Supercharging on a road trip is like stopping to smell the roses

[Rottenapplr]

Just did a road trip this weekend from LA to Big Sur to Half Moon bay to San Francisco and back to LA trip and I must say supercharging is like stopping to smell the roses. I love it!

Just to stop for 30-45 mins every 3 hrs makes you want to walk around. Go to a few stores. Walk around the streets. I really enjoyed it. It makes me want to buy an small electric scooter to put around and explore these smalls towns while supercharging and see what’s is within the 5 mile range from my car!

Edit: the only time it would suck supercharging would be noon time in Arizona during the summer lol and having to supercharge in the middle of the night by yourself. That would suck. But you can avoid this by planning of course like when I charged at 830pm before climbing up towards Death Valley. I made sure i had enough charge to not need another charge at like 11pm.

 

[qdeathstar]

indeed. i find myself enjoying the super charger pitstops more than i thought it would.

 

[matt_net_zero]

Completely agree. This summer we covered 13k miles in 7 weeks hitting 176 superchargers. Because we're playing the "visited" game, we stopped at far more superchargers than we needed to. We played a lot of tag in the grass lots near the superchargers, walked to numerous nearby stores, snacked and ate out of the frunk, and had fewer cranky kid episodes due to being cooped up for long stretches. When you have the time to spare, slowing down and stopping more certainly makes for a more enjoyable trip.

 

[ElectricLee]

And never having to go to a gas station!

 

[XLR82XS]

Now if the 3 had a frunk refrigeration unit for road trip snacks/drinks.....

 

[SammichLover]

Edit: the only time it would suck supercharging would be noon time in Arizona during the summer

If there isn't nearby "shelter" you can go to and leave the car to charge this is very true. The issue is that when charging at the SC the Supercan, the AC compressor used to cool the cabin, is soon preoccupied with its other job of keeping the battery pack temp down to protect your battery. On a hot day coming off a long drive leg you can have your HVAC set to Auto on "LO" and it'll still be blowing warmish air from the vents. You won't die (I mean that literally) but if you're used to living in low 70's ambient temps all the time it'll be somewhat uncomfortable.

As for "stopping to smell the roses", since the patch bumping to 144-ish kW charging rates I've found the car is now always waiting on me if I want to have a sit-down meal. The new charging curve is so much faster. It is a kinda weird feeling of a sense of being rushed now in those cases. How you handle that I guess is a personal preference. I'm kind torn on it, alternating between "screw it, I'm just going to enjoy this moment in this place a while longer" and "I really want to get out on the road and get to where I'm going".

I mostly though just do 2 hour and change legs, hit every charger, with "biological breaks". It is so very fast on the trip now, even closer to the overall mph times of "ironman, drive straight through with your ICE until you must refuel" and I still the arrive without the "hangover" of doing that ICE marathon driving meaning my true overall travel time (drive + recovery from the drive) is even better than an ICE in most long distance situations.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Ya that’s one con about the new charging is you can’t eat in a sit down restaurant lol I experienced that when I charged the first time on a road trip. I had to leave to unplug and move the car.

ALSO, yesterday I drove 11 hrs. I got home and I wasn’t too tired! I think it’s because of the longer stops, being able to walk around to stores. One stop I went to a target in San Jose whole charging for 25 mins and bought a protein shake. And next stop in Atascadero, I went and bought a milf shake two blocks away.

 

[Rottenapplr]

If there isn't nearby "shelter" you can go to and leave the car to charge this is very true. The issue is that when charging at the SC the Supercan, the AC compressor used to cool the cabin, is soon preoccupied with its other job of keeping the battery pack temp down to protect your battery. On a hot day coming off a long drive leg you can have your HVAC set to Auto on "LO" and it'll still be blowing warmish air from the vents. You won't die (I mean that literally) but if you're used to living in low 70's ambient temps all the time it'll be somewhat uncomfortable.

As for "stopping to smell the roses", since the patch bumping to 144-ish kW charging rates I've found the car is now always waiting on me if I want to have a sit-down meal. The new charging curve is so much faster. It is a kinda weird feeling of a sense of being rushed now in those cases. How you handle that I guess is a personal preference. I'm kind torn on it, alternating between "screw it, I'm just going to enjoy this moment in this place a while longer" and "I really want to get out on the road and get to where I'm going".

I mostly though just do 2 hour and change legs, hit every charger, with "biological breaks". It is so very fast on the trip now, even closer to the overall mph times of "ironman, drive straight through with your ICE until you must refuel" and I still the arrive without the "hangover" of doing that ICE marathon driving meaning my true overall travel time (drive + recovery from the drive) is even better than an ICE in most long distance situations.

