First off I'd like to set a disclaimer that I'm just sharing my first road trip experience in the 60kwh model s. My results may not be the same for what you may experience due to many different factors such as speed, weather, traffic, etc. As always, your mileage may vary and always plan ahead and be cautious with your range and speed.
So my biggest concern when ordering my model s was the extra range with a 85kwh and 60kwh. I don't go on road trips that often as I don't like driving long distances so I went with the 60kwh. However, with the supercharger announcement few months ago, I couldn't lose out on the supercharger option ($2,000) with it costing more if I add it after delivery ($500 more). It's just too cool to be "able" to drive cross country for free. I ended up emailing my specialist to add it when my order was already in production. They added it last minute and there no problem changing it.
So I took my delivery about a month already and have put about 500 local miles on it. I've been planning my first road trip from San Jose to Las Vegas for some time. Planned everything on Google maps considering the distances between each supercharger station. I also did plenty of searching on the tesla motors forum and seems that people have made it to Vegas no problem on a 60kwh. So as time passed, I just decided to do it and don't look back. I definitely took precautions as I'll explain.
Here is my trim, options and my settings in the car as I started:
White 60kwh, tech package, air suspension, leather package, supercharger
69 degrees auto AC, manual fan speed, range mode on
Gilroy to Harris Ranch (7 SC chargers)
I didn't document the San Jose to Gilroy part since it was so short. But I max ranged it as it was my first trip and I just wanted the most mileage going into the trip. I ended up in Harris Ranch with about 85 miles left. Drove around 70-80mph, averaging around 75mph. However, we did have one problem when we arrived to Harris Ranch. When I plugged it in, it had an error saying "Unable to Supercharge. Option Not Configured.". At first I thought it was the charger so I tried other bays but it didn't work. I ended up calling the SC support and they had me try even the other SC across the street next to Subway. Nothing worked and they had to patch an engineer to help out. After about 5mins, they figured it was something wrong with my car and they had to remote into my car to fix it. By then it was lunchtime and I asked if I could leave the car there while I ate. They said yes and would call me back. After about 15mins, they called me back and said it was resolved. So I went back out and plugged it in and it worked! They didn't tell me the root cause but I assume it had something to do with adding the supercharger option late in the production cycle. It sucked that it didn't work but worked in Gilroy. Weird! But I'm glad it worked out in the end with an engineer being able to remote in via the net to fix my car within 30mins. Awesome support! By the way, I had the prime rib and it was amazing. But I was surprised more with the Harris Ranch Pale Ale. Loved the beer more than the meat. :smile:
Harris Ranch to Tejon Ranch (6 SC Chargers)
As I left Harris Ranch, I only standard charged it to 180 since it was only 116 miles to Tejon Ranch. With about a 60 extra rated miles, I went with the flow of the traffic on the fast lane and probably averaged 80mph which had a bigger impact on the ending range of about 36miles remaining. The conclusion here is that I lost about 20 or so extra miles by speeding more. Just an obvious and known observation as you can tell from the Wi/Mi at about 338. I figured keeping your Wi/Mi average at 300 or less will give you the exact or more rated miles on the screen. They have Chipotle and Yogurtland there which I love. I can eat Yogurtland all day and you can get a window seat to see all the people driving back checking out the station and cars. I also believe the station has solar panels on top but I couldn't get a clean look to verify. There also seems to be some damage on the roof drainage area. Maybe someone tried to hang on it?
Tejon Ranch to Barstow (4 SC Chargers)
I left Tejon Ranch with about 193 miles assuming 43 rate miles would be enough buffer. I followed the Garmin GPS way and it was a mistake. It was longer and less pleasant to drive as you have to go up that steep mountain right after Tejon Ranch and then cut across on 138, 14, then 58. As most other owners have stated, it's better to go the Google maps way which is going through Bear Mountain Road from 99 and then straight to 58. Going this way is also about 14 miles shorter which would have gave me more range going into Barstow.
