The following is a summary of my 1000 trip from West Chester OH (Cincinnati) to Sarasota, FL in my P85 Tesla ( first long distance trip in the car) on October 15-17, 2013. Purpose is to provide at least one way to get back and forth from the Midwest to Florida until Superchargers are available and help others who are thinking about traveling long distances.
Day 1: West Chester, OH (home) to Chattanooga, TN (Marriott Residence Inn) Total Distance 373 miles
Left with Max Charge of 266 at 6:00AM
Leg 1: West Chester to Renfro Valley Creekside Resort, Mt. Vernon, KY 156 miles
Charged here for approx. 5hrs (50 AMP RV site which gave me 28Mph)
I had made a reservation with them in advance. This was a Tuesday so there were dozens of sites available.
Person at the registration desk wasn't sure what to charge me (since manager wasn't there), so she came up with a special rate of $15-16. I was at a site near the guest bathrooms which was very convenient. It was a nice autumn morning so I filled the time with a) short hike to a nearby lake, b) looking around the pioneer village and shops adjacent to the site, c) sat in the Tesla and used the 17" monitor to make some airline reservations, surf the web, and do email, d) took a short nap, e) gave an overview of the Tesla to the kind gentleman camping next door who was curious about the car, and f) made productive phone calls. The 5 hours actually went by fairly quickly and before long I was charged up and ready to go.
Leg 2: Mt. Vernon, KY to Chattanooga, TN (Marriott Residence Inn) 217 miles
I was more conservative in terms of monitoring range, as I began this leg because this is the stretch that traverses the Appalachian Mountains. I started at 60 mph and occasionally got up to 65 or higher. But as I passed over Raritan Mountain and got 75 miles into the trip, I was pleasantly surprised that my projected range was still looking very good (wanted to make sure that I had 20-30 miles of range left beyond my destination). Once I got through Knoxville, I began driving 70Mph and nearing Chattanooga 75Mph and pulled into the Marriott with a nice cushion of miles left (20-25 miles). I had picked the Marriott because there are two Blink J1772 chargers in the parking lot that from my advanced checking were operational. I called the Marriott early afternoon and told them I was coming and that my EV definitely would need one of the spots. The person said no problem and they put a small orange cone in front of one of the spaces. I did go online days before and joined the Blink network (no charge) and was able to get their reduced rate ($1.00 /hr) Charged overnight for 13 hours (17Mph) and left the next morning with around 235-240 miles.
Day 2: Chattanooga, TN to Valdosta, GA (Hampton Inn / Lake Park KOA) Total Distance 354 miles
Leg 1: Chattanooga, TN to Tesla Marietta Service Center, Marietta, GA (Atlanta) 100 miles
Left at 6:15AM and this would have been a very easy drive except for the Atlanta traffic the last 20 miles, which was bumper to bumper. Arrived at Tesla around 8:30AM. I had called weeks ahead and arranged for a charge with them and they were very accommodating. Free coffee, water, and WiFi, and there is a terrific restaurant (Marietta Diner) about 5 minutes from the service center. They have a HPWC and a 14-50 outlet. Since I don't have dual chargers I couldn't take advantage of the HPWC, so they connected me to the 14-50. The entire staff was very friendly and it was fun seeing all the other Teslas being serviced or delivered. The current service center is very small and they are in the process of expanding it and they are going to add a sales center next door. Unfortunately I had to spend 6 hours charging here because I was only charging at 24Mph and I definitely needed a Maximum charge because the next leg was 254 Miles. Initially, my car was inside the SC and for the last 3 hours had to move it outside. Time passed more slowly here and there weren't as many options to kill time as in day 1, but the staff and manager really went out of their way to accommodate me and in the last hour even had one of guys come and clean bugs off my windshield, mirrors, and front of the car. Finally around 2:30PM I was ready to roll.
