Previously, I wrote about the value I felt that Superchargers represented from a financial standpoint in my Supercharging ROI thread, and was interested in what value other folks felt they got from them. The more I use the Superchargers, the more I'm convinced that the network is a huge advantage for us as owners, and for Tesla.
Therefore, in this thread, I am hoping to we can share real-world examples of the types of travel Supercharging has enabled with the Model S. As the network expands, more and more opportunities for taking advantage of them will obviously arise, hopefully to the point where NOT being able to get somewhere (at least in North America and Europe) via supercharger will be the exception. In the meantime, it might be interesting to see how folks are using them. I'm assuming most of the experiences will be positive, but if there are pitfalls, it would be good for us all to be aware of them as well.
I'll start with a trip I completed yesterday, and see if this format works for others who also want to post:
TRIP ORIGIN & DESTINATION
A 4-day pleasure trip from Ashburn, VA (about 40 minutes west of DC) to Philadelphia, PA. About 170 miles driving distance via I-95
SUPERCHARGERS USED
Newark, DE (2X)
TRAVEL LEGS
A) Did a max "range" charge at my house before departure, and drove the ~125 miles to the Newark DE supercharger. Did another max charge (well, ~255 miles@99%) and drove the remaining 45 miles to Philly. Arrived with ~200 miles rated range left.
B) After having burned ~40 miles of range within the city and surrounding area during the stay (it was cold), drove the 45 mile leg back to Newark, arriving with about 85 miles in the pack(it was really cold) . Supercharged for about 20-30mins, and departed for the final 125 mile journey home with just over 240 miles in the pack. Arrived home with about 80 miles range left.
TOTAL MILES DRIVEN
380
NOTES
1) The hotel could not guarantee me any charging in their off-site garage (even 120V). While there are some pay-for-use level II chargers nearby I had as a backup plan, my hope was to be able to make a max charge last from DE to PA and back to DE again, which I was able to do with plenty to spare. However we did very little driving at our destination.
2) Although the first day was in the 60's, the remainder of the trip was cold. We didn't drive the car at all on the 3rd day, so when we left late-morning on the 4th day for the trip home, the car had been sitting in the open parking garage for ~48 hours. It was 26 degrees that morning and the battery was thoroughly cold-soaked. It was the first time I had 0 regen due to cold alone. Interestingly, my entire trip average was only ~360Wh/mi.
3) I did a max-charge prior to departing home because, even though Newark was within easy driving distance of a standard charge, I knew I wanted to max-charge a the supercharger, and we had tickets for an event ans was concerned about travel on the Sunday prior to Xmas and didn't want to spend extra time at the supercharger. It turned out we left with plenty of time. Had I to do it over again, I'd not bother with a max charge initially, and just allow another 10 minutes, which is all I really saved.
4) I really want a valet mode.
Therefore, in this thread, I am hoping to we can share real-world examples of the types of travel Supercharging has enabled with the Model S. As the network expands, more and more opportunities for taking advantage of them will obviously arise, hopefully to the point where NOT being able to get somewhere (at least in North America and Europe) via supercharger will be the exception. In the meantime, it might be interesting to see how folks are using them. I'm assuming most of the experiences will be positive, but if there are pitfalls, it would be good for us all to be aware of them as well.
I'll start with a trip I completed yesterday, and see if this format works for others who also want to post:
TRIP ORIGIN & DESTINATION
A 4-day pleasure trip from Ashburn, VA (about 40 minutes west of DC) to Philadelphia, PA. About 170 miles driving distance via I-95
SUPERCHARGERS USED
Newark, DE (2X)
TRAVEL LEGS
A) Did a max "range" charge at my house before departure, and drove the ~125 miles to the Newark DE supercharger. Did another max charge (well, ~255 miles@99%) and drove the remaining 45 miles to Philly. Arrived with ~200 miles rated range left.
B) After having burned ~40 miles of range within the city and surrounding area during the stay (it was cold), drove the 45 mile leg back to Newark, arriving with about 85 miles in the pack(it was really cold) . Supercharged for about 20-30mins, and departed for the final 125 mile journey home with just over 240 miles in the pack. Arrived home with about 80 miles range left.
TOTAL MILES DRIVEN
380
NOTES
1) The hotel could not guarantee me any charging in their off-site garage (even 120V). While there are some pay-for-use level II chargers nearby I had as a backup plan, my hope was to be able to make a max charge last from DE to PA and back to DE again, which I was able to do with plenty to spare. However we did very little driving at our destination.
2) Although the first day was in the 60's, the remainder of the trip was cold. We didn't drive the car at all on the 3rd day, so when we left late-morning on the 4th day for the trip home, the car had been sitting in the open parking garage for ~48 hours. It was 26 degrees that morning and the battery was thoroughly cold-soaked. It was the first time I had 0 regen due to cold alone. Interestingly, my entire trip average was only ~360Wh/mi.
3) I did a max-charge prior to departing home because, even though Newark was within easy driving distance of a standard charge, I knew I wanted to max-charge a the supercharger, and we had tickets for an event ans was concerned about travel on the Sunday prior to Xmas and didn't want to spend extra time at the supercharger. It turned out we left with plenty of time. Had I to do it over again, I'd not bother with a max charge initially, and just allow another 10 minutes, which is all I really saved.
4) I really want a valet mode.
)
