Upcoming Cross-Country Trip

[OverJohn]

Thank you all for your great ideas! We made it back home yesterday afternoon.

5987.75 miles driven (64% of the total miles on the car). 5 days driving East, 6 days at the farm in East Georgia, and 6 days driving West (stopping several times to visit friends and family).

Total energy used: 1,660 kWh = 277 Wh/mi. 48 supercharges (1,551 kWh of the total). Our efficiency would have been better if I had not driven at 3-4 miles over the posted limit (70 in CA, 75 in AZ & NM, 80 in TX, 65 in LA, MI, AL, & GA). Most of the trip the estimate of the percentage remaining in the battery at the next supercharger was optimistic, especially in the 75 & 80 mph states...

It was awesome having a window cleaning kit in the frunk. We used it a couple of times a day.

 

[16Coma]

Thank you all for your great ideas! We made it back home yesterday afternoon.

5987.75 miles driven (64% of the total miles on the car). 5 days driving East, 6 days at the farm in East Georgia, and 6 days driving West (stopping several times to visit friends and family).

Total energy used: 1,660 kWh = 277 Wh/mi. 48 supercharges (1,551 kWh of the total). Our efficiency would have been better if I had not driven at 3-4 miles over the posted limit (70 in CA, 75 in AZ & NM, 80 in TX, 65 in LA, MI, AL, & GA). Most of the trip the estimate of the percentage remaining in the battery at the next supercharger was optimistic, especially in the 75 & 80 mph states...

It was awesome having a window cleaning kit in the frunk. We used it a couple of times a day.

Thanks for sharing OJ. I just got my M3 and plan to take a trip to Orlando from Va Beach around Xmas. Is there additional charging equipment, besides what comes with the car, that I should consider purchasing for this journey? (I haven't read the 999 other threads on this website to see what's out there.)

 

[OverJohn]

Thanks for sharing OJ. I just got my M3 and plan to take a trip to Orlando from Va Beach around Xmas. Is there additional charging equipment, besides what comes with the car, that I should consider purchasing for this journey? (I haven't read the 999 other threads on this website to see what's out there.)

If you are a reasonable distance to a Supercharger, you don't need to bring anything. If you plan on using the dryer outlet of the house you are visiting, then check out what kind it is. The new standard for the outlet is 14-30 which means that it is rated at 30 Amps (you can draw 80% of that, or 24). It has the two hot leads, a ground and a neutral (used by dryers, but not your car). The old kind is a 10-30. It does not have the neutral, but will work just fine with your car. The trouble is that the Tesla website does not have any 10-30 adapters for the travel charger you get with the car. I don't know why that is... there are tons of houses out there with 10-30 dryer outlets. I plugged into one at my brother-in-law's house in Texas. EVSE Adapters.com does have one. I ran the cord outside through the dryer vent so that I didn't have to prop the door open for the cord to go out...

You get a 14-50 plug in the travel charger bag that comes with the car, but that won't help you use a dryer outlet. There are adapters that you can get that will let you use this connector... But, you you will have to manually limit the car's current to 24 Amps (on the charging screen), or you will draw too much current and either trip the circuit breaker, or overheat the dryer socket (& plug).

If you are not going to be able to park close enough to the dryer outlet, you can get from EVSEAdapters a L6-30 twist-lock adapter that plugs into the Tesla travel charger and then you can buy L6-30 extension cord and a L6-30R to 10-30P pigtail and that will give you lots of flexibility. The cool part about the L6-30 Tesla adapter is that it will limit the current to 24 Amps automatically. If you are okay with some simple wiring, you can make the 10-30P to L6-30R pigtail. Just buy these two items and connect them up: Socket & Plug.

Here's what a bunch of them look like so you can identify them in the wild:

Have fun on your trip!

 

[Atari2600]

I bought a 50' 14-50 extension cable (It's heavy) from EVSA Adapters along with a NEMA 10-50 to 14-50 adapter. That should cover most electric ovens and private folks that are on plug-share and allow me to charge at max rate giving me 75' plug in distance. I bought this for one specific area I visit that has no public charging period.

I'm considering the 10-30 to 14-50 adapter but you have to dial down to 24 amps manually or you will trip a breaker or, worse if the breaker/fuse isn't working correctly, start a fire.

 

[cpa]

Thank you all for your great ideas! We made it back home yesterday afternoon.

View attachment 357036

5987.75 miles driven (64% of the total miles on the car). 5 days driving East, 6 days at the farm in East Georgia, and 6 days driving West (stopping several times to visit friends and family).

Total energy used: 1,660 kWh = 277 Wh/mi. 48 supercharges (1,551 kWh of the total). Our efficiency would have been better if I had not driven at 3-4 miles over the posted limit (70 in CA, 75 in AZ & NM, 80 in TX, 65 in LA, MI, AL, & GA). Most of the trip the estimate of the percentage remaining in the battery at the next supercharger was optimistic, especially in the 75 & 80 mph states...