Leg 2: Marietta, GA to Valdosta, GA (Hampton Inn / Lake Park KOA) 254 miles
Beginning this drive through Atlanta, I kept the car at 60Mph to preserve battery. You have to get used to staying in the right lane and watch the semi's roll by you
but it really wasn't that bad. By the time I was past Atlanta I could see that at driving 60Mph I was actually increasing my cushion of miles from 6 miles to up around 20 miles. Once I got to 20 miles of cushion I began to drive faster and found that even driving 65 Mph I was still adding a few extra miles into my projected range. This stretch of the drive is very flat and there was no rush hour traffic. I also used the Traffic function to look ahead and see if there were any delays or accidents as a pre-caution. For the last 100 miles I began driving 70 and occasionally up to 75 Mph and was still able to maintain my 20 mile cushion, which at one point had gotten as high as 28 miles. I rolled into Valdosta about 6:15 without making any stops. I first checked into the Hampton Inn and then proceeded to the Lake Park KOA which is within walking distance of the hotel (15 mins). Again I had made reservations with the campground in advance and they are very EV friendly. Since I was a late arrival (after 6pm) they left a map which showed where my site was located. I drove back plugged into the 50Amp circuit was delighted to see I was charging at 29Mph! Only get 28Mph at home. It was dusk as I made the walk back to the hotel. Some reservations about leaving the Tesla so far away, but there were other RV's around and its way off the beaten path -- plus I had no choice. Monitored the charging via my Droid app throughout the evening which is such a great capability. I woke up early the next morning and at 6AM walked back to the RV park, unplugged and came back to the Hampton Inn to have breakfast and check-out . Was on the road by 6:30AM with 270 miles on the Tesla.
Day 3: Valdosta, GA to Sarasota FL Total Distance 267 Miles
I fully intended make this drive on one charge and I believe I could have by carefully watching my speed, but after Day 2 decided to make a stop at the Tesla Service Center for some warranty work since it was on my way. If so, I would have arrived by 12:00 noon.
Leg 1: Valdosta, GA to Tesla Service Center, Tampa, FL 220 Miles
This was an easy drive and I pretty much drove 70-75 Mph the entire way. The Marietta Service Center called Tampa SC and made the appointment for me to have an alignment and that I would need a charge. Again the staff was very nice and did some other warranty service while I was there. The Tampa Service Center is by far the best of the three that I have visited (Columbus, Atlanta, Tampa). It is much more spacious and is more conducive to hanging around if you need to charge for a few hours. They are also in the process of building a sales center directly next door. Staff was great and when service was completed my car was washed and vacuumed! Left by 12:30
Leg 2: Tesla Servic Center, Tampa Fl to Sarasota, FL 53 Miles
Left with Tesla with 70 miles of charge and made to our home easily even driving 70Mph+
Key Learnings / Watchouts
1) Have back-up charging locations for each day both at your destination and along the way. For example on my first day, I booked the Marriott because I knew they had two working chargers but within 5-10 miles of the Marriott there were several other public chargers available. Likewise, in day 2 I located several other chargers along the way that I could have used if necessary.
2) Don't assume that public charging stations are operational. For example, I found that there were four (4) Blink chargers near Macon, GA (Middle Georgia State College), but after seeing a message on Recargo, I called Blink and confirmed that none of them were working.
3) At least two KOA's in GA, that I called were not EV friendly -- not sure why unless they are worried that EV's will take up spots for their regular customers.
4) Pack a camping chair if the weather is nice. I took along a folding camping chair which can be very useful to sit and read outside your car if you are going to be at an RV site for several hours.
5) Use Tesla Service Centers for charging stops in the interim, but schedule with them in advance. They are very helpful and accommodating until there are Supercharges available in the area.
6) Chargeport Denying Charging Cable: If you are trying to insert a charging cable into the chargeport and you can't push it in -- use the touchscreen or your phone app to re-open it. Apparently after a period of time after you open the charge port door, there is a small tab that comes up to prevent a charging cable from being connected. Simply hitting the open chargeport on your screen or your phone app causes the tab to drop down again allowing you to connect. This happened to me at the Marriott at the end of day 1. Apparently I took too long in trying to connect the Blink charging cable (new for me) and then it wouldn't accept the charge cable. Scared the bejeebers out of me!
Finally when I re-opened the port from the touchscreen, the cable plugged immediately.
