Let me start with how we avoided a ticket in St. Louis and drafting.
We were on I-70 east in heavy traffic going about 65 mph, the speed limit. My radar detector was not giving me any signals. I saw an opening in the traffic ahead and did a burst of speed right past a cop in an unmarked white Dodge Challenger in the lane next to us. He immediately lit up and pulled in behind me, so I graciously pulled over to the shoulder and stopped. He came over the right side of the car where my brother was sitting in the passenger seat with his dog, a very cute Cockapoo. I rolled down the window on that side. The cop told me right off that he had clocked me at 85. I responded by saying "I'm guilty." No excuses, no silly stories. He looks over my license and proof of insurance. Then he asks what kind of car I'm driving. I said a Tesla. He responds by saying "Didn't I pull you over for speeding last week?" I said we were driving home to Maryland from California so it must have been another Tesla. Through all of this the dog is demonstrating very cute puppy behavior. The cop asks a few more questions about the car and then acknowledges that it couldn't have been us that he pulled over a week ago. He then tells us to take it slower and get on our way. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience.
As far as drafting is concerned we used it very successfully on three or four segments when the yellow warning appeared on the navigation panel about slowing down to reach our destination. My strategy was to slow down to about 60-65 mph then wait for a rig pass us going 70-75 mph. I then pulled in about 3-4 car lengths behind. When the trucker wanted to pass another car and put on his turn signal, I immediately pulled into the left lane to give him cover from trailing cars for the lane change, then followed him back into the right lane after his pass. The truckers seemed to appreciate my giving them cover -- in several instances we were given a courtesy flash when we finally sped past them.
Typically, when we decided to draft, the energy graph was indicating 3-5 percent of charge remaining at destination and was slowly but steadily declining at 70 - 75 mph. Given the distance we were trying to cover I wanted to maintain speed rather than slow down to 60-65 mph. When we were drafting the energy reserve steadily climbed, typically about one percent every 2-3 miles, and the yellow warning bar disappeared after about five miles. When we reached 10 - 15 percent of reserve, I would pass the truck and resume normal speed to the next supercharger, which typically would be 70 - 80 mph (speed limits in some states were 75 or even 80).
Drafting proved especially effective in the 212 mile run between the Independence, Mo and St Charles Superchargers. I first I was very nervous about this run and even went on this forum to see what I could discover from people who had successfully made this run. Based on several posts I read, we were prepared to stop at the Tiger Hotel in Columbia, MO, which has a HPWC. But with drafting when we reached Columbia (114 miles from Indpendence) we had a 15 percent reserve, and we reached the St Charles SC with 35 miles of range left.
So for me, drafting proved to be a highly successful strategy for staying close to the speed limit and preserving energy as well. It was a much better option than slowing down, as it had the same impact on preserving energy. There was never a dangerous situation of any kind and only in Nevada was debris kicked up by the truck tires a concern.
It seems that the giga factory is not the only thing that distinguishes Nevada. I've never seen more fine dirt particles on roads. In fact, my bother quipped, "This is what it must be like to drive through Afghanistan." My car was filthy with the stuff after driving through the state, and because of it drafting was not prudent. In every other state, no problem.
