Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to share my experience of my very first long driving trip (gas or electric) from Vaughan, Ontario to Miami Florida. The reason for the trip was to board a week long cruise.
Apologies in advanced as I did not really do a good job logging all the car data during the trip.
I hope my experience here will help any other fellow Tesla owners thinking about doing the drive.
The Car:
2017 Model X 75D with 20" Continental tires.
Firmware 2018.10.4
Settings:
- Range mode enabled
- Chill mode enabled
- Auto lower from "standard" height to "lower" height when hitting 100 km/h
The Passengers:
2 adults
2 kids
The Load:
3 Piece luggage: https://multimedia.bbycastatic.ca/multimedia/products/500x500/104/10450/10450157.jpg
2 kids luggage (hello kitty and spiderman)
2 duffle bags
1 water cooler and small bags with snacks.
The Plan:
After scouring the internet for which trip planner to use, I settled with abetterrouteplanner.com. It was easier for me to use. I also scoured these forums on tips regarding the route to take down to Miami and I settled with the I-75 route going through Detroit mainly due to lack of traffic and was apparently a scenic route (it was).
Consumption:
I did some planning using abetterrouteplanner.com setting the consumption at 260 wH/km. For the most part it was accurate. During the drive I would adjust the consumption and update the plan as to what I was actually getting using the web browser but as I continued on with my drive, I just found myself using the on board Tesla navigation and just made sure I had 25% battery state of charge at the next super charger. I would driver between 5 - 10 mph over the speed limit and arrive around 10-12% battery state of charge at the destination.
For those route where I skipped super chargers I kept it at the speed limit and drove behind trailers (TACC and AP is awesome for this) until I got closer to the destination.
The Drive:
We tried to stay on schedule as to when to leave the chargers but we took our time and ended up going over the amount of charge needed to get to the next destination.
Vaughan to Miami:
Wednesday April 11
Vaughan - Departed at around 9 pm
Woodstock, Ontario SC
Thursday April 12
Comber, Ontario SC - It was around 12:30 am when we arrived here.
** Note - The I-75 in Detroit is under construction. Luckily I was aware of this ahead of time and planned a route around this:
Cross Detroit border -> I-94 East - > I-275 South - > I-75 South
Toledo, Ohio SC
Lima , OhioSC
Cincinnati / Blue Ash, Ohio SC - I remember it was around 7 am when we arrived.
Lexington, Kentucky SC - Had breakfast here so charged to 100%. As a result, we skipped the following charger (London, KY)....but that may not have been a good idea as I did not know that this route included a huge incline. Being worried about my range, I was driving behind trailers to minimize the range loss. I was able to make it to the next stop with 12% state of charge.
Knoxville, Tennessee SC - Had lunch here and charged to 100%. We were going to skip the next charger.....but halfway through my son had to go to the bathroom asap...resulted in us taking the next exit and looking for a restroom, which was further from the highway than we wanted. Due to the experience we had in our previous attempt to skipping a charger and not knowing how the route was ahead of us we decided to not skip the next charger to be safe.
Chattanooga, Tennessee SC - Met a nice fellow Tesla owner there. Shout to Chip from Tennessee!
Atlanta, Georgia SC - 9pm had dinner here, charged to 100% . Skipped next charger (Macon, Georgia). This was where the fatigue started kicking in.
Friday April 13
Tifton, Georgia SC - arrived 12:30 am, stayed at the Days Inn across the street. I actually didn't get to bed until 2 am as I had to charge the car to 95% so that we can continue on the next morning. We left the hotel around 7:30 am.
Lake City, Florida SC
Ocala, Florida SC - Had lunch, charged to 100%. Skipped next charger (Turkey Lake).
Fort Drum, Florida SC - Charged to 100% so that we can go directly to our final destination.
