Savannah SC to/from St. Augustine SC -- real life experiences?

[HankLloydRight]

I'm making a trip down to Florida next week and back.. and noticed the distance between Savannah and St. Augustine is about 170 miles. If I add my customary 25% charging buffer, that brings it up to 213 expected rated miles. Doesn't leave much for unexpected elements. I'd expect to (almost) range charge to about 250 RM at each starting point.

EVtripplanner says it's about 60kWh each way. I've done a bunch of trips on the SC Highway last year..but never one with this big of a leg.

What is weather and traffic generally like on this stretch?

Or is this a "no problem at all" stretch in most cases?

Thanks.

 

[Kalud]

On the east coast, beside Albany to Montreal it is the longest stretch but temperature is much warmer than the northeast

I did it twice (round trip) and I had a Thule box + 6 passengers and every available space filled with luggage. I had no issue with a 85kWh battery pack as you have.

I was using a 1.3 factor on real km to rated range km, and it always gave me some buffer. Distance is 171mi so I left with a rated range of 171 x 1.3 = 222mi. I think I arrived pretty empty on my way back (arriving to Savannah) but you have plenty of distance to gauge your actual buffer and adjust speed. I don't recall going slower than traffic at any moment.

You should be alright.

 

[HankLloydRight]

So great, thanks!

I'll be two people one way, one person the way back and moderate, but not nearly full, luggage.

 

[linkster]

HLR

Tripped it on Xmas day, but with warm temps and no rain. Left Savannah with approx 92%, cruised 65moh for 1st 85 miles and then 70+ for second 85 miles and of course monitoring energy usage/projected cushion the entire leg. I try to arrive with a cushion of approx 40+ when traveling as I am not one to arrive with a only a handful of miles of range showing only to spend more time charging. Be careful on return trip as the nav wanted me to take rt.10 to the JAX beaches (glad I was driving).


btw, I keep a 12v blanket in the S to conserve climate heat if necessary

Have fun!

 

[Cottonwood]

This stretch really needs a site in the middle. I would prefer Brunswick, GA, but according to the Tesla 2015 map, it looks like a Supercharger is going in at Jacksonville, FL.

 

[pgiralt]

I've been through this route a few times. Last time I ended up staying overnight in Savannah, so I charged to 250, but other times I've charged to around 220 - 225 just to be safe.

 

[andrewket]

HLR

Tripped it on Xmas day, but with warm temps and no rain. Left Savannah with approx 92%, cruised 65moh for 1st 85 miles and then 70+ for second 85 miles and of course monitoring energy usage/projected cushion the entire leg. I try to arrive with a cushion of approx 40+ when traveling as I am not one to arrive with a only a handful of miles of range showing only to spend more time charging. Be careful on return trip as the nav wanted me to take rt.10 to the JAX beaches (glad I was driving).


btw, I keep a 12v blanket in the S to conserve climate heat if necessary

Have fun!

To each is own, but up to ~80% soc you can charge faster than you can drive. Driving as fast as you can and arriving with the lowest SOC will yield the fastest trip.

 

[jrreno]

I have done 4 trips this year to the north and this leg is always on the itinerary. I like to give myself a 50 mile buffer and this leg is never a problem. I usually arrive having used 190 rated miles. I drive on cruise at 75 mph. The only caution I would have is this area of the country can have some pretty intense rainstorms usually in the form of a cloudburst. You will want to slow down considerably or stop ( pull off an exit if you do) just to deal with driving safely. Rain can have a negative impact on your range but if you slow down for it anyway it should not matter a lot. The good news is the rain is usually short lived.
Overall its a pretty easy drive.
Oh and and I usually take the 295 bypass, its part of the 171 mile google estimate.

 

[Ven Rala]

I just did this trip 3 weeks ago in a 60. I did charge to 100% at savannah and drove conservatively at 65mph and got there with a few miles to spare. It was pretty cold most of the time high 30s/low 40s.

 

[paulkva]

This stretch really needs a site in the middle. I would prefer Brunswick, GA, but according to the Tesla 2015 map, it looks like a Supercharger is going in at Jacksonville, FL.

A Jacksonville supercharger would allow you to easily skip St Augustine and go straight to Port Orange, which i think is an easier stop on a busy shopping day. (Though Brunswick probably would as well., at least for the 85kWh battery.)

I made the trip in August with 4 of us and 2 weeks worth of luggage, charged to ~225 rated miles each way, and had no problem. Southbound we ended up staying overnight in Jacksonville and plugging into a hotel 120V outlet, but even without that we would've made it easily.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Thanks everyone... We're hitting the for the first leg tomorrow.

 

[Mnlevin]

Thanks everyone... We're hitting the for the first leg tomorrow.

