Trip Report: 2000 miles round trip from Austin, TX to Des Moines, IA

[thedadlegend]

I’m on the tail end of a week long trip with the family, 2 adults and 2 kids under 6, from Austin to Des Moines. We hauled the family, our luggage, and a portable freezer/fridge about 2000 miles.

Overall:

This trip has instilled so much confidence in the truck, especially now that we have the NACS adapter. It rides like a dream, floating down the highway at 85. BlueCruise is also awesome, though I don't think i'm prepared to pay $800 or whatever it is.

Conversely, the trip has also shown that I am not really a road tripper, or at least not for 1000 mile stretches. I read somewhere that it’s time anxiety not charger or range anxiety and that’s exactly the kind of anxiety that I have and which is exacerbated by road trip in an EV with kids. Definitely will use it for local camping trips, maybe 500 miles away max .

Efficiency:

Average efficiency: 2.0
Lowest efficiency: 1.7
Highest efficiency: 2.2

The entirety of the way there we had a massive tailwind, 20mph pushing us all the way. And then on the return trip, somehow we had a much calmer but still directionally helpful tailwind from the north. I maintained ~5mph over the speed limit on the way up, usually 75-80mph. On the way down, ~80-85mph. Guess I’ve been in a rush.

Charging:

Before I left, I signed up for the Tesla supercharger membership. Exclusively on supercharger I spent may be somewhere around $300. I did fill up in DSM at an EA charger which I think took around 50kw from the 250kw balance. I also charged to around 100% each stop in Wichita, and used a standard outlet charger at our DSM destination to get a few % each night.

I never had to wait for a charger, and had no problems using the Tesla system which I would initiate by selecting the charger in the Tesla app on my phone unplugged into the truck and voila.

Charging stops were basically planned ahead of the entire trip in terms of the general route, although I found that I would usually plan the next stop at each current stop. For example, I would use ABRP with my estimated charge that I was getting to to see how far I can make it. Then once the charge is actually done. I used Apple Maps to enter the next destination. Speaking of Apple Maps my experience was that the map is extremely conservative around 2 to 2.2 efficiency and less so around 1.8. Still it is a good gauge and I like to keep my eye on the estimated charge once at destination to make sure nothing crazy was going on. I found stopping in each major city was decent, and only basically had one extra charging stop such as Emporia outside of Wichita, or a random Kansas Service Stop or whatever they call them.

I do wish google/apple would get an update with Tesla chargers and availability to those with the adapter as they were basically all I wanted but Apple Maps would not select them automatically. I also wish Tesla would somehow update their software to indicate to other drivers or even to ABRP that a truck is using 2 spots. It would reduce the amount of (imagined?) side eyes I received.

 

[Maineiac12]

How was it between Kansas City and Des Moines on I-35? I’m making that run at the end of the month.

 

[thedadlegend]

How was it between Kansas City and Des Moines on I-35? I’m making that run at the end of the month.

I charged full in Liberty MO and made it to Des Moines without stopping. I’d highly recommend that stop if you have the adapter, the Hy-Vee has good food options.

 

[Maineiac12]

I charged full in Liberty MO and made it to Des Moines without stopping. I’d highly recommend that stop if you have the adapter, the Hy-Vee has good food options.

Thanks! I do have the adapter. ABRP wants me to stop in Bethany, MO at a charge point so that’s why I was curious.

 

[thedadlegend]

Thanks! I do have the adapter. ABRP wants me to stop in Bethany, MO at a charge point so that’s why I was curious.

which direction are you heading? And if you’re in an extended range and not towing and are full and don’t have a headwind I think you’ll make it in one go. You could always use Apple Maps once charged to see if you can make it.

I’ll come back and put in my ABRP settings later

 

[Maineiac12]

which direction are you heading? And if you’re in an extended range and not towing and are full and don’t have a headwind I think you’ll make it in one go. You could always use Apple Maps once charged to see if you can make it.

I’ll come back and put in my ABRP settings later

XLT ER. Starting in DSM and heading south.

 

[kstype]

Hi,

I just completed a similar but longer trip from SE Pennsylvania to Oklahoma City, OK and planned it out in A Better Route Planner. We broke the drive up into two days, stopping in Effingham, IL as the halfway point.

On the way to OK I manually programmed in each chanrging stop into the Ford trip planner, this included both Tesla and the one non-Tesla stop we had to make. We had no issues all the way down and the Ford GOM was mostly accurate - but so VERY conservative in its estimates. My goal for the trip was never to get to my next charging stop with less than 10% (based on the cross country trip the Out Of Spec team had with their Lightning).

