Electrically Speaking: Road Trip #2!

As I mentioned in my previous post, my wife and I did another road trip this past weekend to visit her family (and my cousin) in the Boston area. The drive up was great with minimal traffic so we made good time. I had charged to 100% overnight Friday, so we had a full tank when we left our house a little after 7:00 am Saturday. Following the Tesla navigation, we stopped in Hamden CT to charge - we arrived there at around 52% State of Charge and left at 88%. Because I have free Supercharger miles, it did not cost anything, but would have cost $8.06 if I had to pay. This added about 117 miles for range (see summary of all charge activity and costs below). This SC location is right off the Merritt Parkway and in a shopping center, so there are options for food and bathrooms - very important to me on a road trip! Only a couple cars were charging.

We also stopped in Littleton MA to charge up, on the way to my cousin's home in North Andover, MA - the car didn't advise us to stop, but I knew that I'd have to stop at some point prior to going to my brother-in-laws house in Needham (about an hour from North Andover) and charging options on that route seemed to be a little limited. So we charged in Littleton, which was actually pretty crowded (9 of 12 stalls were in use when we arrived). So charging there was a bit slow. But we made it to North Andover and then Needham with about 30% SOC, which was my goal.

Sunday, heading home, we made 2 stops to charge - one in Framingham MA and one back in Hamden. Arrived back home on Sunday afternoon with about 25% SOC.

I could have spent a little less time charging in each location, if I was willing to arrive with a lower SOC. At this point, I prefer to have a little higher charge at my destination just to account for changes in traffic conditions. I guess over time I'll become more willing to simply follow the guidelines and not spend the extra time. I probably spent an extra 15 minutes over the 2 days, above and beyond what the car advised to do.

You can see the overall numbers in the chart below. Total cost of charging would have been just under $36, versus at least $75 in gas (using $3/gal and 25 mpg). So we saved there, although we did add an hour of trip time charging for the entire trip. But we'd be making a bio break anyway, so the extra time aspect isn't really a big deal to me.

I also used the Traffic Aware Cruise Control for about 90% of the ride home. Tesla isn't the only car to have this function, but I'm not sure how many other systems will actually allow the car to come to a complete stop and then accelerate up to speed again - this is really useful in stop and go traffic, which we had for about 10 miles on the NJ Turnpike. It definitely takes a little getting used to, especially when you see brake lights lighting up ahead of you and the car hasn't slowed yet! I set it for 73 mph - that seems to be a good compromise between efficiency and speed.

I did NOT use the Autosteer function on this trip - this keeps the car centered in the lane. When there is a lot of traffic, I'm not comfortable with it yet as it doesn't correct when a car moves toward you while staying in their lane. Normally, you might correct a bit by moving over in your own lane, but AS keeps you planted in the center - meaning it can get a little close. I use it when there isn't a lot of traffic right now. I guess it will get better with more familiarity.

So that's it. The car performed well - just like a 'real' car! The ride is good, even on crappy NJ/NY/CT/MA roads. Having the ability to quickly and instantly scoot around a slow guy is really a great feature. The handling is great for a 4500 lb vehicle. Seats are really comfortable and supportive. AC and stereo are awesome. It's a great road trip car! Our next one will probably be to Cape Cod in August, so looking forward to that!