Road trip report

Not sure where to post this, hopefully this is OK ...

I just took my first road trip in my 2022 MYLR. I drove over 2100 miles in 3 one-day legs (900mi northern CO to NE IA, 720mi to Devil's Tower in NE WY, 350mi back to CO, plus day trips in IA), with a first experiment of sleeping in the car. Any comments or recommendations?

CAR:

• I gotta quit planning trips that involve 12-16 hour drives. Ugh.
• Autopilot is The Bomb for hundreds of miles of mind-numbing interstate. I can see that they've improved it a bit since I got my car in July -- e.g. merging lanes still make it jumpy, but it doesn't dive over to the new lane like it used to. It still scares me sometimes, kinda like riding with a 15-yr-old driver. IMHO it waits way too long before turning when you enter a curve, which is nervous-making (especially if there's another vehicle in your way), but so far it hasn't killed me. I still don't trust it on really curvy roads, and I think they recommend not using it on roads like that.
• I'm frankly amazed how well AP sees the road. At one point I was driving in the rain after dark. **I** could barely see the lane, especially with oncoming car headlights reflecting off the wet road. I didn't think AP would be able to see, but it followed the lane like a champ. Damn impressive.
• The "keep your hands on the wheel" nag is a real pain. Really obnoxious. Sometimes it goes as long as 40 seconds between nags, but mostly it's 15 seconds. Which means it prodded me over TWO THOUSAND TIMES on the long day from CO to IA. Gets really ****ing old. Especially since you have to constantly watch for the alert out of the corner of your eye, and if you miss it, it penalizes you by disabling AP. Fortunately it's pretty quick/easy to fix, just annoying. I wish they would make it adaptive: if you respond quickly to the alerts (meaning you're paying attention), they should lengthen the nag interval.
• The navigation software needs a LOT of work. I got wrong directions several times -- Google Maps **NEVER** does that. Also, it doesn't give enough verbal warning for an upcoming turn. It often says "Now turn at XXX" when you should already be turning, without any warning to get in the right lane. It's also pretty bad at pronouncing street names. Like "enter-pis" for Enterprise, or worse. Weird thing is, it's not consistent. E.g. there's a Willox street near my house. It reads the name several times while negotiating the turn, and sometimes it says "Willox" and a minute later it says "Will oakes."
• I only got one mild phantom-brake on the first 900mi leg. But the car did NOT like Wyoming. I lost track but I think I had EIGHT major phantoms on the Devil's Tower - CO leg, mostly "full stomp on the brakes"-level events. Annoying, and dangerous if anyone's tailgating you.
• IMHO the auto hi-beams are dangerous. They're stupidly dangerously bright, and the auto system needs work. C'mon guys, cars don't just pop into and out of existence in front of you, so flicking the brights hi/lo/hi/lo/hi/lo is NEVER the right thing to do. But it does it a LOT. Also it often leaves the hi-beams on while meeting or following another car. I'm sure I blinded a lot of oncoming drivers, and I got flashed many times. They should drop to low-beams if they have any suspicion there's a car ahead, and KEEP them low until they're SURE there's no car ahead. I think the low-beams are as bright as the hi-beams on any car I've driven, so it's safe to keep them low if you're not sure. I would have driven with low beams the whole time, except Autopilot forces auto hi-beams. Several times I dropped out of AP because I felt bad about blinding other cars.
• I was surprised how much my mileage dropped on the trip. Driving around town I usually use about 250 Wh/mi. On the trip it took 340 Wh/mi. Obviously the air resistance at freeway speeds, and the lack of regen braking, really put a hurt on the efficiency. They've also jacked up the Supercharger rates -- I averaged $0.39/kWh. Between the two, the drive was significantly more $$ than I expected. Should be 0.34 kWh/mi * $0.39/kWh = $0.133/mi, and I actually saw about $0.165/mi. Home charging would be 0.25 kWh/mi * $0.135/kWh = $0.0335/mi, so Supercharging is currently about 5x more per mile than my home charging -- ouch. My Saab got about 30mpg on premium, which is currently about $4.20, so $4.20/gal / 30 mi/gal = $0.14/mi ? Current Supercharger rates are higher than gas !??

