Supercharger - Flagstaff, AZ - US-89

[dgpcolorado]

Cortez supercharger would definitely be better than nothing, would save some time driving through Farmington. Unfortunately, making it from Flagstaff SC to Cortez through Tuba City/Kayenta/4 corners probably isnt easily doable even in a 100D car unless you really watched your speed and climate settings.

Really? I can see how it might be a problem westbound against a headwind but, overall, the speeds on US 160 don't have to be all that high and AC uses much less energy than heating in winter. Of course, I do difficult trip legs all the time in my short range car, currently 162 RM at 100%) so my threshold of difficulty is quite different from most. To me, doing it in a 100D seems easy in other than extreme weather conditions.

EV Tripplanner shows a basic 100D doing the trip in mild conditions making the 260 miles using 217 RM westbound and 210 RM eastbound. The numbers would be higher in hot or cold weather and for speed demons, although I have no patience for those who just have to speed no matter where they are (I sometimes see out-of-state tourists speeding here for no reason I can figure).

Those numbers are probably overestimates of the energy needed because the entire trip is at high altitude, so it will have significantly reduced air resistance compared to a trip at lower altitude. [Being a high altitude driver, I often rely on reduced drag to help with difficult trip legs and I've seen how my energy efficiency drops when driving at sea level.]

Charge to 95% to 100%, drive at a speed that shows battery at destination holding at 5% or more. Not that difficult, unless facing a headwind, IMO. YMMV!

 

[Locash]

Charging to 95-100% takes forever, and with ~10% battery degradation on my S, would be a little too close for comfort. I'd argue it would take less time to take another route and spend less time charging and be able to drive 85mph.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Really? I can see how it might be a problem westbound against a headwind but, overall, the speeds on US 160 don't have to be all that high and AC uses much less energy than heating in winter. Of course, I do difficult trip legs all the time in my short range car, currently 162 RM at 100%) so my threshold of difficulty is quite different from most. To me, doing it in a 100D seems easy in other than extreme weather conditions.

EV Tripplanner shows a basic 100D doing the trip in mild conditions making the 260 miles using 217 RM westbound and 210 RM eastbound. The numbers would be higher in hot or cold weather and for speed demons, although I have no patience for those who just have to speed no matter where they are (I sometimes see out-of-state tourists speeding here for no reason I can figure).

Those numbers are probably overestimates of the energy needed because the entire trip is at high altitude, so it will have significantly reduced air resistance compared to a trip at lower altitude. [Being a high altitude driver, I often rely on reduced drag to help with difficult trip legs and I've seen how my energy efficiency drops when driving at sea level.]



Charge to 95% to 100%, drive at a speed that shows battery at destination holding at 5% or more. Not that difficult, unless facing a headwind, IMO. YMMV!

I find the biggest issue with driving slow (to stretch your range) is PISSING everyone off that is trying to go the normal 5-10 over. This really breeds Tesla hate. We don’t need anymore of that!

 

[PLUS EV]

Really? I can see how it might be a problem westbound against a headwind but, overall, the speeds on US 160 don't have to be all that high and AC uses much less energy than heating in winter. Of course, I do difficult trip legs all the time in my short range car, currently 162 RM at 100%) so my threshold of difficulty is quite different from most. To me, doing it in a 100D seems easy in other than extreme weather conditions.

EV Tripplanner shows a basic 100D doing the trip in mild conditions making the 260 miles using 217 RM westbound and 210 RM eastbound. The numbers would be higher in hot or cold weather and for speed demons, although I have no patience for those who just have to speed no matter where they are (I sometimes see out-of-state tourists speeding here for no reason I can figure).

Those numbers are probably overestimates of the energy needed because the entire trip is at high altitude, so it will have significantly reduced air resistance compared to a trip at lower altitude. [Being a high altitude driver, I often rely on reduced drag to help with difficult trip legs and I've seen how my energy efficiency drops when driving at sea level.]

View attachment 916650

Charge to 95% to 100%, drive at a speed that shows battery at destination holding at 5% or more. Not that difficult, unless facing a headwind, IMO. YMMV!

As someone who drives an S100D, I am skeptical of these numbers. The only way I can significantly out-perform rated miles on a relatively flat route is by driving incredibly slowly, like 50mph or less. Maybe ABRP doesn't have the proper curb weight for the S100D or something.

And as the previous poster pointed out, supercharging an S100D up to 95% (or even over 80%) is incredibly slow. I think I get about 25kW at 80% and maybe 15kW at 90%. I think this is a fact that is missed by some driving vehicles with different battery types.

 

[phxazcraig]

Thought I would add to this old thread. I picked up my first Tesla on Saturday (MYP) in Scottsdale, AZ. On Sunday I drove to Flagstaff and dropped off some big items to my daughter, then before heading home I went over to the new Superchargers on 89a. This would be my first ever Supercharge. I was smart enough to force navigation to it (heading home wanted to take me to the old chargers) so the car would precondition. During the 7 mile or so drive on I-40 to the 89a exit got the battery warmed up properly. I arrived at the chargers with 20% battery, backed in (badly) to a stall and plugged in. Charged very rapidly, and I ended up dealing with a food spill instead of watching the charging, but I got to 79% in about 15-20 minutes. (Could have left in less than 10 minutes for sure.) Anyway, the whole experience was pretty good and as-advertised. Cost was $19.50 I think.

There were a few small oddities. For one, the location. It makes total sense if heading north 'into the wilderness', but it's definitely inconvenient when just going east-west on I-40. If coming south into Flagstaff, it makes total sense as it is soon after you coming up a very long hill from about 5,000 feet to 7,000 feet. But I can't see where that makes a big difference compared to going about 1 mile (or less) closer to the interstate. It does make me think a 2nd, substantial, V3 Supercharger station is probably on a long-term plan, close to the I-17 & I-40 junction.

A second small oddity was the routing I got to get into the chargers parking lot. Look on a map and you will see that lot is a triangle-shape abutting a gas station/convenience store. I would simply drive down 89a (heading north), make a right turn into the gas station then another right turn into the charging lot. But the app has me turn off 89a a short block north of the gas station, then loop around to come in from the rear. Makes no sense. Makes better sense coming back out though as there is a light at that intersection so you can easily turn left (north) on to 89a.

While I did not get great details on the charging speed, I did see that I got a huge bump in the first 5 minutes. By the time it was up around 70% charged, I was down to 50-70kWh speed.

Lots of stalls there. Two other cars while I was there, about 3pm on Sunday.