Going on first road trip (around 285 miles one way).. New owner.. Just a few questions. Thanks

[ts2340]

I'm going to drive to one of my work locations that is roughly 285 miles one way.. I have a 2022 LR M3.. I'm using ABRP to plan my trip.. A question I have is, should I charge to 100% the day I'm leaving?

It looks like if I charge to 85% vs 100% I'm still stopping at the same SC area.. I guess the wait time there would just be shorter as I charge..

Also, if I put my first SC stop as the destination, will it precondition the battery to get ready for the SC?

Thanks a lot for the help! Any other tips would be greatly appreciated! Still kinda bummed that the "EPA" range is "333 miles" for a LR but this trip, I'm stopping twice to charge and it's 287 miles.. Oh well.. Owned it 2 weeks and the funnest car ever..

 

[boriszima]

When i travel long distances in my model 3, i charge to 100%, put in my final destination and Tesla will automatically route me to the SC and will automatically start to precondition the battery. Since in your trip it is the same, maybe do 90% to get better efficiency. I am in SoCal, so even if one SC is busy/offline, another one is just miles away, not an issue. For me, if i stay below 70, i get close to the EPA, or around 250watts per mile.

 

[BobHinden]

As the previous poster said, just use the navigation in the car to route to your destination. It will route you to Superchargers and the car will do the preconditioning.

I use ABRP to plan a trip before hand, but use the cars navigation on the actual trip. It is better for that because it has realtime information on traffic and SC availability. I have had it change to a different SC in route based on availability.

Last suggestion, make sure you plan to have enough charge remaining at your destination unless you can charge there.

 

[drtimhill]

I'm going to drive to one of my work locations that is roughly 285 miles one way.. I have a 2022 LR M3.. I'm using ABRP to plan my trip.. A question I have is, should I charge to 100% the day I'm leaving?

It looks like if I charge to 85% vs 100% I'm still stopping at the same SC area.. I guess the wait time there would just be shorter as I charge..

Also, if I put my first SC stop as the destination, will it precondition the battery to get ready for the SC?

Thanks a lot for the help! Any other tips would be greatly appreciated! Still kinda bummed that the "EPA" range is "333 miles" for a LR but this trip, I'm stopping twice to charge and it's 287 miles.. Oh well.. Owned it 2 weeks and the funnest car ever..

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I’d not go to 100% (though you can). After doing a lot of long trips the trick (for me) is to keep the car in the 30-80% range (only a rough guideline). If you plan getting to the next SC with a lower SoC (but not crazy low) you can just change to (say) 80%. This has two benefits: (a) slightly less wear on the battery and (b) less time at the SC since charge speed tapers off a LOT above 80%.

 

[MJB-CO]

If you don't need to charge to 100% then don't. Having a lower SoC at the SC won't affect your charge time too much - the lower the starting charge the faster the initial charging rate.
I always use ABRP when planning a trip. ABRP tends to be a little conservative in its estimates, but the in car navigation tends to be overly optimistic.

 

[Don.Church]

Other considerations: leaving with a lower % battery may actually speed up Supercharging, as long as you have a sufficient “buffer “.
And do you need extra battery % for driving around at your destination, you may want to consider that when charging at your last charging stop.
And always have a plan B, just in case something upsets your original plan.

 

[KenC]

I'm going to drive to one of my work locations that is roughly 285 miles one way.. I have a 2022 LR M3.. I'm using ABRP to plan my trip.. A question I have is, should I charge to 100% the day I'm leaving?

It looks like if I charge to 85% vs 100% I'm still stopping at the same SC area.. I guess the wait time there would just be shorter as I charge..

Also, if I put my first SC stop as the destination, will it precondition the battery to get ready for the SC?

Thanks a lot for the help! Any other tips would be greatly appreciated! Still kinda bummed that the "EPA" range is "333 miles" for a LR but this trip, I'm stopping twice to charge and it's 287 miles.. Oh well.. Owned it 2 weeks and the funnest car ever..

View attachment 951785

View attachment 951786

Yes, it will precondition if the battery isn't warm enough for fastest charging.

And, because ABRP shows you that you'll stop at the same SC regardless of whether you start at 85% or 100%, when you roadtrip, I wouldn't change anything. As you note, it only adds a few minutes at your first stop, so why go to the extra trouble?

 

[Petermcg]

I always charge to 100% at home before a long trip because the cost is so much lower than charging stations (unless you’re lucky enough to have a free destination charger at a hotel). I eek out as many electrons as possible before stopping to charge except when a stop is convenient for bio breaks or food.

 

[Zcd1]

Still kinda bummed that the "EPA" range is "333 miles" for a LR but this trip, I'm stopping twice to charge and it's 287 miles…

Thank the EPA for their outdated/irrelevant/inconsistent test procedures, because they’re the reason for your car’s range shortfall vs. its EPA-rated range…

Enjoy the trip!

 

[Lindenwood]

If you have to stop at the same charger regardless, I wouldn’t bother charging up to 100% unless you have a lead foot and you enjoy taking part in…ahem…extra “passing maneuvers.”

Arriving to the charger with a bit more juice that that you only have to charge from 30-80% compared to 15-80%, for example, would only save maybe 4-5 minutes. Not nothing, but I wouldn’t stress about it.


Also, as @Don.Church said, consider whether you will need reserve battery for errands or dinner or whatever at your destination. Except at our home town where I have installed 240v charging outlets at all of our main stopping points, I have ALWAYS been better off arriving to town with extra battery compared to the minimal power your car will have you arrive at.