It was awesome having a window cleaning kit in the frunk. We used it a couple of times a day.

Fantastic!

You should visit the "Most Superchargers Visited" thread and dip your toe into the competition. We love all competitors, although the leaders atop the manure pile are all over 600! (I am way down the list with the annelids.)

 

[Matt L]

Thank you. I'm "expecting" ~300 miles total range, so 208 miles shouldn't be trouble. There are several places where the map on the website says to charge for 5 minutes. Not sure why. I'll play it by ear when I get there. I figure it will take longer than 5 minutes to go inside and pee...

Personally, unless you go fairly slow, you won’t get 300 miles. Also, if you do, the time it takes you to charge to 100% will be more than just driving normal speed and hitting the additional charger for 20-30 mins.

 

[16Coma]

If you are a reasonable distance to a Supercharger, you don't need to bring anything. If you plan on using the dryer outlet of the house you are visiting, then check out what kind it is. The new standard for the outlet is 14-30 which means that it is rated at 30 Amps (you can draw 80% of that, or 24). It has the two hot leads, a ground and a neutral (used by dryers, but not your car). The old kind is a 10-30. It does not have the neutral, but will work just fine with your car. The trouble is that the Tesla website does not have any 10-30 adapters for the travel charger you get with the car. I don't know why that is... there are tons of houses out there with 10-30 dryer outlets. I plugged into one at my brother-in-law's house in Texas. EVSE Adapters.com does have one. I ran the cord outside through the dryer vent so that I didn't have to prop the door open for the cord to go out...

You get a 14-50 plug in the travel charger bag that comes with the car, but that won't help you use a dryer outlet. There are adapters that you can get that will let you use this connector... But, you you will have to manually limit the car's current to 24 Amps (on the charging screen), or you will draw too much current and either trip the circuit breaker, or overheat the dryer socket (& plug).

If you are not going to be able to park close enough to the dryer outlet, you can get from EVSEAdapters a L6-30 twist-lock adapter that plugs into the Tesla travel charger and then you can buy L6-30 extension cord and a L6-30R to 10-30P pigtail and that will give you lots of flexibility. The cool part about the L6-30 Tesla adapter is that it will limit the current to 24 Amps automatically. If you are okay with some simple wiring, you can make the 10-30P to L6-30R pigtail. Just buy these two items and connect them up: Socket & Plug.

Here's what a bunch of them look like so you can identify them in the wild


Have fun on your trip!

Thanks!

 

[OverJohn]

Fantastic!

You should visit the "Most Superchargers Visited" thread and dip your toe into the competition. We love all competitors, although the leaders atop the manure pile are all over 600! (I am way down the list with the annelids.)

Thanks. I had no idea, or I might have just stopped for 1 minute of charge at every one on the way (my wife would have killed me).

 

[FlyinLow]

I just ran across this resource outlining FAQs. Lots of these apply to road trips and driving EVs in general.

Link: Owner’s Manual Companion | TeslaTap

 

[ggnykk]

Most of the trip the estimate of the percentage remaining in the battery at the next supercharger was optimistic, especially in the 75 & 80 mph states...

.

So how far off is the battery percentage remaining compare to real world? 10 to 20% off?

I always wonder why Tesla couldn't just use the car's consumption in lets say the last 200 miles, and factor that into the supercharging time calculation and battery remaining calculation. People have been complaining about this for years and years since Model S, and the wildly inaccurate battery remaining % is still not fixed yet.

It is really high school math really, there was literally a high school kid that built a website himself that comes up with way more accurate calculation than what Tesla in-car computer can do.

 

[OverJohn]

So how far off is the battery percentage remaining compare to real world? 10 to 20% off?

I really should have taken pictures of the graphs... As I remember it, they were about 10% more higher than the actual usage was. For instance, on the trip chart it would show we would arrive with 23% battery and after 200 miles at 84 mph, we got there with 13%. To compensate, I just charged a little higher than the car said I needed to (by the 10%). The only inconvenience was that we spent more time at the supercharger.

I wondered (but didn't test) if it was better to drive fast and spend more time at the supercharger, or to drive slower and spend less time at the supercharger... You know, which was faster overall.

 

[kemble54]

Thank you all for your great ideas! We made it back home yesterday afternoon.

View attachment 357036

5987.75 miles driven (64% of the total miles on the car). 5 days driving East, 6 days at the farm in East Georgia, and 6 days driving West (stopping several times to visit friends and family).

