Road trip in the new model 3

[jnahanna]

We took our new Model 3 from Seattle, WA area too Reno, NV. 1717 miles round trip at an avg of 236 Wh/mile. This car really will do over 300 plus miles of range with the aero wheel covers on. With them off we were seeing about 280 Wh/mile.
This was all driving 5-7 over and using the chill mode with auto steer about 80% of the time except when it got twisty then it was fun to take over

We used 4 superchargers and two home destination charging.

Lake Stevens, WA to Salem,OR left with full charge. No supercharging distance 263 miles and 16% still avail! Charged on friends solar 20 KW solar array and spent the day with them working on solar stuff.

Left with full charge to Klamath Falls, OR and arrived with 18% remaining at a distance of 243 miles. Filled to 89% in 50 min. Had some sandwiches at Fred Meyer since they were kind enough to support EV community and supercharging.
Supercharger cost was:$12. Lunch cost was:$14

Left Klamath Falls, OR at 89% to Reno NV. Total distance 251 miles arrived in Reno with 23% remaining. and used a dryer plug to charge in Reno. Stayed here for a week and got to tour the Tesla Gigafactory. I highly recommend this to anyone visiting the Reno/Sparks area.

For the trip back we stopped again at the Klamath falls supercharger for a short 20 min charge cost was $10 since it was mostly downhill to Springfield, OR where we supercharged only 20 min to 70% cost was $9 where we stayed with a friend in Junction City, OR

We used the last supercharger in Centralia, WA since we couldn't charge at our friends house much with 120V. Had lunch there and charged to 70% in about 20 min. Supercharger cost was $10 Lunch was $16 at Burgerville.

Arrived home in Lake Stevens, WA with 30% remaining.

Total cost to supercharge was: $41 to drive 1717 miles and 405 KWH was consumed. I also offered to pay at all places we stayed since that's just good practice. They all declined due to how much fun they had test driving and seeing the car and running errands in all the places we stayed.

All in all this was a very good road trip car with plenty of room and quite fun in the twisty mountain roads! The Auto Steer worked well in almost all circumstances. The only times I had to take control is when there was a passing lane it always seemed to want to pick the left lane rather than moving over to the right.

 

[drawfour]

It's red, which means you chose well.

 

[eSpiritIV]

I plan to take another trip simlar from Portland to Reno.

What was your largest elevation gain for the charging legs you posted?

What would you say your average speed was set to on autopilot?

 

[jnahanna]

I plan to take another trip simlar from Portland to Reno.

What was your largest elevation gain for the charging legs you posted?
Salem to Klamath falls was about 4000 ft elevation gain. You should be able to do from Portland all the way to Klamath falls on one charge. But you could always throw in 10-20% in Springfield just in case you get some extra wind or cool weather. I have found it to be very accurate with what it reports on the dash within 1-2% of what they say after you drive for a while for it to calculate it correctly.

What would you say your average speed was set to on autopilot?

Max it would let me do is 5-7 over which is where I set it.

My avg consumption from Salem to Klamath falls was: 253 Wh/mile which isnt bad considering I also was going uphill for most of it.

Of course alot of this on Hwy 58 was into the mountains twisty and fun so I was enjoying driving.

 

[e-FTW]

Thank you this was great!

I also agree that you chose the correct color. ;-)

 

[israndy]

I too am just back from my second road trip. LA was the first. This week I got back from a trip to visit my sister in Colorado from here in Alameda at the foot of the Bay Bridge across from SF. The drive was completely uneventful other than the fact that the trip was uneventful. How spectacular it is to have a car that does the driving. I was able to drive all day w/o wearing out. Got to try to visit the GigaFactory on the way out. Should have signed up for a tour. First day made it across CA and NV to the Bonneville Salt Flats in UT and the Mountain Time Zone where I car camped at a rest stop. The only part of my plan that didn't work out was the Camper app that I got to keep the AC and Heat running all night required cellular data and there was NONE in this part of the world, fortunately, the weather was fine overnight. I took some spectacular pics but this site seems to have a problem with pictures these days.

