We charged at four Superchargers yesterday - Gilroy, Harris Ranch, Tejon, and Barstow, all in California. It was a long day and we did have one close call. We left the Tejon Supercharger with 208 miles indicated range, drove the 137.5 miles to the Barstow Supercharger, and arrived with only 7 miles range. That means we use a theoretical 201 miles range to go only 137.5 miles. There was a mountain range crossing, and temps were in the 30's, but we don't like cutting it that close. We went with traffic or slower, generally 70 miles per hour, never over 75. The speed limit was 70.
We left Los Altos at 9:00 AM and arrived in Las Vegas at 10:30 PM. Total distance was 684 miles in 11.5 hours, so average speed with charging was almost 51 mph. That's pretty decent. However, we are averaging 403 wh/mile since Portland, far above the 325 lifetime average that we achieved with our Tesla S85 over 31k miles. This may get better now that we have broken in the tires, which supposedly get more miles per watt after 1,000 miles driven. However, we're heading into very cold country next, so I remain skeptical. The good news is that Superchargers are spaced about every 100-160 miles and we must stop because the car can't skip any chargers, so there has been on one close call as mentioned above, and that was due to a mountain climb. We don't expect any issues getting across the country about as fast as we would in a car driving on gasoline.
Yesterday J.B. Straubel posted a Tesla blog indicating that a new software upload will take advantage of our car's dual motors and ideal the bigger one at highway speeds, increasing range by 10%. That will be good, but he indicates it will come in late January, after our current adventure. No worries, but it would be nice to have more cushion on some legs. The blog post about range is here:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/driving-range-model-s-family
A few pictures, followed by a detailed chart on charges and ranges:
Supercharging at Gilroy Factory Outlets
The Gilroy location was busy. California has something like half of all Tesla's and we saw a lot!
Supercharging at Harris Ranch
Harris Ranch is getting a new Tesla battery swap station. I am skeptical about its usefulness and would not have used it if available, but Tesla is getting big tax credits for this test location.
Workers were sealing the pavement at the swap station.
Another view of the swap station.
Battery swap station exit. This was previously a car wash.
Supercharging at Tejon. This was one of the first U.S. superchargers, so has the original canopy and solar panels. Later superchargers are simpler, have no canopy or solar panels.
Supercharging at Barstow, CA. We arrived with only 7 miles remaining range after using up 201 miles of rated range to go 137.5 miles.
The following is a cut-and-past of the electricity record. It is from Excel and isn't formatted perfectly, but people who care will get it.
DAVID & LEE-ANN FICK's P85D CHARGING/RANGE RECORD | ||||||||||
Charging Stats | ||||||||||
Date | Starting Odometer | Starting Rated Range | Cumulative Average wh/mi | Cumulative Total kWh | Charging Location | Miles Since Last Charge | kWh Since Last Charge | Avg WH/Mi. Since Last Charge | Rated Miles After Charge | Notes |
28-Dec | 12 | 159 | Tesla Tigard Service Center | New car delivery | ||||||
28-Dec | 12 | 134 | 410 | 8.2 | Woodburn, OR Supercharger | 20 | 8.2 | 411 | ||
28-Dec | 32 | 184 | 413 | 40.8 | Springfield, OR Supercharger | 78.8 | 32.6 | 413 | 78 | |
28-Dec | 111 | 223 | 410 | 98.3 | Grant's Pass OR Supercharger | 141 | 57.6 | 408 | 34 | |
28-Dec | 252 | 221 | 417 | 149.6 | Mt. Shasta CA Supercharger | 118.8 | 51.3 | 432 | 53 | |
28-Dec | 370 | 223 | 398 | 186.4 | Corning, CA Supercharger | 109.3 | 36.7 | 336 | 103 | |
28-Dec | 480 | 202 | 402 | 234.1 | Vacaville, CA Supercharger | 114.1 | 47.8 | 419 | 46 | |
28-Dec | 594 | 200 | 402 | 267.3 | Fremont, CA S/C (factory) | 82.8 | 33.2 | 401 | 81 | |
29-Dec | 671 | 114 | 401 | 295.4 | Gilroy, CA Supercharger | 71.5 | 28.1 | 392 | 17 | |
29-Dec | 748 | 242 | 396 | 336.6 | Harris Ranch, CA Supercharger | 113.3 | 41.2 | 364 | 112 | |
29-Dec | 862 | 225 | 393 | 380.5 | Tejon, CA Supercharger | 117.6 | 43.9 | 373 | 83 | |
29-Dec | 979 | 208 | 400 | 442 | Barstow, CA Supercharger | 137.5 | 61.4 | 447 | 7 | |
29-Dec | 1117 | 245 | 403 | 509.6 | Trump International, Las Vegas | 160.8 | 67.7 | 421 | 31 | |
1278 |
Really enjoying reading your blog - thanks! We love our Prius (now on our second and it has well over 170k on it). Like you I am very curious about the Tesla, but it's not in the budget. Can you tell me how long the charging takes?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kirsten
(IBA #404)
Charging time varies depending on where you are. At home, a few hours. We charge overnight, the car is always ready to go with a "full tank." It is like having your own gas station, and is how we cha
ReplyDeleteWow! Your travel adventure sure looks a lot of fun. The photos you took are amazing. I can just imagine how happy and ecstatic you were while on that trip. The fact that you travel using your own car is just so cool. Good thing your car is really up for the ride. Hahaha! You are so adventurous, and I admire and envy you for that. Thanks for sharing that, LeeAnn! Take care always!
ReplyDeleteRhonda Burgess @ Bob Dunn Hyundai