Road trip! Looking for charging help in Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY

[OakvilleMYP]

Tesla owners,

I am doing a road trip this upcoming weekend from Cleveland, OH to Toronto, ON. I am looking to charge the vehicle on route.
Are there owners in Erie, PA, Buffalo, NY/ Niagara falls m, or along the way, where I could stop by to charge the roadster?
I have done the trip with my Model Y, and that was easy due to supercharging along the way, but this car is different and I am looking into towing it to Buffalo, NY vs charging along the way if someone is on route and can accommodate a few hours of charging.

Thanks in advance!

 

[IslandRoadster]

I would use both Plugshare and A Better Route Planner. They both have excellent trip planners where you can input features of your car, battery degradation, state of charge, and the like to get a real world range estimate. ABRP has the best trip planner. Plugshare, however, has the best charger rating. You can filter chargers based upon their rating, which is basically a surrogate for reliability. It allows you to skip the chargers that are slow or unreliable and instead hit the ones that you know will work. Worth your time in your trip planning!

 

[eHorses]

I would use both Plugshare and A Better Route Planner. They both have excellent trip planners where you can input features of your car, battery degradation, state of charge, and the like to get a real world range estimate. ABRP has the best trip planner. Plugshare, however, has the best charger rating. You can filter chargers based upon their rating, which is basically a surrogate for reliability. It allows you to skip the chargers that are slow or unreliable and instead hit the ones that you know will work. Worth your time in your trip planning!

In addition, you may want to explore RV/camp sites with 240 hook ups. I’ve found that most sites will accommodate with prior arrangements. I met a roadster owner at a car show that said google map showed them 240v sites base on prior user input.
Good luck and Happy travels!

 

[Retiredeh]

Find Us | Tesla

Use the interactive Find Us map to locate Tesla charging stations, service centers, galleries and stores on the go.

www.tesla.com

Several destination chargers in the area!

 

[OakvilleMYP]

I looked at the above recommendations, but the info is too unreliable and I don’t want this to turn into a 2 day/overnight adventure.
I will be towing it for 2/3 of the trip, to avoid having to charge. Not sure if I will load it forward or reverse on the uhaul trailer, will update after the weekend.

From our friends at lotustalk, send to me by @X.l.r.8 :

Anyone use a U-haul car trailer for Elise?

www.lotustalk.com

 

[eHorses]

I looked at the above recommendations, but the info is too unreliable and I don’t want this to turn into a 2 day/overnight adventure.
I will be towing it for 2/3 of the trip, to avoid having to charge. Not sure if I will load it forward or reverse on the uhaul trailer, will update after the weekend.

From our friends at lotustalk, send to me by @X.l.r.8 :

Anyone use a U-haul car trailer for Elise?

www.lotustalk.com

You may want to bring some 2 x 4’s to help with loading angles??
Take some pics and Have Fun!

 

[IslandRoadster]

I looked at the above recommendations, but the info is too unreliable and I don’t want this to turn into a 2 day/overnight adventure.
I will be towing it for 2/3 of the trip, to avoid having to charge. Not sure if I will load it forward or reverse on the uhaul trailer, will update after the weekend.

From our friends at lotustalk, send to me by @X.l.r.8 :

Anyone use a U-haul car trailer for Elise?

www.lotustalk.com

I have never had a problem charging at any station Plugshare rated 10/10. One can filter only by 9s and 10s.

 

[OakvilleMYP]

You may want to bring some 2 x 4’s to help with loading angles??
Take some pics and Have Fun!

I’m bringing 2x10’s, and 1x4’s to make a nice shallow loading angle. I am thinking three 2x10’s will do. I will also have some 2x8’s to make sure I clear the front of the trailer. Unlike some of my other cars, the roadster has decent ground clearance. Will provide pics for anyone that toes in the future.

Here is a link from uhaul:

Transporting vehicles with low ground clearance | U-Haul

Sports cars and specialty vehicles with unusually low ground clearance cannot be loaded and unloaded onto the Auto Transport in the conventional manner.

www.uhaul.com

 

[OakvilleMYP]

I have never had a problem charging at any station Plugshare rated 10/10. One can filter only by 9s and 10s.

Seemed like I had to sign up to the site, and that was a bit of a hassle, I found it a bit hard to navigate. I also needed to stop at least twice for a charge, which at 30-40a would take a long time. I am hoping for this to be the less painful way, but will report back.