Next day I finished my trip to Fort Collins to visit with friends. I took so many pictures of Colorful Colorado while driving I should have been in a wreck, but this car is amazing. Two days later I hit up the Loveland charger and head towards my sister's in Durango. I did pick up my first windshield chip on this part of the drive but the mountains were windy and beautiful. Two days later I head across the southwest for the real tour: Ship Rock, Four Corners, Mexican Hat, Vermilion Cliffs. Spent a star-filled night at the Cliff Dweller's Lodge plugged into their destination charger. The next day was North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then Zion, then Valley of Fire, Hoover Damn, Las Vegas (just to charge), and spent the night car camping again in Beatty. I went there for the supercharger but the casino had a free charger so I plugged in all night, this time able to use the Camper app to keep it cool, good thing as it was 91° outside.

The last day I took a long boring trip to Tonopah and Hawthorne and managed to still have a ton of charge to drive the thrilling Sonora Pass which had just opened the week before.

It's hard to convey in video how amazing the car feels whipping around those curves and only once in the entire drive did the wheels slip. I put more than 3000 miles on the car during the trip and spent less than $100 in charging. That hotel almost doubled my trip costs. Safelite will be here tomorrow to fix the chip, hopefully.

-Randy

 

[jnahanna]

You know what I'm talking about. It really is a pleasure to drive this car in the mountain passes, nothing else really compares and you can become one with the road and the surroundings. Thanks for posting your drive video!

 

[israndy]

Trip plan and almost the execution as well

Hope everyone gets a chance to do the same, don't just hang out in the neighborhood, this car is a road trip machine.

-Randy

 

[israndy]

Oh, what the heck, here is my favorite day on the road, though I managed to make it well past Vegas, I could easily have spent more time in any of those locations. I did it all on one overnight 95% charge, however, I did plug in at the hotel in Zion for a few minutes while I found a restroom. Had enough charge at St. George that I don't think it would have been an issue. Loved that I was able to sit in all that Zion traffic and not be wasting gas idling.



Oh, drat, still unable to post pics here reliably, I was so excited to think that was fixed.

-Randy

 

[Rusty1]

We just finished our road trip from Tennessee to Prince Edward Island. 4,600 miles total in our Model 3. The car handled the trip marvelously. Superchargers on the way up and back and destination chargers in Canada. Here are a few pics. I truly don’t see any reason people are going to keep buying ICE cars after Tesla gets production up.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...Hope everyone gets a chance to do the same, don't just hang out in the neighborhood, this car is a road trip machine.

-Randy

This is what I think a lot of people who say they only want the Model 3 for local driving* don't get — driving a Tesla on a road trip is fun! (45k miles in 2¼ years, the majority on road trips.)


* Although that makes sense for those who already have another Tesla for road trips.

 

[jnahanna]

New roadtrip to from Spokane WA to Lake Stevens WA on Hwy 2 now that Leavenworth 16 stall Supercharger is open. I used the Supercharger on the way over to Spokane since I left at 80% charge. But on the way back I was 100% full and guess what... I did it without charging 301 miles and over the pass 4061 ft with 7% remaining. I Avg 214 WH/mile and consumed 64 KWH with AC blasting for 7 hrs since we stopped for lunch and the dogs needed to keep cool. Beautiful drive. I have done this with my S as well before the supercharger so i was using 80 A J1772 plugs which are a bit slower. I also got to enjoy leapfroging a nice model X most of the way from Leavenworth to Goldbar. It was a real pleasure indeed!

Thanks, Jim

 

[jnahanna]

Did the same road trip to Spokane last weekend and this time without the wheel covers. I averaged 260 WH/mile.

Its hard to tell but I definitely think the wheel covers do alot more for range than first thought. I will do this a couple more times to get a valid test result.

BTW nice improvement in the autopilot for the new SW version. Its now adaptive speed based on how sharp the corner is.