I plan to make the drive on Monday. Will do a max range charge and drive "gently". Trip is showing up as 240 miles and my rated range should be about 265 (will be my first max-range charge). Right now I am planning on stoping along the way to add a little range, but all I can find is 30A J1772 level 2 charging stations which will only add 18-20 miles of range/hour. Anyone aware of a higher amperage charging capability on the route? Don't want the trip to take forever, but also don't want to run out of charge in the middle of NYC. I am a new Model S owner. Any trip advice is appreciated.
Draft behind 18 wheelers. I was perpetually low on range my first week because I only had 110v charging and was trying to preserve every mile. I had phenomenal results staying close behind those big trucks. If you find one going not too fast, that's even better. I'd also make that trip off hours of possible to avoid too much traffic. 95 can be pretty brutal at the wrong time of day (e.g., pretty much anytime!) Good luck!
I bet. Aluminum has phenomenally poor results in a body shop .... In all seriousness, be cautious of drafting. Generally you can stop much better than a semi, but if it does hit the brakes, chances are, there is much worse ahead then just his problem. Just sayin ...
I heard from a thread somewhere that there is a guy in Phila area that put a HP charger in his garage at his work just off of the NJ turnpike ..... I think there is a guy in New Hamp. with handle CINERGI that drives east coast and knows places to charge from DC to Montreal. I know that rumor and speculation doesn't help much but your trip can be done without playing with semi's..... .....although being a veteran of the VW bug era drafting does work!!!
I'm not suggesting he tailgate! Just stay behind an 18 wheeler if you can at a safe distance for as long as you can. As you note, it's easier to slow down faster than a braking truck anyway, so it's not as unsafe as driving behind a regular car at the same distance.
If you drive gently (~50 mph), you can probably make it in one charge. I would advise finding one of those 30 Amp chargers and have a nice lunch or dinner and you will be fine. My personal rule is drive gently (~50 mph) until your rated range is 20% more than your distance to go. I also add the rule of a minimum excess of 10 rated miles to avoid surprises at the end. For example, if you have more than 120 rated miles with 100 to go, you can pick up the speed gently. You can keep track of your distance to go if you start up the nav function, and compare it to the rated miles display. If you add 30 rated miles at a 1.5 hour lunch stop near a 30 Amp charger, you should be golden! Have fun.
My mistake .... HCSHARP from Vermont might have charging info for you if you need it................... good luck and enjoy your "S"!
Rumors about me? Love it! :smile: There's a Roadster HPC in New Haven, CT. You can use that if you have the adapter. But that's all I know offhand and have ever used. No idea how to go from Montreal to DC Oh, and I'm in Boston. Ask Tesla ownership or your service center for assistance with your charging arrangements ...
I live about 15 minutes off I95 just past Wilmington, DE. I just had a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed for my new S that is hopefully arriving next month. Feel free to stop for a charge if you need it. PM me if you'd like contact info. P1117 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My goal is to drive ~60 and to maximize the use of cruise control. Will see how long I have to charge to get the 20% buffer at my midway point. So will charge to 150 miles in Wilmington DE. Superchargers will make this processes much simpler ;-) Thanks for the suggestions and support!
I am thinking about the same trip living in md. Delaware has an rv park in bear delaware which has a 14-50.
Given that you will have a baseline that day, here is what I would use for the minimum charge. Look at the Wh/mi since that last charge on the 17" display; that should be your drive to Wilmington because you did a range charge that morning, call it WHL. The rated range miles are 308 Wh/mi. Call your distance to go D. Now, the expected Rated Miles Needed, RMN, to just get you to your destination is: RMN = D * WHL/(308 Wh/mi) To that, I would add some margin, at least 5%, but more like 20% if lunch is good and you are conservative. BTW, my ultimate fall back, that I have never used, is a 100' heavy duty extension cord. There are any number of places, restaurants, coffee shops, motels, etc, that will let you plug in to a normal 120V, 15A outlet and charge at 4-5 mph for a while. Have fun!
Can't remember where but I read an interesting study about the benefits of drafting big trucks. Even if you stay a safe distance behind there's some benefit. Of course, the closer you are the more you gain.
That's correct. One of the Prius group members mounted an anemometer on his Prius and found that there was a material amount of aerodynamic resistance reduction 150' behind the truck. The other thing is that if you are in a line of traffic (traffic flow conditions C and D) there is a significant reduction in aerodynamic resistance.
Monday, 530pm: (Hopefully,) Tesla announces Supercharge network from Boston to DC is very-soon-to-be-functional, or up and running. How cool would that be?
Elon is supposed to take the stage at 615p based on the email I got - east coast superchargers would be great but I really think it is MT COTY award.
Even cooler would be MT COA and announcement of the Boston-DC supercharge network. They do go together!
I'm guessing MT COTY and completion of all NA Sigs. Also announcing Boston to DC Superchargers would be really nice. P1117 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk