First time to RED battery on road trip... Austin->Houston->Austin in 1 day

alwaysru · Sep 7, 2015

Since I got my P85 a month and a half ago I have been wringing my hands about the scariness of driving to visit my mom in N. Houston. It's usually a 2:15 trip, but with my average of 378 Wh/mi and no easily accessible superchargers along the way, it turns into a 3:40 trip by going through Columbus, and then a somewhat scary trip home with 10% remaining battery estimated upon return via the normal route.

Started off with a full range charge @ 253 miles and promptly remembered we forgot the stroller, so turned around and lost 8 miles of range. Uh oh!

Our first stop was the Columbus, TX Supercharger. Interestingly, the "small Nav" had it at a gas station on the right side of the road, however, when I turned in there, it changed to "follow the main touchscreen and find the flag", which was about 800 feet behind us and on the other side of the road, behind the Comfort Inn and Suites

We headed the rest of the way to Houston and enjoyed ourselves at the Childrens Museum before heading up to my mom's house. Along the way we found the N. Houston Supercharger and stopped there for a "fill up" to 200 miles range so we'd have plenty of extra to get home. Saw a cool license plate there - "TESLA" on a P85 from Louisiana - quite jealous.

Was very excited to see my mom has a 10-30 plug in her laundry room, so purchased a converter this morning from Tesla so I can charge at better than 2.5MPH next time I go there and get rid of range anxiety entirely.

I'll admit I was a little scared when I entered my home address upon leaving my mom's to see 8% remaining, but decided to go for it anyways as opposed to taking that detour through Columbus and adding an extra hour+ at the end of an already long day for us and the kiddos.

On the way, while heading along at 5MPH under the limit, we passed a white 85 with another awesome license plate "PLUG ME N" - and I think they definitely needed to plug in as they were a solid 10-15MPH under the speed limit... proof that we really need more charging options along the 290 route to Houston.

Got home with a whole 14 miles rated range, including a stop at our grocery store (I got scared and turned off everything including the lights )

Plugged her in for a full charge to see if the HIGH->LOW charge would help balance the cells better and give me more range... and guess what?

Added 2 miles from what I saw yesterday! Wonder if a couple more trips like this could get it all the way back to 265 like I assume it was when brand new?

In the end - I'm stoked because I know I can make it to visit my mom now, and it definitely helped me feel better about a long trip home without worrying about stopping at a Supercharger!

SW2Fiddler · Sep 7, 2015

First time to RED battery on road trip... Austin->Houston->Austin in 1 day

Thanks for the great trip report!
(So, I'm not the only white S in TX with a front plate?) (no I'm not PLUG ME N either)

alwaysru · Sep 7, 2015

SW2Fiddler said:
Thanks for the great trip report!
(So, I'm not the only white S in TX with a front plate?) (no I'm not PLUG ME N either)

Thanks! I used the magnet attachment idea from TeslaTap (http://teslatap.com/modifications/magnetic-front-license-plate/) so I can remove it if I ever want to. Couldn't bare to screw it in to the nose cone. And now you know, Houston->Austin is possible via 290, even at high speed, as long as you start near 90% and you have a good place to plug in when you get here

Barry · Sep 7, 2015

I find it interesting that you blank out your own license plate, but freely comment on other plates you saw.

BrianC · Sep 7, 2015

Barry said:
I find it interesting that you blank out your own license plate, but freely comment on other plates you saw.

I feel if you get custom plates its because you want people to see and comment about it to friends / others.

alwaysru · Sep 7, 2015

Barry said:
I find it interesting that you blank out your own license plate, but freely comment on other plates you saw.

Those are random sightings associated with no PII, whereas mine is easy enough to find I'm sure by cross referencing with my screen name etc. But honesty I hadn't really thought about it.

Amped_up · Sep 7, 2015

Nice trip report, agree about the need for more Superchargers in this neck of the woods. I'm glad I titled the car in Florida, don't have to deal with the front license plate and Texas inspection stickers, which take up half of the front windshield.

Andyw2100 · Sep 7, 2015

alwaysru said:
In the end - I'm stoked because I know I can make it to visit my mom now, and it definitely helped me feel better about a long trip home without worrying about stopping at a Supercharger!

I certainly don't want to be responsible for unstoking you. And with the extra range you can now pick up while at your mother's, you'll probably be just fine most of the time. But I did want to warn against over confidence. With only slightly different weather conditions (temperature, wind, rain) you'd easily be in a very different situation. So just keep that in mind, but remain stoked.

alwaysru · Sep 7, 2015

Andyw2100 said:
With only slightly different weather conditions (temperature, wind, rain) you'd easily be in a very different situation. So just keep that in mind, but remain stoked.

Great point, thank you. The goal is to not have to be that guy going 45 in a 70 to make it. Though, based on Bjorn's 452 mile run (

) at least I know it's always possible

thecloud · Sep 7, 2015

alwaysru said:
Plugged her in for a full charge to see if the HIGH->LOW charge would help balance the cells better and give me more range... and guess what?

Added 2 miles from what I saw yesterday! Wonder if a couple more trips like this could get it all the way back to 265 like I assume it was when brand new?
View attachment 93359

A really good question. It's interesting that your 100% range went up from 253 to 255 after one discharge cycle.

We've always been told to not do a range charge unless taking a long trip, i.e. charge to 90% or less on a normal basis. Over the course of a year, my 90% range has gone down from 239 to 233 miles.

New information came to light a while back on the forums, based on an Elon tweet, which advised keeping the SOC between 20% and 80% for optimum battery life. Other folks have said it's best to keep the battery SOC at 50%. I've been typically charging to 80%, and seeing a 208 mile rated range.

I'm curious what you normally charge to? (80%, 90%, ...?), and are you seeing an improvement at that level now as well after the trip?

Khatsalano · Sep 7, 2015

A full discharge and range charge cycle helped me get my RM to increase too. This is just the algorithm estimating better, but the actual battery health stays the same. Tesla's blog has an official post explaining why this happens.

Congrats on your road trip to mom's! Yes, may your future SCs in Texas be plentiful.

- K

Vgsllc1 · Sep 8, 2015

so what did you do while waiting at Columbus SC?

Chris TX · Sep 8, 2015

If you discharge to ~80% and range charge at 5A@240VAC (or even lower at 5A@120VAC) it will balance out the pack, giving any straggler cells a chance to fully charge up. I know going back and forth many times without a range charge has my pack out of whack. I usually do a long/slow rebalance after the end of a long trip that uses multiple Superchargers.

Great trip! Did you stop in and say hello to Blue Bell?

benjiejr · Sep 8, 2015

@alwaysru, nice trip report and congratulations! Always love to hear stories like this. I still get nervous myself on long trips and when I feel the range is uncomfortably low, but get a big sense of satisfaction when the car performs like a champ and lessens my anxiety for the next trip.

alwaysru · Sep 8, 2015

Andyw2100 said:
I certainly don't want to be responsible for unstoking you. And with the extra range you can now pick up while at your mother's, you'll probably be just fine most of the time. But I did want to warn against over confidence. With only slightly different weather conditions (temperature, wind, rain) you'd easily be in a very different situation. So just keep that in mind, but remain stoked.

Thanks, good advice. As this was my second "long distance" trip, I think the main thing I have learned is 100% > not 100% when charging. Last trip to Dallas I had to re-route ~50 miles out of my way to charge at an inconvenient supercharger in order to make it to the one I really wanted to go to as I didn't have enough charge. Had I charged to 100% before leaving the supercharger on the way to Dallas, that wouldn't have been needed.

- - - Updated - - -

benjiejr said:
@alwaysru, nice trip report and congratulations! Always love to hear stories like this. I still get nervous myself on long trips and when I feel the range is uncomfortably low, but get a big sense of satisfaction when the car performs like a champ and lessens my anxiety for the next trip.

Thanks! Yes, I felt much better about this trip and it's estimated 10% before getting home. The first few weeks I freaked out on my 4 mile commute when the car got below 50%. Quite the change!

- - - Updated - - -

Vgsllc1 said:
so what did you do while waiting at Columbus SC?

Went to the Snappy gas station next to the Mexican restaurant and got some amazing beef jerkey and drinks, etc. Not much to do around there besides eat at that restaurant (or a Subway across the street) or sit in the car and listen to music.

- - - Updated - - -

Chris TX said:
If you discharge to ~80% and range charge at 5A@240VAC (or even lower at 5A@120VAC) it will balance out the pack, giving any straggler cells a chance to fully charge up. I know going back and forth many times without a range charge has my pack out of whack. I usually do a long/slow rebalance after the end of a long trip that uses multiple Superchargers.

Chris TX said:
Great trip! Did you stop in and say hello to Blue Bell?

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that tomorrow - is there any way to lower the voltage with the UWC to 120 besides just plugging into a 120 outlet? I've got a 50A 240V plug in the garage, but no convenient 120V ones. Missed Blue Bell this time as it was pretty late. I've been driving the Austin-Houston trip for 17 years and still have never been there somehow. Will have to make a special trip sometime!

robert774 · Sep 8, 2015

alwaysru said:
Went to the Snappy gas station next to the Mexican restaurant and got some amazing beef jerkey and drinks, etc. Not much to do around there besides eat at that restaurant (or a Subway across the street) or sit in the car and listen to music.

If you get there in the morning, like I do on my frequent day trips in the other direction, the hotel is friendly and is glad to have you in for free breakfast and Wifi while waiting.

Chris TX · Sep 9, 2015

alwaysru said:
Thanks for the tip. I'll try that tomorrow - is there any way to lower the voltage with the UWC to 120 besides just plugging into a 120 outlet? I've got a 50A 240V plug in the garage, but no convenient 120V ones. Missed Blue Bell this time as it was pretty late. I've been driving the Austin-Houston trip for 17 years and still have never been there somehow. Will have to make a special trip sometime!

No, you'll have to plug into a 120V outlet. The lowest you can go is 5A on either 240 or 120.

As for range anxiety, there shouldn't be a need to drop down to Columbus for that trip, either direction in an 85 unless you're blasting the AC/Heater and going 85MPH while starting on a partial charge. 290 almost spits you out at the Houston Supercharger, now.

brkaus · Sep 9, 2015

Chris TX said:
No, you'll have to plug into a 120V outlet. The lowest you can go is 5A on either 240 or 120.

As for range anxiety, there shouldn't be a need to drop down to Columbus for that trip, either direction in an 85 unless you're blasting the AC/Heater and going 85MPH while starting on a partial charge. 290 almost spits you out at the Houston Supercharger, now.

So on a trip like that with an overnight and a 30 amp plug at destination it would make sense to stop by the SpC for 20-30 min then plug in a destination to 100%?

Chris TX · Sep 9, 2015

brkaus said:
So on a trip like that with an overnight and a 30 amp plug at destination it would make sense to stop by the SpC for 20-30 min then plug in a destination to 100%?

Overnight at a 30A dryer plug (24A @ 240V) should get you topped off in 12 hours or less. Surely you'd top off before leaving Austin and arrive with 20-30 miles left. If the destination is in north Houston, grab some juice at the Supercharger.

First time to RED battery on road trip... Austin->Houston->Austin in 1 day

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