Despite the challenges winter storm Leon brought to the deep South, I successfully made it from Northern Virginia to Orlando, hitting no less than 7 Superchargers on my way down. I crossed the 20k mile lifetime odometer mark on the way down 5 days before my 1 year anniversary with my Model S. It was a great experience and has given me an appreciation for what this car can do. Though I left yesterday after the snow and ice had stopped falling, the weather was brutal especially for the southeast. Temperatures were frigid, mostly in the teens to low 20s yesterday and today, only getting above freezing once I crossed into Florida. Lots of snow/ice covered roads. Rocky Mount was especially bad once I got off I-95 between the lack of snow clearance and the drivers who aren't used to winter driving. The Tesla map program had me exit one exit too soon onto a small rural 2 lane highway instead of I-64 which made for several treacherous miles on uncleared roads. The highlight was when I was passed by a car on an icy highway that was driving the same direction as me but on the wrong side of a divided 4 lane road!
Fortunately, the journey was a success and the weather in Florida will actually be warm the next few days. This is by far the longest road trip I have ever taken, I usually prefer to fly. Having taken several long trips in the model S already, it is amazing what the supercharger network can do even in a 60 kWh model. The charging was quick. I only spent 30-60 minutes at each charger except for Savannah where I wanted a range charge to make the longer 172 mile stretch in cold temps. I drove as fast as I normally would (about 8-10mph over the limit) on all legs except Savannah to St Augustine where I drove right around the 70mph speed limit. The 110-120 mile distance between chargers seems good, 172 miles to St Augustine pushed the limits of the 60kWh battery and my own capacity after a thermos full of coffee.
I only saw one other model S on the trip which was interesting (parked at the Savannah supercharger). I guess there's a large potential market in the southeast!
I decided to take the Amtrak Autotrain home (also a first) so I'll post on that experience in a few days. I'll also post my detailed stats/data for the trip once I get it all collected.
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Final Supercharge in Port Orange, FL (my son's favorite due to the Chuck E Cheese and non freezing temps)
Santee, SC 16 degrees and icy.
Fortunately, the journey was a success and the weather in Florida will actually be warm the next few days. This is by far the longest road trip I have ever taken, I usually prefer to fly. Having taken several long trips in the model S already, it is amazing what the supercharger network can do even in a 60 kWh model. The charging was quick. I only spent 30-60 minutes at each charger except for Savannah where I wanted a range charge to make the longer 172 mile stretch in cold temps. I drove as fast as I normally would (about 8-10mph over the limit) on all legs except Savannah to St Augustine where I drove right around the 70mph speed limit. The 110-120 mile distance between chargers seems good, 172 miles to St Augustine pushed the limits of the 60kWh battery and my own capacity after a thermos full of coffee.
I only saw one other model S on the trip which was interesting (parked at the Savannah supercharger). I guess there's a large potential market in the southeast!
I decided to take the Amtrak Autotrain home (also a first) so I'll post on that experience in a few days. I'll also post my detailed stats/data for the trip once I get it all collected.
.
Final Supercharge in Port Orange, FL (my son's favorite due to the Chuck E Cheese and non freezing temps)
Santee, SC 16 degrees and icy.
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