Tesla owners: is it foolish to drive regular 300+ mile road trips?
October 21, 2018 7:39 PM Subscribe
I have a 20 mile round trip work commute, but take 2 road trips each month that are 300 miles there and 300 miles back (staying overnight). Is it crazy to think that I could buy a Model 3 and make that trip a "normal" one with a stop halfway to charge and an overnight charge near the hotel? Should I give up the dream and get a PHEV that will handle my daily commute all-electric but be a regular old hybrid road-trip?
Best answer: My boyfriend and I drove 300 miles each way in a Nissan Leaf with an 80 mile range -- we just had to stop and charge a lot.
We used the PlugShare app to plan the trip; it's pretty great and it has data on both regular chargers and superchargers. It just takes advance planning (much less in a Tesla).
posted by marfa, texas at 8:14 PM on October 21, 2018
We used the PlugShare app to plan the trip; it's pretty great and it has data on both regular chargers and superchargers. It just takes advance planning (much less in a Tesla).
posted by marfa, texas at 8:14 PM on October 21, 2018
Best answer: Electric cars are awesome. But 2 things:
1. Batteries degrade, and range is dependent on driving habits. Will the car make it comfortably if it has 80% of the range? Are you ok with driving 55 the whole way if necessary to get the max range out of the car?
2. Some of the supercharger stations on major routes can get pretty backed up, with long wait times. Might check the forums to see if the one you’ll be using has that issue (I have an electric car but not a Tesla so I’m not sure exactly where to ask).
posted by q*ben at 8:22 PM on October 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
1. Batteries degrade, and range is dependent on driving habits. Will the car make it comfortably if it has 80% of the range? Are you ok with driving 55 the whole way if necessary to get the max range out of the car?
2. Some of the supercharger stations on major routes can get pretty backed up, with long wait times. Might check the forums to see if the one you’ll be using has that issue (I have an electric car but not a Tesla so I’m not sure exactly where to ask).
posted by q*ben at 8:22 PM on October 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I've lived in both worlds: roadtripping in a pure EV and roadtripping in a range-extended EV (has built-in gas generator). Both are fine, although once you are used to driving EV, burning gas is annoying.
Focusing on just the question posed, I'd say you'll be just fine. Tesla Supercharger sites are extremely reliable, and "destination charging" is commonplace now. That said, while Tesla appears to have licked the quality problems they had in the first ~12 months of Model 3 production, they still have a horrid support situation. So you better hope nothing is wrong with the car when you get it. And be sure to get paint protection for the car; Tesla paint is soft due to California VOC regs.
Note that you may not get the full tax credit. Google it, long story.
You can also look forward to non-Tesla options, as Electrify America rolls out their ultra-fast (150-350 kW) charging network and as 100+ kW cars start to come out at the end of this year. Until then, you're stuck with 50 kW charging in both the stations and the cars, and that's just too slow, plus the existing stations are solitary pedestals with no redundancy.
(source: eight years of driving EVs)
posted by intermod at 8:25 PM on October 21, 2018
Focusing on just the question posed, I'd say you'll be just fine. Tesla Supercharger sites are extremely reliable, and "destination charging" is commonplace now. That said, while Tesla appears to have licked the quality problems they had in the first ~12 months of Model 3 production, they still have a horrid support situation. So you better hope nothing is wrong with the car when you get it. And be sure to get paint protection for the car; Tesla paint is soft due to California VOC regs.
Note that you may not get the full tax credit. Google it, long story.
You can also look forward to non-Tesla options, as Electrify America rolls out their ultra-fast (150-350 kW) charging network and as 100+ kW cars start to come out at the end of this year. Until then, you're stuck with 50 kW charging in both the stations and the cars, and that's just too slow, plus the existing stations are solitary pedestals with no redundancy.
(source: eight years of driving EVs)
posted by intermod at 8:25 PM on October 21, 2018
Best answer: It's a non-issue as long as there's a supercharger somewhere along the route and destination charging near the hotel. The Model 3 LR can potentially make it without supercharging (300 miles rated range).
You can do this as often as you want. Battery degradation in Teslas has been very minor. Charging to 100% twice a month is not a problem. Using superchargers a few times a month is not a problem.
Is there something specific you're concerned about? I can't actually think of a reason this would be foolish. It's a very normal use case.
(I don't road trip often but I've been driving a Model S for years.)
posted by allegedly at 6:48 AM on October 22, 2018
You can do this as often as you want. Battery degradation in Teslas has been very minor. Charging to 100% twice a month is not a problem. Using superchargers a few times a month is not a problem.
Is there something specific you're concerned about? I can't actually think of a reason this would be foolish. It's a very normal use case.
(I don't road trip often but I've been driving a Model S for years.)
posted by allegedly at 6:48 AM on October 22, 2018
Best answer: You've got some good answers here, but I wanted to chime in with a potential alternative: you could buy a used Nissan Leaf, plus a road trip car for less than the cost of a Tesla. It cost us $22k to buy a 2015 Nissan Leaf and 2016 Hyundai Sonata awhile back. Car insurance is about $300/mo for both. You could probably go cheaper if you are just transporting one person on this road trip by buying a smaller car than the Sonata - we have three people and a dog regularly going 550+ miles one-way. Just a thought...
posted by Slothrop at 7:53 AM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Slothrop at 7:53 AM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the helpful answers; gold stars all around. Based on this (but really based on my wonderful spouse being cool with it), I went for it.
allegedly: my concern was really just the practicality of being able to pull off and get a spot/planning a stop in the same place each trip as opposed to what I do now of just stopping when I feel like it. Around town the 300 mile range is a no-brainer; I was just a little hesitant about planning for trips where you have to build in supercharger stops.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:28 AM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
allegedly: my concern was really just the practicality of being able to pull off and get a spot/planning a stop in the same place each trip as opposed to what I do now of just stopping when I feel like it. Around town the 300 mile range is a no-brainer; I was just a little hesitant about planning for trips where you have to build in supercharger stops.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:28 AM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Not crazy. Stop at a supercharger along the way, add range at a rate of approx 400 mph (unshared charger, low battery, model 3), and you're talking a 20 minute stop netting you an extra 130 miles or so of charge. More than sufficient for getting you to your destination. You don't need or even want to charge to 100% at the start, because you'll already be supercharging along the way, and you'll charge faster on a lower battery.
If you're in a busier area, you may have multiple supercharger options between point A and point B. If you post your approximate start and end points, we can look at the route for you.
posted by zippy at 9:30 AM on October 22, 2018
If you're in a busier area, you may have multiple supercharger options between point A and point B. If you post your approximate start and end points, we can look at the route for you.
posted by zippy at 9:30 AM on October 22, 2018
One of the things that isn't obvious pre-Tesla is how much the navigation display gives you a constant background awareness of where you are and where the superchargers are. Tapping on a supercharger will also give live status of how many stalls are available. Unless you are on a route with very few options, it's quite natural to glance at the map and decide where to stop based on when you feel like stopping. It also helps to have a range that has enough slack to avoid doing the kind of planning and micro-managing necessary to road trip in a Leaf.
posted by allegedly at 8:54 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by allegedly at 8:54 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
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I’m not an owner, but drove my first Model 3 this weekend, so have been semi-obsessively researching it. It’s completely impractical for me cost wise, but I’ll be happy to vicariously live through an internet stranger.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:06 PM on October 21, 2018 [2 favorites]