Yes true! You arrive with more energy on long hours long trip! You feel good!


I can imagine if I didn’t have a charger at home supercharging and waiting would get old, but since I don’t supercharge unless I’m on a road trip it’s really enjoyable. They need tesla supercharging on rest stop imho. Heck I’ll take a evgo CHAdeMO at a rest stop.

 

[SammichLover]

I can imagine if I didn’t have a charger at home supercharging and waiting would get old,

I've only done this a couple times in the last year. Charged locally because of an issue with the home charger and my schedule. It got "old" the very first time I did it. Maybe it'd be better if I was coming straight from ICE so not used to living the "no gas station, ever" dream? I assume the people that do this regularly is the reason for Tesla shipping those games you can play on the console.

 

[Roy Wasson]

I have only had the Model 3 for 4 months, but already had 4 road trips totaling 3,000 miles and generally enjoy the supercharging breaks to explore the local businesses and get a snack. One exception was coming back to Miami from Key West a couple of weeks ago, and charging at the only superchargers in the Keys: at the Marathon airport. This is a sleeping small town airport, and there is nothing within walking distance of charging stations: no restrooms, soda machines; nada.

 

[bedoig]

I went and bought a milf shake two blocks away.

Around these parts we have to Uber from the supercharger to the strip club.

 

[Nostromo]

I've only done one trip requiring supercharging so far, it was from San Diego to the Bay Area and back. For anyone not familiar with the I-5 on this route, there are really no towns but rather roadside clusters of restaurants and gas stations at the highway intersections. I had never noticed it before, but these areas were definitely not designed for pedestrians. The absence of crosswalks and sidewalks, along with the large number of cars and trucks plying these roads, made for a much less than pleasant walk.
That said, for me the ratio of time spent supercharging to time spent driving is about right, and helps keep me fresh on a drive like this.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Around these parts we have to Uber from the supercharger to the strip club.

Lol milk! Shake

 

[Rottenapplr]

Oh another thing I noticed. Navigation on the tesla is suboptimal when you can’t choose the route to go through. It made me go to the 5 but I wanted to take the 101 so I had to choose a town along the 101 to make it take the route. Kinda lame they can easily fix this.

 

[ecarfan]

Just did a road trip this weekend from LA to Big Sur to Half Moon bay to San Francisco and back to LA trip and I must say supercharging is like stopping to smell the roses. I love it!

I completely agree. I have never been a “drive without stopping to get there as fast as possible” type of person. I have always preferred to take a break every couple of hours and stretch my legs. Starting with my first Tesla in 2013 I found that Supercharger stops fit right in with how I have always done road trips.

Oh another thing I noticed. Navigation on the tesla is suboptimal when you can’t choose the route to go through. It made me go to the 5 but I wanted to take the 101 so I had to choose a town along the 101 to make it take the route. Kinda lame they can easily fix this.

This has been discussed many times on TMC over the past 6 years. It remains an issue.

 

[SammichLover]

Around these parts we have to Uber from the supercharger to the strip club.

Wow, you're truly living in high cotton. Those of us of more modest means use the opportunity to walk to Stripes next door and make our own strip club for tips on the side of the service road corner.

Then, on a good day, walk across under I45 to Cracker Barrel to spend those hard-earned quarters on a bowl of grits. Or maybe apple fritters on a really good day.

 

[jordanair45]

Woah. You made it thru Death Valley ? I love Death Valley. One of the few places I want to car camp in the Tesla. If there are chargers nearby I’m totally down.

 

[Eno Deb]

IMO it really depends on where you are stopping. Sure, some superchargers (like the one at the Ventana Big Sur) are in really nice areas, but it's more typical (at least in CA) to get stuck in a mall parking lot (in more urban areas) or one of those truck stop clusters in the middle of nowhere. I don't really enjoy being stuck in such a place for half an hour or more.

 

[Uncle Paul]

I carry a small, folding, sit down electric scooter in my frunk. Tool around Supercharging area. Fun to explore while charging.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Woah. You made it thru Death Valley ? I love Death Valley. One of the few places I want to car camp in the Tesla. If there are chargers nearby I’m totally down.

Ya! Well I charge at ridgecrest in the evening. Then my hotel is at Beatty, Nevada. Went to 100% (destination ChargePoin; didn’t really need to need 100% but #safety). Then went through the valley during day time and I cut through Baker, Ca. There’s actually chargers down in the valley that you can go to. See pic.so yes it’s possible to car camp down there. With AC there are also Nema 14-50 ev parks down there.