Day 1 - Trip to Central California
Driving a 2023 Model Y Long Range in Blue. In addition to this being our first road trip, I’m testing a Garmin DriveSmart 66 as a DIY instrument cluster / alternative nav. Lots to cover!
I charge the car to 80% for our trip. Overall, it should be 4 hours and one supercharger stop to Central California where the grandparents are. Now, as luck would have it, Popeye’s chicken is one of my great vices and Merced has a reasonably new supercharger with one in the parking lot at the midway point. So that is our planned stop … 2 hours and then another 2. We leave San Francisco around 10:30 AM.
There is unexpected construction that closes several exits on the freeway and makes us overshoot the supercharger by a few miles. Instead of arriving with 27%, we arrive with 22% after doubling back. Nevertheless, once we get there, all is good. The charger takes us back to 80% as we eat, so I step out briefly to move the car and we're done shortly thereafter.
There are no unexpected detours or slowdowns on the second leg of the trip … but, as bad luck would have it, our kid threw up about 15 min from the house. We gave her dramamine in the morning, but we were near the end of the medicine’s 6 hour window. Our takeaway here was that we needed to redo the medicine a bit sooner.
Other than that, we arrive in relatively good shape. Our car and child seat are covered in protectors, and the wife sits in the back ready for this stuff to happen.
I expected autopilot to do a lot of work for me on this trip, and it did. Definitely one of the best features of the Tesla. The Garmin also ended up being quite useful … better voice directions overall and substantially better lane guidance.
First order of business, after washing up, is to look over the NEMA 14-50 plug install we had commissioned in the garage. Looks good enough … it’s not to the spec I had asked for initially (builder grade outlet and regular breaker), but I knew that ahead of time. Whole other story.
I get to installing an in-use cover for a bit of childproofing … it turns out that it takes some spelunking through reviews to find one that will fit the plug properly, but I found one and now can confirm it works. It’s made by Sealproof (link - Amazon.com). If you intend to use the locking holes, you need a relatively small padlock that isn’t so big it will jam against the wall.
While I had planned to do a more robust install with a wall connector or industrial grade outlet, the amount of remote iteration was proving to be pretty annoying. I ultimately decided on just charging at a very slow rate to minimize any thermal stress. We won’t be there very often anyway, so even for me it felt like overkill to go further.
I set the car to charge at 16A and deal with unpacking, etc. We arrived with 15% SoC … and we’re not expecting to go far the next day, so I set the charge limit to 50%.
Day 2 - Downtime
This is our day to relax for a bit and let the kid and grandparents spend some time together. We do a bit of errand running nearby. It’s truly amazing how little energy the Tesla uses for these tiny trips. We maybe burned 10 to 20% battery and nearly all of that was due to cabin overheat protection or me sitting in the car.
After dinner and just generally hanging out, it’s time to pack up again and get the car ready.
My general charging strategy is to leave the battery at the lowest SoC and charge up for longer trips. I normally do this with a 30A / 200V charger, but at 16A / 240V, it feels like riding the edge. Going from 50% to 100% takes 12 hours.
I set the car to change to 100% for the first time ever just to give it a chance to calibrate. It will be done just a couple of hours before we expect to leave. I also move the car seat to the middle … it’s big, but there’s just enough shoulder room on the sides for some normal sized 5’ 6” to 5’ 8” folks to sit comfortably along with the extra luggage.
Day 3 - Trip to Disneyland
Back in the saddle! The car is showing 322 miles of range at 100%, so I’ve lost 8 miles of range over 6 months and 2500 miles.
Our plan is to stop by the superchargers in Santa Clarita for lunch, then the Citadel Outlets for the women to shop, and finally our hotel near Disneyland.
The drive is all clear to the supercharger. I drop the rest of the family off at Olive Garden down the street and go to charge. The parking lot in Santa Clarita is huge and full of V2 superchargers. I initially made a gaffe and park in a spot that is sharing power with another car. The physical layout does not make this mistake obvious, but I notice the issue when I see the charging speed start at 72 kw and check the numbering on the chargers. Lesson learned. I charge to 90% and get back to the restaurant just as the appetizers are wrapping up.
Our next stop is the Citadel Outlets. I drop the family off and proceed to find a shady spot where I can chill out in the car. This is one of my favorite things about the Model Y … the ability to kick back in a comfy seat with full AC and no one bothering me for a few hours. And it DOES end up being a few hours … the women find plenty of interesting things to do.
While I hadn’t planned on it, I end up using the supercharger at these outlets as well just to get some extra charge in back to 90% before going to the hotel, which I already knew did not have chargers. Outlet malls seem to be a very common supercharger location. I also see a Jeep hybrid pull in and try to charge. The guy is confused … and the girlfriend is laughing hysterically.
We eat dinner there at the outlets, then make it to the hotel and settle in for the night at the Residence Inn Garden Grove. I think it is fine, if a little worn. The women don't love it tho, and I guess I’ll have to move one star up if we go back. The two bedroom layout is absolutely a winner, however … and quite rare among hotels in the area. Everyone gets some much needed privacy.
The Garmin did great with lane previews and guidance on this day. I've turned off nav volume on the Tesla at this point and am generally not missing it. I still double enter our destinations to get some idea of arrival SoC, etc.
"Hope, BC" by SqueakyMarmot is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail.