I have made the round trip from Fl to Ma. Plan your trip and avoid the Edison charger. A nightmare getting on and off the NJT and easy to get lost. Plan out. Also, do everything to avoid going from DC to Fredricksburg between 3 and 8pm. It can be a log jam. Would even consider going Salisbury-Plymouth route. I mapped it out and the distance that way vs I95 from Newark is almost exactly the same, but I am sure you will avoid a lot of traffic. It is 223 miles between Salsibury and Plymouth, but there is a guy in Norfolk that offers his HPWC on Plugshare if you get close and there are some other 1772 available. The SC in Rocky Mt is in the parking lot of a nice hotel, also I saw there is a hotel at Plymouth if you wanted to stop there. Without the DC traffic you could get to Rocky Mt by 8-9 pm in 1 day. Good Luck. BTW I had a MS 60 on that trip and did the Savannah = SA with no problems at all. Charged to 197 and still had 20 miles left. I found with the 60 at 70mph I was getting just about 1-1 miles, but then again it was in the summer, you have a whole different situation this time of year. So in retrospect you may want to stay on I95. :wink:

 

[HankLloydRight]

I have made the round trip from Fl to Ma. Plan your trip and avoid the Edison charger. A nightmare getting on and off the NJT and easy to get lost. Plan out. Also, do everything to avoid going from DC to Fredricksburg between 3 and 8pm. It can be a log jam. Would even consider going Salisbury-Plymouth route. I mapped it out and the distance that way vs I95 from Newark is almost exactly the same, but I am sure you will avoid a lot of traffic. It is 223 miles between Salsibury and Plymouth, but there is a guy in Norfolk that offers his HPWC on Plugshare if you get close and there are some other 1772 available. The SC in Rocky Mt is in the parking lot of a nice hotel, also I saw there is a hotel at Plymouth if you wanted to stop there. Without the DC traffic you could get to Rocky Mt by 8-9 pm in 1 day. Good Luck. BTW I had a MS 60 on that trip and did the Savannah = SA with no problems at all. Charged to 197 and still had 20 miles left. I found with the 60 at 70mph I was getting just about 1-1 miles, but then again it was in the summer, you have a whole different situation this time of year. So in retrospect you may want to stay on I95. :wink:

Thanks for your remarks. I've taken several other SC highway trips, so I know how to plan them out (see my sig for my online web app to help this process).

Being from the NY area, I know all about the Edison SC.. I've been there once just to check it out. Starting from SW Connecticut, it's a straight shot to Hamilton Marketplace (and then to Newark).. never a need to stop in Edison except in an emergency situation.

Not only did we made it from Connecticut to Rocky Mount in one day, but went 90 miles further to a hotel in Fayetteville, NC for the night. (started at 8:30am, arrived at 11:30pm). There's a very nice Doubletree right off the highway and the rates are reasonable (about $100 per night).

The Woodbridge, VA supercharger was the real problem.. it's in a popular mall area with lots of restaurants... and lots of traffic getting in and out. The parking lots were FULL and people circling to find open spots... I thought for sure the SC would be ICED.. well, it wasn't entirely ICEd, there were 2 stalls ICE and 3 cars charging... just LUCKILY they were all on 1,2 and 3 stalls, and one of the iced spots was a 4 stall, so I could pull in and get a full current charge. I would have been really pissed of the ICEd spots were such that only the paired 1,2 or 3 stalls were available and I got a partial charge rate.

What's the toll on the bay-bridge tunnel these days if I take the Norfolk route?

 

[HankLloydRight]

Thanks for your remarks. I've taken several other SC highway trips, so I know how to plan them out (see my sig for my online web app to help this process).

Just in case anyone is interested in the Rt 95 corridor from CT to SC, here is my results chart from my webapp in my sig:

 

[HankLloydRight]

Ok, so I did this run southbound:

Did a range charge at Savannah to 256 rated miles (arrived with 121RM, took 70 minutes to get to 256 RM)

Arrived at St. Augustine with 35 RM. Used 221RM or 60.9kWh, averaged 349 Wh/m going an average of 65mph.

My g/f actually drove this leg, so there was a little learning curve with the cruise control, but I think she did pretty good at 349 Wh/m.

I'll report back after Monday when I do the return trip.

 

[pgiralt]

349 sounds really high if you were really going 65 mph. Isn't most of that stretch a 70 mph speed limit?

 

[Btrflyl8e]

I did that route back in November in my 60. Of course, the day I left we had had a cold front so it was in the 50's. I had a backup plan, but my math said I'd arrive in Savannah with 6 miles so I decided to brave it. I pulled in with exactly that. I did have to drive 65 the whole way, but it was great.

I would love to see a charger in Jax, though. I plan to make this trip to Charlotte again and that would make it a breeze.

Glad you made it with no issues, and welcome to the Sunshine State!

 

[HankLloydRight]

349 sounds really high if you were really going 65 mph. Isn't most of that stretch a 70 mph speed limit?

That's 65 average is from SC to SC so it includes getting off the highway, local roads, maneuvering around the parking lots, etc which really pulls down the overall average. We were doing at least 70 most of the way.

 

[pgiralt]

That's 65 average is from SC to SC so it includes getting off the highway, local roads, maneuvering around the parking lots, etc which really pulls down the overall average. We were doing at least 70 most of the way.

Ahh - ok - that makes a lot more sense

 

[HankLloydRight]

Did the return trip today... not sure why I was so worried about this stretch.. I did a cruise control locked on 70mph for about 2/3 of the trip.. and when it was clear I would make it without any problems, I did around 80 for the last 1/3.

Charged to 252 at St. Augustine.. landed at Savannah with 37RM.. averaged 70mph. Used 60kWh.

I also had the upgraded 6.1 software for the return trip, so that helped moderate/monitor energy usage.