CAMPING:

• I need a bit more prep & equipment (better pads, better insulation, window covers), but overall it's fine. It's definitely not a luxe hotel, but it's a GREAT way to save $75-$100 or more per night!! I parked at an interstate rest stop, and I was surprised how little of the adjacent road noise came through.
• It's a bit cramped. I doubt there's room for two back there. Maybe smaller people could fit, but I'm 6'4". I slept diagonally a lot. I think I'm going to work out some boards to place under my pads/bag, extending over the rear footwell, so I can push the front seatbacks forward and get more length. Suggestions?
• It got to 28°F overnight, and Camp Mode only used about 10% of my charge. Camp Mode keeps it from freezing at night, but it does NOT keep it toasty. The air temp was chilly but OK but the walls of the car are cold. Not much of a problem on the sides, but my feet were forced down into the hatchback door, and it's cold down there! I'll have to stick a comforter or similar insulation down there to protect my feet.

Gary

 

[Electroman]

Thanks for the great report. It is known and understood that supercharging will be more expensive than home charging, but more expensive than gas is an eye opener. Not a show stopped as most charging is done at home, but it is going to put a dent on a few that are on the roads a lot.

Camping in subzero needs a lot of courage and blankets. Would love to learn the charge consumption at 45-50F, and at 75F (Texas summer nights). Do rest areas allows overnight parking? are they safe?

 

[Colorado Y]

Most states allow overnight parking/sleeping -- see e.g. Which States Allow Overnight Parking in Rest Areas? - Boondocker's Bible

Even the states that supposedly don't allow it, generally do. They don't want to disallow the "tired driver needs late-night rest" case. You can't pitch a tent, open the slides on an RV, stay for a week, etc. But pulling into the rest area in the evening and staying until the next morning, sleeping in your car -- basically nobody will bother you for that.

I have the exact mileage for my trip and I can get the SC charges from my card -- which BTW don't quite match what the SC reported. The first leg of my trip, not counting the last run (which didn't end at a SC), was 759 miles and $86.68. So that works out to $0.1156/mi. Better, but then the IA -> WY run was 675 miles and $112, so $0.166/mi. No idea why it's so different. There's a bit of uphill but not much. Maybe headwinds? So on the CO -> IA -> WY legs I averaged about $0.14/mi. Still comparable to gas.

 

[Earthsiege]

I have to agree with some of your points. I just got done early yesterday with a roughly 4000 mile roadtrip (WI - CA - WI).

• I actually didn't mind the long trip legs, but I was driving for roughly 24-ish hours straight each leg. Autopilot makes it really easy to do long stretches, especially with the supercharging time.
• Autopilot is absolutely amazing, though I have some complaints:
  • When switching lanes without FSD, you need to do so manually which is fine, but the real pain point is needing to re-engage Autopilot every single time.
  • After re-engaging Autopilot, you need to disable auto-high beams every single time, which leads into another point...
• Auto-high beams are awful. Simply awful. I felt embarrassed that this luxury-priced car is just so bad with how it handles auto-high beams. The car was constantly flashing them, to the point where people thought I was doing it to get them to turn theirs off, so I always disabled it after switching lanes and re-engaging Autopilot.
• I used to have issues with the car constantly pinging me to torque the wheel, but I found a reliable short-cut to make it stop. You need to position your hand at either the 4 or 8 o'clock positions on the wheel and just slightly pull the wheel to one side. This stops the car triggering the warning. I've found that it can actually be quite comfortable once you get used to it.
• I haven't had really any issues with the built-in navigation. If anything, I feel like it prompts for turns too often.
• Phantom braking is a real pain. Funnily enough, I expected driving at night to be the worst problem for phantom braking, but the car only ever did it in bright sunlight. It seems to be easily triggered by heat haze and cresting hills. I agree that it can be downright dangerous though. So much so that I would hover my foot over the "go" pedal whenever I had someone closer than a few car lengths behind me just in case.
• Supercharging is getting expensive, but still cheaper than gas in my experience, especially when you're out in California. I ended up saving a good amount of money not getting a rental car and just driving down. It's certainly more expensive than home charging though.

All that said, while I did camp in the car, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Camp Mode certainly used less energy than I expected at roughly 5% for 6 hours in 40 degree weather. It definitely is cramped if you're on the taller side. I'm 6'0" and had to sleep diagonally too. Hard to complain about it when you get comfortable though, especially when you consider the hotel savings.

One thing that I wish I knew beforehand was that Camp Mode doesn't shut off the screen as far as I could tell. I ended up putting it in screen cleaning mode so it would be at least mostly black. Let me know if there is some setting that I missed to do this.

