I'm planning my first ever trip (in my (soon to be collected) M3 LR)) to visit family. This will be 200 miles south, then 100 miles east, then 200 miles north (home) over 3 days / 2 night. I will need to get 200 miles on the clock somewhere near Reading or somewhere along the M3 / M40 . . . . what/where is the fastest / cheapest way t do it?
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Top up charging on route
- Thread starter Forty_Two
- Start date
Hmm - are you sure you’re ready to be a Tesla owner if you’re asking this kind of basic question on a forum?
UkNorthampton
TSLA - 12+ startups in 1
Cardinal Sins - A Better Routeplanner
Over 1800 km (1150 miles), 19 hours driving, less than 2 hours charging. Longest charge duration is 34 minutes, so combine with a meal or tweet like Elon does.
Any similar concerns, or for others, just use ABRP and put a return route in so you get more options for charging. In this case all charging stops were Tesla Superchargers, but ABRP does other networks if they're better.
Over 1800 km (1150 miles), 19 hours driving, less than 2 hours charging. Longest charge duration is 34 minutes, so combine with a meal or tweet like Elon does.
Any similar concerns, or for others, just use ABRP and put a return route in so you get more options for charging. In this case all charging stops were Tesla Superchargers, but ABRP does other networks if they're better.
You may get some unhelpful / unkind responses so in the spirit of 'we all need to learn' here is a helpful / kind one to balance the equation. Tesla has a unique advantage in it's Supercharger Network, if you download the 'Supercharged' App you will find that there's a Supercharger Site in Wokingham which looks like it's on your route. Alternatively use the Route Planner in the car and it will suggest where you need to stop. There's another App called A Better Route Planner which many people use, when you get some time I suggest you check it out, happy driving !
UkNorthampton
TSLA - 12+ startups in 1
I've never owned a Tesla or any other electric car. I presume from your comment that you believe that all others learn all that needs to be known before they decide to buy the car? Call me odd but I am buying the car and I will then learn what I need to know. Right now I don't know how to plug it in, where to plug it in or how I pay, it's all new to me but I'm quite looking forward to learning all I need to know.
As others have suggested have a play with the settings in Abetterrouteplanner. You can run all sorts of scenarios and you don't need to have your EV to do it. In fact you can slot in different EV models and see how the trips come out. (Quite a few people do this before choosing which EV to buy ... the good news is that for most trips you'll find the Tesla "wins"!)
I fully understand your predicament when it comes to electric cars. Some forums are too 'niche' and not for the 'starters'. As someone rightly pointed out you are going to get some unhelpful/unkind comments - if you are asking some 'starter' questions in any forums. But I guess there are lots of helpful members who can answer your queries and provide suggestions. Even if you do not have a Tesla you still can use the website to plan travel including superchargers. As others pointed out there are other options including ABetterRouteplanner, zapmap etc., that can give you these information.
Regarding how to plug it in, where to plug it in and how to pay, Tesla has a video and also helpful information.
As a car this is the easiest or simplest car to use if you have a driving licence and know how to drive. There will be lots of noise around software, hardware and Tesla customer services. But they are all there in every other car but as an EV tech there is nothing even close to Tesla. And learning to use Tesla or supercharger isn't hard at all!
Btw, you are going to miss all those switches in that Porsche
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I see you haven't been on this forum long... have you used a forum before?
Reason I ask is that you seem to be unaware that they're for discussion, asking questions (and sharing knowledge) around a particular topic.... which is exactly what OP was trying to do.
Sure there is a search function, but this was a really OTT response.
Remember you also have Go Anywhere | Tesla and Supercharger | Tesla UK
They're both aweosme. The first lets you pop in your car, and gives you easy A-B-C planning. The second link just shows you super charger locations, as well as destination chargers (hotels / tourist attractions).
I find these great for seeing what's where if you're planning a trip to a particular place, and want to see if there's any super charging points enroute to save you hunting for 3rd party chargers that may be broken or are offline or just blatantly ICE'D.