Barstow to Las Vegas
Knowing that Las Vegas doesn't have a supercharger, I wanted to have as much extra range getting into the strip so I can find a public charger in case my first options were full. So I max charged the car and ended up taking a nap because it ended up taking 1hr 18mins to range charge it. As I left for Vegas, my goal was to get to one of the 220v chargers on the six floor Venetian public parking garage. Unfortunately, when I was about 60miles near Vegas, I got emergency alerts saying there were flash floods in the area and had to be cautious. I ended up driving right into the storm on the top of the summit and it was crazy. Sand storm, hail, high winds and heavy down pour. I eventually made it out going super slow and using regen to get energy back while others were braking at 40mph. When I finally got to Vegas, there were already two model s' parked at the Venetian chargers. A little bummed but luckily I had about 40miles still so I could've drove to my other alternate spots in City Center valet or Aria valet. But luckily, there was still a roadster spot with two hidden 110v charger. Since I wasn't going to drive the car in Vegas for a few days, I decided to just leave it to slow charge there. I got about 4mi/hr which is not entirely bad when you consider you get about 32mi overnight. I ended up range charging it for about 3 days with no problems.
Conclusion
The return trip was pretty much the same with much less range charging since I took the shorter route from Barstow to Tejon Ranch using 58 and Bear Mountain Road. Also, don't take the back road that the Garmin GPS tells you to take from the Barstow station to Tejon. That road is closed. Just hop back on 15 and then get on the 58 instead. Overall, I don't think I needed to range charge at all as long as you keep your Wi/Mi 300 or under. And yes it takes a lot of cruise control at 70-75mph and means lots of lane changing. But I find going 80+ doesn't give you that much extra time and plus your range drops significantly. But of course, some drivers can't stand going speed limit or not being in the fast lane all the time. In that case, I recommend max charging every time if you don't want to care about your speed but I don't think that guarantees you make it still. YMMV and be cautious. And my final statement would be that the 60kwh can do road trips and I think Tesla has strategically placed Supercharger stations at 150miles or less between stations so that a 60kwh would make it with standard charging and obey speed limits with 5 miles variance or so. And would I do it again? Probably not until they release version 2.0 120kw chargers instead of the current 90kw chargers. Waiting 40+ mins takes just too long and took me over 11 hrs to get to Vegas. I even heard that the goal was to get it to 5mins which then I would definitely not mind to drive long distance in the S again.
Pros
Free electricity from SC
Pass anyone, anytime on long highways
Variety of music from internet radio for long trips
Cheapest way to travel if you don't factor in time
Eating at Harris Ranch and having Harris Ranch Pale Ale
Rated miles is pretty accurate if you keep your Wi/Mi at 300 or less
Plenty of chargers at Harris Ranch, Tejon Ranch
Yogurtland at Tejon Ranch!
Cons
Wear and tear on tires
Cannot drive the fastest on the freeway in a 60kwh
Internet radio cuts out in non-3G areas
Supercharging adds too much time to your already long trip
Seats not comfortable for long distance driving
Car gets super dirty after a 1000+ mile road trip through the dessert and thunderstorm
GPS not provided the shortest path from Barstow to Tejon Ranch
Cruise control is not adaptive like other high end cars which is very useful on long highways with traffic
Every two chargers share one power source and first car there gets 70% and second car gets 30% until the first car is done
Not enough chargers at Gilroy and Barstow
Car had a tire pressure error temporarily but went away
Car had a supercharger fault error at Harris Ranch and unlocked my car by itself!
Side Note:
60kwh charges at a slower voltage and amperage than the 85kwh.
Fastest I've seen it go was 204 mi/hr, 321v, 212amps. 85kwh I heard goes about 380v and 260amps?
So my biggest concern when ordering my model s was the extra range with a 85kwh and 60kwh. I don't go on road trips that often as I don't like driving long distances so I went with the 60kwh. However, with the supercharger announcement few months ago, I couldn't lose out on the supercharger option ($2,000) with it costing more if I add it after delivery ($500 more). It's just too cool to be "able" to drive cross country for free. I ended up emailing my specialist to add it when my order was already in production. They added it last minute and there no problem changing it.
