680 Mile one day Road Trip
I had a meeting in San Diego yesterday. From my house that is 340 miles each way, and needed to get back the same day for Easter today. I decided to test the ability of the Model S P85 to do a road trip like this.
I left my house in San Luis Obispo with a full range charge at 5:30 am, and I drove in range mode. I stopped in Los Olivos, CA to pick up my Father. The weather was mild and I started with the climate control off. I started keeping the speed at or below 65, then ramped the speed up to keep up with LA traffic ~75 as we got closer and I was assured that there was enough range remaining. We arrived at the Tesla Supercharger station in Hawthorne about 8:45, 210 miles, 50 miles remaining.
I had an interesting converstion with one of the Tesla employees while waiting for our charge to complete who was in charge of formulating colors for Tesla. 45 minutes later following a cup of coffee and a breakfast bar we left with 230 mile range charge. We had 120 miles left to get to our destination meeting location. I had located a Wallgreens with charging several blocks from my meeting location. I drove 75-80 mph on this leg and turned the climate control back on. 30 amp Semacharge EVSE worked fine, charging 17 mph, 198v and 29-30 amps. We arrived 11:30 am with 45 miles of range left., still having time for lunch, and a nice short walk to our meeting location.
Following our 2.5 hour meeting we left Wallreens headed for Tesla Fashion Island. I had previously contacted to advise them that I would be needing a charge. We had added enough at Wallgreens during our meeting to have 135 miles of range. It was 90 miles to the Tesla store so good to go. We arrived at Tesla, had a little trouble finding the EVSE in the parking structure, but helpful Fashion Island Security led us right to it. These is only one HPWC, and an out of service Clipper Creek EVSE. We had about 25 miles left when pulling into the parking so we had to charge there. Tesla has a policy there to leave a note with your phone number to charge there in case someone comes by and needs a charge. Another Model S was charging and no note was left. I called the Tesla store who looked up the owners phone number, called them in the mall, secured the key with the owners permission (Thank you Very Much) and unlocked the other Tesla so I could begin charging. What great service! (Thanks Alex!) There is room for 4 or 5 additional HPWC's here, and the addition of more would be a great service to the owners without a lot of cost to Tesla. We charged for about an hour and 15 minutes, had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake factory and continued back to the Hawthorne Supercharger with about 110 miles of charge. It is now about 6:30 pm.
We arrived Hawthorne about 7:45pm and <30 miles. We charged to 250 miles. The last miles go really slow as the supercharger tapers back at the end of the charge. We were getting 60 amps at 250 rated miles in the battery. Leaving Hawthorne at about 8:45 I arrived back in San Luis Obispo about 11:15 pm with 30 miles remaining.
Good trip with lots of miles in one day. We spent about 3 hours waiting for charges which I consider not bad considering the miles traveled, but we would have stopped for Lunch and dinner anyway so not much of a delay if you factor that. We would have stopped for Gasoline twice in my ICE, taking about 1/2 hour. We saved $170 in fuel, and did not burn about 37 gallons.
I'd love to hear others experiences in Road Tripping!
I had a meeting in San Diego yesterday. From my house that is 340 miles each way, and needed to get back the same day for Easter today. I decided to test the ability of the Model S P85 to do a road trip like this.
I left my house in San Luis Obispo with a full range charge at 5:30 am, and I drove in range mode. I stopped in Los Olivos, CA to pick up my Father. The weather was mild and I started with the climate control off. I started keeping the speed at or below 65, then ramped the speed up to keep up with LA traffic ~75 as we got closer and I was assured that there was enough range remaining. We arrived at the Tesla Supercharger station in Hawthorne about 8:45, 210 miles, 50 miles remaining.
I had an interesting converstion with one of the Tesla employees while waiting for our charge to complete who was in charge of formulating colors for Tesla. 45 minutes later following a cup of coffee and a breakfast bar we left with 230 mile range charge. We had 120 miles left to get to our destination meeting location. I had located a Wallgreens with charging several blocks from my meeting location. I drove 75-80 mph on this leg and turned the climate control back on. 30 amp Semacharge EVSE worked fine, charging 17 mph, 198v and 29-30 amps. We arrived 11:30 am with 45 miles of range left., still having time for lunch, and a nice short walk to our meeting location.
Following our 2.5 hour meeting we left Wallreens headed for Tesla Fashion Island. I had previously contacted to advise them that I would be needing a charge. We had added enough at Wallgreens during our meeting to have 135 miles of range. It was 90 miles to the Tesla store so good to go. We arrived at Tesla, had a little trouble finding the EVSE in the parking structure, but helpful Fashion Island Security led us right to it. These is only one HPWC, and an out of service Clipper Creek EVSE. We had about 25 miles left when pulling into the parking so we had to charge there. Tesla has a policy there to leave a note with your phone number to charge there in case someone comes by and needs a charge. Another Model S was charging and no note was left. I called the Tesla store who looked up the owners phone number, called them in the mall, secured the key with the owners permission (Thank you Very Much) and unlocked the other Tesla so I could begin charging. What great service! (Thanks Alex!) There is room for 4 or 5 additional HPWC's here, and the addition of more would be a great service to the owners without a lot of cost to Tesla. We charged for about an hour and 15 minutes, had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake factory and continued back to the Hawthorne Supercharger with about 110 miles of charge. It is now about 6:30 pm.
We arrived Hawthorne about 7:45pm and <30 miles. We charged to 250 miles. The last miles go really slow as the supercharger tapers back at the end of the charge. We were getting 60 amps at 250 rated miles in the battery. Leaving Hawthorne at about 8:45 I arrived back in San Luis Obispo about 11:15 pm with 30 miles remaining.
Good trip with lots of miles in one day. We spent about 3 hours waiting for charges which I consider not bad considering the miles traveled, but we would have stopped for Lunch and dinner anyway so not much of a delay if you factor that. We would have stopped for Gasoline twice in my ICE, taking about 1/2 hour. We saved $170 in fuel, and did not burn about 37 gallons.
I'd love to hear others experiences in Road Tripping!
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