They're both aweosme. The first lets you pop in your car, and gives you easy A-B-C planning. The second link just shows you super charger locations, as well as destination chargers (hotels / tourist attractions).
I find these great for seeing what's where if you're planning a trip to a particular place, and want to see if there's any super charging points enroute to save you hunting for 3rd party chargers that may be broken or are offline or just blatantly ICE'D.
Lots of good suggestions above about route planners etc. You might also find it useful to watch this short series from Fully Charged, I know you have completed some of these step since you‘re soon to collect your Tesla, but might still be of interest. We watched them before to got our first EV 2 years ago and it was a good way of explaining to the other half what we were getting into.
Stranger Dings
Member
Definitely download A Better Route Planner and download ZapMap. Plan your routes in ABRP and see where chargers are (and if they are likely to be working) in ZapMap.
Don’t forget to add a credit card to your Tesla account too. Once you’ve done that, supercharging just works when you plug it in.
It would also be worth downloading apps and setting up accounts for any other chargers that you think you might use. I use pod point, some of which are free in Supermarkets.
I’d recommend driving a bit before the big journey and get used to charging. It is quite daunting at first when you don’t know what you are doing, but becomes second nature after a few times.
Any issues or questions, either post here or drop me a PM if you prefer and I’d be happy to help. I remember how terrified I was when I first went electric. Make sure you plan trips before going and it really is quite easy.
In the spirit of openness can I admit that I found the most difficult thing about public charging was how to get the nozzle out of the supercharger... until some kind soul told me it was like a petrol pump and you have to push in and lift I kept pressing that button and wondering why it wasn't releasing...
I'll get my coat.
I'll get my coat.
Well, that wasn’t the question you asked to be fair. You asked for a specific location to charge on a given road area which just struck me as a very odd question given that one of the very first things anyone would surely do is a some light research on the EV charging network, how it works and where and how locations may be found.
Looks like there are a fair few answers here anyway to get you on your way, good luck!
I had the same experience when I first went to the petrol station - a long time ago now but never allowed to touch the nozzle where I grew up - had to ask someone how to release the nozzle! And the guy looked at me as if I was a time traveller who had come here from the 15th century!
UkNorthampton
TSLA - 12+ startups in 1
Self service petrol pumps were terrifying things (and still are to some village dwellers in parts of rural UK).
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Here's my suggestion
As other have said visit ABetterRoutePlanner. I recommend you use a PC / Screen / Browser, at least initially, to have plenty of screen space. The phone APP is fine, once you know what you are doing, but until then it may be harder because of limited space on the phone screen. Download the phone APP for your actual journey-days.
Choose your model of car. You probably don't need to do any other config, at least initially, but in mid winter (or if rain / snow forecast for the day of your journey) it would be prudent to put in Temperature and/or Rain as that will impact your fuel consumption. You could put in weight (of passengers / luggage) but that has much less impact on range.
Put in the start location (ABetterRoutePlanner will find it from a reasonable description - PostCode or name of a landmark / building / town / whatever)
Put in the final destination (may be the same as the start)
Press ADD a Waypoint (several times if you like)
For each waypoint type in Postcode / Name etc. You can DRAG the waypoints if you got them in the wrong order.
Press the ROUTE PLAN button
If you choose a Tesla vehicle (M3 / MY) I am reasonably sure that ABetterRoutePlanner will have automatically restricted to CCS Supercharger locations only. These will definitely be your easiest option (reasonably likely cheapest as well, excepting that you might be able to get "free" at some other places). If all the charging locations you see listed are "Tesla Supercharger" then that will be feedback that it has indeed filtered to "Tesla Superchargers". If you see other brands, like Ionity, then you may want to change the preferences of where you charge. More on that later.
That's your route, and charging locations.
If any of the charging locations require you to charge over 80% then a) you will have a long stop and b) the places you are visiting are a long way from Superchargers. I suggest if that happens you come back here and ask for further advice because, if all your charging stops are a) Supercharger and b) No more than 80% then your journey will be easy. If not then it would be better to consider using other charging locations.
The planning algorithm will aim to get you to arrive at Supercharger at 10%-ish. That's about 30 miles of "detour contingency". For a newbie that might be disconcerting at best, and "tight", or worse!, at worst. I recommend that you charge at least 10% more at each stop (but try not to include any charges over 80% in your plan as they will be time consuming). At each stop you may find that by the time you've had a pee, and bought a coffee etc. that the charge will be higher than necessary to get to next stop anyway. Dawdling until the car gets to 80% won't take very long. I recommend that you do that anyway, on your first trip - it will give you contingency for unexpected heavy thunderstorm, detours and so on. If you charge to 80% at the first stop, instead of (say) 50% as ABetterRoutePlanner recommends ... well, that will just mean you arrive with more, and at the next stop you can charge to 80% as well. It will take about the same time (charging from 10% to 70% happens faster than 70% to 80%; 80% to 90% is slow. 90% to 100% is very VERY slow)
If you have e.g. an overnight stop and you are going to do some running around there - e.g. sightseeing - then you want to allow some extra charge for that. Also when you set off in the morning you will use some energy to heat the car. So on the leg between Charger and Overnight stop, and from that stop to next Charger make sure you have charged "extra". 1% charge is about 3 miles. So if you need an extra 30 miles then charge 10% extra.
If you get to the overnight stop and there is a 13AMP socket on the wall park there and plug in! You will get about 5 MPH from a 13AMP socket - so a 10 hour overnight stop is good for an additional 50 miles. I've dangled an extension lead out of an upstairs hotel bedroom window to the car park below on more than one occasion ...
If the overnight stop has a proper EV charging station all the better. But don't rely on that, it might be occupied or bust. If there is one, and it is working, you can leave with 100% charge the following morning and save time at charging stops
Ditto for lunch, if you can have lunch at a Supercharger. A 50 minute lunch stop will get you from 10% to pretty much 100%When you set off on your journey put the destination into SatNav - your next actual stop, not the Supercharger that ABetterRoutePlanner lists. The car will then recommend a Supercharger (assuming you don't have enough juice to reach your destination). Either that will be the same as ABetterRoutePlanner, or different.; If different you'll have to make up your own mind which choice you will make. if you prefer ABetterRoutePlanner then change the destination to BE that Supercharger. If you have enough juice to reach your destination, but you need to top up before you get there, then put the Supercharger location as your destination. You can zoom in on the map, the chargers are displayed as round circles with a number in the middle (the number of stalls current available), click on the one you want and choose "Navigate there"; or type in the name of the supercharger, into SatNav, instead.
When you are driving use the ENERGY display and the TRIP TAB. That will show you a graph (in grey) as initially predicted, and then a line (in green) of actual energy used, and a projection for the rest of the trip based on that. If you are going to arrive with more than 10% speed up, if less than 20% slow down (I know, those two figures don't add up! If you are 200 miles out then 20% is a good target, once you are within 50 miles you only need to be aiming for 10%). The lower the charge when you arrive the faster the car will charge.
The car will charge faster than your drive ... what I mean is that if you drive faster you will save some time, but it will take less than that amount of time to make up the difference when charging (up to at least 90 MPH), so no need to dawdle if you have more than enough juice to get there
If you are going to use any chargers OTHER than Tesla Supercharger (or if you don't have a Tesla!!) then you will need to have the APP, and quite possibly an account, all set up BEFORE you get to the 3rd party charger. You also need a backup plan (for alternative placed to charge) as 3rd party chargers are notorious for being broken.
Link to ABetterRoutePlanner
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Jason71
Well-Known Member
You have two overnight stops. Are you not able to destination charge where you staying? You can offer to pay for the leccy it will be cheaper and easier than using public charging even with the excellent SuC
if their route takes them close enough to a SC to be easy to get to, I’d genuinely prefer to stop there for 15 minutes on each of the 200 mile legs, than faff about with the granny cable. Unless I’ve done it before and know how it works I wouldn’t want anyone leaving windows open for the leccy cable etc.
@OP - roughly where is your start/end point and your waypoints? Just city/town is enough and we can have a play
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