So I took my delivery about a month already and have put about 500 local miles on it. I've been planning my first road trip from San Jose to Las Vegas for some time. Planned everything on Google maps considering the distances between each supercharger station. I also did plenty of searching on the tesla motors forum and seems that people have made it to Vegas no problem on a 60kwh. So as time passed, I just decided to do it and don't look back. I definitely took precautions as I'll explain.
Here is my trim, options and my settings in the car as I started:
White 60kwh, tech package, air suspension, leather package, supercharger
69 degrees auto AC, manual fan speed, range mode on
Gilroy to Harris Ranch (7 SC chargers)
I didn't document the San Jose to Gilroy part since it was so short. But I max ranged it as it was my first trip and I just wanted the most mileage going into the trip. I ended up in Harris Ranch with about 85 miles left. Drove around 70-80mph, averaging around 75mph. However, we did have one problem when we arrived to Harris Ranch. When I plugged it in, it had an error saying "Unable to Supercharge. Option Not Configured.". At first I thought it was the charger so I tried other bays but it didn't work. I ended up calling the SC support and they had me try even the other SC across the street next to Subway. Nothing worked and they had to patch an engineer to help out. After about 5mins, they figured it was something wrong with my car and they had to remote into my car to fix it. By then it was lunchtime and I asked if I could leave the car there while I ate. They said yes and would call me back. After about 15mins, they called me back and said it was resolved. So I went back out and plugged it in and it worked! They didn't tell me the root cause but I assume it had something to do with adding the supercharger option late in the production cycle. It sucked that it didn't work but worked in Gilroy. Weird! But I'm glad it worked out in the end with an engineer being able to remote in via the net to fix my car within 30mins. Awesome support! By the way, I had the prime rib and it was amazing. But I was surprised more with the Harris Ranch Pale Ale. Loved the beer more than the meat. :smile:
| Starting Range | Ending Range | Distance | KwH Used | Wi/Mi | Mi/KwH |
| 207 | 85 | 112.1 | 34.6 | 309 | 3.24 |
Harris Ranch to Tejon Ranch (6 SC Chargers)
As I left Harris Ranch, I only standard charged it to 180 since it was only 116 miles to Tejon Ranch. With about a 60 extra rated miles, I went with the flow of the traffic on the fast lane and probably averaged 80mph which had a bigger impact on the ending range of about 36miles remaining. The conclusion here is that I lost about 20 or so extra miles by speeding more. Just an obvious and known observation as you can tell from the Wi/Mi at about 338. I figured keeping your Wi/Mi average at 300 or less will give you the exact or more rated miles on the screen. They have Chipotle and Yogurtland there which I love. I can eat Yogurtland all day and you can get a window seat to see all the people driving back checking out the station and cars. I also believe the station has solar panels on top but I couldn't get a clean look to verify. There also seems to be some damage on the roof drainage area. Maybe someone tried to hang on it?
| Starting Range | Ending Range | Distance | KwH Used | Wi/Mi | Mi/KwH |
| 180 | 36 | 116.4 | 39.3 | 338 | 2.96 |
Tejon Ranch to Barstow (4 SC Chargers)
I left Tejon Ranch with about 193 miles assuming 43 rate miles would be enough buffer. I followed the Garmin GPS way and it was a mistake. It was longer and less pleasant to drive as you have to go up that steep mountain right after Tejon Ranch and then cut across on 138, 14, then 58. As most other owners have stated, it's better to go the Google maps way which is going through Bear Mountain Road from 99 and then straight to 58. Going this way is also about 14 miles shorter which would have gave me more range going into Barstow.
