There's a new blog post from Hamish on the TM website: Cross Country Rally: By the Numbers
Cross Country Rally: By the Numbers | Blog | Tesla Motors
Cross Country Rally: By the Numbers | Blog | Tesla Motors
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Tesla Cross-Country Trip
- Thread starter airj1012
- Start date
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Vexar, just curious: did the Tesla team ask you to avoid plugging in while they juiced up? To prevent smaller charge rates given Supercharger stall splitting?!
chickensevil
Active Member
I mean that only makes sense. You want the fastest rate since you are going for a record, and to prove a point. Might as well stack the deck as much in your favor as possible
Charge time was 15 hrs and 57 secs. Too bad they weren't one minute less and could say less than 15 hrs.
I mean that only makes sense. You want the fastest rate since you are going for a record, and to prove a point. Might as well stack the deck as much in your favor as possible
I thought the first car to plug in gets the max they can handle, and the 2nd car gets what's left over...?
59.5 hours driving and 15 hours charging means that on long drives you need to expect to add about a 20% time penalty compared to what a typical navigation system would predict. I had a similar experience on a recent 511 mile trip - Google Maps said 8 hours and it took 10 including all supercharger stops. Can't compete with an ICE but still damn good.
We make up the occasional hour of mid-trip charging with all the time we DON'T spend gassing up our vehicle once or twice a week.
chickensevil
Active Member
Probably (I don't know for sure), but you still wouldn't want to risk screwing it up all the same
This! I mean honestly though, I am not really worried, based on the spacing of the "hypothetical" charger between here and my parents house, I can skip one on each direction (making for one single stop each way), and just plan on getting something to eat at a stop. While I am normally anxious to get there and be done with the driving, the break is probably good to combat some of the fatigue. One day we will get the charging times down, for now, it should be good enough to work around
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Trust me, there's no such thing as driver fatigue with the Model S even on long roadtrips. The lack of vibration and gear changes (even automatic) coupled with the smooth acceleration and one-pedal driving make it a wonderful experience even after hours of driving. A Supercharger stop is a pleasant break in itself.
I recently did Palm Springs -> Hawthorne -> Tejon Ranch -> Harris Ranch -> Gilroy -> Redwood Shores in 9.5 hours and arrived almost as fresh as I started. My wife and son were even more relaxed throughout.
ChriZ
Member
Someone probably asked this already but I couldn't find it but would it be possible for a 60kwh Model S to do the same cross country trip?
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Given the distance numbers that they posted in the last blog post, even factoring in the SpCs that were skipped, I'd say no, mainly because of the weather. In the summer, it'd be doable, I think.
Yes. A 60 can do the trip, but it cannot take the shortcut from Flagstaff to Blanding. Also the Barstow to Kingman segment will require modest speeds due to the 1000 ft elevation change. Weather is not an issue - the spacing is close enough in the cold climate region.
I'm curious how they managed Flagstaff -> Blanding. It's 252 miles and my max range charge is around 253 now so I don't think I could attempt it, especially because it looks like there are zero charging options in between. I guess the cars are new and it's about a 1000 foot elevation decrease, but it would be cool to know how fast they drove and how close they cut it.
Cheyenne to Silverthorne westbound is a real stretch for a 60: the 167 miles separating the two isn't the issue, it's the 5000' ascent from Cheyenne to the summit of the Eisenhower Tunnel.
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They had warmish weather and a tailwind, I think. From the little that got out about the nuts and bolts of the trip, I think they were a bit concerned on leaving Flagstaff, but with conservative driving were able to relax toward the end of the leg as it became clear Blanding was in range. EV Trip Planner suggests that with a 0.9 speed factor and 40 degree temps, the route will require about 252 Rated miles.
By the way, I'm contemplating a trip through that stretch the last week of February, and I found an open-all-year RV park in Tuba City that could provide a 50A booster charge to make Blanding-Flagstaff less dicey, especially westbound.
purplewalt
Active Member
+1.
Best way to arrive is to utilize the tools and resources your car has.
Check your ego at the door, Driving Effectively will get you there.
I remain confused about the real goal of the trip. They claimed to be going for a "least time charging" record, but to do that they should have driven as slowly as possible (safely) -- which they didn't do. Their real goal seemed to be to do as fast a cross-country trip as possible using the supercharger network (but that wouldn't get into any record books).
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