Trip to Charlotte from Richmond

I find myself driving my Model S to Charlotte for business. First time range charging, first time going a long distance on superchargers. Thanks to all those before that helped ease my mind for this trip. I'll post more range details, but as it turns out, at 60+ degrees F, the range was really not a worry at all from Glen Allen to Burlington. I was usually doing 72mph.

Maybe if the weather gets better, I can participate in the Charlotte Cars and Coffee on Saturday before heading back to VA. Weather reports right now aren't encouraging.

==== update =====

I get to the Bank of America Corporate Center and I am ICE'ed by a Honda Civic. The other Chargepoint space is being used by a Ford EV. I park just in front for a moment to check out the situation and the driver comes out and leaves. But by the time I swing back around (1 way streets) the a Chevy Volt has pulled in. Sigh. I don't need the charge right away, so I parked at the hotel. I'll need to charge some before I head back and so I figure that won't be hard. I do wonder about leaving the car on that street for any real length of time at night though.

At the Glen Allen supercharger, occasionally I get red rings when trying to charge. Yesterday morning, I couldn't get it to work on port 2A. I moved to 3A and it was working.

I had never range charged to 100%, so I decided to give it a try. I started charging at 7:45am with 152 miles of rated range. I stopped it at 8:42am when the charging was almost near the end:



I was very glad to see 267 miles of rated range. I couldn't wait any longer, so then I was off to Burlington, NC.

I started off relatively slow - doing between 0 and 5 miles over the speed limit. I gradually increased speed as I grew more confident of the range. It was in the 50's and 60's, so temperature was not a problem. The distance was 199.2 miles, I used 64.8 kWh for an average of 325 Wh/mi. I averaged over 66 mph for the entire trip, but that was with doing mostly 75 when the speed limit was 70.

No problems charging at Burlington:




Gotta love that charging rate. Went and grabbed lunch. I ended up doing some work and so I ended up staying about 40 minutes, which meant charging way more than I actually needed to make it to Charlotte. I then could drive pretty much at speed limit + 8 or 9 without any fear of range.

Saturday morning was cloudy and a bit drizzly, so the turnout at the Charlotte Cars and Coffee was smaller than normal. There was another Tesla Model S there for a bit. Definitely drew some attention and quite a few questions. I didn't end up taking any photos of the Model S's, but did snap this one of a Lamborghini:



I ended up talking to the local Aston Martin/Maserati/Ferrari dealer. They had an Aston Martin Vantage and a Maserati there. Apparently a local Model S owner showed them a Model S earlier in the week or so. They were very impressed and wanted to know what I cross compared with when I bought my Model S. I told them nothing - nothing was even close enough to truly consider.

I drove with traffic out of Charlotte (roughly 15 mph over speed limit) and then settled down to 9 over heading to Burlington. The only downside of the location at Burlington is the distance to a variety of food options. It seems all the close retail establishments are clothing related. Only the wood fired pizza place is close. Not a big deal, but if you need to hit the restroom, be prepared in advance. I believe a number of cars drove my the supercharger just to check out a Model S. They'll pull by and slow down - at least 6 or 7 drivers did that during the time I was there. Don't really get that at Glen Allen.

I left Burlington with not quite enough charge to be comfortable driving at traffic speed. I could have waited a bit longer. I meant to take a picture as I left to remember exactly what charge I left with, but I think it was a bit over 240 rated miles for the 198 mile journey home. I realized it as I was driving on I-85 and therefore I did 68 mph (speed limit is 70) behind an 18 wheeler for most of I-85. As I got to Petersburg, I was more comfortable with the range I had left and did 10 mph over speed limit (70 mph), but the traffic was doing 75-80mph so it felt like I was going slow. I don't know what it is about this stretch of I-95, but it was moving fast. By the time I hit the Richmond area, I knew I had enough range, but it would be close. I was still going 8-9 mph over the limit. I made it home with 11 miles of rated range, but had no real anxiety about it after Petersburg.



Total journey was recorded on trip A - not bad considering the speed I drove most of the time (above 70mph). It was interesting the see the yellow dotted lines when my pack was getting low on charge.

A J1772 80A in South Hill would have made a big difference in feeling more comfortable in that stretch. Or a non-dealership J1772 option between Petersburg and Richmond. I'm not sure a supercharger is absolutely necessary for that stretch. except for 60's. Longer term, I think Tesla is going to have to put a Supercharger at South Park Mall or thereabouts for 60kWh or Gen III travelers.

nalwala said:

i just did the trip from Glen Allen to Burlington, NC over the last weekend. And it was a stressful drive towards the end. The navigation showed 196 miles. I had 265 miles of range and I had to slow down to 55MPh for the last 40 miles to make it there with about 8 miles to spare. So I was cutting it really close. I wasn't alone in the car and the others were doing a trip in the model s after some considerable convincing that it would be fine! I agree with the previous poster a knowing of a charging point at south hill would have made a big difference. It was raining a little bit and the speed limits are higher on 85!

Click to expand...

Wow... you must have been driving pretty fast at the beginning. I recently did this leg, with 198 on the navigation (to my house) with a full car and luggage. Got in with 20+ extra, but it was warm and sunny. It is interesting how rain drops the range as I found in my travels. Do you have air suspension and if so, did you have lowering turned on?

In any case, for this leg, the South Hill Supercharger will remove the stress soon enough (any day now).