There was no destination charger at our Hotel in OK CIty so I just used the Tesla and EA station to top off when needed.

The truck was a phenomenal road tripper - used BlueCriuse I would guess about 96% of the way there and back. There were several sections of I70 in IL/IN/MO and I44 in MO/OK that were undergoing major construction so the truck gracefully switched to lane centering and then resumed control when lane marking supported it. The total costs - round trip - at Tesla was $430.39. Add the $135.48 in the few EA stops and the energy costs were $565.87 so about $ 0.21 cents per mile.

I had ZERO issues at any Tesla location - the only issues I had were with EA stations I was forced to use between St. Louis and Springfield, MO. The primary EA location between those two cities was closed for upgrades. I did have one Pilot/Flying J stop with a covered EVGo/Ultium DCFC chargers

I opted to try the ABRP trip and planning feature that was integrated with by Bluetooth ODP dongle and I found it to actually be very accurate with the bluetooth connectivity - but I do find the interface to be a bit clunky to use - but the satellite view is interesting to watch on the drive.

Overall - the experience was much better than last trips since the Tesla adapter has been added to the road trip arsenal.

 

[astrand1]

Placeholder!

I’m on the tail end of a week long trip with the family, 2 adults and 2 kids under 6, from Austin to Des Moines. We hauled the family, our luggage, and a portable freezer/fridge about 2000 miles. I’m exhausted. Will come back and add photos, more details, etc. once I’m home in front of my PC but wanted to put down the high level for now.

Overall:

This trip has instilled so much confidence in the truck, especially now that we have the NACS adapter. It rides like a dream, floating down the highway at 85. BlueCruise is also awesome, though I don't think i'm prepared to pay $800 or whatever it is.

Conversely, the trip has also shown that I am not really a road tripper, or at least not for 1000 mile stretches. I read somewhere that it’s time anxiety not charger or range anxiety and that’s exactly the kind of anxiety that I have and which is exacerbated by road trip in an EV with kids. Definitely will use it for local camping trips, maybe 500 miles away max .

Efficiency:

Average efficiency: 2.0
Lowest efficiency: 1.7
Highest efficiency: 2.2

The entirety of the way there we had a massive tailwind, 20mph pushing us all the way. And then on the return trip, somehow we had a much calmer but still directionally helpful tailwind from the north. I maintained ~5mph over the speed limit on the way up, usually 75-80mph. On the way down, ~80-85mph. Guess I’ve been in a rush.

Charging:

Before I left, I signed up for the Tesla supercharger membership. Exclusively on supercharger I spent may be somewhere around $300. I did fill up in DSM at an EA charger which I think took around 50kw from the 250kw balance. I also charged to around 100% each stop in Wichita, and used a standard outlet charger at our DSM destination to get a few % each night.

I never had to wait for a charger, and had no problems using the Tesla system which I would initiate by selecting the charger in the Tesla app on my phone unplugged into the truck and voila.

Charging stops were basically planned ahead of the entire trip in terms of the general route, although I found that I would usually plan the next stop at each current stop. For example, I would use ABRP with my estimated charge that I was getting to to see how far I can make it. Then once the charge is actually done. I used Apple Maps to enter the next destination. Speaking of Apple Maps my experience was that the map is extremely conservative around 2 to 2.2 efficiency and less so around 1.8. Still it is a good gauge and I like to keep my eye on the estimated charge once at destination to make sure nothing crazy was going on. I found stopping in each major city was decent, and only basically had one extra charging stop such as Emporia outside of Wichita, or a random Kansas Service Stop or whatever they call them.

I do wish google/apple would get an update with Tesla chargers and availability to those with the adapter as they were basically all I wanted but Apple Maps would not select them automatically. I also wish Tesla would somehow update their software to indicate to other drivers or even to ABRP that a truck is using 2 spots. It would reduce the amount of (imagined?) side eyes I received.

what’s the name of this wind app you’re using?

 

[thedadlegend]

what’s the name of this wind app you’re using?

that’s just Apple’s iOS weather app, and selected wind view.

 

[Maxx]

Is this an app? Name?

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I’m on the tail end of a week long trip with the family, 2 adults and 2 kids under 6, from Austin to Des Moines. We hauled the family, our luggage, and a portable freezer/fridge about 2000 miles.

Overall:

This trip has instilled so much confidence in the truck, especially now that we have the NACS adapter. It rides like a dream, floating down the highway at 85. BlueCruise is also awesome, though I don't think i'm prepared to pay $800 or whatever it is.

