding charing to 100% is probably worthing thinking about for a couple minutes. From what I've read, and personal experience, the impact is tiny compared the time saved when you're planning to drive more than a full battery worth of distance in a day.

If you want to minimize time you're sitting around waiting for the car to charge, then it's in your best interest to take full advantage of charging when you're not waiting to leave. I've been on many road trips in both a Model X and Model 3, coast to coast and North to South in the US, and have always charged to 100% on the night before a travel day. Sometimes for 7 days in a row or more. I don't worry about trying to schedule it to end right when we're going to leave. In 50k miles and 2.5 years on my Model X I saw about 2% reduction in total battery capacity and the worst is supposed to be in the first year. When at home or staying in a particular location, sure, charge to somewhere between 60 and 90%, but if you're going to use it, charge to 100% and don't worry about it, it will save you time for sure. You can see this using abetterrouteplanner.com. Put in your destination and then enter different states of charge for starting out and you can see what the total time will be...

 

[Ostrichsak]

Before retiring set the charge to 100% to see how long it would take then set the start time so that it finishes around the time of departure and then bump it back to 95-99% so you don’t have worry about it. Do you need a full battery for the first leg? Best use of on-route supercharging time is to fill the battery from under 20% to 60% (more if you need it of course).
Personally fond of tesla_to | Digital Auto Guides to play around with charging options before a trip. There are threads around here about this software.
There are enough superchargers along this trip now you could just get in the car and go.

Two schools of thought depending on how much stress you want to apply to said trip:

1) You can be ultra-critical over SoC and plan every single stop and create an itinerary that you adhere to to the minute and then put hours into every single charge stop along the way and budget certain times for travel & others for charging and crunch all of the numbers being sure to keep the SoC below 100% as much as possible and extract every last bit of energy before charging ultimately preserving (maybe) a tenth of a percent of your total range over the next decade while probably shaving months off of your life due to stress or...

2) you can set the slider to 100%, enter your address and let the navigation do all of the magic for you realizing this may cost you 0.01 miles of range per year and add months of quality living to your life.

I know which one I choose. There are other factors (most all out of your hand) that will have a larger impact to batter pack life than stressing over your SoC especially if you have it at 80-90% a majority of the time. Any small periods of time where you have it to 100% or use Superchargers won't even amount to a drop in the bucket that is your battery pack's life.

 

[ewoodrick]

Charge to 100% and don't worry about it. Staying at 100% is only bad if you do it for months.

There is absolutely no problem letting it stay at 100% for hours, even days. Months and years or where slight degradation of the begins

 

[Rocky_H]

Here. Everything you could want to know about planning road tripping:
How to save a lot of time on long trips

As far as the charging before leaving, I take the method of "care a little about not using 100% but not worrying much". I'll put the charge limit slider in the mid 90's % for the overnight charge. Then, when I wake up the next morning, I grab my phone and move the slider up to 100% to get it going again while I'm showering and getting ready. It'll get to about 97 or 98% or something by the time I'm ready to leave, and that's close enough but didn't leave it full for any length of time--good compromise.

And as for planning, I don't like planning much, so if the route I'm going is on Supercharger covered highways, I don't bother with making any lists or charts of stops and charging amounts; it just doesn't matter. (To get a quick look at whether it's covered, I use www.supercharge.info) I did a 5,000+ mile trip across the country and back last year in 11 days, and I didn't even have the cities picked out yet of where I was stopping. I would just get up the next day, see about how far I wanted to go, like 500-600ish miles, and then book an AirBNB in that city that was about that distance with a Supercharger in it. Worked great.

But option #2 is if I have to go somewhere off the Supercharger covered interstates, or have to cross a large gap between Superchargers, then you do want to have a plan for that. I'll use www.evtripplanner.com, but some others prefer www.abetterrouteplanner.com. You can put in a route and it will plot energy use based on which model of car, elevation along the route, heating or air conditioning use versus outside temperature, speed ratio versus average traffic speed, etc. That way I can figure out if I need some charging in between those Superchargers and how much. Then it's www.plugshare.com to find a spot there to use for charging that I can match with a meal stop.

And that's about as complicated as I get.

 

[Ostrichsak]

Here. Everything you could want to know about planning road tripping:
How to save a lot of time on long trips

As far as the charging before leaving, I take the method of "care a little about not using 100% but not worrying much". I'll put the charge limit slider in the mid 90's % for the overnight charge. Then, when I wake up the next morning, I grab my phone and move the slider up to 100% to get it going again while I'm showering and getting ready. It'll get to about 97 or 98% or something by the time I'm ready to leave, and that's close enough but didn't leave it full for any length of time--good compromise.

And as for planning, I don't like planning much, so if the route I'm going is on Supercharger covered highways, I don't bother with making any lists or charts of stops and charging amounts; it just doesn't matter. (To get a quick look at whether it's covered, I use www.supercharge.info) I did a 5,000+ mile trip across the country and back last year in 11 days, and I didn't even have the cities picked out yet of where I was stopping. I would just get up the next day, see about how far I wanted to go, like 500-600ish miles, and then book an AirBNB in that city that was about that distance with a Supercharger in it. Worked great.