 

[Earthsiege]

Do rest areas allows overnight parking? are they safe?

I've found that most, if not all, allow overnight parking and sleeping in the car. Of course, safety is all relative to where you are, but for the most part they're safe. The one thing I found a bit unsettling is just the thought that people could somewhat easily see you sleeping in the car. Once you get past that though, it's smooth sailing.

 

[Electroman]

I used to have issues with the car constantly pinging me to torque the wheel

I hope you are aware that scrolling either of the two small scroll wheels on the steering is enough to dispose off the nag, and you don't need to torque the wheel. I usually scroll the volume wheel.

Occasionally once in a blue moon the car will force you to torque the wheel but that happens after driving for several minutes. I have driven for over 20 minutes by just scrolling the volume wheel before being forced to torque the steering wheel.

 

[EVer Hopeful]

I hope you are aware that scrolling either of the two small scroll wheels on the steering is enough to dispose off the nag, and you don't need to torque the wheel. I usually scroll the volume wheel.

Good to know - I'll try that

 

[jschroebel]

I have to agree with some of your points. I just got done early yesterday with a roughly 4000 mile roadtrip (WI - CA - WI).

• I actually didn't mind the long trip legs, but I was driving for roughly 24-ish hours straight each leg. Autopilot makes it really easy to do long stretches, especially with the supercharging time.
• Autopilot is absolutely amazing, though I have some complaints:
  • When switching lanes without FSD, you need to do so manually which is fine, but the real pain point is needing to re-engage Autopilot every single time.
  • After re-engaging Autopilot, you need to disable auto-high beams every single time, which leads into another point...
• Auto-high beams are awful. Simply awful. I felt embarrassed that this luxury-priced car is just so bad with how it handles auto-high beams. The car was constantly flashing them, to the point where people thought I was doing it to get them to turn theirs off, so I always disabled it after switching lanes and re-engaging Autopilot.
• I used to have issues with the car constantly pinging me to torque the wheel, but I found a reliable short-cut to make it stop. You need to position your hand at either the 4 or 8 o'clock positions on the wheel and just slightly pull the wheel to one side. This stops the car triggering the warning. I've found that it can actually be quite comfortable once you get used to it.
• I haven't had really any issues with the built-in navigation. If anything, I feel like it prompts for turns too often.
• Phantom braking is a real pain. Funnily enough, I expected driving at night to be the worst problem for phantom braking, but the car only ever did it in bright sunlight. It seems to be easily triggered by heat haze and cresting hills. I agree that it can be downright dangerous though. So much so that I would hover my foot over the "go" pedal whenever I had someone closer than a few car lengths behind me just in case.
• Supercharging is getting expensive, but still cheaper than gas in my experience, especially when you're out in California. I ended up saving a good amount of money not getting a rental car and just driving down. It's certainly more expensive than home charging though.

All that said, while I did camp in the car, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Camp Mode certainly used less energy than I expected at roughly 5% for 6 hours in 40 degree weather. It definitely is cramped if you're on the taller side. I'm 6'0" and had to sleep diagonally too. Hard to complain about it when you get comfortable though, especially when you consider the hotel savings.

One thing that I wish I knew beforehand was that Camp Mode doesn't shut off the screen as far as I could tell. I ended up putting it in screen cleaning mode so it would be at least mostly black. Let me know if there is some setting that I missed to do this.

If you don’t touch the screen for 10-15 minutes while in Camp Mode, the screen shows a campfire for a little while and then eventually goes black. However, the screen doesn’t truly turn off - the backlight stays on. To get around this, I put the car in Camp Mode and then use the “Power Off” button (I think in the Service or Safety menu) to shut off the screen.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

... I gotta quit planning trips that involve 12-16 hour drives. Ugh.

Good report . Wifey and I do two AZ~Cape Cod~AZ runs a year (around 6,000 miles total). We are in our late 70s so have learned it is better (for us) to keep a day's travel down to not much over 500 miles. Just a matter of personal preference.

Rich

 

[Evpowerdan]

Not sure where to post this, hopefully this is OK ...

I just took my first road trip in my 2022 MYLR. I drove over 2100 miles in 3 one-day legs (900mi northern CO to NE IA, 720mi to Devil's Tower in NE WY, 350mi back to CO, plus day trips in IA), with a first experiment of sleeping in the car. Any comments or recommendations?