Conversely, the trip has also shown that I am not really a road tripper, or at least not for 1000 mile stretches. I read somewhere that it’s time anxiety not charger or range anxiety and that’s exactly the kind of anxiety that I have and which is exacerbated by road trip in an EV with kids. Definitely will use it for local camping trips, maybe 500 miles away max .

Efficiency:

Average efficiency: 2.0
Lowest efficiency: 1.7
Highest efficiency: 2.2

The entirety of the way there we had a massive tailwind, 20mph pushing us all the way. And then on the return trip, somehow we had a much calmer but still directionally helpful tailwind from the north. I maintained ~5mph over the speed limit on the way up, usually 75-80mph. On the way down, ~80-85mph. Guess I’ve been in a rush.

Charging:

Before I left, I signed up for the Tesla supercharger membership. Exclusively on supercharger I spent may be somewhere around $300. I did fill up in DSM at an EA charger which I think took around 50kw from the 250kw balance. I also charged to around 100% each stop in Wichita, and used a standard outlet charger at our DSM destination to get a few % each night.

I never had to wait for a charger, and had no problems using the Tesla system which I would initiate by selecting the charger in the Tesla app on my phone unplugged into the truck and voila.

Charging stops were basically planned ahead of the entire trip in terms of the general route, although I found that I would usually plan the next stop at each current stop. For example, I would use ABRP with my estimated charge that I was getting to to see how far I can make it. Then once the charge is actually done. I used Apple Maps to enter the next destination. Speaking of Apple Maps my experience was that the map is extremely conservative around 2 to 2.2 efficiency and less so around 1.8. Still it is a good gauge and I like to keep my eye on the estimated charge once at destination to make sure nothing crazy was going on. I found stopping in each major city was decent, and only basically had one extra charging stop such as Emporia outside of Wichita, or a random Kansas Service Stop or whatever they call them.

I do wish google/apple would get an update with Tesla chargers and availability to those with the adapter as they were basically all I wanted but Apple Maps would not select them automatically. I also wish Tesla would somehow update their software to indicate to other drivers or even to ABRP that a truck is using 2 spots. It would reduce the amount of (imagined?) side eyes I received.

Happy to hear your ride was a dream! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!

 

[greenne]

Hi,

I just completed a similar but longer trip from SE Pennsylvania to Oklahoma City, OK and planned it out in A Better Route Planner. We broke the drive up into two days, stopping in Effingham, IL as the halfway point.

On the way to OK I manually programmed in each chanrging stop into the Ford trip planner, this included both Tesla and the one non-Tesla stop we had to make. We had no issues all the way down and the Ford GOM was mostly accurate - but so VERY conservative in its estimates. My goal for the trip was never to get to my next charging stop with less than 10% (based on the cross country trip the Out Of Spec team had with their Lightning).

There was no destination charger at our Hotel in OK CIty so I just used the Tesla and EA station to top off when needed.

The truck was a phenomenal road tripper - used BlueCriuse I would guess about 96% of the way there and back. There were several sections of I70 in IL/IN/MO and I44 in MO/OK that were undergoing major construction so the truck gracefully switched to lane centering and then resumed control when lane marking supported it. The total costs - round trip - at Tesla was $430.39. Add the $135.48 in the few EA stops and the energy costs were $565.87 so about $ 0.21 cents per mile.

I had ZERO issues at any Tesla location - the only issues I had were with EA stations I was forced to use between St. Louis and Springfield, MO. The primary EA location between those two cities was closed for upgrades. I did have one Pilot/Flying J stop with a covered EVGo/Ultium DCFC chargers

I opted to try the ABRP trip and planning feature that was integrated with by Bluetooth ODP dongle and I found it to actually be very accurate with the bluetooth connectivity - but I do find the interface to be a bit clunky to use - but the satellite view is interesting to watch on the drive.

Overall - the experience was much better than last trips since the Tesla adapter has been added to the road trip arsenal.

Supercharger access is a gamechanger for long range trip possibilities. Much less anxiety than before...

 

[BedFullOfElectronZ]

Thanks! I do have the adapter. ABRP wants me to stop in Bethany, MO at a charge point so that’s why I was curious.

Yes, the options are thin between Des Moines and Kansas City (there's not much of *anything*, much less chargers). I have stopped at the Chargepoint in Bethany, and it'll do in a pinch. Two stalls, rated at 125 kW if memory serves, but somewhat less than that in practice. There are some Tesla chargers across the street at the Kum & Go, but I think they're V2, and thus won't charge the Lightning. Good luck!

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