| Starting Range | Ending Range | Distance | KwH Used | Wi/Mi | Mi/KwH |
| 193 | 30 | 150.4 | 45.2 | 301 | 3.33 |
Barstow to Las Vegas
Knowing that Las Vegas doesn't have a supercharger, I wanted to have as much extra range getting into the strip so I can find a public charger in case my first options were full. So I max charged the car and ended up taking a nap because it ended up taking 1hr 18mins to range charge it. As I left for Vegas, my goal was to get to one of the 220v chargers on the six floor Venetian public parking garage. Unfortunately, when I was about 60miles near Vegas, I got emergency alerts saying there were flash floods in the area and had to be cautious. I ended up driving right into the storm on the top of the summit and it was crazy. Sand storm, hail, high winds and heavy down pour. I eventually made it out going super slow and using regen to get energy back while others were braking at 40mph. When I finally got to Vegas, there were already two model s' parked at the Venetian chargers. A little bummed but luckily I had about 40miles still so I could've drove to my other alternate spots in City Center valet or Aria valet. But luckily, there was still a roadster spot with two hidden 110v charger. Since I wasn't going to drive the car in Vegas for a few days, I decided to just leave it to slow charge there. I got about 4mi/hr which is not entirely bad when you consider you get about 32mi overnight. I ended up range charging it for about 3 days with no problems.
| Starting Range | Ending Range | Distance | KwH Used | Wi/Mi | Mi/KwH |
| 207 | 43 | 157 | 44.2 | 282 | 3.55 |
Conclusion
The return trip was pretty much the same with much less range charging since I took the shorter route from Barstow to Tejon Ranch using 58 and Bear Mountain Road. Also, don't take the back road that the Garmin GPS tells you to take from the Barstow station to Tejon. That road is closed. Just hop back on 15 and then get on the 58 instead. Overall, I don't think I needed to range charge at all as long as you keep your Wi/Mi 300 or under. And yes it takes a lot of cruise control at 70-75mph and means lots of lane changing. But I find going 80+ doesn't give you that much extra time and plus your range drops significantly. But of course, some drivers can't stand going speed limit or not being in the fast lane all the time. In that case, I recommend max charging every time if you don't want to care about your speed but I don't think that guarantees you make it still. YMMV and be cautious. And my final statement would be that the 60kwh can do road trips and I think Tesla has strategically placed Supercharger stations at 150miles or less between stations so that a 60kwh would make it with standard charging and obey speed limits with 5 miles variance or so. And would I do it again? Probably not until they release version 2.0 120kw chargers instead of the current 90kw chargers. Waiting 40+ mins takes just too long and took me over 11 hrs to get to Vegas. I even heard that the goal was to get it to 5mins which then I would definitely not mind to drive long distance in the S again.
Pros
Free electricity from SC
Pass anyone, anytime on long highways
Variety of music from internet radio for long trips
Cheapest way to travel if you don't factor in time
Eating at Harris Ranch and having Harris Ranch Pale Ale
Rated miles is pretty accurate if you keep your Wi/Mi at 300 or less
Plenty of chargers at Harris Ranch, Tejon Ranch
Yogurtland at Tejon Ranch!
Cons
Wear and tear on tires
Cannot drive the fastest on the freeway in a 60kwh
Internet radio cuts out in non-3G areas
Supercharging adds too much time to your already long trip
Seats not comfortable for long distance driving
Car gets super dirty after a 1000+ mile road trip through the dessert and thunderstorm
GPS not provided the shortest path from Barstow to Tejon Ranch
Cruise control is not adaptive like other high end cars which is very useful on long highways with traffic
Every two chargers share one power source and first car there gets 70% and second car gets 30% until the first car is done
Not enough chargers at Gilroy and Barstow
Car had a tire pressure error temporarily but went away
Car had a supercharger fault error at Harris Ranch and unlocked my car by itself!
Side Note:
60kwh charges at a slower voltage and amperage than the 85kwh.
Fastest I've seen it go was 204 mi/hr, 321v, 212amps. 85kwh I heard goes about 380v and 260amps?
