Supercharging advice

[Tevvy]

Hi all. I'm yet to pick up my new Model S 75D but as soon as I pick it up I've got a bit of a trip to do the very next day (600 miles) so I'm trying to plan my route in advance.

As someone who hasn't ever plugged a car in before, can you give me some advice about how superchargers work?

I hear the line of how it goes from 0-100% isn't straight. So how does it work? Is there a graph anywhere?

I'm assuming the real world 100% range on my S75D will be around 250 miles? If I plug it into a SC with 125 miles left, and leave it for 20 minutes, what will the range go to (approximately)? Again, if I plugged it into the SC with 50 miles left and left it for 20 minutes, what would the range go to - again approximately?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[fasteddie7]

Typically when you are below 150 miles you’ll start at 320 mph or around 5 miles a minute of charge. As you approach 200 you’ll slow to 190mph or a little less than 4 miles a minute. From 220 to full you’ll see a dramatic drop off to around a mile a minute. If you are not in the car, check the app as I have experienced walking away and someone else plugged in next to me an it dropped off quickly and I had to “re-plug” it to get the speed back.

 

[Ciaopec]

Hi all. I'm yet to pick up my new Model S 75D but as soon as I pick it up I've got a bit of a trip to do the very next day (600 miles) so I'm trying to plan my route in advance.

As someone who hasn't ever plugged a car in before, can you give me some advice about how superchargers work?

Thanks for any advice.

Excellent advice here: How to plan a road trip - how long will it take?

and here: How to save a lot of time on long trips

and here: Putting some numbers on the factors that affect range

The supercharger posts are all numbered: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc. Try to avoid plugging in on the same numbered post. If someone is on 1 plug in on 2 or 3 or 4. Some supercharger are arranged differently but the advice still applies.

You will be a pro in no time. A year and 50000 miles into things and I almost know what I am doing.

EV Trip Planner and A Better Routeplanner are both valuable tools.



Enjoy the ride! There is no going back.

 

[Saghost]

Hi all. I'm yet to pick up my new Model S 75D but as soon as I pick it up I've got a bit of a trip to do the very next day (600 miles) so I'm trying to plan my route in advance.

As someone who hasn't ever plugged a car in before, can you give me some advice about how superchargers work?

I hear the line of how it goes from 0-100% isn't straight. So how does it work? Is there a graph anywhere?

I'm assuming the real world 100% range on my S75D will be around 250 miles? If I plug it into a SC with 125 miles left, and leave it for 20 minutes, what will the range go to (approximately)? Again, if I plugged it into the SC with 50 miles left and left it for 20 minutes, what would the range go to - again approximately?

Thanks for any advice.

Except for the bottom 5% or so, the lower in the pack you are the faster it will charge. So for the shortest trip you always want to be as far down the pack as you are comfortable going on arrival at the next charger. The car's Navigation will default to a 20% buffer on each successive destination, which is probably a good place to start - as you get more comfortable with the car and the road you can start to shave that if it seems appropriate.

Try to plan meals for Supercharger stops, and charge as much as you can during those - charging while you're doing something else is always better than charging while you're waiting for the car, even if it otherwise has enough charge for the next leg.

As others have said, if sites are somewhat busy but not really full, you want to avoid having the same number as someone else, because the two plugs with the same number share a group of 12 charger modules and the second car to plug in to them gets whatever the first car can't use. Most sites have the A and B next to each other, but there are a significant number where they have all the As first and then all the Bs.

Real world range depends on how you drive and where you drive. The 250ish number is probably realistic if you start from 100% charge and drive at 65 or less in decent weather. Higher speeds will eat in to that rather quickly, as will bad weather or net elevation gain.

 

[Tevvy]

Cheers guys, so I've looked at the SC map and it looks like this - will it work or am I pushing things too much for my first trip?

- Pick car up 100% charged (250 miles range)
- Drive 125 miles to SC and plug in for 30 mins (this should get me back to 220 miles?)
- Drive 90 miles to home (range down to 130)
- Plug in 10 hours overnight on 13amp plug (range back to 200)
- Drive 175 miles to SC, plug in for an hour (range back to 250)
- Get to destination and start all over again!

How does that look? Am I being over optimistic?

 

[cpa]

Cheers guys, so I've looked at the SC map and it looks like this - will it work or am I pushing things too much for my first trip?

- Pick car up 100% charged (250 miles range)
- Drive 125 miles to SC and plug in for 30 mins (this should get me back to 220 miles?)
- Drive 90 miles to home (range down to 130)
- Plug in 10 hours overnight on 13amp plug (range back to 200)
- Drive 175 miles to SC, plug in for an hour (range back to 250)
- Get to destination and start all over again!

How does that look? Am I being over optimistic?

I don't know for certain, but it is highly doubtful that when you pick up your car it will be at 100%. Leaving the battery at 100% for hours at a time is bad for the overall health of the battery. I would guess that the battery will be charged to 80-85%.

If you drive under ordinary conditions, your 125-mile journey will likely reduce your state of charge to around 30%. You need only plug in for a short while to get enough charge to reach your home with enough reserve, say around 15-20%, perhaps more if your overnight charging is low (not sure the voltage on your 13-A plug.)

Charge overnight to 90%; if you feel that you need extra range, then be sure to leave soon after attaining 100%. But a 175-mile leg to a SC will likely only require a 90% charge in your battery.

Tesla's onboard trip graph is pretty gosh darn good at estimating the reserve in your battery. Become familiar with its use and you will not have any qualms about leaving on a 175-mile leg with 85% battery.

Enjoy!

 

[Tevvy]

Thanks cpa. I'm going to request they charge it to 100% for my pickup, so I'll be annoyed if they don't.

 

[JHWJR]

I'm going to request they charge it to 100% for my pickup, so I'll be annoyed if they don't.

It never occurred to me to specify the initial charge, yet it was to 100% anyway, 304 miles on my Model X 100D. But if it is important to you, you should request and they will probably do it.

That said, if your max is 250 miles, you seem unnecessarily prone to "fully charging." If 250 is 100% for you, and you plan to pick it up with 250 miles on it and then drive it 125 miles and drive 125 miles, I would recommend that you consider having it charged to 200 miles and driving it down to 75 miles. True, charging to 250 will work ever so slightly better on this trip, but it's long-term tough on your battery to unnecessarily charge over 80%.

Have fun.

 

[gregd]

You might play with some of the trip planning tools available. I've used "EVTO" on my smart phone (Android and iPhone varieties available), and it does a pretty good job at mapping out at least one possible scenario that will work for you. Once you gain experience with the car and the facilities available, you'll be able to adjust things for other scenarios, but this sort of tool is good for an initial sanity check on your plans.