thoughts on my first road trip with the model 3

[juliusa]

also, i'll add another note here since i can't edit my OP: i was amazed that we didn't have to wait for a charge at any supercharger. not once. at beaver, UT we got the last spot available (and actually left early and went to st george since beaver was super slow, even though the nav told us to stick around and not have to take another break before vegas), and in vegas there were three spots left when i pulled in (and actually two people waiting when i finished). i'll be interested to see how much this changes as they continue to crank out model 3s...

Don't worry about it. People have been speculating about the imminent collapse of the supercharger network due to overcrowding for 4 years.

 

[David99]

Don't worry about it. People have been speculating about the imminent collapse of the supercharger network due to overcrowding for 4 years.

To be fair though, Tesla has been growing at a steady rate over the last 6 years. The Model 3 is selling at a much much higher rate and is still rising. The amount of cars added to the street happens at a massive rate. The impact on Supercharger use is analog to that. You can't compare it to the past 6 years. We will see more and more Superchargers being full.

 

[MikeATL]

wish there was a way to add a waypoint.

Waypoints in v9 !!!

Jason Hughes (@wk057) on Twitter

 

[juliusa]

The impact on Supercharger use is analog to that. You can't compare it to the past 6 years. We will see more and more Superchargers being full.

Ye of little faith. As I said, the imminent collapse of the supercharger network has been predicted for 4 years.

1. For the past 4 years, Tesla has been enabling new routes and adding capacity to existing high-utilization areas, and adding urban chargers. Going forward, there are fewer routes to be enable so they can concentrate on capacity.
2. They are adding locations with many more stalls.
3. No free unlimited supercharging for most M3s.
4. M3s get better mileage so require less supercharging on trips.
5. Newer cars supercharge faster.

I do agree we will see higher utilization at superchargers during peak times. I hope Tesla implements a "recommended stall" feature when you arrive at a supercharger - directing you to an unpaired stall if possible, and then to the stall that has the most kW available if you have to be paired.

 

[David99]

The problem isn’t that the network will collapse. The problem is bottlenecks. One station that’s is over capacity can bring entire route to a halt. Those moments make the news and people start to worry. But that’s OT here. I hope Tesla will be able to keep up with more and bigger stations.

 

[ewoodrick]

how? there's nowhere to connect it to.

12V and its own speaker. I didn't say it was integrated, just that you can have satellite radio in the vehicle.
Or maybe add a Bluetooth transmitter and it can then possibly play on the car.

 

[ewoodrick]

I respectfully disagree when it comes to model 3 at least, I just completed a 1,000 mile 1 day road trip. Denver CO to southern Wisconsin. Tesla nav said it would require 19 hours we cut it in 15.5 hours. The key is to hit every super charger with an arrival SOC 5-10 percent and never stay past 50 percent SOC, provided you can reach the nex super charger with 5-10 percent buffer. This ensures you are always charging at peak speed 100 KW+ Any charge slower than that is a wast of time IMHO providing of course you can reach the next super charger.

Good info. I don't think that the Tesla app likes going below 10-20%. Just a little extra buffer to get to a charging location (probably J-1772) if the Supercharger is having issues, not common, but does occur.
BTW, I think that you can keep full speed charging up to maybe 70%.

And as someone else mentioned, most people don't drive like a truck driver with only the destination in mind. That's a lot of opportunity to stop and smell the roses.

 

[crackers8199]

12V and its own speaker. I didn't say it was integrated, just that you can have satellite radio in the vehicle.
Or maybe add a Bluetooth transmitter and it can then possibly play on the car.

i thought about trying with a bluetooth transmitter, but then even if you can get it working you lose the ability to use your phone. i'm hopeful someone will figure it out at some point...too many people want to see it.

 

[MikeATL]

i thought about trying with a bluetooth transmitter, but then even if you can get it working you lose the ability to use your phone.

So, you can pair multiple phones, but I'm assuming only one can be active at a time, therefore even if Sirius XM had a Bluetooth Car Radio (they don't) then connecting that would force you to disconnect your phone.

That leaves FM Transmitter mode or the XM Radio App on the phone. I'm going to start with the App, but if Slacker and Premium TuneIn together can replace most of what I use XM for, then its gone (and I'll save money and phone data plan.)

 

[Msjulie]

people on the TMC still claim that autopilot is useless and is actually more exhausting than manual driving.

I don’t understand why those people are on TMC! Or even own a Tesla for that matter!

I guess you are as baffled as I am about your comment; Tesla's are great cars, they are far cleaner than any ICE car and that alone is a great bunch of reasons.

Some people do like to drive themselves sometimes and EAP is far from perfect

 

[crackers8199]

So, you can pair multiple phones, but I'm assuming only one can be active at a time, therefore even if Sirius XM had a Bluetooth Car Radio (they don't) then connecting that would force you to disconnect your phone.

That leaves FM Transmitter mode or the XM Radio App on the phone. I'm going to start with the App, but if Slacker and Premium TuneIn together can replace most of what I use XM for, then its gone (and I'll save money and phone data plan.)

someone posted that they had a friend who runs a stereo shop and they were going to try to tap into the antenna wire (the fm radio tuner is in the rear of the car somewhere, i forget exactly where). if the ability is there to install the xm fm direct connector (or whatever it's called), i'm fine with going that route, at least initially. i'm still hopeful that at some point vais tech will figure something out to allow for integration with the actual nav system. i can't see myself fully ditching XM just yet, as i live in a canyon and cell service in and immediately around my house is pretty spotty. i'd rather not have to drive the first few and last few miles every day in silence (and again, i want to preserve the live content ability vs streaming podcasts from my phone)...