Tesla Model 3

We slept late until 8 am and almost missed the breakfast at the Holiday Inn we stayed at. Today is the “big stretch” from Arkansas to Oklahoma City the longest stretch without another supercharger this entire trip. The cars nav told us to top off again prior to leaving, about 10 miles were used by sentry mode which records activity close to the car while parked overnight. We set off at 10 am to see how far we could go. As we crossed the state line into Oklahoma we were greeted by some of the worst roads we have ever traveled on. Such a stark contrast to Arkansas.

Van Buren AR to Oklahoma City OK

I kept the speed to about 70 to make sure we’d make Oklahoma City in one leg. The navigation routed us off I-40 onto side streets and then I-240. It turns out that this weekend I-40 was closed for construction through Oklahoma City so we followed the detour. When we arrived at Oklahoma City supercharger we were greeted with a line with just one ahead of us. It took about 15 minutes for a stall to open up.

This location is an older V2 station where you share the energy with your neighbor, so the charging speed was low. The Navigation routing software could do with some enhancements. It was indicating an hour charge to get to Shamrock TX due to the slow charging speed. However it was about 60 miles to Weatherford where there was no line and we would charge more quickly there. It made more sense to leave when we had enough to reach Weatherford. This allowed me to drive at full speed without concern of making it.

Oklahoma City OK to Wetherford OK

We were able to drive quickly to Wetherford where we were able to charge at full speed. It makes more sense to charge enough to get you to the next station and drive quickly rather than trying to skip a station and have to watch your energy consumption in order to make it.

Weatherford OK to Shamrock TX

After charging at Waetherford we left for Shamrock TX. Shamrock is on the old Route 66 and they have a neat Route 66 center right where the supercharger stalls are. Finally after all the driving we are starting to see neat things.

Shamrock TX to Amarillo TX

The final leg we took on day 2 was to Amarillo TX. We stopped to book a Hotel with EV charging. The hotel we booked hosted Tesla superchargers.

We set off just after 9am. It was raining hard and I chose not use autopilot, I have seen too many YouTube videos of Tesla owners totaling their vehicles using autopilot in the rain. Autopilot does not let off the accelerator if you hit a pool of water. It rained for the first ninety minutes of our drive but then cleared up.

Home to Jackson TN

Our first charging stop was at Jackson TN. This is a really neat location with a Casey Jones theme. They have an Pullman coach from the railroad. We got Blue Bell ice cream in the country store to power us onto our next stop.

Jackson TN to Brinkley AR

We stopped just after 2 pm to get lunch, there is a Sonic close to the Supercharger so we were able to eat while the charge completed. Neat Sonic, it had a dog park and restrooms. It was a big lunch so no need for dinner out.

Brinkley AR to Van Buren AR

Arkansas has a slightly higher speed limit at 75 mph which allowed us to make better time. Arkansas take good care of their interstates, many stretches were new and very few sections had potholes. I started to get tired half way through this leg of the journey and we stopped briefly at a rest area close to London AR. By the time we reached the next charging stop at Van Buren I was done for the day. We found a Holiday Inn half a mile from the supercharger. The Hotel is very good, definitely recommended. Unfortunately the hotel didn’t have EV charging, the only hotel in town that did was a Super 8 which didn’t quite measure up.

We are planning a trip from Tennessee to the Grand Canyon AZ. Our last trip to Cape Canaveral FL had plenty of charging stations on the route. Out west things are spaced out more so we need to identify places we may face limited charging. I use A Better Route Planner to plan potential charging stops.

The outward leg to Flagstaff AZ is over 1,500 miles, nearly all of which is on I-40. The charging stops listed above are suggestions, actual charge stops and timing will vary on the trip itself, the car will skip busy stations in favor of lightly used ones. Station busyness changes during the day and the car dynamically selects the best route during the trip. Between Ozark AR and Weatherford OK the planner suggests a non Tesla CHAdeMO charging station at Okemah OK. Five years ago there were no Tesla stations between Nashville and Oklahoma City, this trip back then would have been very challenging. Today it’s much easier with just one long leg in Oklahoma. A 200 mile leg isn’t normally an issue, however the planner compensates for steady headwinds that will reduce our range, if the wind is light when we travel we will make it without this extra stop with range to spare.

Using the driving duration of each leg I have been able to divide the trip up into three days with about seven hours of driving each day. We will need two overnight hotel stays as we drive west. If we are able to, we will pick hotels that have charging stations which will eliminate two on the road charging stops. Hotels typically provide overnight charging at no extra cost resulting in savings.

In preparation for our trip I have enabled “PIN to Drive” which requires a 4 digit PIN to be able to put the car into gear. This will protect against theft of the car should someone be able to get into the car and start it somehow.

All we need to do now is pack our bags and hit the road.

We chose to attend Teslacon in Florida and make the trip by road in our 2018 Tesla Model 3. This was our first 1000+ mile road trip. Previously we had attended a Tesla event in Asheville which was a 600 mile round trip. With a modest road trip under our belt we felt more confident in making the trip from Middle Tennessee to the East coast in Central Florida.

Trip plan

We planned the trip with A Better Route Planner. It estimated it would take 13 1/2 hours to drive plus an hour of charging for 14 1/2 total drive one way.

