Suggestions about Supercharges and range management after a 6,800 mile drive

[Andyw2100]

And the new versus old superchargers. The construction firm manager we met at the Kansas City SC told us his company has been responsible for installation of all of the new supercharger versions, which have a red plastic cover on the inside and TELSA lighted in red letters.

Cool! That incorrect spelling of "Tesla" will make it easy to tell the new ones from the old ones.

Seriously, though, thanks for the excellent information you've already provided in this thread!

 

[whiskeyrunner]

In other news... where'd you get those rims?!

 

[yobigd20]

• The great value of drafting big rigs to conserve energy

There are both pro's and con's to this. I've crossed 74k miles and do lots of daily 200+ mile commutes and trips. I have drafted big rigs on a number of occasions and can backup the value of this when in a bind. I cannot however recommend doing this for the hell of doing it just to get lower Wh/mi. And I'm not talking about the safety (or lack thereof) of doing this which just goes without saying. My issue with drafting big rigs on many many occasions is that this has completely destroyed the front end of my vehicle. Thank god I have the car full front XPEL ultimate wrapped, but if you look closely at my entire front end it looks metallic. Tens of thousands of pits EVERYWHERE. On the wrap, I could care less since at some point I'll have it pulled off and re-wrapped. What annoys the crap out of me though is my headlights, fog lights, and windshield are just literally destroyed. I did not wrap these or coat my windshield and that was a big mistake. The amount of sand and tiny specs that big rigs kick up may not be noticeable while you are driving, but after 74k miles of highway driving and getting crap kicked up at my front end its just destroyed it. Here's some pics of what my front looks like (actually these pics were probably taken at around 50k, so it looks even worse now):

 

[RiverBrick]

I have found the Location info to be very accurate. Sometimes it's not clear which parking lot to enter or it's difficult to see right away at night, but the marker itself is pretty accurate.

I agree that the marker is accurate. Using it in satellite view usually shows you the best way to navigate the last quarter-mile when the turn-by-turn directions often become useless.

Having driven most of the same X-country route in March, drafting isn't necessary 99% of the time.

 

[artsci]

I don't make drafting a habit -- do it very infrquently and only when I'm concerned about range, which is almost never. But now and then it helps as it did on our 6,800 milke drive. If one follows a resonable distance, safety is not an issue. And I have no chips on the front of my car and that's with no film protection.

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I agree that the marker is accurate. Using it in satellite view usually shows you the best way to navigate the last quarter-mile when the turn-by-turn directions often become useless.

Having driven most of the same X-country route in March, drafting isn't necessary 99% of the time.

The markers are accurate but the orientation of the screen makes a big difference. Satellite view is the best with the direction of travel up. North up just let to confusion. But as I said, some visual cues would be very desirable.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

I'm going to posit that unless you drive EVERYWHERE you become accustomed to your home area and develop a driving style suitable to that area. You take an east coaster like me and put them on a midwest road with a 75-80 mph speed limit and I'm sure I'd feel like I'm in heaven. Then the reserve starts to decrease and you remember comments about "headwinds" and it would start to click that you need to slow down. Never had a need for drafting on the east coast so maybe that's some reading up I need to do.

 

[artsci]

In other news... where'd you get those rims?!

getyourwheels.com. They're 20", which means a much great choice of tires than the 21s.

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I'm going to posit that unless you drive EVERYWHERE you become accustomed to your home area and develop a driving style suitable to that area. You take an east coaster like me and put them on a midwest road with a 75-80 mph speed limit and I'm sure I'd feel like I'm in heaven. Then the reserve starts to decrease and you remember comments about "headwinds" and it would start to click that you need to slow down. Never had a need for drafting on the east coast so maybe that's some reading up I need to do.

Couldn't be more true. Nor do we have much experience in the East with long ascents and descents on grades as much as 6-7 percent. We encountered those frequently in Colorado, Nevada, and the Sierras in CA. The ascents can impact range substantially and it's not all recaptured on the descents.

 

[MichFin]

Saw you guys at the South Bend supercharger hope you guys had a fun trip.