But option #2 is if I have to go somewhere off the Supercharger covered interstates, or have to cross a large gap between Superchargers, then you do want to have a plan for that. I'll use www.evtripplanner.com, but some others prefer www.abetterrouteplanner.com. You can put in a route and it will plot energy use based on which model of car, elevation along the route, heating or air conditioning use versus outside temperature, speed ratio versus average traffic speed, etc. That way I can figure out if I need some charging in between those Superchargers and how much. Then it's www.plugshare.com to find a spot there to use for charging that I can match with a meal stop.

And that's about as complicated as I get.

Most of the data in your first link has been superseded by Elon's latest statement (a few months back) that what SoC you set your car to or frequency of Supercharger use will have a nominal impact on your battery pack's total life. The data is coming in and 1) the degradation through normal and even extreme use cases isn't as punitive as they original estimated conservatively and 2) your individual actions will have very little (if any) impact.

The concern early on was that the larger (5% ish) degradation would be more indicative of each year of ownership so they offered ways to potentially prolong the life and lower degradation. Ultimately, we're talking about the direct affect of these actions on your car's total battery degradation which is, in and of itself, an arbitrary # that nobody is in agreement on what is a "normal" rate anyway.

I keep our cars at like 80-90% when we're not traveling (99% of their lives) and when it's time to take a road trip I dial the car up to 100% and don't give it a second thought.

We're talking about a couple of percent of charge state a hundredth of a percent of the car's annual charging over years and years of it's life to impact fractions of a percent on an arbitrary number that's measured out over hundreds of thousands of miles. Think about that statement for a minute and read again if necessary.

If you assign anything more than solid "meh" to your concern of your direct impact and it's overall affect on the car's life you're investing too much thought. Anyone who tells you that any of this is an exact science and they can tell you for a fact how much it will impact your degradation negatively is blowing sunshine up your skirt and stroking their own ego.

 

[JPoldo]

WOW, great opines.
Most importantly, I learned:
1. Not to stress about it
2. First SuC is close enough so don't need 100%
3. 12 mo remains on lease, tiny degradation not paramount
4. No battery damage if ms idle for 2 hrs at >90% SoC
5. As a security blanket, plan to top-off charge while waiting for spouse to complete last minute packing and/or personal care.

Part of my challenge is spouse is NOT an EV fan due to limited charging locations and excessive charge time vs ICE gas stations. She has zero patience so plan is to enjoy a relaxing lunch or dinner during SuC time. Making my spouse wait for a SuC would be sudden-death for plan to get the next Tesla.

 

[Ostrichsak]

WOW, great opines.
Most importantly, I learned:
1. Not to stress about it
2. First SuC is close enough so don't need 100%
3. 12 mo remains on lease, tiny degradation not paramount
4. No battery damage if ms idle for 2 hrs at >90% SoC
5. As a security blanket, plan to top-off charge while waiting for spouse to complete last minute packing and/or personal care.

Part of my challenge is spouse is NOT an EV fan due to limited charging locations and excessive charge time vs ICE gas stations. She has zero patience so plan is to enjoy a relaxing lunch or dinner during SuC time. Making my spouse wait for a SuC would be sudden-death for plan to get the next Tesla.

Yep, looks like you got the important larger points. Another pro tip you can likely use on your travels: the bottom half of the battery chargers MUCH faster than the top half. Therefore, it makes more sense to make more frequent stops at the bottom half than it does fewer stops but spending more time at Superchargers charging up the top half. The nav doesn't really take this into account so it will have you sitting at a single Supercharger for 45min when you could be make two stops with each one being 15min. (arbitrary figures to give you an idea of course)

You can use the aforementioned A Better Route Planner to extract every minute out of this phenomenon if you want. Personally, I find it's better to just know that it exists and manually looking at where the next Supercharger is and leave with enough range (plus whatever cushion you're comfortable with.. 10%?) to hit that next one so you arrive very low on charge which allows you to charge at the fastest possible rate. The longer the road trips the more time you will save.

Also, make sure the nav knows your next Supercharger stop so it can start conditioning the battery pack for maximum charge by the time you arrive.

Lastly, I've found that Supercharger stops can be quite enjoyable and my better half really enjoys them. It allows us time to eat, shop, stretch and all sorts of other activities that make the road trips more enjoyable. A queen size air mattress fits in the hatch with the rear seats folded flat so we can lay down and relax to read or take a nap even. We just returned from a 4k mile road trip to Nashville for the 4th of July and the Supercharger stops end up being a great time to decompress and make the individual legs of the journey more enjoyable.

I think a big part of your wife's reception to the change in how you travel will have a lot to do with how you present it. If it's no big deal to you it will have a better chance of being no big deal to her. If you're stressed about stops....