CAR:

• I was surprised how much my mileage dropped on the trip. Driving around town I usually use about 250 Wh/mi. On the trip it took 340 Wh/mi. Obviously the air resistance at freeway speeds, and the lack of regen braking, really put a hurt on the efficiency. They've also jacked up the Supercharger rates -- I averaged $0.39/kWh. Between the two, the drive was significantly more $$ than I expected. Should be 0.34 kWh/mi * $0.39/kWh = $0.133/mi, and I actually saw about $0.165/mi. Home charging would be 0.25 kWh/mi * $0.135/kWh = $0.0335/mi, so Supercharging is currently about 5x more per mile than my home charging -- ouch. My Saab got about 30mpg on premium, which is currently about $4.20, so $4.20/gal / 30 mi/gal = $0.14/mi ? Current Supercharger rates are higher than gas !??

Gary

Great summary.

Think the current break even is closer to 38-40mpg for a ICE vehicle, vs supercharging (Not home charging, as you were on a trip). The home charging and use of free level 2 charging at a lot of places locally when you are out and running errands makes the EV more cost efficient for energy usage.

Thus - if your M3 or MY Dual Motor could get 300 miles to a charge, based on a 77KWh usable battery and $0.39kWh = $210 for the trip.

A similar trip in a:
1) Hybrid ICE Vehicle for 2,100 miles @38mpg and $4.20 for gas = $232 for the trip.
2) Regular ICE Vehicle for 2,100 miles @28mpg and $4.20 for gas = $315 for the trip.
3) Regular ICE Vehicle for 2,100 miles @25mpg and $4.20 for gas = $353 for the trip.

Factors affecting both:
*As Gas prices rise, so will the cost of electric.
**Wind, terrain, load and temps also affect the ICE vehicle too.

 

[patnshan]

Nice write up. I agree 100% with auto high beams being trash and unsafe. Also, the maps aren't even remotely as good as other products available for some reason. That could be fixed with the flip of a switch if the narcisist in chief would allow it, but instituting Car Play.

 

[wadood]

Not sure where to post this, hopefully this is OK ...

I just took my first road trip in my 2022 MYLR. I drove over 2100 miles in 3 one-day legs (900mi northern CO to NE IA, 720mi to Devil's Tower in NE WY, 350mi back to CO, plus day trips in IA), with a first experiment of sleeping in the car. Any comments or recommendations?

CAR:

• I gotta quit planning trips that involve 12-16 hour drives. Ugh.
• Autopilot is The Bomb for hundreds of miles of mind-numbing interstate. I can see that they've improved it a bit since I got my car in July -- e.g. merging lanes still make it jumpy, but it doesn't dive over to the new lane like it used to. It still scares me sometimes, kinda like riding with a 15-yr-old driver. IMHO it waits way too long before turning when you enter a curve, which is nervous-making (especially if there's another vehicle in your way), but so far it hasn't killed me. I still don't trust it on really curvy roads, and I think they recommend not using it on roads like that.
• I'm frankly amazed how well AP sees the road. At one point I was driving in the rain after dark. **I** could barely see the lane, especially with oncoming car headlights reflecting off the wet road. I didn't think AP would be able to see, but it followed the lane like a champ. Damn impressive.
• The "keep your hands on the wheel" nag is a real pain. Really obnoxious. Sometimes it goes as long as 40 seconds between nags, but mostly it's 15 seconds. Which means it prodded me over TWO THOUSAND TIMES on the long day from CO to IA. Gets really ****ing old. Especially since you have to constantly watch for the alert out of the corner of your eye, and if you miss it, it penalizes you by disabling AP. Fortunately it's pretty quick/easy to fix, just annoying. I wish they would make it adaptive: if you respond quickly to the alerts (meaning you're paying attention), they should lengthen the nag interval.
• The navigation software needs a LOT of work. I got wrong directions several times -- Google Maps **NEVER** does that. Also, it doesn't give enough verbal warning for an upcoming turn. It often says "Now turn at XXX" when you should already be turning, without any warning to get in the right lane. It's also pretty bad at pronouncing street names. Like "enter-pis" for Enterprise, or worse. Weird thing is, it's not consistent. E.g. there's a Willox street near my house. It reads the name several times while negotiating the turn, and sometimes it says "Willox" and a minute later it says "Will oakes."
• I only got one mild phantom-brake on the first 900mi leg. But the car did NOT like Wyoming. I lost track but I think I had EIGHT major phantoms on the Devil's Tower - CO leg, mostly "full stomp on the brakes"-level events. Annoying, and dangerous if anyone's tailgating you.
• IMHO the auto hi-beams are dangerous. They're stupidly dangerously bright, and the auto system needs work. C'mon guys, cars don't just pop into and out of existence in front of you, so flicking the brights hi/lo/hi/lo/hi/lo is NEVER the right thing to do. But it does it a LOT. Also it often leaves the hi-beams on while meeting or following another car. I'm sure I blinded a lot of oncoming drivers, and I got flashed many times. They should drop to low-beams if they have any suspicion there's a car ahead, and KEEP them low until they're SURE there's no car ahead. I think the low-beams are as bright as the hi-beams on any car I've driven, so it's safe to keep them low if you're not sure. I would have driven with low beams the whole time, except Autopilot forces auto hi-beams. Several times I dropped out of AP because I felt bad about blinding other cars.
• I was surprised how much my mileage dropped on the trip. Driving around town I usually use about 250 Wh/mi. On the trip it took 340 Wh/mi. Obviously the air resistance at freeway speeds, and the lack of regen braking, really put a hurt on the efficiency. They've also jacked up the Supercharger rates -- I averaged $0.39/kWh. Between the two, the drive was significantly more $$ than I expected. Should be 0.34 kWh/mi * $0.39/kWh = $0.133/mi, and I actually saw about $0.165/mi. Home charging would be 0.25 kWh/mi * $0.135/kWh = $0.0335/mi, so Supercharging is currently about 5x more per mile than my home charging -- ouch. My Saab got about 30mpg on premium, which is currently about $4.20, so $4.20/gal / 30 mi/gal = $0.14/mi ? Current Supercharger rates are higher than gas !??

CAMPING:

• I need a bit more prep & equipment (better pads, better insulation, window covers), but overall it's fine. It's definitely not a luxe hotel, but it's a GREAT way to save $75-$100 or more per night!! I parked at an interstate rest stop, and I was surprised how little of the adjacent road noise came through.
• It's a bit cramped. I doubt there's room for two back there. Maybe smaller people could fit, but I'm 6'4". I slept diagonally a lot. I think I'm going to work out some boards to place under my pads/bag, extending over the rear footwell, so I can push the front seatbacks forward and get more length. Suggestions?
• It got to 28°F overnight, and Camp Mode only used about 10% of my charge. Camp Mode keeps it from freezing at night, but it does NOT keep it toasty. The air temp was chilly but OK but the walls of the car are cold. Not much of a problem on the sides, but my feet were forced down into the hatchback door, and it's cold down there! I'll have to stick a comforter or similar insulation down there to protect my feet.

Gary

Thanks for sharing. I plan to do a 4000 mile. I have done 1000 miles trip. Let me add my tidbits.

I have HeyTrip air mattress augmented by a thin layer of memory foam. I also have bought a headrest to fill up space between the mattress and the front seats if pushed all the way forwards, which gives me about 80 x 48 inches of sleeping area. Also, I have a small fridge and an oven.

I exclusively use Navigate on Auto Pilot on long drives. I drive hands free and learned to trust it. Before Tesla I have driven Open Pilot for 40K miles. These things will rarely (if ever) go off curve if there are proper painted lines. You have to be careful but I never ever interfere. So far it has driven me from NYC to Toronto twice with zero interventions. It handled all lane changes, exits, highway interchanges. Other than Toll booths or construction areas, I let it drive. The same for a trip to NYC to Washington D.C. and back.

I don’t care about what other drivers are thinking about my driving and I don’t compare my driving to FSD. For example, it takes Exit Ramps at higher speed than to my liking but I have learned to trust it.

Also, I have noticed that it does better on well-travelled Interstates even with lots of traffic compared to less travelled roads or obscure highways, so I prefer taking major interstates even if it adds some mileage to my journey. It may have something to do with machine learning.

I always sleep in Camp Mode while my car is tethered to a charger. There are no idling charges if more than 50% chargers are available. I never got charged for idling to date.