 

[cpa]

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.

California has a provision in our vehicle code (I am too lazy to look up the exact statute) that essentially says, "a peace officer in an unmarked car not wearing a uniform shall be deemed incompetent as a witness," when it comes to issuing driving infractions. I believe that there is merit to this, as detectives and supervisory personnel are generally not assigned to traffic enforcement.

Perhaps Missouri has a similar statute, and that was the real reason behind your Get Out of Jail Free! card.

 

[rxlawdude]

California has a provision in our vehicle code (I am too lazy to look up the exact statute) that essentially says, "a peace officer in an unmarked car not wearing a uniform shall be deemed incompetent as a witness," when it comes to issuing driving infractions..

Uh, no. This is not true. The inability to testify on a vehicle code violation by an officer applies only if the primary purpose of the officer's shift is traffic enforcement. If the traffic violation stop was merely incidental, that officer will be allowed to testify and the defendant would likely lose.

However, most officers in unmarked vehicles are not looking for vehicle code violations. One officer stated that "unless someone's doing more than 100mph or driving recklessly, we either ignore or call in a marked unit."

 

[mzpolo]

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.

OK.... so Puppy dog eyes really works. Hope the three standard poodles in the back of the future X can be as accommodating! Me, I am banking on two things 1) being the only Model X in the Norfolk VA area 2) with Desert Storm Vet plates.

 

[brucet999]

Drafting has been discussed in other threads but the truck drivers get really upset if you are too close but believe you still get some benefit if you hang back far enough where you can see their side mirrors (meaning they can see you and feel more comfortable).

Myth busters did a show on big rig drafting, showing that a car had to get within 2 1/2 car lengths at 55 mph to realize 20% improvement. Too scary for me.

Mythbusters: drafting 10 feet behind a big rig will improve mileage 39 percent

Mythbusters also did not use a highly aerodynamic car for their tests. At 5 car lengths, savings was 11%, but that is still too close for safe following. Presumably, they chose 55 mph because that is the legal speed limit for trucks in CA and everyone knows that trucks never exceed the speed limit, right?

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Scoop for the big rig to brush things out of the way.

So…cow catchers on Peterbilts?

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The truckers seemed to appreciate my giving them cover -- in several instances we were given a courtesy flash when we finally sped past them.

He was telling you that you were clear to pull into his lane. Truckers flash their running lights to say thank you.

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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.

At 4 car lengths, according to Mythbusters testing, you were probably reducing energy consumption 15% or so. Actually, 4 car lengths behind a big rig might be enough, at least in case of sudden braking, since your stopping distance would be much shorter than his.

 

[caddieo]

BTW, here's a photo of the decals delanman made for both our cars for the drive to TMC connect. Interestingly enough, many people we encountered thought the signs indicated that we worked for Tesla. BTY, these are old Superchargers
View attachment 87993

Wow - you really made use of the frunk, didn't you!:biggrin:

 

[cpa]

Thanks for clearing that up, rxlawdude. I was aware of the 100mph anecdote that you mentioned, that they would generally radio for a marked unit. The "incidental" scenario was not one that was clear to me. :smile:

 

[EdA]

@artsci - regarding: "The inadequacy of navigation details for finding the precise location of Superchargers" - people have said when you're close to zoom in and put satellite view on...

And regarding reviews of the superchargers you can review them on this site: supercharge-me - Bewertungsportal zum Tesla Ladenetzwerk
I have added a total of 2!

 

[artsci]

Wow - you really made use of the frunk, didn't you!:biggrin:

Yes, chock full: luggage, car cleaning stuff, dog food, misc accessories. The rear seats were down so our two dogs had some room to roam in the back. We also fit some luggage in the floor space behind the front seats. Tons of room in this car.

I found the mileage differences between the supercharger pages and the nav results quite perplexing and didn't quite understand why they're different. When plugged in at supercharger and determining the distance to the next ones we might chose, the supercharger page displayed mileage that was consistently 10 percent less than the actual nav mileage. It really wasn't a problem but it did makes us wonder how the distances were calculated.