7) Kentucky and Georgia do not have many charging options along I-75. Tennessee has many more.
Hope this helps someone else in planning a trip up north.
Can't wait to use the Superchargers down here!
Day 1: West Chester, OH (home) to Chattanooga, TN (Marriott Residence Inn) Total Distance 373 miles
Left with Max Charge of 266 at 6:00AM
Leg 1: West Chester to Renfro Valley Creekside Resort, Mt. Vernon, KY 156 miles
Charged here for approx. 5hrs (50 AMP RV site which gave me 28Mph)
I had made a reservation with them in advance. This was a Tuesday so there were dozens of sites available.
Person at the registration desk wasn't sure what to charge me (since manager wasn't there), so she came up with a special rate of $15-16. I was at a site near the guest bathrooms which was very convenient. It was a nice autumn morning so I filled the time with a) short hike to a nearby lake, b) looking around the pioneer village and shops adjacent to the site, c) sat in the Tesla and used the 17" monitor to make some airline reservations, surf the web, and do email, d) took a short nap, e) gave an overview of the Tesla to the kind gentleman camping next door who was curious about the car, and f) made productive phone calls. The 5 hours actually went by fairly quickly and before long I was charged up and ready to go.
Leg 2: Mt. Vernon, KY to Chattanooga, TN (Marriott Residence Inn) 217 miles
I was more conservative in terms of monitoring range, as I began this leg because this is the stretch that traverses the Appalachian Mountains. I started at 60 mph and occasionally got up to 65 or higher. But as I passed over Raritan Mountain and got 75 miles into the trip, I was pleasantly surprised that my projected range was still looking very good (wanted to make sure that I had 20-30 miles of range left beyond my destination). Once I got through Knoxville, I began driving 70Mph and nearing Chattanooga 75Mph and pulled into the Marriott with a nice cushion of miles left (20-25 miles). I had picked the Marriott because there are two Blink J1772 chargers in the parking lot that from my advanced checking were operational. I called the Marriott early afternoon and told them I was coming and that my EV definitely would need one of the spots. The person said no problem and they put a small orange cone in front of one of the spaces. I did go online days before and joined the Blink network (no charge) and was able to get their reduced rate ($1.00 /hr) Charged overnight for 13 hours (17Mph) and left the next morning with around 235-240 miles.
Day 2: Chattanooga, TN to Valdosta, GA (Hampton Inn / Lake Park KOA) Total Distance 354 miles
Leg 1: Chattanooga, TN to Tesla Marietta Service Center, Marietta, GA (Atlanta) 100 miles
Left at 6:15AM and this would have been a very easy drive except for the Atlanta traffic the last 20 miles, which was bumper to bumper. Arrived at Tesla around 8:30AM. I had called weeks ahead and arranged for a charge with them and they were very accommodating. Free coffee, water, and WiFi, and there is a terrific restaurant (Marietta Diner) about 5 minutes from the service center. They have a HPWC and a 14-50 outlet. Since I don't have dual chargers I couldn't take advantage of the HPWC, so they connected me to the 14-50. The entire staff was very friendly and it was fun seeing all the other Teslas being serviced or delivered. The current service center is very small and they are in the process of expanding it and they are going to add a sales center next door. Unfortunately I had to spend 6 hours charging here because I was only charging at 24Mph and I definitely needed a Maximum charge because the next leg was 254 Miles. Initially, my car was inside the SC and for the last 3 hours had to move it outside. Time passed more slowly here and there weren't as many options to kill time as in day 1, but the staff and manager really went out of their way to accommodate me and in the last hour even had one of guys come and clean bugs off my windshield, mirrors, and front of the car. Finally around 2:30PM I was ready to roll.
