My first all-Tesla-Supercharger road trip

Took a 600+ mile drive in my Pro yesterday. There were two magic dock Supercharger locations along the way so I used each one twice (coming and going). This was my first time using the magic docks, and it was pretty effortless. Almost as easy as charging a Tesla. The first time in I had to re-position the truck, because as everyone knows by now the cables are short. The next three times I nailed it. None of the Superchargers ever had more than two other vehicles charging. Each Supercharger activated without issue, and the charge rate went to 150+ kW within a minute or so. Charging curves seemed similar to what I've experienced at other networks (when the equipment was working properly).

I spent $12.99 for a Supercharger subscription, which saved me $12.48. I paid $73.04 for 221 kWh (not including subscription cost) vs. $98.51 without a subscription. So, $.389/kWh with subscription vs. $.446 without. Used my Bluedot card for another 20% savings, so final cost was $.311/kWh, which seems reasonable for DCFC. Plus I still have the Supercharger subscription for another 30 days.

Average charging speed for the 4 sessions (221kW total) was between 86-120kW. The 86kW average was on the final leg when I needed to charge to 90%.

So overall it was a nearly effortless experience. It would be nice to be able to use the Supercharger subscription with plug and charge, thus eliminating having to use the Tesla app to initiate a charge, but that's not a big deal. Hopefully I'll have my NACS adapter soon but until then these magic docks are pretty slick!

I'm still waiting for EA to get back to me on my recent trip. Paid for the membership but the app wouldn't start anything so I ended up paying full price using BlueOval plug n charge. Sent customer service a demand to be refunded. I'm so pissed at the them right now, I'm ready to never visit EA again. Can't wait to start using Tesla chargers.

And props for road tripping in a Pro!

Yeah it’s definitely a game changer. I didn’t even bother to look on Plugshare like I usually do because I knew that the Superchargers would work, because they always do. In 12 years I’ve only come across one Supercharger location that was completely down, and they had it back up and running within an hour. With the other networks I always have to have a backup plan.

This was the final shoe to drop to make this a perfect truck IMO. The public charging infrastructure (outside of Tesla) is horrid as we all know. Now we just need a marketing push, or wait until the old farts die. Most people (I would guess) still don't know the difference between and kW and a kWh.

Howard_Scott_Warshaw said:

This was the final shoe to drop to make this a perfect truck IMO. The public charging infrastructure (outside of Tesla) is horrid as we all know. Now we just need a marketing push, or wait until the old farts die. Most people (I would guess) still don't know the difference between and kW and a kWh.

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Hey, some of us old farts have owned EVs since 2009
But yeah, generally speaking you’re right.

Zprime29 said:

And props for road tripping in a Pro!

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I still road trip in my 2010 Roadster - no DCFC, level 2 charging only. Takes planning and lots of patience. Road tripping in the Pro is a breeze!

msadan said:

I still road trip in my 2010 Roadster - no DCFC, level 2 charging only. Takes planning and lots of patience. Road tripping in the Pro is a breeze!

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Impressive, I don't think I have the patience to do that. What kind of range do you get on the Roadster? I've always thought it was a cool car but never seen one in person yet.

Zprime29 said:

Impressive, I don't think I have the patience to do that. What kind of range do you get on the Roadster? I've always thought it was a cool car but never seen one in person yet.

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150 miles would really be pushing it. Rated range when new was 240 but I never made it past 200. Battery pack is 53 kWh. I usually shoot for 100-120 miles between charges. I try to baby the battery since it's almost 15 years old. I don't charge it in range mode any more, and try not to run it below 10-15% before charging. I usually take it on one big (1000 mile) trip every year or so. Finding destination chargers where I'm staying really helps.
Just washed it Monday. 14 years old with 60k miles but it still cleans up nicely.

msadan said:

Yeah it’s definitely a game changer. I didn’t even bother to look on Plugshare like I usually do because I knew that the Superchargers would work, because they always do. In 12 years I’ve only come across one Supercharger location that was completely down, and they had it back up and running within an hour. With the other networks I always have to have a backup plan.

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I'd definitely still look at Plugshare, because I have encountered Supercharger locations with multiple charging stalls down. Yes, the Tesla ratio is better, because there are more plugs per location, but you will find Plugshare reports indicating which plugs are down OR not meeting rate. I've skipped Supercharger locations due to hardware issues and/or reports of the location being extremely busy.

I noticed today that Tesla opened up more chargers! Now I can go visit my parents without having range anxiety!

@msadan did you encounter any issues getting billed the proper member price once you paid the $12.99? I signed up yesterday, turned off plug and charge, and all my charges thus far still bill at the non member pricing.

Ffxdude said:

@msadan did you encounter any issues getting billed the proper member price once you paid the $12.99? I signed up yesterday, turned off plug and charge, and all my charges thus far still bill at the non member pricing.

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No, no issues. I subscribed the day before, all four charging sessions were at the subscription rate.

Ffxdude said:

@msadan did you encounter any issues getting billed the proper member price once you paid the $12.99? I signed up yesterday, turned off plug and charge, and all my charges thus far still bill at the non member pricing.

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You are activating the charger in the Tesla app first, then putting on the adapter and plugging in, right?

RickLightning said:

You are activating the charger in the Tesla app first, then putting on the adapter and plugging in, right?

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Yep. Click the blue charge now, select the stall, plug adapter into cable, then plug into truck. Starts up fine, and tracks the charge with the Tesla app. Just bills at the full fare.