Last week I had to be in Austin on Thursday and Friday so I was able to use Superchargers for the first time. I had essentially zero experience with Superchargers prior to this trip. I have a 2014 Model S P85 with 32K miles on it. I started with a full charge rated at 265 miles from my home base in Andrews. I had business in Odessa so I had to go there before heading to Sweetwater which added about 40 miles to my trip. When I hooked up in Sweetwater the charger indicated it was charging at 105 to 115 mph and kept going back and forth. The kW rating would drop to zero and bounce around. I recalled some people having luck by simply unplugging and trying a different stall. Well, that didn't work out because then it stopped charging completely. I tried 6 out of the 8 stalls and after the first one none of them would charge at all (and no, the original one would not charge after I tried it again last). I called Tesla and the customer service rep could only see one stall online and I tried it and of course it wouldn't charge at all. I spent over an hour here when it could have only been 5 minutes had the charger worked correctly.
I finally gave up and drove to Cisco and made it to that location with about 12 miles left of range. The Cisco Supercharger worked great. I went ahead and fully charged because I had no idea how much range was needed to go from Cisco to the South part of Austin where my hotel was located. So my stay at Cisco was longer than it would have been if Sweetwater would have been working. I drove very conservative at first but then picked it up and just drove the normal speed limit to Austin and arrived with 50 miles of range left.
Now, my return trip would be from South Austin to my weekend home base in Lubbock. I had my car serviced while I was in Austin and they charged it to 261 miles for me. When I left my hotel (I didn't stay at a hotel that had a destination charger) I left with around 240 miles of range left. By the time I made it to the North side of Austin I was down to 209 miles. I stopped at Rudy's country store on I35 to top off before I left, but it was only charging at 35 mph there (I have dual chargers) so I left there after 10 minutes or so to go a couple of miles up the road to a Chademo charger near a mall in Round Rock. I charged there for 30 minutes and was around 250 when I unplugged there. I arrived at Cisco with 61 miles of range left. I ate while I was at Cisco so I just let the charger keep going after it said I could proceed on my trip. Plus, I was a little concerned about not being able to charge in Sweetwater so I wanted as much cushion as possible.
I plugged in at Sweetwater with 143 miles of range left. It gave me the message that I could continue on my trip to Lubbock 10 minutes later, but I kept charging. It was charging (105 to 115 mph), but it took over an hour to charge from 143 to 240 and I was the only one there. I arrived at Lubbock with plenty of range left (93 miles), so I obviously didn't need to stay that long. I had previously driven from Abilene to Lubbock and it took far more range than expected, so I wanted to be safe and have plenty of cushion.
Ok, so my thoughts after writing a small book. This trip took way longer than I'm used to. Way way longer. 9 1/2 hours as opposed to the 5 1/2 I'm used to. However, I can see how nice it will be with multiple superchargers that are functioning properly. I was unfamiliar with this trip in my Tesla so I wanted plenty of cushion on my trip and a good portion of the extra time could be avoided with more experience along this route.
I wish Tesla had a supercharger on the North West side of Austin. Sorry for the book, but I know there are several of us in Texas that make similar trips and I wanted to include enough details so they could make their trips more enjoyable. I typically start a road trip driving 60-65 mph for a few miles and then just drive whatever the posted speed limit is. I will make this trip again and used what I learned to hopefully take 1 1/2 to 2 hours off the total trip time. When I state that I had no idea how much range would be needed to complete a portion of the trip please understand that of course I used the trip function in navigation, but I had no idea what the elevation change would be and how it would effect the range needed. I previously took a trip in cold weather with an elevation gain and it took way more range than I expected so I guess that has me a little gun shy in unfamiliar terrain.
John
I finally gave up and drove to Cisco and made it to that location with about 12 miles left of range. The Cisco Supercharger worked great. I went ahead and fully charged because I had no idea how much range was needed to go from Cisco to the South part of Austin where my hotel was located. So my stay at Cisco was longer than it would have been if Sweetwater would have been working. I drove very conservative at first but then picked it up and just drove the normal speed limit to Austin and arrived with 50 miles of range left.
Now, my return trip would be from South Austin to my weekend home base in Lubbock. I had my car serviced while I was in Austin and they charged it to 261 miles for me. When I left my hotel (I didn't stay at a hotel that had a destination charger) I left with around 240 miles of range left. By the time I made it to the North side of Austin I was down to 209 miles. I stopped at Rudy's country store on I35 to top off before I left, but it was only charging at 35 mph there (I have dual chargers) so I left there after 10 minutes or so to go a couple of miles up the road to a Chademo charger near a mall in Round Rock. I charged there for 30 minutes and was around 250 when I unplugged there. I arrived at Cisco with 61 miles of range left. I ate while I was at Cisco so I just let the charger keep going after it said I could proceed on my trip. Plus, I was a little concerned about not being able to charge in Sweetwater so I wanted as much cushion as possible.
I plugged in at Sweetwater with 143 miles of range left. It gave me the message that I could continue on my trip to Lubbock 10 minutes later, but I kept charging. It was charging (105 to 115 mph), but it took over an hour to charge from 143 to 240 and I was the only one there. I arrived at Lubbock with plenty of range left (93 miles), so I obviously didn't need to stay that long. I had previously driven from Abilene to Lubbock and it took far more range than expected, so I wanted to be safe and have plenty of cushion.
Ok, so my thoughts after writing a small book. This trip took way longer than I'm used to. Way way longer. 9 1/2 hours as opposed to the 5 1/2 I'm used to. However, I can see how nice it will be with multiple superchargers that are functioning properly. I was unfamiliar with this trip in my Tesla so I wanted plenty of cushion on my trip and a good portion of the extra time could be avoided with more experience along this route.
I wish Tesla had a supercharger on the North West side of Austin. Sorry for the book, but I know there are several of us in Texas that make similar trips and I wanted to include enough details so they could make their trips more enjoyable. I typically start a road trip driving 60-65 mph for a few miles and then just drive whatever the posted speed limit is. I will make this trip again and used what I learned to hopefully take 1 1/2 to 2 hours off the total trip time. When I state that I had no idea how much range would be needed to complete a portion of the trip please understand that of course I used the trip function in navigation, but I had no idea what the elevation change would be and how it would effect the range needed. I previously took a trip in cold weather with an elevation gain and it took way more range than I expected so I guess that has me a little gun shy in unfamiliar terrain.
John
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