Be honest: is SCing on a long trip annoying?

[Half Dollar Bill]

but time is worth MORE than money....

That's an interesting comment, especially in light of Elon's thought's about the time-value of "local" supercharging at the recent annual meeting.

My work commute is only 25 miles so I don't need to supercharge every day. If I had a 300 mile commute every day, I could see that getting annoying; same charger, same food options, same old view. Having to stop for 20-30 minutes compared to a quick splash and dash at the gas pump does seem less than optimal.

But here's the thing, though. We made the decision going in, and hopefully it was an informed one, that we need to use the superchargers to get from point A to point B when B's more than say 250 miles away. That's now part of your travel constraints. Your initial decision could have been to buy a Ferrari, which wouldn't have been great if you had a lot of stuff to cart around with you. Or to buy a pick-up, which would have been less than perfect if you wanted to do 90 regularly on the highway. And those parameters would have then been part of your constraints. You've bought an electric car so you know you're going to have to spend time charging.

I've grown to appreciate all my SC stops. They're places in the country that I wouldn't have had a chance to see otherwise and some of them are VERY pretty. I wouldn't trade our Mt. Shasta stop for a bag of gold (platinum, maybe . I still don't know how I'd deal with having to stop at the same one every day but it's something I'll think about now.

 

[WannabeOwner]

time is worth MORE than money

Agreed. For a solo-traveller, who has a flood of emails every day, doing them at each stop means that the time is "saved" when arriving at the destination.

I haven't got my mind around swapping "never having to stop for Gas" with "sometimes having to stop for SC", but if every SC stop is taken up with having a Pee, getting coffee - and then, when more time needed, doing emails - fuelling will become zero downtime.

But I'm not speaking from experience ... yet ...

 

[llngoc]

No, none at all. I used to be a stretch driver and will try to finish a 400 mile trip in one straight drive. And now with the Tesla, we actually stop at restaurant at the SC for breakfast or dinner and we arrived at the destination more refreshed. I also cannot wait for the next long trip once the Model X is here with Auto-pilot. Driving on I-5 to SoCal should be a breeze.

 

[MyJoule]

Just finished a trip to Southern CA from Tucson, 450 miles each way, averaged 52MPH including charging time. Would have maybe done 60MPH in an ICE including stopping for lunch. I think the Tesla Superchargers are the best thing to create a relaxing drive, but agree that 450 miles in one day is about the perfect distance, 2 or 3 SC stops, and 8.5 hours. We did Tucson to Galveston earlier this year, and due to the SC wasteland between Tucson and San Antonio, we went north to I-40 and across to I-35. Took 3 days instead of the 2 it should have. Still enjoyed the SCs more than gas stations. Yes, it did add 500 mlles each way, but maybe someday I-10 will be built out.

Bigger issue with me- had to drive the Non-AP car to save the tires on the AP car. 100 degree heat is very hard on the 21s. not so much on the 19s. Can't swap the 21s and 19s for road trips until with out upgrading the TPMS in the Classic.

Finally, I try to leave the SC with a 50 Mile buffer, this came in handy at least twice in the past when SC were down upon arrival on a previous trips.

So no- I don't find them annoying.

 

[Max*]

You will charge for 1hr for every 5hrs of driving. You choose from the following: 3 x 20min, 2 x 30min, 1 x 1hr

This is wrong on so many levels

1. I can charge for 1 hour and 5 minutes for 7 hours of driving, so the 1 hr for every 5 hours number might be valid for you, but it's far from a set rule.

It depends on too many factors to average it out, including supercharger distance, battery size (I have the smallest one! well not anymore), initial SOC (I start at 100%), speed (I like to drive with traffic, so ~10 above the speed limit on the east coast), terrain (relatively flat here), etc.

2. Due to the taper, charging for 1 x 1hr != 2 x 30 mins != 3 x 20 mins. I can get a lot more charge in by charging for 3 x 20mins at a low SOC each time than for 1 x 1hr.

 

[purplewalt]

I would frame it just saying "different", not annoying.
Driving Model S is relaxing, not in a (big) hurry.
Sort of a mini-vacation to just drive, not be "on the clock" to be somewhere in a hurry: long distance driving is an adventure, and sometimes a mini-math game managing my comfort level of range in my pack.


Superchargers are definitely the way to do long distance travel in an EV, and unless you are driving in the mountains or strong headwinds or driving long distances between Superchargers, you don't need to spend the extra time charging to "full".

The alternate method(s) of charging (RV parks, Level 2, etc.) can be annoying, or a necessary inconvenience or another type of adventure (depending on what time of day you arrive.)
But routes are improving as new Superchargers are continuing to come on-line and fill in gaps.

If the route is 231 or 251 miles between stops (with a full charge), I need to stop for a bio break before the car is close to being out of adequate battery capacity.

 

[hsctiger93]

After our trip from VA to FL almost 2 years ago, I'd say I was fine with it. My wife hated it. Kids followed suit with her, even though we brought footballs and baseballs and had room to stretch our legs at most stops (especially the grass/gravel parking lot in Savannah).

The one stop she didn't seem to mind was the one in the St. Augustine outlet mall where we could do the old "charge and charge" routine. Certainly helped that on the 2nd busiest shopping day of the year (day after Black Friday) the mall had blocked off the SC parking spaces and posted a security guard to make sure Teslas could charge up.

