Charging on Road Trips for Newbie

[fholbert]

We live 110 miles from the tesla dealer where we had to pick up the car, they knew the distance we had to drive to get to our home address, but still, the car was delivered with only 30% SOT.

Maybe I’m a ass, but if a dealer did that to me they would be begging me to stop with the negative internet feed back.

I had the misfortune of landing my plane at an airport in CO a few minutes before Oprah landed. The Jet Center normally brings the rental car to the plane but 100% of thier resources were making sure Oprah was taken care of. Long story short, I spent almost an hour trying to get my rental car followed by ramp access to unload my plane.

I was so mad I went back to the counter and told them what I thought of thier lack of service. The counter person asked if I’d like to speak with the manager. I said no, I’d report my experence to AirNav (Yelp for pilots).

It was a Sunday, but the owner was called at home and arrived before I got out of there. Free shirts, free hats and 25% off my $200 fuel purchase. My airplane was moved to a hanger and stored for free. Four days later I departed, a golf cart took us to the plane and stood buy until we taxied out.

No business wants negative feedback on the internet.

 

[Darmie]

I seen on Reddit where they are now offering free supercharging when you pickup your vehicle.
This article mentioned it may be more about vehicles being shipped by sea.

Tesla starts shipping cars at less than 50% charge, gives free Supercharging miles

Tesla is starting to ship its electric cars with a 50% state-of-charge for safety reasons. It is giving buyers 150...

electrek.co

 

[jcanoe]

I seen on Reddit where they are now offering free supercharging when you pickup your vehicle.
This article mentioned it may be more about vehicles being shipped by sea.

Tesla starts shipping cars at less than 50% charge, gives free Supercharging miles

Tesla is starting to ship its electric cars with a 50% state-of-charge for safety reasons. It is giving buyers 150...

electrek.co

The article, Tesla notice references 150km so outside of US. Made in China Model Y are being shipped to many countries (including Seattle, WA bound for Canada.)

 

[Hiline]

I've twice picked up my Teslas at the factory (to get factory tours), six hours away. It works. The chances of something major going wrong with a brand new Tesla are very small.

Do you know if Tesla is still doing this? I'd love to get a factory tour. How did you set pickup location far away from home?

 

[howardnj]

Thanks for all the info! I was planning on getting the Premium Connectivity, seems like based upon everything I've read, it's worth it on many levels. I also have Spotify Premium Family, it's what we use for our streaming music . . .

Since you are in Florida, I would recommend that you sign up with FPL Evolution chargers that are located on the Florida Turnpike. You will need the CC1 Adapter but they are 350 kWh chargers and charge $0.30 kWh compared to very often higher rates with the Tesla Superchargers. I use the one at the West Palm Beach Rest Area near Lake Worth Road. There are four FPL Chargers and eight Tesla Chargers. I have experienced all eight Tesla Chargers in use, so I can just use my CC1 adapter for the FPL . I also have a list of over 50 charge stations between New Jersey and Florida so no need to worry about a long road trip. There are plenty of charge locations. I use PlugShare and Waze in addition to the vehicle navigation.

 

[bradtem]

By and large, you can just let the Tesla navigator plan it for you. And to start, it's not a bad idea. If you want to get fancy you can use ABRP but Tesla's system is more convenient and automatically preconditions - you must navigate to the supercharger no mater how you pick it.

Others above have given useful tips. Let me express that while following the car is easy, in time you may wish to do something more involved, which adds complexity but also value.

Generally you have a choice of possible chargers. Some people like to follow the "Drive down near 10% and charge to only 50-60%" because that means the least time charging, though you make more detours and stops and so it's not clear it saves that much time. Others follow a "Charge to 80-90%" to make fewer stops, though the charge rate from 60 to 80% is slower and above 80% is very slow.

In particular, I follow a strategy of never spend time waiting to charge. I want my EV charging to offer no compromise to my trip. I seek to spend less time charging than I would spend pumping gas. And I have mostly done it -- but it requires more work.

To do this, you try to make sure you are doing something else while charging that you were already going to do. Mostly eat, sleep or shop. Sometimes do stuff on the internet you were otherwise going to do in your hotel. As long as you do that you did not spend time waiting to charge.

Sit-down meals, in fact, take longer than a charge to 85% -- you have to get up in the middle of your meal to move the car, which is a failure. If a station is well below 50% use you don't have to move. Or do counter serve meals and the timing will work out.

This means you are picking chargers based on when you will be there (mealtime) and if there is decent food there (many chargers mostly have chain fast food, which is a no-go for me.)

Of course the best thing to do is sleep. As more hotels get charging, this becomes easier. Depending on the type of road trip that can be a large fraction of your miles, but at least half for most people. Sleep to a full charge, supercharge at lunch. Less time charging than at gas pumps.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Do you know if Tesla is still doing this? I'd love to get a factory tour. How did you set pickup location far away from home?

I don’t know if they do it anymore. And the second tour was kinda bland anyways. Tesla was a lot more interesting back in the early days (like February 2013 when I picked up my first one). I even got to meet Elon at a Tesla event in 2013 when he was walking the floor before the presentation.