 

[OakvilleMYP]

Long box dodge ram 1500, the longer wheel base helps stabilize the trailer. Driven in RWD mode, with tow/haul engaged, and the rear proximity assist turned off (otherwise the truck keeps auto breaking thinking it’s about to hit something when in reverse). The ride was smooth at 55-65mph, felt like there was no load being towed.

Trailer from uhaul, weight 2250lbs, car weight 2700lbs, for a total weight of 5000lbs.

Loading the car with two 2x10’s, 54” pcs 1st layer and 30” second layer, to change the pitch of the ramp, no issues getting on and off, clears bumper no issues. Also had 18” 2x10 at the front of the trailer to raise the front wheels to clear the front of trailer. This was a total of 2pcs of 10’ of lumber. 2x12 would have been even better.

Wheel straps down tight at the front, every stop check the straps, we had a loose strap on one wheel 70mi into trip, so as things shift under load it can loosen up.

2 small 500lbs rear straps used, tie them straight back thru wheel, use foam on wheel, no need to over tighten, this is to keep the rear end down in case you hit a big bump. Tie them directly back to where the ramp slots are, any other location will catch and damage the rear body work.

The vehicle is so small that the beginning of the battery is at the center of the trailer wheels. Since the roadster has 35/65 weight distribution, I would guess this was loaded 50/50. This is likely why it felt like truck was not under load at all. No need to back it in, since that would put 80% of the weight at the front of the trailer wheels, and overload the tongue of the trailer.

Hope this helps!

 

[Earl]

bit of a hassle

if a bit of a hassle is going to be a problem, you should probably plan to tow the whole way.
As a veteran of several Roadster Roadtrips, I can assure you that they are hassles all the way.
Slow charging, little space for luggage or people, short range, aging batteries and electronics, thermal management issues, etc.
We've come a long way in the last 15 years but if you try with a Roadster, you'll be re-living the pioneer days.

 

[OakvilleMYP]

The trip was completed on Sunday.
I towed Cleveland to Buffalo (uhaul), keeping it plugged in until I was ready to head out. Then drove the roadster Buffalo to GTA. Car lost 0% range during the 4 hour tow, and I had 55% range left when I arrived at the house. Trip was a breeze. The picture above is one I took at a rest area.

 

[Tex EV]

The vehicle is so small that the beginning of the battery is at the center of the trailer wheels. Since the roadster has 35/65 weight distribution, I would guess this was loaded 50/50. This is likely why it felt like truck was not under load at all. No need to back it in, since that would put 80% of the weight at the front of the trailer wheels, and overload the tongue of the trailer.

Hope this helps!

Looks exactly like what @Frisco-Dad did last year - Epic Road Trip. I've been considering getting a tow rig to take Roadsters to events. Truck transport is $$$$ and I enjoy adventures like this. Thanks for sharing!

 

[OakvilleMYP]

Looks exactly like what @Frisco-Dad did last year - Epic Road Trip. I've been considering getting a tow rig to take Roadsters to events. Truck transport is $$$$ and I enjoy adventures like this. Thanks for sharing!

Wow, thats a commitment! Imagine all the connecting and disconnecting of the trailer to charge. Also can the Y legally tow 5000lbs? I have a Y, and the tow package on tesla’s website says ‘up to 3500lbs’. Looks like he did manage to cross the straps at the back. I am not sure exactly how as I couldn’t get it around the rear diffuser, and when I did, 1/4” clearance didn’t make me feel comfortable. Since I did a 200mi tow, I strapped the wheels. If I had a long tow like this, perhaps I would have looked at connecting behind the wheel. Crossed or not, it’s only to stabilize the rear end, as the chain provided with the trailer, that is required, can’t go around anything on the roadster, the bottom is completely covered.
Hope this helps anyone towing out there.

 

[IslandRoadster]

Seemed like I had to sign up to the site, and that was a bit of a hassle, I found it a bit hard to navigate. I also needed to stop at least twice for a charge, which at 30-40a would take a long time. I am hoping for this to be the less painful way, but will report back.

Plugshare implies one needs an account, but my recollection is that one can skip that and still use it. You get some additional features like saving drives and the like if one has an account. And yes, the interface can be a bit clunky. But I find that with A Better Route Planner as well.