So, I'd agree with previous posts that many locations are less than ideal now. More cars, more SC's, more locations will change that but the speed of charging will probably not change my wife's opinion it just takes too long. I just need to work on my kids a little more to get them to see the right side of this debate...

 

[gotz2ride]

Nope. I used to be the road trip guy that tops off the car/truck and not stop until under a 1/4 tank. I would get annoyed at stopping to use the bathroom or for any reason really. Now when a supercharger is more then 2 hours away, I am like wow here we go for the long haul lol. It does add a good chunk of time to long road trips, it also makes trips seem much less stressful. On our trip with our great dane and lab we brought lawn chairs and would sit relax in the shade, take the dogs for a walk/jog, or eat lunch. And to be honest, on that trip the car was usually ready to go before we were. I do with more of the superchargers were around 24/7 bathrooms.

 

[jbcarioca]

for people of a certain age a rest stop every 2-3 hours is most welcome.
ymmv

Being of a "certain age" and therefore with a preference to stop every 2 1/2 hours or so it bothers me not at all. I drive my Tesla pretty much like I did ICE's except that usually hd to stop twice with an ice because gasoline station rarely are attractive places for me to stop.

 

[ElectricTundra]

We've found road trips via Tesla to be much more relaxing and enjoyable than ICE. Part of this is AP but a lot is stopping every 2 - 3 hrs and moving around a bit and taking a break from driving. Our biggest issue has been planning where to eat. Do we eat here or the next one? Hopefully reviews on Chargerville will help with that.

Chargerville

If it wasn't already mentioned and I missed it, keep in mind that you need only charge enough to get to your next charge plus a bit extra for the unexpected detour or such.

 

[supratachophobia]

This is wrong on so many levels

1. I can charge for 1 hour and 5 minutes for 7 hours of driving, so the 1 hr for every 5 hours number might be valid for you, but it's far from a set rule.

It depends on too many factors to average it out, including supercharger distance, battery size (I have the smallest one! well not anymore), initial SOC (I start at 100%), speed (I like to drive with traffic, so ~10 above the speed limit on the east coast), terrain (relatively flat here), etc.

2. Due to the taper, charging for 1 x 1hr != 2 x 30 mins != 3 x 20 mins. I can get a lot more charge in by charging for 3 x 20mins at a low SOC each time than for 1 x 1hr.

This rough estimate is accurate and the result of 70k miles worth of Tesla driving over two Teslas, including a dozen trips at 1k+ miles. Yes, you could include taper and include more exact numbers, but I firmly stand by the 5 to 1 ratio.

 

[newtman]

Zero problem. Even in an ICE I'm stopping every three hours to stretch legs and use bathroom. By the time you grab coffee and use bathroom you have enough charge for the next leg.

That must be a very long bathroom break

 

[idoco]

That must be a very long bathroom break

You've obviously never seen the bathroom and coffee lines at Starbucks

 

[Joeski1]

Agreed. For a solo-traveller, who has a flood of emails every day, doing them at each stop means that the time is "saved" when arriving at the destination.

I haven't got my mind around swapping "never having to stop for Gas" with "sometimes having to stop for SC", but if every SC stop is taken up with having a Pee, getting coffee - and then, when more time needed, doing emails - fuelling will become zero downtime.

But I'm not speaking from experience ... yet ...

If you really have THAT many e-mails worth responding to.. God Bless! Rock on!

 

[Joeski1]

That must be a very long bathroom break

Got that right! I can pee in two minutes.. get a diet coke from the rear hatch in 30 seconds.. answer e-mails for 5 minutes... that's 7.5 minutes gone.. now what the heck do I do for the next 30-40?? Less stressful?? There's nothing more stressful than sitting around going nowhere.. pretty much that's why the AP feature was created. .. to deal with "stop and go " traffic.. but since I don't trust the AP in tight traffic... I instead use the traffic flow feature on the gps mapping to find other ways to go to avoid sitting in traffic..

Oh Geez.. talk to other Tesla owners?? Who the heck would wanna do that??

 

[Max*]

I can pee in two minutes..

This isn't a pissing competition.

 

[mrjedistud]

So far I don't mind the time, but the cost of supercharging is what gets me. Every time I stop to charge I have to buy the kids food, ice cream, a frappacino, cookies, etc. Costs almost as much as gas.

 

[WannabeOwner]

If you really have THAT many e-mails worth responding to

True enough - far too many people seem to think that everyone above them needs a CC

But even if I just read this forum at the SC that's time-swapped, not lost

 

[Joeski1]

This isn't a pissing competition.

LOL!

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Yes it is annoying. Also, that you have to stop at specific locations, not just wherever you please. This is a downside of EV, balanced by the many other up sides. So in my opinion this annoyance cancels out (i.e. I can deal with it).

However, I am worried that as Model 3's roll around, and with Tesla's promise of free life long supercharging (as long as you pay the price of entry), combined with some owners considering stealing $5 worth of electricity is worth more than an hour of their time, ... I am genuinely concerned about the long wait times, to charge at a super charger.

So wait 2 hours to wait another hour to supercharge!? That would be unacceptable. And sadly it's beginning to happen at some locations and some times.