Driving a 2023 Model Y Long Range in Blue. In addition to this being our first road trip, I’m testing a Garmin DriveSmart 66 as a DIY instrument cluster / alternative nav. Lots to cover!
I charge the car to 80% for our trip. Overall, it should be 4 hours and one supercharger stop to Central California where the grandparents are. Now, as luck would have it, Popeye’s chicken is one of my great vices and Merced has a reasonably new supercharger with one in the parking lot at the midway point. So that is our planned stop … 2 hours and then another 2. We leave San Francisco around 10:30 AM.
There is unexpected construction that closes several exits on the freeway and makes us overshoot the supercharger by a few miles. Instead of arriving with 27%, we arrive with 22% after doubling back. Nevertheless, once we get there, all is good. The charger takes us back to 80% as we eat, so I step out briefly to move the car and we're done shortly thereafter.
There are no unexpected detours or slowdowns on the second leg of the trip … but, as bad luck would have it, our kid threw up about 15 min from the house. We gave her dramamine in the morning, but we were near the end of the medicine’s 6 hour window. Our takeaway here was that we needed to redo the medicine a bit sooner.
Other than that, we arrive in relatively good shape. Our car and child seat are covered in protectors, and the wife sits in the back ready for this stuff to happen.
I expected autopilot to do a lot of work for me on this trip, and it did. Definitely one of the best features of the Tesla. The Garmin also ended up being quite useful … better voice directions overall and substantially better lane guidance.
First order of business, after washing up, is to look over the NEMA 14-50 plug install we had commissioned in the garage. Looks good enough … it’s not to the spec I had asked for initially (builder grade outlet and regular breaker), but I knew that ahead of time. Whole other story.
I get to installing an in-use cover for a bit of childproofing … it turns out that it takes some spelunking through reviews to find one that will fit the plug properly, but I found one and now can confirm it works. It’s made by Sealproof (link - Amazon.com). If you intend to use the locking holes, you need a relatively small padlock that isn’t so big it will jam against the wall.
While I had planned to do a more robust install with a wall connector or industrial grade outlet, the amount of remote iteration was proving to be pretty annoying. I ultimately decided on just charging at a very slow rate to minimize any thermal stress. We won’t be there very often anyway, so even for me it felt like overkill to go further.
I set the car to charge at 16A and deal with unpacking, etc. We arrived with 15% SoC … and we’re not expecting to go far the next day, so I set the charge limit to 50%.
Day 2 - Downtime
This is our day to relax for a bit and let the kid and grandparents spend some time together. We do a bit of errand running nearby. It’s truly amazing how little energy the Tesla uses for these tiny trips. We maybe burned 10 to 20% battery and nearly all of that was due to cabin overheat protection or me sitting in the car.
After dinner and just generally hanging out, it’s time to pack up again and get the car ready.
My general charging strategy is to leave the battery at the lowest SoC and charge up for longer trips. I normally do this with a 30A / 200V charger, but at 16A / 240V, it feels like riding the edge. Going from 50% to 100% takes 12 hours.
I set the car to change to 100% for the first time ever just to give it a chance to calibrate. It will be done just a couple of hours before we expect to leave. I also move the car seat to the middle … it’s big, but there’s just enough shoulder room on the sides for some normal sized 5’ 6” to 5’ 8” folks to sit comfortably along with the extra luggage.
Day 3 - Trip to Disneyland
Back in the saddle! The car is showing 322 miles of range at 100%, so I’ve lost 8 miles of range over 6 months and 2500 miles.
Our plan is to stop by the superchargers in Santa Clarita for lunch, then the Citadel Outlets for the women to shop, and finally our hotel near Disneyland.
The drive is all clear to the supercharger. I drop the rest of the family off at Olive Garden down the street and go to charge. The parking lot in Santa Clarita is huge and full of V2 superchargers. I initially made a gaffe and park in a spot that is sharing power with another car. The physical layout does not make this mistake obvious, but I notice the issue when I see the charging speed start at 72 kw and check the numbering on the chargers. Lesson learned. I charge to 90% and get back to the restaurant just as the appetizers are wrapping up.
Our next stop is the Citadel Outlets. I drop the family off and proceed to find a shady spot where I can chill out in the car. This is one of my favorite things about the Model Y … the ability to kick back in a comfy seat with full AC and no one bothering me for a few hours. And it DOES end up being a few hours … the women find plenty of interesting things to do.
While I hadn’t planned on it, I end up using the supercharger at these outlets as well just to get some extra charge in back to 90% before going to the hotel, which I already knew did not have chargers. Outlet malls seem to be a very common supercharger location. I also see a Jeep hybrid pull in and try to charge. The guy is confused … and the girlfriend is laughing hysterically.
We eat dinner there at the outlets, then make it to the hotel and settle in for the night at the Residence Inn Garden Grove. I think it is fine, if a little worn. The women don't love it tho, and I guess I’ll have to move one star up if we go back. The two bedroom layout is absolutely a winner, however … and quite rare among hotels in the area. Everyone gets some much needed privacy.
The Garmin did great with lane previews and guidance on this day. I've turned off nav volume on the Tesla at this point and am generally not missing it. I still double enter our destinations to get some idea of arrival SoC, etc.
"Hope, BC" by SqueakyMarmot is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail.
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