Double Tree by Hilton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida across from Sawgrass Mills Mall. We actually went to the Cheescake Factory at the mall first before checking into the Hotel. We arrived at Cheescake around 6pm. Walked around the Mall and played in the arcade. Checked in at the hotel around 10pm or so. I chose this hotel as it has 2 destination chargers. 1 Tesla wall charger and 1 GE J1772. Both were available upon arrival. I charged it all the way to 100% for the drive the next day to our final destination.
Saturday April 14
Port of Miami - Arrive around 11am. I had 82% state of charge. Since we will be leaving the car in the parking garage for a week (Parking garage G, $150 US a week) I set the energy saving setting turned on and unchecked "Always connected". Boarded the cruise (MSC Seaside) and had fun for a week.
Miami to Vaughan:
Saturday April 21
Port of Miami - Departed around 8 am.
The X had a state of charge of 76%.
Riviera Beach, Florida SC - Had to charge here for a bit as we wanted to stop by the local Costco to pick up some snacks to eat on our trip back up.
Fort Drum, Florida SC - Had lunch here, charged to 100%
Ocala,Florida SC
Lake City, Florida SC
Tifton, Georgia SC - Arrived 6pm. Ate dinner at the Olive garden and spent the night at the Days Inn across the street. Left around 7:30 am the next morning.
Sunday April 22
Macon, Georgia SC - We had skipped this charger on our way down, but this time we couldn't skip it as for the rest of our trip up, we were being hammered by heavy rain.
Atlanta, Georgia SC - Ate lunch , charged to 100%. Hoping to skip next charger but the heavy rain wouldn't allow us.
Chattanooga, Tennessee SC
Knoxville, Tennessee SC - Charged to 100% here as the wife wanted to do some shopping at the Super Target and Ross.
London, Kentucky - Ate dinner here at Cheddar Scratch and stayed overnight at the Fairfiled Inn. Left the next morning at 8am.
Monday April 23
Lexington, Kentucky - Was going to skip this charger, but once again the heavy rain was still present and didn't allow us.
Cincinnati / Blu Ash SC
Lima, Ohio - Decided to charge to 100% here as we noticed the heavy rain was gone and wanted to skip the next charger (Toledo, Ohio).
Comber, Ontario SC - Had dinner here (A&W), charged to 100%
Cambridge, Ontario SC
Arrival: Vaughan, Ontario - 9pm.
Overall thoughts:
My only regret is doing the overnight driving from Vaughan all the way down to Tifton as it seems that I am not made for the type of long driving. Having 2 kids, my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to do an overnight drive so that the kids are asleep while we're driving. This turned out to be a bad idea. Not because of the kids, but the fatigue that occurs the next night between Atlanta to Tifton. Maybe other drivers could handle it, but for me I would not be doing that again as I found myself falling asleep at the wheel. Sure I had autopilot taking care of keeping me in the lanes, but as we all know its absolutely not perfect and would prefer to be awake.
That being said, I'm glad I opted for the enhance autopilot package for my X. I would estimate it did 80% of the driving all the way down to Miami. It made the drive much more enjoyable. Not only did I not feel tired during the drive (apart from my lack of sleep fatigue), but I found that I was more aware of my surroundings as I was able to scan around my car making sure these trailers don't cross over to my lane. It also helps me spot the highway troopers looking for speeders hehe.
Full disclosure: I had my own auto pilot hack (cell phone armband holder, except instead of a cell phone in the holder it had a bunch of small wrenches to make it heavy lol) to keep the reminders to a minimum, though I did remove it once I started to feel the lack of sleep fatigue creeping in.
The biggest surprise I found during the trip was how my kids handled it. I was worried my kids would be super restless but with the combination of snacks, ipads and frequent supercharging stops, they were actually pretty behaved and did not give me much problems.
I enjoyed my first attempt at long driving to Florida. It's now given me confidence to do more long driving to different destinations. I was never a fan of long driving but that's now changed all thanks to this car. I'm now actually trying to figure out where to go next!
