1000 mile road trip with SR Pro?

[Lightningtim]

Wondering how practical a road trip
From SC to WI would be using the Tesla super chargers and NACS adapter? Concern would be the charger station or cable not reaching the plug in. Anyone have experience with this. I’ve used it twice locally on an end space where it’s no problem driving adjacent to the charger. Ive driven my Tesla MY several time to Wi but would like to explore the option to take the Lightning. I’ve been going about 3 -4 hours between charging. Thanks

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[jdmackes]

I drove with a Pro SR from Maryland to Florida, and as soon as I was out of my immediate area I had no issues with taking my choice of charger (and that was before the Tesla announcement). Make sure you plan out your trip using plugshare or ABRP (I preferred plugshare but a lot of people like ABRP) and as long as you do that you'll be fine. Only pick chargers that are well reviewed, plan out what hotel you'll stay in and make sure it has a charger (if you are stopping and can find one) and you should be good to go with everything.

You'll have to pull up really close to the Tesla chargers unless you can get one that's a pull along one, but usually there are enough chargers available that it doesn't really matter if you block one.

 

[RickLightning]

Wondering how practical a road trip
From SC to WI would be using the Tesla super chargers and NACS adapter? Concern would be the charger station or cable not reaching the plug in. Anyone have experience with this. I’ve used it twice locally on an end space where it’s no problem driving adjacent to the charger. Ive driven my Tesla MY several time to Wi but would like to explore the option to take the Lightning. I’ve been going about 3 -4 hours between charging. Thanks

1) Many threads on using Tesla chargers. You can often nose between two chargers, use the far right charger as you have, or park at an angle. It's not rock science. See photo below from Tesla's site. Left picture is their suggestion.

2) Plan your trip with ABRP.

 

[Parsnip]

Wondering how practical a road trip
From SC to WI would be using the Tesla super chargers and NACS adapter?

I have done a 1000 mile roundtrip in my SR. It is doable. I went from central IL to the upper peninsula of MI and back. I found that I could get about 1.8 - 2.0 miles/kWh if I kept to about 65 - 70 mph. I was charging about every 100 - 120 miles. I could probably have gotten more distance between them but the locations of chargers in Wisconsin and keeping a 15 - 20% reserve at each stop in case one wasn't working or something made that the best way for me. I used ABRP to plan the trip and charging stops, but used Waze on android auto to actually navigate.

Good luck!

 

[hturnerfamily]

in all my charging at Tesla Superchargers, probably 20 or more in FL GA and AL, never a problem...

understand, too, these specific Superchargers are locations that are NOT heavily used by Tesla vehicles, which is why Tesla opens them to us...

another note: if you can plan to travel at night, you'll have a VERY easy time - no one there but you.

 

[jamelski]

Every 100-120 miles yikes. I see why some people hate ev. I’d lose my mind stopping ever 2 hours

 

[RickLightning]

Every 100-120 miles yikes. I see why some people hate ev. I’d lose my mind stopping ever 2 hours

98kw x 60% (going from 20% back to 80% and then driving) * 1.7 = 100 miles

Buy an ER.

131 x 60% x 1.7 = 134 miles.

Of course you can charge to a higher level, like 90%, and drive down to 10% instead of 20%. That moves the SR range to 133 and the ER to 178. So with an ER it's closer to 3 hours.

If you slow down, you can get 10% better efficiency too.

 

[dmalonecentral]

I think what some people don’t understand is that it can actually be faster to stop more often since you will usually have a faster charger rate in the lower end of your range. So instead of stopping once and trying to charge to 100% for an hour stop four times and charge about 50% for about 15-20 minutes and you will get more range in less time.

Also, your body will appreciate you a little more at the end of the trip.

 

[frost22]

Every 100-120 miles yikes. I see why some people hate ev. I’d lose my mind stopping ever 2 hours

Just roadtripped with my 4 month old and stopped every few hours anyway (2 extra times for feeding, diaper changes and tantrums)

 

[Mach Turtle]

Every 100-120 miles yikes. I see why some people hate ev. I’d lose my mind stopping ever 2 hours

I'd lose my bladder if not stopping almost that often...but maybe you're a lot younger.

(Relevant smilie omitted for the sake of decency)

 

[Firn]

Every 100-120 miles yikes. I see why some people hate ev. I’d lose my mind stopping ever 2 hours

Well, i drive a commute every day of the week. I drive a road trip like 4-6 times a year.

Saved more time not having to stop for gas every week than I have lost waiting to charge.

 

[biers]

I did a 2,500 mile trip in my SR Pro before supercharger access. Get out there and use your truck!

 

[htobin]

Just returned from a round-trip between Abilene Texas and Scottsdale Arizona. All went well but there was a learning curve. It just depends on the distance between charging stations. Sometimes you could plan to go a couple of hundred miles with reasonable assurance that you would have adequate charging. On the other hand, there were some stretches where are you would have to charge within 100 miles to ensure that you would have enough electricity to make the next suitable charger with some reserve.

Most of the time we used Electrify America but on three or four occasions used the Tesla chargers. In many cases we found that the Tesla chargers have been remarked so that you could pull into a designated space and the charging cable we're just able to reach.

All of the mapping programs seem to be lacking, especially in flexible planning for charging. By and large we did our planning for stops simply based on a review of where we could find applicable charging stations. Really wasn't a big deal, but you do tend to get used to automation and when you have to start figuring things on your own it seems like a challenge

One place where we stopped, there were four charging units and three of the four were occupied by cars that were just parking there. It was right next to a Sonic I don't know how much of a problem that is in general. It was the only time we ran into it. Only once did we stop to charge where the places were fully occupied , but we only had to wait about 15 minutes to get an empty spot.

All in all it was a very pleasant trip and the truck performed beautifully. It's the most comfortable riding vehicle that I have ever owned.

 

[Ragman]

Doing it is no issue, you’ll need 30 minutes every two hours assuming 120 kw+ chargers. There’s an optimum driving speed vs charging time vs cost - pick two and deal with third lol.

Doing 60 you’ll need to stop 7 times for 3.5 hours. Roughly 20 hours for 1000 miles. With a gas most would still stop 2-3 times for bio/food - so net maybe 2 hours extra.

 

[Firn]

Doing it is no issue, you’ll need 30 minutes every two hours assuming 120 kw+ chargers. There’s an optimum driving speed vs charging time vs cost - pick two and deal with third lol.

Doing 60 you’ll need to stop 7 times for 3.5 hours. Roughly 20 hours for 1000 miles. With a gas most would still stop 2-3 times for bio/food - so net maybe 2 hours extra.

Eih, it's a bit longer than 2-3 hours.

I just did 1000 miles in my ER and for that it was 35 minutes every 2 hours of driving, I have to imagine an SR will be even shorter drive times (abrp put me at 1.5hrs driving for .5hrs charging in an SR).

I digress.
Over all my 1000 mile trip was right at 20 hours. I have taken this drive 22 times in my life and when doing it myself in a regular car I can do it in 15-16hrs. I'm hardly an iron butt when it comes to driving so charging added a lot of time to the trip.

Well, full honesty, i did that 1000 mile drive, actually a 2000 mile round trip, over a four day weekend. The drive out was just under 19 hours, the drive back was a touch over 20. Traffic for a holiday and one bad charge experience added the extra time. Still, I don't see one doing that in a SR inside of 20 hrs

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