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60kW Pre-Supercharger Road Trip

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As luck would have it, it looks like supercharger(s) will finally be opening in Florida this week; but my business conference in Naples was last week.:frown:

After completing my first Max-Range charge, we left Clermont with 203 miles rated range and driving settings set to Range Mode. I-4 to I-75 was out of the question as a 224 mile driving distance at interstate highway speeds would be an unrealistic goal. By taking back roads to Route 17, then to I-75, we reduced our driving distance to 190 miles. We pulled in to the hotel with about 25 miles rated range remaining!:biggrin:

The staff at the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club were fantastic. I had telephoned them a month ago to inquire about being able to charge my car while staying at the resort. Their facilities manager asked if the car could charge off a 120V circuit, and I replied that would be fine as long as I could leave the car plugged in for 3 days. I parked the car at the front entrance to the clubhouse (where it was admired by all the other conference attendees) and plugged in to a wall outlet behind their valet stand. Luckily, I brought an extension cord (12 gauge) as the closest outlet was mis-wired (red light on my UMC) and the other outlet was 2 feet farther than the UMC would reach on its own.

After my conference, we drove across state from Naples to visit my aunt in Fort Lauderdale; an easy 115 mile trip on a standard charge. The challenge was going to be getting home to Clermont from Fort Lauderdale. My aunt’s condo (like so many others I’m sure) does not have functioning electrical outlets in the parking garage or near any exterior parking spaces. The one outlet we did find that was not visibly damaged (charred/fried/shorted) tested fine (green light on my UMC) but could not deliver 5 amps (the lowest current the Model S requires) without significant voltage drop even though I was not using an extension cord. The charge ring indicator on the car would alternately switch between green and red as the UMC kept resetting to attempt to negotiate a suitable current draw.:eek:

Since I had not planned on being able to charge at my aunt’s condo, on Sunday morning we took the car to the nearest RV park with 50 amp service (thanks to AllStays.com search feature I had contacted them a few days prior) with my aunt following in her car. A few hours later (after church and a leisurely brunch at Peter Pan Diner in Oakland Park) we were on our way home again with 203 miles rated range and driving settings set to Range Mode. However, with a 230 mile drive (shortest distance, via the Turnpike) I knew a charge stop was required.

By taking the Turnpike to FL-60, then up US-27, I planned to charge at an RV park just north of Lake Wales in Dundee (190 miles away) that I had contacted the day before. Unfortunately, unlike our 190 mile trip to Naples, our energy consumption was higher due to sustained turnpike travel at 70 mph. With 15 miles rated range remaining we pulled into a ChargePoint station at a Kohl’s in Lake Wales while I made a phone call to the RV park to be sure we would safely make it and be able to charge. Resting assured that we were only a few miles away, we unplugged and made it to the RV park with 12 miles rated range remaining. After charging for 90 minutes we had over 50 miles of rated range, enough to comfortably make it the rest of the way home to Clermont.

In summary, I am unbelievably impressed at how accurate the rated range is (at least for me). We have 10,000 miles on our Model S, and have averaged 290 Wh/mile. According to the trip odometer, we averaged 286 Wh/mile during this trip. My only complaint – I just wish the supercharger(s) were operational one week earlier!:wink:
 
Appreciate the information ... and especially the reminder/link about AllStays.com. I am getting ready for my first "beyond-range" trip and forgot about all the RV parks out there I can use ... in addition to the ChargePoint app and EV stations. Glad to hear everything worked out great for your trip! I just have to see if I can slow down to stay around your 290 wh/m .... my average has been around the 330 mark!