Super Charging best practices

[SixtyPilot]

I am picking up my new to me 2017 S 75D on monday, and immediately embarking on a 3 day cross country home. Having never dealt with charging, I have done a lot of research and route planning. I am getting a good idea of where I intend to go and where I intend to stay. My biggest concern is the stretch from Truth or Consequences, NM to Albuquerque, NM. There is a lot of elevation changes, a forecast quartering headwind and a pretty long distance to cover. I have read that preheating the car can save a lot of battery, and we are planning on staying at the holiday inn express with a super charger in the parking lot. Should I leave the car at 10% overnight and plug it in first thing in the AM to charge and warm up, or charge it to 90% in the evening, then plug it back in in the AM to top it off and warm it up? I just dont want to leave it plugged in all night, as I understand that is bad manners at a supercharger. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[SilverGS]

Charge it to 80% as soon as you get there and then unplug and plug it back in an hour or two before you leave and charge it up to 100% and turn on remote pre heat from Tesla app

 

[ucmndd]

Charge it to 80% as soon as you get there and then unplug and plug it back in an hour or two before you leave and charge it up to 100% and turn on remote pre heat from Tesla app

This. You want to charge the battery most of the way while it’s warm and NOT let it sit overnight at 10%, else you’ll be charging FOREVER in the morning.

80% to 100% is a good plan, enough energy to heat the battery but not enough that you’re gonna be waiting for hours.

 

[SixtyPilot]

This. You want to charge the battery most of the way while it’s warm and NOT let it sit overnight at 10%, else you’ll be charging FOREVER in the morning.

80% to 100% is a good plan, enough energy to heat the battery but not enough that you’re gonna be waiting for hours.

Awesome, thanks for the quick replies.

Does anyone have experience on this route in a 75D? at 0 headwind it looks fine, if I add 5mph headwind it tells me max speed of 62 (in a 75)

 

[Rogue Synapse]

I just dont want to leave it plugged in all night, as I understand that is bad manners at a supercharger.

Not only is it (very) bad manners to stay plugged in when you don’t need to, but you’ll also pay through the nose in idle fees. Tesla starts charging when you’re still plugged in 5 minutes after your charge is complete.

Congratulations though! You’re going to absolutely love your car, and taking it home with a road trip is a terrific way to get to know it. I totally agree with the advice to charge it most of the way that night (you can set the charge limit on the big screen under the “charging” menu) and top it off to 100% that morning before you hit the road. This will obviously have the advantage of starting you off with a warm battery, but also will limit your battery’s exposure to being 100% full, which is rough on the battery. Make it a practice to never charge to 100% unless you’re on a road trip, and to try to leave as soon as possible after the car hits that 100% mark so that it’s only bursting at the seams for a few minutes, tops.

By the way, there is a website and app called A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) that is great to play with before a trip. You can put in the exact details of your car, expected temperature during your road trip, etc, and plan your route home. It will tell you which superchargers to stop at, for how long, and will let you adjust all sorts of variables if you want to see how they’ll affect your trip. The nav in your car does much the same thing, but this app lets you see it ahead of time and tweak the conditions if you want.

 

[SixtyPilot]

...By the way, there is a website and app called A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) that is great to play with before a trip...

Thanks! I have been using ABRP, thats what has me scared of that stretch. Certain parameters tell me to limit my speed to 62mph (in a 75) on that leg.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

I have found that both ABRP and Tesla’s native app tend to err slightly on the conservative side for route planning. The predicted battery remaining when you get to your destination often starts out kind of scary, and then after half an hour or an hour of regular driving, starts creeping up (driving the exact same speed). I would say to start out driving pretty cautiously on that leg (like maybe 65 in the slow lane for a bit) and you can speed up a little as the predicted range gets more comfortable. It’s definitely true that power consumption goes up exponentially with speed though.

 

[SixtyPilot]

I have found that both ABRP and Tesla’s native app tend to err slightly on the conservative side for route planning. The predicted battery remaining when you get to your destination often starts out kind of scary, and then after half an hour or an hour of regular driving, starts creeping up (driving the exact same speed). I would say to start out driving pretty cautiously on that leg (like maybe 65 in the slow lane for a bit) and you can speed up a little as the predicted range gets more comfortable. It’s definitely true that power consumption goes up exponentially with speed though.

Yea, that makes sense. Something something velocity squared...blah blah blah

 

[Rogue Synapse]

Good luck this week!

 

[CraZ8]

If you are concerned on that long stretch you can really increase your range by finding a semi going 65 to 70 mph and getting about 2 car lengths behind it. Drafting works wonders on improving range and efficiency. Ask any NASCAR driver. ( I wouldn’t recommend getting 6 inches behind the lead cars bumper like they do however)

 

[outeast]

Small hijacking of thread since i think its an appropriate question to post here...

Is it detrimental to the car's battery to consistently use a supercharger?

 

[KerryOH]

we are planning on staying at the holiday inn express with a super charger in the parking lot.

I doubt this is a Tesla Supercharger in the hotel parking lot. More likely a Tesla Destination Charger that is limited. It will still charge your car, but a slower than an SC. The advice above is good, hope your trip is fun and safe.

 

[quickstrike12]

@SixtyPilot. Former Kiowa Warrior scout driver here.
Congratulations on the new ride. Your gonna love it. it’s much like ferrying new model helicopter cross country. You sort of plan fuel and winds and LRC and then have a backup plan in place for the worst. Then after after a few times in the same ship you start to more trust the burn rate and understand it’s limitations. LOL
Be conservative on your route planning until you get the hang of it and all will be good. Keep the energy graph up for a while on the “trip” tab. This is an excellent way of watching the “trend” line to your destination. As long as your trending above the calculated line your doing fine. If you get in trouble the car will warn you too slow down.

still driving 60s? Or out now?

 

[Rogue Synapse]

I doubt this is a Tesla Supercharger in the hotel parking lot. More likely a Tesla Destination Charger that is limited. It will still charge your car, but a slower than an SC. The advice above is good, hope your trip is fun and safe.

Yeah it’s definitely in the hotel parking lot:
Find Us | Tesla
Most of the superchargers out my way are in hotel parking lots, too. Seems to be a common place to put them in more rural areas.

 

[SixtyPilot]

@SixtyPilot. Former Kiowa Warrior scout driver here.
Congratulations on the new ride. Your gonna love it. it’s much like ferrying new model helicopter cross country. You sort of plan fuel and winds and LRC and then have a backup plan in place for the worst. Then after after a few times in the same ship you start to more trust the burn rate and understand it’s limitations. LOL
Be conservative on your route planning until you get the hang of it and all will be good. Keep the energy graph up for a while on the “trip” tab. This is an excellent way of watching the “trend” line to your destination. As long as your trending above the calculated line your doing fine. If you get in trouble the car will warn you too slow down.

still driving 60s? Or out now?

Yea that’s exactly how I’m thinking. Luckily this will be day 3 of cross country driving so Ill have a little practice leading up to this stretch.

Got out in 2017. Flying 206s now and about to do a 407 transition. We’re going to stop by Davis-Montham AMRAG on our way and maybe see some of your old ships

 

[SixtyPilot]

I doubt this is a Tesla Supercharger in the hotel parking lot. More likely a Tesla Destination Charger that is limited. It will still charge your car, but a slower than an SC. The advice above is good, hope your trip is fun and safe.

Yeah it’s definitely in the hotel parking lot:
Find Us | Tesla
Most of the superchargers out my way are in hotel parking lots, too. Seems to be a common place to put them in more rural areas.

Yea it’s a super charger, and yes it’s in the middle of nowhere...I mean “rural.”

 

[quickstrike12]

Flying 206s now and about to do a 407 transition

Curious....you doing the 407 qual at Bell plant in Fort Worth? Just asking because I work there.

 

[SixtyPilot]

Curious....you doing the 407 qual at Bell plant in Fort Worth? Just asking because I work there.

Yes! We don’t have dates yet, but that’s the plan.

 

[Ciaopec]

I doubt this is a Tesla Supercharger in the hotel parking lot. More likely a Tesla Destination Charger that is limited. It will still charge your car, but a slower than an SC. The advice above is good, hope your trip is fun and safe.

Good advice as the destination charger would take longer to charge/preheat the battery. I just used mine at a destination charger in Biloxi, MS and charger from 88% to 95% plus heating the battery was going to take a couple hours!

The T or C super charger is located in the Holiday Inn parking lot.

 

[TMeister]

Depending on your timing you could stop in Socorro at the destination charger at the Best Western. Bring your J1772 adaptor (or yeah, the car is new - so make sure they gave you one). The Tesla charger can output 80 amps, the J1772A right next to it I think is 32 amps. Right within sight is a McDonalds and lots of other food within walking distance. If you stay for a meal, you'll get some range to make it to Albuquerque. We stayed at the BW for our visit to the Trinity site and VLA. We had to swing by for a quick charge to get to Albuquerque after the VLA so just plugged in since we had stayed there the night before. Otherwise, you can just stop in the office and ask if they want a fee.