Road Trip from Redding, CT to Caryville, TN (north of Knoxville)

We've decided on a last minute trip to see my wife's folks, leaving tomorrow and returning next Saturday … a long drive, but I've talked my wife into taking the Model S rather than the minivan. Unfortunately, I'll have to relent about food and drink in the backseat for our 6 year old daughters. Not an easy thing for me.

The normal route is a straight shot down I-81 to just west of Knoxville, then I-40 to I-75. Clearly, that won't work unless we want to camp out at RV parks for hours on end and that will get me relegated to the minivan in a heartbeat. So, instead, we'll be taking the supercharger route through Burlington, NC with an overnight in Asheville to charge. Will then pick up the next morning for the remaining distance.

Details:

Estimated time to Asheville, including stops, is 14 hours, then another 2.5 the next day. On the return trip, we'll leave after dinner on Friday, stay the night in Asheville again, then the rest of the way home the following day. Looks like crosswinds until DC then a tail wind for a bit followed by more crosswinds when we get into NC so energy usage should be reasonable at highway speeds. There's a nice high pressure system over MO that will bring us neutral to favorable winds. It really is like flight planning, though all bets are off in the Smokies.

For those who waste their time on Twitter I'll be tweeting periodically from @queuect on the trip down and back.

At the Newark supercharger. Drove 190 miles at 66 mph using 240 miles of rated range. The cold (22F) and the winds (NW20 G40) are brutal. Plus, my range charge is netting only 252 miles now. Averaging 364 Wh/mi so have to be careful. Arrived with only 14 miles to spare. Heat was on 65F.

Relaxing over some coffee and a breakfast sandwich, planning my speed for the second leg of the trip to Glen Allen.

purplewalt said:

Good luck.
Have a safe drive.
Smokie Mountains around and past Asheville will really impact your driving speed and kWh average.

Are you planning your stay for any of the KOAs, either Asheville East (Swannanoa ) or Asheville West (Candler)?
You can easily reach Candler from Burlington.
Candler KOA also has some lodges: they probably have linens and such, Kabins typically don't.

Or have you located/confirmed a traditional hotel in Asheville that has overnight charging for your car?

Click to expand...

There are a few hotels close to chargers in Asheville. Fortunately, it's only 145 or so miles from there to our destination.

So, first error of the trip. Didn't fully seat the plug and didn't think to check before sitting down for lunch. 30 minutes lost, family natives getting restless. Off to Burlington in 20 minutes. Problem is I need nearly a full range charge in this weather and wind. 250 range in Newark. 200 miles to Glen Allem, 25 or so left on arrival. I was going 65 to 70 the whole way so some room to slow down.

I don't want to arrive with less than 15 miles so need to charge fairly full. Those last 30 miles of charge take a while with the power taper.

Wish I could find some trucks, drafting is my friend right now. It's 188 from Burlington to Asheville with a big mountain at the end. Truthfully, I'm a little stressed. My last bail out point is the KOA in Statesville and I don't have a res. need to calculate my go/no go point.

purplewalt said:

Really hope you made it to either Statesville or Swannonoa KOAs tonight.

My earlier comment about "easy does it" meant slow down, not to try drafting big trucks.
My suggestion: you may consider driving @ 58 MPH (or slower) as a way to keep your range up with some sort of adequate buffer.
I just did that drive, but it was not as cold and certainly not as windy.
Without access to Superchargers in Western NC, it was easier (on my nerves) to drive slower, arrive with a suitable range buffer and charge overnight while I slept, than to be forced to stop and wait a couple hours (@ 30 miles/hour charge max.) to charge before continuing.

Driving slower will reduce your stress, and you will still get there.

Click to expand...

Precisely what I did. First, I established where my backups were, Statesville KOA and dealership chargers in Hickory, as well as the Black Mountain KOA. Then established personal minimums. 150 rated range at Statesville and 130 at Hickory. These were purposefully conservative. I had two 6 year olds in the back seat so wanted to be safe. Then set the cruise at 58 mph. Used the heat very sparingly.

At 50 miles to go I had 100 rated range left which gave me enormous comfort. The steep portion of the climb up the mountain was shorter than expected so cranked the heat (a balmy 70 degrees!). Ended up at the hotel with 40 rated remaining and have been charging overnight. The rest if the run is easy, less than 150 miles.

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement and advice, both here and on Twitter. It's always good to have extra sets of eyes on a plan.

Made the final run this morning, plenty of range and a completely different experience than yesterday. I went the speed limit or slightly above, kept up with traffic and had no range issues. Got better than rated the whole way. Partly because of terrain differences (quite a bit of downhill) and partly because it was at least 10 degrees warmer with no winds. Plugged in to a 110V outlet for the first time at my in-laws (just for kicks) and was getting 3-4 mph charge.

Will share some opinions and personal learnings later this week; the first one is that 600 miles is about my limit for driving. That extra 190 miles at the end (plus the time waiting for a full supercharge) was just too much.

Getting ready to leave Asheville:



Final energy tally for the trip:

purplewalt said:

Hope you are able to locate a suitable (faster) charging station other than 110 V outlet.:wink:

I figure that 600 miles in a day is a great deal of driving, either in an ICE or a Tesla.
Maybe your return trip will be a bit better (and warmer).

Click to expand...

Yup, there are two within 5 miles and another 15 miles away. I had never charged at 110V so was curious what would happen. At the very least I thought I'd keep the battery warm :smile:

Cottonwood said:

Glad you made it! Nice job!!!

Easy to tell its a pilot doing the planning... Yes, planning a cross-country Model S trip beyond the region of well spaced Superchargers is much like doing the flight planning for a cross-country flight. When I am charging and head off to eat and pass the time, I always check on the car with the App. At least twice since the App came out, I have discovered a problem and returned to fix it before wasting too much time.

See my writeup on some long distance winter driving at Realistic Range Expectations in Crummy Winter Weather - Page 2

Click to expand...

I was thinking that on the trip, it's very much like planning for a flight. There's also quite a bit of energy management involved, obviously, though it's more explicit in the S than in an aircraft.