Road Trip from Atlanta to San Diego to Pick up CPO

[ramesses]

Hi there. I just finalized plans to fly in to Atlanta on Monday morning to pick up a CPO MS P85D+. A bit nervous as my first time driving a Tesla, or any fully battery powered EV for that matter, will be on a 2300+ mile trip cross country back to San Diego. I've looked at abetterrouteplanner.com to get an idea of my route. I'm very much a noob to Tesla and this community so any tips on preparing for the trip, suggestions for the actual trip itself, and general encouragement to ease my anxiety are appreciated.

For those interested:
Details on the car from the Monroney sticker.
Pictures.

 

[SDRick]

Welcome and congratulations!
My advice is keep doing what you’re doing, read the forum and play with the Route planner.

 

[davidc18]

Welcome to Tesla. I just picked up my car in Chicago and drove it back to Miami. I found that just following the in car navigation from supercharger to supercharger worked just fine. PM if you want to chat over the phone. I would relax and enjoy the drive.

Dave

 

[murphyS90D]

Don't try to use the full capacity of the battery. i.e. don't try to arrive at a supercharger with 5 miles left in the battery. Range is affected by speed and temperature. Hard acceleration uses more energy than smooth normal acceleration. Don't skip any superchargers until you have a good handle on how your driving style affects range. To get the EPA range you have to stay below 300 Watt-hours per mile.

 

[davidc18]

I found the in car nav had me arriving at the next supercharger with at least 10 percent and usually closer to 20 percent. I had now worries after the first few stops.

 

[Evil Twin]

I've read so many stories about people who rely on the car nav and end up in peril.

Am I the only person who actually looks at the map and makes some mental calculations instead of blinding trusting the computer?

 

[henderrj]

We just finished our 3rd 5K plus trip. Biggest worry? Headwinds. We ran into 50 mph crosswords, mostly on the nose, on the last one - should have believed the navy and slowed down pulled into the SC with 0, that's right, 0 miles. Wife not happy!

 

[AustinP]

Congratulations on your new purchase! Very good looking car and a great “millésime”.

You can trust the nav, it is very safe, unless indeed you have bad weather (wind, cold...).
Wind is probably the only potential risk next Monday.
Use in the browser the Tesla Waze web site.
Tesla Traffic Incidents and Information
One of the nice feature is the weather and wind direction and strength.

You will soon get a hang of it, and apply your own corrective factor, but to start with, i’d say the estimate range is about 20% optimistic.

Remember also that the last 20% to get to 100% charge takes a very long time, so better add some SuC stops than try to charge to 100%.

Enjoy!

 

[SaveOurPlanet]

I would do the planning with EVTripPlanner as well just for comparison, plug in 15% or 20% buffer to give you a higher comfort level. Then look at where you plan to stay (assuming you are not driving non-stop) and find out which hotel has destination charging or close to supercharger, then you can re-plot your route. If the distance between segments are much less than your range, then you can look to rebalance your supercharger stops to reduce the number of stops.

 

[WARP 10]

We've done round trip from SD to ATL twice in our 60 (now 75)s. Watch for headwinds going east to west. Now that I-10 is almost built out, that will be the quickest. Used to be I-40, Flagstaff to Amarillo or OKC, then Dallas. Nav system will keep you out of trouble with superchargers, for the most part. Really no worries at all after we upgraded to the 75s.

 

[ramesses]

Thank you for all the helpful responses! My wife suggested I write up a review of each supercharger I visit but I'm not sure whether that would be helpful or, if it is, what platform to use to do so. Any thoughts?

We've done round trip from SD to ATL twice in our 60 (now 75)s. Watch for headwinds going east to west. Now that I-10 is almost built out, that will be the quickest. Used to be I-40, Flagstaff to Amarillo or OKC, then Dallas. Nav system will keep you out of trouble with superchargers, for the most part. Really no worries at all after we upgraded to the 75s.

This will be my first time driving through this part of the country. Any suggestions on stops (other than superchargers) I should make along the way, like places to eat or things to see that I shouldn't miss?

 

[Russell]

Install the Tesla app in your phone now. Your car will show up before you pick it up.
Bring a USB drive with your favorite songs.

 

[ramesses]

Install the Tesla app in your phone now. Your car will show up before you pick it up.
Bring a USB drive with your favorite songs.

Thanks, I just tried to do so but it returns the error message, "Sign-In Failed. There are no products linked to your Tesla account."

 

[P85_DA]

@ramesses good job on not getting that white with gray interior ...this looks so much better ! Also since you are not traveling with frunk full of adaptors..follow the Nav and stay on the superchargers ...safe travels !

 

[Damien Sandow]

Thanks, I just tried to do so but it returns the error message, "Sign-In Failed. There are no products linked to your Tesla account."

Good luck on the trip! I just picked up my car in Atlanta and drove it back to the Washington DC area a couple weeks ago. It was a great way to get to know the car and get used to all of the features. I was unable to access my car in the app until I got to the Service Center and they presumably checked some boxes.

With that said, I would suggest like others before me, to mess with abetterrouteplanner. It will get you ready for the trip for sure. From there, I used the in car navigation to get me from point A to point B. I made a few changes at the very end because I wanted to end up home with a 50% charge. That's all I have. Enjoy the car and the trip!

 

[jplasmd]

In western TX, don't underestimate range loss if you have strong headwinds when heading west from the Midland Supercharger. It's pretty desolate country out there. Cell phone connectivity can be spotty. And you'll loose about 12 miles of range with the increase in elevation to get to Van Horn. Read the "Supercharger - Van Horn, TX" post. There seems to be problems lately with some of the pedestals in Van Horn.