 

[jabloomf1230]

Thank the EPA for their outdated/irrelevant/inconsistent test procedures, because they’re the reason for your car’s range shortfall vs. its EPA-rated range…

Enjoy the trip!

Charging speed slows down so much above 90% SOC, that it makes no sense to wait around at a SC twiddling your thumbs, while the car slowly reaches 100%. This "feature" has nothing to do with EPA range obtained from it's BEV test procedures, which although achievable, represent ideal conditions. Most people doing a road trip with a Tesla generally hop from one SC to to another keeping the SOC between 30-40% and 80-85%. The keeps the charging time relatively short. One can see all this by experimenting with ABRP.

 

[acatwith12]

Since this is your FIRST drive, could be nice to aim to get to your first stop with <= 15%! That way you'll max out at 250kw. Pretty neat to see that much power as a new driver

 

[Zcd1]

Charging speed slows down so much above 90% SOC, that it makes no sense to wait around at a SC twiddling your thumbs, while the car slowly reaches 100%. This "feature" has nothing to do with EPA range obtained from it's BEV test procedures, which although achievable, represent ideal conditions. Most people doing a road trip with a Tesla generally hop from one SC to to another keeping the SOC between 30-40% and 80-85%. The keeps the charging time relatively short. One can see all this by experimenting with ABRP.

What does charge speed above 90% SOC have to do with my post??

 

[toolman335]

Why would you use ABRP for navigation? The Tesla Nav is tied to the car and it will guide you along the way and give charging advice if needed. ABRP has no idea how much range you have.
Charge at 100% before taking road trips. It's cheaper and easier. It takes none of your time to charge at home as well.
I don't know of anyone who has ever regretted having more remaining power than necessary on a road trip.

 

[Lindenwood]

Why would you use ABRP for navigation? The Tesla Nav is tied to the car and it will guide you along the way and give charging advice if needed. ABRP has no idea how much range you have.
Charge at 100% before taking road trips. It's cheaper and easier. It takes none of your time to charge at home as well.
I don't know of anyone who has ever regretted having more remaining power than necessary on a road trip.

ABRP is great.

If you don’t live in a region with a lot of chargers, you can use it to figure out other charging alternatives. Planning a trip to a remote cabin once, my car built the same route that ABRP did. Interestingly, though, on the way my car warned me that if I didn’t turn around, I would get stranded…but because of ABRP I had already been able to come up with multiple alternate charging solutions confirming that I’d actually be able to charge up enough to get back.

If there ARE multiple charging options (or only one but in a reasonably high-density area), ABRP is a comfortable way to plan with your family where you want to stop for lunch, etc, from the comfort of your couch or bed. Being able to know that I am going to drop off the family 2 blocks away, go park to charge, and walk to meet them is sometimes more convenient from home.

Finally, there are 3 chargers along my most common ~350-mile trip to get to our home town. ABRP correctly has me stop at all three for about 10-12 minutes as the shortest trip. On the other hand, my car seems to always want to spend like 50 minutes at the first charger so we can skip the middle one. Not only does this waste time, but as a family we can almost never make 200 miles without a bathroom break so we have to stop anyways.

 

[ts2340]

Since this is your FIRST drive, could be nice to aim to get to your first stop with <= 15%! That way you'll max out at 250kw. Pretty neat to see that much power as a new driver

Thanks for the reply! Can you explain what the below means?

That way you'll max out at 250kw. Pretty neat to see that much power as a new driver

I'm still confused trying to figure out the Tesla "Power" app, reading it, understanding it, etc..

 

[ts2340]

Why would you use ABRP for navigation? The Tesla Nav is tied to the car and it will guide you along the way and give charging advice if needed. ABRP has no idea how much range you have.
Charge at 100% before taking road trips. It's cheaper and easier. It takes none of your time to charge at home as well.
I don't know of anyone who has ever regretted having more remaining power than necessary on a road trip.

I use this app/website just to see if I can make it places without charging and what level I need to start at.. As an example.. My work is only 17 miles away.. But, the other day I had to go somewhere after work that was 45 minutes from my work.. Then also stop somewhere that was 30 minutes from that.. Then drive home.. I can put all that into ABRP and see specifics (SoC levels at each stop)..

And ABRP does know how much range you have if you link it. Thanks for the reply!

 

[drtimhill]

Why would you use ABRP for navigation? The Tesla Nav is tied to the car and it will guide you along the way and give charging advice if needed. ABRP has no idea how much range you have.
Charge at 100% before taking road trips. It's cheaper and easier. It takes none of your time to charge at home as well.
I don't know of anyone who has ever regretted having more remaining power than necessary on a road trip.

I use ABRP for route PLANNING before I leave so I know roughly the SC stops I will need to make and/or any "tight" spots where I need to be careful. But once on the road I use the car to go from SC to SC, checking into ABRP to see my options, and which SC's I can skip.

 

[acatwith12]

Thanks for the reply! Can you explain what the below means?

I'm still confused trying to figure out the Tesla "Power" app, reading it, understanding it, etc..

Heres the simplest way to explain:

If you arrive at your charger with 50% battery -- your charge rate may only be 125kW
If you arrive at your charger with 10% battery -- your charge rate will be 250 kW

Assume you only need to charge 10% -- it would be a difference between say, a 2.5 min charge vs a 5min charge. This obviously isn't linear -- but you get the idea. The higher the charge power, the faster you charge.

You might think this is a small difference, but say you only do 40% charges to get to eat destination, which could be typical of a long-distance drive. It'll add up and make a sizeable impact on your total drive time if you tried to do 40%-->80% vs 10% --> 50%.

 

[OldPro]

Yes! Charge to 100% and have a great trip!