I used Eletrify America as well. I found out that 50% days of the time they were complimentary. Not sure why (or was I just lucky). At night sometimes Supercharger location does not have bathroom facility open, so in that case I’d go to non-Tesla chargers. Also, sleeping in TA or Sheetz parking lot with the charger is safer. You drive away with full charge.
However, when sleeping while charging just make sure that charges are not by the minute but by KWh. In Canada, they are by the minute.

 

[dachshund]

Great write-up! I sure hope Tesla fixes the auto high beam problem. Well, and phantom breaking. FSD has improved significantly in the last year so... fingers crossed.

 

[Colorado Y]

@Earthsiege you're a stronger man than I am to drive 24 hours. I used to drive to Iowa in my Saab, with just one quick stop for gas/pee/food in the middle -- long 13-14 hr day. Now I have to stop more often to charge, but the now-16-hr drive still wore me out. My old bones don't like the long day in the saddle.

@Evpowerdan I don't have actual charges for all my stops, since I got free charges from my brother. But approximating as close as I can (which should be pretty accurate), my numbers showed $0.39/kWh * 0.34 kWh/mi * 2120 mi = $281, not $200. For the 2100mi you used, it's $278.

Somebody (maybe in another thread?) pointed out that you can push the left stalk to kill the high-beams, even while on Autopilot. Good to know.

@wadood, thanks for mentioning Navigate on Autopilot! I didn't realize AP did that, even in Beta. I'll have to experiment with it.

Interesting that you don't get an idling fee while sleeping at a charger. I actually got hit with an idling fee (though they waived it since it's my "first offense") at a SC in Wyoming. There were 4 stalls, and I was the only one there. That seems ridiculous. Idle fees should only apply if you block someone from reaching a charger.

 

[wadood]

Another way to extend your stay at the charger is charge to 100%. That can also take a long while. My MYLR 22 takes over 40 minutes just to go from 99% to 100%. However, there are some chargers, designated as busy chargers, where it will tell you in advance that idling fee will be charged if you tried to charge over 80%.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Not sure where to post this, hopefully this is OK ...

I just took my first road trip in my 2022 MYLR. I drove over 2100 miles in 3 one-day legs (900mi northern CO to NE IA, 720mi to Devil's Tower in NE WY, 350mi back to CO, plus day trips in IA), with a first experiment of sleeping in the car. Any comments or recommendations?

CAR:

• I gotta quit planning trips that involve 12-16 hour drives. Ugh.
• Autopilot is The Bomb for hundreds of miles of mind-numbing interstate. I can see that they've improved it a bit since I got my car in July -- e.g. merging lanes still make it jumpy, but it doesn't dive over to the new lane like it used to. It still scares me sometimes, kinda like riding with a 15-yr-old driver. IMHO it waits way too long before turning when you enter a curve, which is nervous-making (especially if there's another vehicle in your way), but so far it hasn't killed me. I still don't trust it on really curvy roads, and I think they recommend not using it on roads like that.
• I'm frankly amazed how well AP sees the road. At one point I was driving in the rain after dark. **I** could barely see the lane, especially with oncoming car headlights reflecting off the wet road. I didn't think AP would be able to see, but it followed the lane like a champ. Damn impressive.
• The "keep your hands on the wheel" nag is a real pain. Really obnoxious. Sometimes it goes as long as 40 seconds between nags, but mostly it's 15 seconds. Which means it prodded me over TWO THOUSAND TIMES on the long day from CO to IA. Gets really ****ing old. Especially since you have to constantly watch for the alert out of the corner of your eye, and if you miss it, it penalizes you by disabling AP. Fortunately it's pretty quick/easy to fix, just annoying. I wish they would make it adaptive: if you respond quickly to the alerts (meaning you're paying attention), they should lengthen the nag interval.
• The navigation software needs a LOT of work. I got wrong directions several times -- Google Maps **NEVER** does that. Also, it doesn't give enough verbal warning for an upcoming turn. It often says "Now turn at XXX" when you should already be turning, without any warning to get in the right lane. It's also pretty bad at pronouncing street names. Like "enter-pis" for Enterprise, or worse. Weird thing is, it's not consistent. E.g. there's a Willox street near my house. It reads the name several times while negotiating the turn, and sometimes it says "Willox" and a minute later it says "Will oakes."
• I only got one mild phantom-brake on the first 900mi leg. But the car did NOT like Wyoming. I lost track but I think I had EIGHT major phantoms on the Devil's Tower - CO leg, mostly "full stomp on the brakes"-level events. Annoying, and dangerous if anyone's tailgating you.
• IMHO the auto hi-beams are dangerous. They're stupidly dangerously bright, and the auto system needs work. C'mon guys, cars don't just pop into and out of existence in front of you, so flicking the brights hi/lo/hi/lo/hi/lo is NEVER the right thing to do. But it does it a LOT. Also it often leaves the hi-beams on while meeting or following another car. I'm sure I blinded a lot of oncoming drivers, and I got flashed many times. They should drop to low-beams if they have any suspicion there's a car ahead, and KEEP them low until they're SURE there's no car ahead. I think the low-beams are as bright as the hi-beams on any car I've driven, so it's safe to keep them low if you're not sure. I would have driven with low beams the whole time, except Autopilot forces auto hi-beams. Several times I dropped out of AP because I felt bad about blinding other cars.
• I was surprised how much my mileage dropped on the trip. Driving around town I usually use about 250 Wh/mi. On the trip it took 340 Wh/mi. Obviously the air resistance at freeway speeds, and the lack of regen braking, really put a hurt on the efficiency. They've also jacked up the Supercharger rates -- I averaged $0.39/kWh. Between the two, the drive was significantly more $$ than I expected. Should be 0.34 kWh/mi * $0.39/kWh = $0.133/mi, and I actually saw about $0.165/mi. Home charging would be 0.25 kWh/mi * $0.135/kWh = $0.0335/mi, so Supercharging is currently about 5x more per mile than my home charging -- ouch. My Saab got about 30mpg on premium, which is currently about $4.20, so $4.20/gal / 30 mi/gal = $0.14/mi ? Current Supercharger rates are higher than gas !??

CAMPING:

• I need a bit more prep & equipment (better pads, better insulation, window covers), but overall it's fine. It's definitely not a luxe hotel, but it's a GREAT way to save $75-$100 or more per night!! I parked at an interstate rest stop, and I was surprised how little of the adjacent road noise came through.
• It's a bit cramped. I doubt there's room for two back there. Maybe smaller people could fit, but I'm 6'4". I slept diagonally a lot. I think I'm going to work out some boards to place under my pads/bag, extending over the rear footwell, so I can push the front seatbacks forward and get more length. Suggestions?
• It got to 28°F overnight, and Camp Mode only used about 10% of my charge. Camp Mode keeps it from freezing at night, but it does NOT keep it toasty. The air temp was chilly but OK but the walls of the car are cold. Not much of a problem on the sides, but my feet were forced down into the hatchback door, and it's cold down there! I'll have to stick a comforter or similar insulation down there to protect my feet.

Gary

View attachment 870671

If AP's nagging gets it shut off, just pull over, stop, put it in park, then resume driving.

 

[Evpowerdan]

@Earthsiege you're a stronger man than I am to drive 24 hours. I used to drive to Iowa in my Saab, with just one quick stop for gas/pee/food in the middle -- long 13-14 hr day. Now I have to stop more often to charge, but the now-16-hr drive still wore me out. My old bones don't like the long day in the saddle.

@Evpowerdan I don't have actual charges for all my stops, since I got free charges from my brother. But approximating as close as I can (which should be pretty accurate), my numbers showed $0.39/kWh * 0.34 kWh/mi * 2120 mi = $281, not $200. For the 2100mi you used, it's $278.

I presumed you could squeeze out 300mile on 77Kw battery. If you travel faster, hilly or wind - that would be lower kWh and similar negative affect to a gas vehicle.

13-14 hours in the saddle in one day - that's about 5 more than I like to attempt solo if not in a rush. I stop every 3ish hours - regardless of charging or gassing up. It help me maintain sanity and be ready for the nuts on the road.

 

[Colorado Y]

@MichaelP90DL yes that's the quick/easy fix I mentioned.

@Evpowerdan the way I calculated it was independent of battery size or range. I just determined the average I paid at Superchargers and the average Wh/mile. $/kWh * kWh/mile * miles produces $. The kWh and miles cancel out.

 

[AGNL]

Fabulous report, cant wait to get my hands on the car and do my own road trips. The wait is ridiculous!!

 

[Colorado Y]

@wadood Can you clarify: is Navigate on Autopilot part of the base configuration? Or do you have EAP or FSD? The Tesla site is a bit unclear but it looks like NoA is part of the $5000 EAP package.