My final concern was that nearly all of the superchargers we visited were surrounded by junk food places, and some had no restaurants of any kind within reasonable walking distance. I know that Tesla is limited in its choices of Supercharger locations and that junk food is a way of life for many, but not us. Regrettably in many circumstances we were forced to eat bad. The best meals we had were in small towns without the national junk food chains. But as I can't imagine there are many decent restaurants in the shopping areas and malls where the Supercharges are placed, I can't blame Tesla. So I've just posted a ridiculous rhetorical question

 

[EdA]

Yes, chock full: luggage, car cleaning stuff, dog food, misc accessories. The rear seats were down so our two dogs had some room to roam in the back. We also fit some luggage in the floor space behind the front seats. Tons of room in this car.

I found the mileage differences between the supercharger pages and the nav results quite perplexing and didn't quite understand why they're different. When plugged in at supercharger and determining the distance to the next ones we might chose, the supercharger page displayed mileage that was consistently 10 percent less than the actual nav mileage. It really wasn't a problem but it did makes us wonder how the distances were calculated.

My final concern was that nearly all of the superchargers we visited were surrounded by junk food places, and some had no restaurants of any kind within reasonable walking distance. I know that Tesla is limited in its choices of Supercharger locations and that junk food is a way of life for many, but not us. Regrettably in many circumstances we were forced to eat bad. The best meals we had were in small towns without the national junk food chains. But as I can't imagine there are many decent restaurants in the shopping areas and malls where the Supercharges are placed, I can't blame Tesla. So I've just posted a ridiculous rhetorical question

I think it shows the point to point distance, not the actual road distance.
It changes when you select it to navigate to it. Or are you seeing the
discrepancy after you choose it?

 

[yobigd20]

Myth busters did a show on big rig drafting, showing that a car had to get within 2 1/2 car lengths at 55 mph to realize 20% improvement. Too scary for me.

Mythbusters: drafting 10 feet behind a big rig will improve mileage 39 percent

Mythbusters also did not use a highly aerodynamic car for their tests. At 5 car lengths, savings was 11%, but that is still too close for safe following. Presumably, they chose 55 mph because that is the legal speed limit for trucks in CA and everyone knows that trucks never exceed the speed limit, right?

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So…cow catchers on Peterbilts?

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He was telling you that you were clear to pull into his lane. Truckers flash their running lights to say thank you.

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At 4 car lengths, according to Mythbusters testing, you were probably reducing energy consumption 15% or so. Actually, 4 car lengths behind a big rig might be enough, at least in case of sudden braking, since your stopping distance would be much shorter than his.

When I would get up real close to a big rig my Wh/mi would drop to about 170Wh/mi. Keep that up and you could do like 500 miles on a single charge.

 

[russman]

Did you feel the need to draft because you left without a full range charge? Or is it because in those areas the distance from supercharger to supercharge is too far? Or weather conditions were bad?

Just trying to understand the idea of needing to draft. In CA, people are driving over 85 mph and I know that's bad for range, but I usually also take about a 30% overage, so my 260 rated range gives me a little less than 200 real miles.

 

[FlasherZ]

@artsci and @mzpolo, I would too, but would guess that it would be in a place that doesn't see Model S everyday, i.e. Not in California. Though, from what I see on the Internet, and my own experience charging at St. Charles, the representation around St Louis seems to be pretty good.

I see a Model S or two nearly every time I make the trek around St. Louis (I live about 45 miles east); not quite the California experience, but we have our share. No exact figures, but we're figuring several hundred in the STL area.

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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.

Just a bit of background about St. Louis and the stretch of I-70 that runs between the airport and the city... that is a known hellhole for the officers. The famous Ferguson is along that stretch, along with a number of other communities who generate over 25% of their city revenue from traffic tickets. They managed to get that section of the Interstate dubbed a "travel safe zone" which allows fines to be doubled for the city coffers. That said, if you were in a 65 mph zone you were likely west of the airport because it turns into 60 mph zone right around the airport as you head into the city.

Bottom line - take it easy on I-70 around St. Louis.