Just wanted to share my experience of my very first long driving trip (gas or electric) from Vaughan, Ontario to Miami Florida. The reason for the trip was to board a week long cruise.
Apologies in advanced as I did not really do a good job logging all the car data during the trip.
I hope my experience here will help any other fellow Tesla owners thinking about doing the drive.
The Car:
2017 Model X 75D with 20" Continental tires.
Firmware 2018.10.4
Settings:
- Range mode enabled
- Chill mode enabled
- Auto lower from "standard" height to "lower" height when hitting 100 km/h
The Passengers:
2 adults
2 kids
The Load:
3 Piece luggage: https://multimedia.bbycastatic.ca/multimedia/products/500x500/104/10450/10450157.jpg
2 kids luggage (hello kitty and spiderman)
2 duffle bags
1 water cooler and small bags with snacks.
The Plan:
After scouring the internet for which trip planner to use, I settled with abetterrouteplanner.com. It was easier for me to use. I also scoured these forums on tips regarding the route to take down to Miami and I settled with the I-75 route going through Detroit mainly due to lack of traffic and was apparently a scenic route (it was).
Consumption:
I did some planning using abetterrouteplanner.com setting the consumption at 260 wH/km. For the most part it was accurate. During the drive I would adjust the consumption and update the plan as to what I was actually getting using the web browser but as I continued on with my drive, I just found myself using the on board Tesla navigation and just made sure I had 25% battery state of charge at the next super charger. I would driver between 5 - 10 mph over the speed limit and arrive around 10-12% battery state of charge at the destination.
For those route where I skipped super chargers I kept it at the speed limit and drove behind trailers (TACC and AP is awesome for this) until I got closer to the destination.
The Drive:
We tried to stay on schedule as to when to leave the chargers but we took our time and ended up going over the amount of charge needed to get to the next destination.
Vaughan to Miami:
Wednesday April 11
Vaughan - Departed at around 9 pm
Woodstock, Ontario SC
Thursday April 12
Comber, Ontario SC - It was around 12:30 am when we arrived here.
** Note - The I-75 in Detroit is under construction. Luckily I was aware of this ahead of time and planned a route around this:
Cross Detroit border -> I-94 East - > I-275 South - > I-75 South
Toledo, Ohio SC
Lima , OhioSC
Cincinnati / Blue Ash, Ohio SC - I remember it was around 7 am when we arrived.
Lexington, Kentucky SC - Had breakfast here so charged to 100%. As a result, we skipped the following charger (London, KY)....but that may not have been a good idea as I did not know that this route included a huge incline. Being worried about my range, I was driving behind trailers to minimize the range loss. I was able to make it to the next stop with 12% state of charge.
Knoxville, Tennessee SC - Had lunch here and charged to 100%. We were going to skip the next charger.....but halfway through my son had to go to the bathroom asap...resulted in us taking the next exit and looking for a restroom, which was further from the highway than we wanted. Due to the experience we had in our previous attempt to skipping a charger and not knowing how the route was ahead of us we decided to not skip the next charger to be safe.
Chattanooga, Tennessee SC - Met a nice fellow Tesla owner there. Shout to Chip from Tennessee!
Atlanta, Georgia SC - 9pm had dinner here, charged to 100% . Skipped next charger (Macon, Georgia). This was where the fatigue started kicking in.
Friday April 13
Tifton, Georgia SC - arrived 12:30 am, stayed at the Days Inn across the street. I actually didn't get to bed until 2 am as I had to charge the car to 95% so that we can continue on the next morning. We left the hotel around 7:30 am.
Lake City, Florida SC
Ocala, Florida SC - Had lunch, charged to 100%. Skipped next charger (Turkey Lake).
Fort Drum, Florida SC - Charged to 100% so that we can go directly to our final destination.