 

[Ofarlig]

I charge to 90% normally, and usually leave for road trips with anywhere between 75-90%. At superchargers we are talking 5-10 extra spent on charging by not leaving with close to full battery. So theres really nothing to worry about as long as you make it to a SuC, if you want to fully charge that’s nothing to worry about either.

 

[Gwgan]

Another reason to avoid a full battery: no room for regen. The first experience may feel like the brakes are broken.

Preconditioning cabin temps and, depending on the time of the year, warming the battery by charging just before departure can be very convenient.

Sounds like you got this. Enjoy the trip.

 

[mmccord]

This is really an ideal length trip for a Tesla, assuming you are coming from Sudbury, MA (based on your profile). I don't know what model you have, but I'm seeing ~240 miles each way. You have 7 superchargers on the way if you take i84, 4 on i90/87. Either way, you should only need to stop once on the way, either Newburgh on i84 or Kingston on i87.

Honestly, Newburgh is a pain in the ass for a quick stop, but if you stop for a meal it's nice. The food at Cosimo's is good.

The Bethel area itself is a vast charging wasteland. I'm assuming you are staying overnight somewhere, hopefully somewhere you can charge overnight. I got to Bethel frequently and will be there that weekend as well. There are no EV chargers at Bethel Woods, unfortunately.

 

[Rocky_H]

And it may not apply on this trip, since it's so short, but on longer trips in the future that may involve 3 or 4 Supercharger stops, it is very helpful to try for alternating short stop / long stop. In other words, let's say you go about 2-3 hours driving at a time (kind of depends on your car's range). You will need meal stops anyway at some point, so plan for every other stop to be a meal break. That would be about 4-5 hours of driving apart, which would be reasonable. So you take a longer meal break, the car gets to keep charging a bit more than is needed for the next 2 hour driving segment because you're still busy eating (and not waiting for the car!). Then at your next stop, you have some leftover, so it's a really quick 10-15 minute thing to step out, grab a coffee or something, and get going. You don't have time to get bored.

 

[JPoldo]

This is really an ideal length trip for a Tesla, assuming you are coming from Sudbury, MA (based on your profile). I don't know what model you have, but I'm seeing ~240 miles each way. You have 7 superchargers on the way if you take i84, 4 on i90/87. Either way, you should only need to stop once on the way, either Newburgh on i84 or Kingston on i87.

Honestly, Newburgh is a pain in the ass for a quick stop, but if you stop for a meal it's nice. The food at Cosimo's is good.

The Bethel area itself is a vast charging wasteland. I'm assuming you are staying overnight somewhere, hopefully somewhere you can charge overnight. I got to Bethel frequently and will be there that weekend as well. There are no EV chargers at Bethel Woods, unfortunately.

Mmccord, your assumptions are correct. Our first charging / lunch spot is at the Danbury, CT mall. The Bethel area appears to have some Chargepoint stations. We have multiple short trips in the area for hotel, concert, golf, dining etc.

 

[ucmndd]

2. First SuC is close enough so don't need 100%
.

Doesn’t matter how close it is, if you start at 90% instead of 100 you’ll have to wait at that first supercharger for 10% more charge. Why would you do that?

Also, sounds like your trip might be canceled...

 

[JPoldo]

This is really an ideal length trip for a Tesla, assuming you are coming from Sudbury, MA (based on your profile). I don't know what model you have, but I'm seeing ~240 miles each way. You have 7 superchargers on the way if you take i84, 4 on i90/87. Either way, you should only need to stop once on the way, either Newburgh on i84 or Kingston on i87.

Honestly, Newburgh is a pain in the ass for a quick stop, but if you stop for a meal it's nice. The food at Cosimo's is good.

The Bethel area itself is a vast charging wasteland. I'm assuming you are staying overnight somewhere, hopefully somewhere you can charge overnight. I got to Bethel frequently and will be there that weekend as well. There are no EV chargers at Bethel Woods, unfortunately.

Mmccord, you are correct on route. Our first recharge and lunch is on Rt84 at Danbury mall. We may stop at Cosimo's on return trip. Chargepoint appears to have a couple of L2 chargers in the Bethel area. Have you tried them? My big concern is wait time due to so many visitors. We need about 150 miles range locally for hotel, concert, golf, restaurants, plus return to a SuC either in NY or CT.

All the comments in this threat have been very helpful

 

[mmccord]

Never used any L2 charging in the area. It's only 40 miles from my house, so no need. Honestly, if you don't have overnight or all-day charging somewhere, it's going to be irritating. The nearest L3 charging is Roscoe SuC, about a 30 minute drive away (and the opposite direction from where you're coming). Danbury is about 100 miles from Bethel, so even if you hang out and charge to 100%, you'll only have full charge-100mi once you get there, and still need to make it 55miles back to Newburgh, plus random loss and safety buffer. With an 85D you'd probably need to pick up at least 100-150 somehow while you're there, which is a good 5-10 hours on most L2 chargers.

If you have a 100D you're in better shape.