Leg 2: Marietta, GA to Valdosta, GA (Hampton Inn / Lake Park KOA) 254 miles
Beginning this drive through Atlanta, I kept the car at 60Mph to preserve battery. You have to get used to staying in the right lane and watch the semi's roll by you
but it really wasn't that bad. By the time I was past Atlanta I could see that at driving 60Mph I was actually increasing my cushion of miles from 6 miles to up around 20 miles. Once I got to 20 miles of cushion I began to drive faster and found that even driving 65 Mph I was still adding a few extra miles into my projected range. This stretch of the drive is very flat and there was no rush hour traffic. I also used the Traffic function to look ahead and see if there were any delays or accidents as a pre-caution. For the last 100 miles I began driving 70 and occasionally up to 75 Mph and was still able to maintain my 20 mile cushion, which at one point had gotten as high as 28 miles. I rolled into Valdosta about 6:15 without making any stops. I first checked into the Hampton Inn and then proceeded to the Lake Park KOA which is within walking distance of the hotel (15 mins). Again I had made reservations with the campground in advance and they are very EV friendly. Since I was a late arrival (after 6pm) they left a map which showed where my site was located. I drove back plugged into the 50Amp circuit was delighted to see I was charging at 29Mph! Only get 28Mph at home. It was dusk as I made the walk back to the hotel. Some reservations about leaving the Tesla so far away, but there were other RV's around and its way off the beaten path -- plus I had no choice. Monitored the charging via my Droid app throughout the evening which is such a great capability. I woke up early the next morning and at 6AM walked back to the RV park, unplugged and came back to the Hampton Inn to have breakfast and check-out . Was on the road by 6:30AM with 270 miles on the Tesla.Day 3: Valdosta, GA to Sarasota FL Total Distance 267 Miles
I fully intended make this drive on one charge and I believe I could have by carefully watching my speed, but after Day 2 decided to make a stop at the Tesla Service Center for some warranty work since it was on my way. If so, I would have arrived by 12:00 noon.
Leg 1: Valdosta, GA to Tesla Service Center, Tampa, FL 220 Miles
This was an easy drive and I pretty much drove 70-75 Mph the entire way. The Marietta Service Center called Tampa SC and made the appointment for me to have an alignment and that I would need a charge. Again the staff was very nice and did some other warranty service while I was there. The Tampa Service Center is by far the best of the three that I have visited (Columbus, Atlanta, Tampa). It is much more spacious and is more conducive to hanging around if you need to charge for a few hours. They are also in the process of building a sales center directly next door. Staff was great and when service was completed my car was washed and vacuumed! Left by 12:30
Leg 2: Tesla Servic Center, Tampa Fl to Sarasota, FL 53 Miles
Left with Tesla with 70 miles of charge and made to our home easily even driving 70Mph+
Key Learnings / Watchouts
1) Have back-up charging locations for each day both at your destination and along the way. For example on my first day, I booked the Marriott because I knew they had two working chargers but within 5-10 miles of the Marriott there were several other public chargers available. Likewise, in day 2 I located several other chargers along the way that I could have used if necessary.
2) Don't assume that public charging stations are operational. For example, I found that there were four (4) Blink chargers near Macon, GA (Middle Georgia State College), but after seeing a message on Recargo, I called Blink and confirmed that none of them were working.
3) At least two KOA's in GA, that I called were not EV friendly -- not sure why unless they are worried that EV's will take up spots for their regular customers.
4) Pack a camping chair if the weather is nice. I took along a folding camping chair which can be very useful to sit and read outside your car if you are going to be at an RV site for several hours.
5) Use Tesla Service Centers for charging stops in the interim, but schedule with them in advance. They are very helpful and accommodating until there are Supercharges available in the area.
6) Chargeport Denying Charging Cable: If you are trying to insert a charging cable into the chargeport and you can't push it in -- use the touchscreen or your phone app to re-open it. Apparently after a period of time after you open the charge port door, there is a small tab that comes up to prevent a charging cable from being connected. Simply hitting the open chargeport on your screen or your phone app causes the tab to drop down again allowing you to connect. This happened to me at the Marriott at the end of day 1. Apparently I took too long in trying to connect the Blink charging cable (new for me) and then it wouldn't accept the charge cable. Scared the bejeebers out of me!
Finally when I re-opened the port from the touchscreen, the cable plugged immediately.
7) Kentucky and Georgia do not have many charging options along I-75. Tennessee has many more.
Hope this helps someone else in planning a trip up north.
Can't wait to use the Superchargers down here!