Double Tree by Hilton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida across from Sawgrass Mills Mall. We actually went to the Cheescake Factory at the mall first before checking into the Hotel. We arrived at Cheescake around 6pm. Walked around the Mall and played in the arcade. Checked in at the hotel around 10pm or so. I chose this hotel as it has 2 destination chargers. 1 Tesla wall charger and 1 GE J1772. Both were available upon arrival. I charged it all the way to 100% for the drive the next day to our final destination.
Saturday April 14
Port of Miami - Arrive around 11am. I had 82% state of charge. Since we will be leaving the car in the parking garage for a week (Parking garage G, $150 US a week) I set the energy saving setting turned on and unchecked "Always connected". Boarded the cruise (MSC Seaside) and had fun for a week.
Miami to Vaughan:
Saturday April 21
Port of Miami - Departed around 8 am.
The X had a state of charge of 76%.
Riviera Beach, Florida SC - Had to charge here for a bit as we wanted to stop by the local Costco to pick up some snacks to eat on our trip back up.
Fort Drum, Florida SC - Had lunch here, charged to 100%
Ocala,Florida SC
Lake City, Florida SC
Tifton, Georgia SC - Arrived 6pm. Ate dinner at the Olive garden and spent the night at the Days Inn across the street. Left around 7:30 am the next morning.
Sunday April 22
Macon, Georgia SC - We had skipped this charger on our way down, but this time we couldn't skip it as for the rest of our trip up, we were being hammered by heavy rain.
Atlanta, Georgia SC - Ate lunch , charged to 100%. Hoping to skip next charger but the heavy rain wouldn't allow us.
Chattanooga, Tennessee SC
Knoxville, Tennessee SC - Charged to 100% here as the wife wanted to do some shopping at the Super Target and Ross.
London, Kentucky - Ate dinner here at Cheddar Scratch and stayed overnight at the Fairfiled Inn. Left the next morning at 8am.
Monday April 23
Lexington, Kentucky - Was going to skip this charger, but once again the heavy rain was still present and didn't allow us.
Cincinnati / Blu Ash SC
Lima, Ohio - Decided to charge to 100% here as we noticed the heavy rain was gone and wanted to skip the next charger (Toledo, Ohio).
Comber, Ontario SC - Had dinner here (A&W), charged to 100%
Cambridge, Ontario SC
Arrival: Vaughan, Ontario - 9pm.
Overall thoughts:
My only regret is doing the overnight driving from Vaughan all the way down to Tifton as it seems that I am not made for the type of long driving. Having 2 kids, my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to do an overnight drive so that the kids are asleep while we're driving. This turned out to be a bad idea. Not because of the kids, but the fatigue that occurs the next night between Atlanta to Tifton. Maybe other drivers could handle it, but for me I would not be doing that again as I found myself falling asleep at the wheel. Sure I had autopilot taking care of keeping me in the lanes, but as we all know its absolutely not perfect and would prefer to be awake.
That being said, I'm glad I opted for the enhance autopilot package for my X. I would estimate it did 80% of the driving all the way down to Miami. It made the drive much more enjoyable. Not only did I not feel tired during the drive (apart from my lack of sleep fatigue), but I found that I was more aware of my surroundings as I was able to scan around my car making sure these trailers don't cross over to my lane. It also helps me spot the highway troopers looking for speeders hehe.
Full disclosure: I had my own auto pilot hack (cell phone armband holder, except instead of a cell phone in the holder it had a bunch of small wrenches to make it heavy lol) to keep the reminders to a minimum, though I did remove it once I started to feel the lack of sleep fatigue creeping in.
The biggest surprise I found during the trip was how my kids handled it. I was worried my kids would be super restless but with the combination of snacks, ipads and frequent supercharging stops, they were actually pretty behaved and did not give me much problems.
I enjoyed my first attempt at long driving to Florida. It's now given me confidence to do more long driving to different destinations. I was never a fan of long driving but that's now changed all thanks to this car. I'm now actually trying to figure out where to go next!
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