Total energy used: 1,660 kWh = 277 Wh/mi. 48 supercharges (1,551 kWh of the total). Our efficiency would have been better if I had not driven at 3-4 miles over the posted limit (70 in CA, 75 in AZ & NM, 80 in TX, 65 in LA, MI, AL, & GA). Most of the trip the estimate of the percentage remaining in the battery at the next supercharger was optimistic, especially in the 75 & 80 mph states...

It was awesome having a window cleaning kit in the frunk. We used it a couple of times a day.

How much total spend at superchargers for the trip?

 

[OverJohn]

How much total spend at superchargers for the trip?

I have free supercharging, but TeslaFi says that the 1551 kWh would have cost $193.93.

 

[FlyinLow]

Bjorn Nyland determined the fastest way to go was a 106 mph cruising speed when driving a MS P100D.

Take your chances with law enforcement.

I find the fastest way to go (without sweating law enforcemenrt) is find a truck or van doing a few mph above the speed limit and draft off of them with AP on and following distance set at 5.

I always watch the trip computer increase by 5% over the initial estimate over two to three hours. For road trips I stop charging when the trip computer shows +5% at my next stop, because I know I’ll arrive with 15% or more. I’ve done 12 road trips since last February. Over the Appalachians, in the winter, summer. I love road trips in my S85.

 

[cpa]

I really should have taken pictures of the graphs... As I remember it, they were about 10% more higher than the actual usage was. For instance, on the trip chart it would show we would arrive with 23% battery and after 200 miles at 84 mph, we got there with 13%. To compensate, I just charged a little higher than the car said I needed to (by the 10%). The only inconvenience was that we spent more time at the supercharger.

I wondered (but didn't test) if it was better to drive fast and spend more time at the supercharger, or to drive slower and spend less time at the supercharger... You know, which was faster overall.

The estimate on the trip screen is pretty accurate if your driving style keeps within the "normal" (whatever that means) speed for the road taken. Eighty-four miles per hour is likely not within this "normal" parameter that the software uses to make the calculation. Some people have posited that the software assumes about 5-6 MPH over the posted limit, but do not take this statement as fact.

It should be noted that the software takes elevation gains and losses into consideration. It DOES NOT consider weather. You need to be careful when driving those legs when it is windy, cold, raining, snowing, foggy, or all of the above. You also need to realize that using the cabin heater will reduce range. I charged to 96% for a 143-mile leg with a modest 1600-foot elevation gain. I estimated the crosswind to be >30MPH. Outside temperature was in the low 50s. I drove 48MPH (you read that correctly) for almost two hours to be able to arrive at the next SC with 6%. I started my journey at 62 (70MPH limit) and gradually decreased my speed every 5-7 minutes as the energy graph plummeted from the initial arrival estimate of 24% down to 9%. Only at 48MPH did the graph start to level off and increase slightly.

In my opinion, Supercharging should be a fluid exercise. You may wish to drive fast and charge a lot more one time, but the next time drive slower and charge less. Or you may wish to tackle a longish leg of ~275 miles without stopping en route. Depart with 95+%, keep your speed at or beneath the limit, and bypass any SC in the middle. 275/65 = ~4 1/4 hours. 275 miles at 80 = ~3.5 hours. If you factor in the extra time to exit the highway, find the SC, plug in, unplug, and return to the highway, you might wind up saving 10 minutes overall. But it could be less if the SC en route is crowded and you have to share a station. Then there are the intangible benefits (for me, anyway) of not worrying about people driving cars with a lot of concealed red and blue lights, plus arriving more refreshed because I drove at the speed limit.

 

[16Coma]

Did any of you charge to the fullest (and skipping a few SCs) while on your trip or did you stick to the vehicle settings?
OverJohn, is your free supercharging from a referral...$193 is a considerable amount of savings.

 

[swaltner]

On a road trip, I set the charge limit to 100%, just so it’s charging any time it’s plugged in. Having said that, I typically only take on power for 10-15 minutes; just enough to get to the next Supercharger with a buffer. This requires fidgeting with the navigation destination because the trip planner tries to take on lots of energy and skip chargers.

Either way works, but I prefer to get out and stretch my legs regularly. On days that I drive 700+ miles in the Model 3, the Apple Watch says I still walked 3-4 miles that day. Restroom break and a walk at every charging stop....

 

[16Coma]

On a road trip, I set the charge limit to 100%, just so it’s charging any time it’s plugged in. Having said that, I typically only take on power for 10-15 minutes; just enough to get to the next Supercharger with a buffer. This requires fidgeting with the navigation destination because the trip planner tries to take on lots of energy and skip chargers.

Either way works, but I prefer to get out and stretch my legs regularly. On days that I drive 700+ miles in the Model 3, the Apple Watch says I still walked 3-4 miles that day. Restroom break and a walk at every charging stop....

Thanks...just read your blog...good write-up...very helpful!