 

[hmadsen]

I recently read on Reddit r/Tesla that Tesla recently sent a message to customers apologizing for having to only provide a 50% charge upon delivery. The region was not stated but believed to be EUR market. There are now regulations on transporting lithium batteries; must not be charged over 50%. Also, even before any regulation I believe that Tesla just does not have the time or delivery team resources to be able to charge every new Tesla.

This is Denmark, i talked with a few other new owners and the 30% is standard.

My app also show that they charged it up by 6 kw, the day of the delivery.

Maybe they do not have enough chargers to go beyond, that in the time they have.

 

[hmadsen]

I seen on Reddit where they are now offering free supercharging when you pickup your vehicle.
This article mentioned it may be more about vehicles being shipped by sea.

Tesla starts shipping cars at less than 50% charge, gives free Supercharging miles

Tesla is starting to ship its electric cars with a 50% state-of-charge for safety reasons. It is giving buyers 150...

electrek.co

To be fair to Tesla, they had a deal where if you picked up before a certain date, you got 5000 free miles, so not THAT mad about having to pay for the charge, it was more the need to go charge on my way home on a weekday at 6 pm, and a 110 mile trip.

Would have been a better experience if they had left me enough to not have to charge on my drive home the first day.

 

[fholbert]

I seen on Reddit where they are now offering free supercharging when you pickup your vehicle.
This article mentioned it may be more about vehicles being shipped by sea.

Tesla starts shipping cars at less than 50% charge, gives free Supercharging miles

Tesla is starting to ship its electric cars with a 50% state-of-charge for safety reasons. It is giving buyers 150...

electrek.co

This makes no sense to me. It doesn’t excuse the dealer from charging the car to ~80% prior to customer pickup. Am I missing something?

 

[CapsEngineer]

Sit-down meals, in fact, take longer than a charge to 85% -- you have to get up in the middle of your meal to move the car, which is a failure. If a station is well below 50% use you don't have to move. Or do counter serve meals and the timing will work out.

This means you are picking chargers based on when you will be there (mealtime) and if there is decent food there (many chargers mostly have chain fast food, which is a no-go for me.)

Also look for take-out around the places you are charging, or even before. On our way to MS, we get sandwiches at the Bates House of Turkey and pack them away to eat later in the day while charging. On our way back we get take out BBQ from the Silver Pig a couple of blocks before the Madison Heights VA charger. Neither stop takes longer than 5 minutes but gives us something other than chain fast food to have.

 

[davewill]

Probably the most important thing to know about charging on the road is that if you find yourself appearing to have less charge than you need to reach the next charging opportunity SLOW DOWN. There's a huge difference in consumption between 80, 70, and 60 mph. The navigation will display the expected battery level on arrival. If it starts going down and is making you uncomfortable, slow down. As you continue, that arrival percentage will either go up or at least stop going down.

 

[bradtem]

Also look for take-out around the places you are charging, or even before. On our way to MS, we get sandwiches at the Bates House of Turkey and pack them away to eat later in the day while charging. On our way back we get take out BBQ from the Silver Pig a couple of blocks before the Madison Heights VA charger. Neither stop takes longer than 5 minutes but gives us something other than chain fast food to have.

Yes, I do that, and carry a small table in my frunk, and a portable chair. But frankly, takeout at the charger is not an ideal experience. It would be a lot better if Tesla would put picnic tables at the SC, perhaps with an umbrella. They have a tiny number of SC with facilities or lounges but not a lot. Sometimes I get takeout and use the outdoor tables at a nearby restaurant. Usually the counter clerks don't mind a lot. But outdoor tables are hard to find in many places and seasons.

My wish for the future is:

1. A nice choice of decent restaurants a short walk from the charger
2. An indoor lounge like at Kettleman (with outdoor tables that are covered as well)
3. Restaurants that deliver an order, along with some folding chairs and tables etc. to the charger the moment I pull up (informed by my car of my arrival time) and which either collect the table later, or it stays for the next customer, or I bring it back to the restaurant on the way out if it's along my way.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

There are a few superchargers at hotels that we like to stop at to have a picnic because they often have tables or lounges. We’ll pack a picnic lunch or dinner and just pop into the hotel (or outside the hotel, depending) for half an hour. That way we’re eating healthy and don’t have to wait on food prep

 

[hmadsen]

Probably the most important thing to know about charging on the road is that if you find yourself appearing to have less charge than you need to reach the next charging opportunity SLOW DOWN. There's a huge difference in consumption between 80, 70, and 60 mph. The navigation will display the expected battery level on arrival. If it starts going down and is making you uncomfortable, slow down. As you continue, that arrival percentage will either go up or at least stop going down.

The Tesla will actually do this for you.

When we took delivery with 30% i had not put in our home address but the address of the charger so it did not suggest a SOT to get to before continuing and i was none the wiser because i just took delivery and had not learned all the ins and outs of the car.

I added, what i though would be enough to get home, but as it was colder and more rainy than i had expected on route, it started to warn me to "slow down below X kph" to reach my destination without having to recharge.

I lowered the speed from 80 to about 65 and it stopped complaining about not being able to get to my destination.

When we arrived in our driveway we had 6% left.

Having had an EV previously we had already got a charger installed, so we only needed to turn it on and plug the car in.

 

[davewill]

The Tesla will actually do this for you.

When we took delivery with 30% i had not put in our home address but the address of the charger so it did not suggest a SOT to get to before continuing and i was none the wiser because i just took delivery and had not learned all the ins and outs of the car.

I added, what i though would be enough to get home, but as it was colder and more rainy than i had expected on route, it started to warn me to "slow down below X kph" to reach my destination without having to recharge.

I lowered the speed from 80 to about 65 and it stopped complaining about not being able to get to my destination.

When we arrived in our driveway we had 6% left.

Having had an EV previously we had already got a charger installed, so we only needed to turn it on and plug the car in.

Yes, it will warn you when it thinks you won't make it, but most people would want to take action earlier than that.

 

[hmadsen]

Yes, it will warn you when it thinks you won't make it, but most people would want to take action earlier than that.

I think the debate here is bordering close to a "How much do people really need to have someone hold their hands".

If you have a destination entered into the satnav, the car will show the state of charge it thinks you will arrive with, and it is at that point that people should think "Hmm, it says i will arrive with 3 percent, and it does not suggest a charger, maybe i should do something about it"

Best solution would offcourse be, if the Tesla was able to suggest third party chargers if there is not a SuC in range, but still....People need to think a little themselves also.

 

[bradtem]

I think the debate here is bordering close to a "How much do people really need to have someone hold their hands".

If you have a destination entered into the satnav, the car will show the state of charge it thinks you will arrive with, and it is at that point that people should think "Hmm, it says i will arrive with 3 percent, and it does not suggest a charger, maybe i should do something about it"

Best solution would offcourse be, if the Tesla was able to suggest third party chargers if there is not a SuC in range, but still....People need to think a little themselves also.

The prediction is definitely not accurate enough to feel comfortable if it forecasts 3% on arrival. From time to time it can be majorly inaccurate. It is also often right, but that doesn't help.

That people need to think a little themselves is the problem. People don't want to do that and the "competition" (gasoline) does not demand much thinking. (Strangely, people run out of gas more often than they run out of charge, perhaps because we do think a lot about it and the consequences are much worse.)

This is an area where EVs have to mature. Through the combination of charging being more widely deployed, to better planning, there needs to be less thinking required. Some imagine we have to make charging take 5 minutes, and while that would work, it's a very expensive route. We can solve things without it.

Though right now one thing that is hard to solve is the desire to say, "I think I will take a 50 mile unplanned detour down that country road." Sometimes you just can't do that no matter how much thinking you do. It's one of the few ways we lose to gasoline.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

I’ve had my car slightly less than a year, and I shoot for around 20% on arrival. I just watch the arrival charge while charging so I may charge a bit,longer than the Tesla in car navigation recommends.

I’m sure at some point I’ll become more comfortable with a bit less, but I did once have arrival charge drop to 10% less when stopped at a rest area. I suspect weather (headwinds) had become less friendly so I allow plenty of buffer. I live more Western where we have longer distances between superchargers. If it was only 50 miles between chargers I wouldn’t worry about this.

I also use the A Better Route Planner app to explore route options ahead of time. It helps a great deal in terms of overall planning of a trip. You get a feel for how long you might need to charge somewhere and the suggested arrival and departure charges. You can play around with alternate chargers, add stops, figure out best locations to spend the night, etc.

I’ve gone on several multi-day long distance trips in the X and it’s been a real pleasure.

 

[bradtem]

I’ve had my car slightly less than a year, and I shoot for around 20% on arrival. I just watch the arrival charge while charging so I may charge a bit,longer than the Tesla in car navigation recommends.

I’m sure at some point I’ll become more comfortable with a bit less, but I did once have arrival charge drop to 10% less when stopped at a rest area. I suspect weather (headwinds) had become less friendly so I allow plenty of buffer. I live more Western where we have longer distances between superchargers. If it was only 50 miles between chargers I wouldn’t worry about this.

I also use the A Better Route Planner app to explore route options ahead of time. It helps a great deal in terms of overall planning of a trip. You get a feel for how long you might need to charge somewhere and the suggested arrival and departure charges. You can play around with alternate chargers, add stops, figure out best locations to spend the night, etc.

I’ve gone on several multi-day long distance trips in the X and it’s been a real pleasure.

I've let it get much lower these days (usually because it gave a bad estimate.)
But if you have the CCS adapter, it usually means you have to worry much less. CCS stations are smaller but more frequent, so quite often if you are looking at an SC and it says you will get there with 5% you can notice if there is a CCS station along the way. If, as you get closer, you start to fear the 5% is wrong, the CCS is there as an option for a 5 minute top up (or a full charge as you wish depending on price and speed.)

It's like having a longer range car. Even if you never use the adapter.