A better route planner was set to assume an average of 65 mile/hr in making its estimates. Due to the length of travel one way we chose to stop off at a Hotel along the way. Our Hotel reservation at our destination in Port Canaveral was already made. To provide as much flexibility as possible we chose to select a Hotel while on the road, stopping when the time felt right. I took my laptop with me so that we could book a Hotel easily from a parking lot or restaurant.

Before the trip I had Tesla Mobile service do some maintenance. I had them replace the cabin air filter and 12v battery. I have these done every two years as part of my maintenance plan.

Outbound leg

We set off at about 9:15 am Thursday October 20th. Late enough to avoid rush hour traffic in Nashville. We stuck to the plan we had prepared stopping at Kimballl, TN, Atalnta GA and Fort Valley GA to supercharge. I was getting tired after 6 1/2 hours of driving so we chose to pick a Hotel. We saw we could book at Cordele GA or Tifton GA. Tifton is a little bit further and has a better choice of Hotels with overnight charging. Using Plugshare I could see Hotels that had a good reputation for charging success and used Hotels.com to see which Hotels had good reviews. We chose the Radisson in Tifton and reserved a room online using the Hotels website.

According to Plugshare the Radisson at Tifton has four Tesla destination stations and two J1772 stations. When we arrived I discovered that the Hotel had expanded to six Tesla destination stations and four J1772 stations for a total of ten plugs!! Three of Tesla units were broken and several other stations blocked with ICE vehicles. I was able to park next to a working Tesla unit that was next to the rear entrance to the Hotel. All of the stations are free to hotel guests. I updated Plugshare with the new plugs. I charged to 85% overnight and set the charge limit to 100% when we woke up using the Tesla app. The car reached 98% state of charge when we left.

Since we got a full charge overnight the plan to stop at Jasper FL was no longer appropriate. We used the cars navigation and stopped at Ocala FL. The supercharger at Ocala is an older one that opened in 2014 and it charges at just 120 kW. The plugs were all beaten up from many drops to the ground over te years, they did still work. I left the charge limit set to 100% and we sat down for a meal at Mimi’s. The slower charge was welcome, it gave us enough time to eat our meal and unplug the vehicle at 96%, this charge took 54 minutes, the time it took to eat lunch. The charge was more than enough to get to our final destination.

In Tennessee and Georgia, Superchargers are charged by the minutes on multiple charging tiers. In Florida Supercharging is billed by the kWh. When billed by the minute one needs to ensure one arrives at a relatively low state of charge and leave when the charge rate drops below 100 kW. This minimizes time charging and therefore total cost. In Florida charging speed is not relevant, you pay for what you use, so a leisurely charge over lunch was perfect. The cost of supercharging in Florida is at least twice as expensive as Tennessee or Georgia. The single charge in Ocala cost as much as the three charges on the previous day combined! While billing by the kWh is fairer than by the minute, by the minute supercharging does encourage drivers to move on rather than let their cars reach 100%. On balance I prefer by the minute supercharging.

Charging while at Teslacon

This article is about the road trip, not the event, so I won’t cover Teslacon here. We stayed at the same Hotel as the event, the Radisson Resort at the port. The Hotel does have two charging stations, one Tesla one J1772. However with 276 registered Tesla owners the stations were at a premium. We arrived early on Friday and I was able to get a charge to 90%. I moved the vehicle as soon as I saw the charge had completed. As I was unplugging a Tesla backed into the adjacent parking space and I handed the owner the charging cable.

We toured the local area visiting a beach, restaurants and took an Airboat ride. Airboats need to be electric to make them quieter. Later we visited the Manatee Sanctuary Park which did have two J1772 charging stations. I plugged in next to a Mach-e while we explored the park.

The night before leaving both charging stations were in use, actively charging vehicles. At check in I was informed that the Hotel next door which opened that month had six charging stations, but I did not feel comfortable using stations that are designated for guest use. When I woke at 6:30 am the day of departure I was able to plug in. We got a hearty breakfast at the Hotel which would sustain us until dinner time.

The return leg

We left the Hotel with a 96% charge at 9:30am, avoiding the rush hour in Orlando. I did not know until that morning if I would get a charge or not so did not plan the route back. We used the in car navigation to suggest charging locations. I set home as a destination and drove. Our first stop was at Alachua FL. The charging station looked brand new. I checked later on supercharge.info and saw it was opened just a few months previously on June 8th.

Next stop was Cordele GA, a relatively new station opened a year ago, charging was flawless. Next stop suggested was Marietta GA, we set off however as we were driving the car disengaged navigate on autopilot and rerouted to a less busy supercharger. The suggestion was the Acworth GA, arriving with less than 10% charge. I also noticed the estimated charge kept dropping. Rather than slow down to be sure to make the new Supercharger I queried Superchargers on the route and found that McDonough GA was closer. I’d arrive with 30%, not ideal but I preferred that since I could get well north of Atlanta before needing to stop and select a Hotel. In addition a charge boost would allow for the vehicle to reroute around the city center if traffic issues occurred, it was rush hour in Atlanta. Another reason not to chance it.

McDonough supercharger is just over a year old. Several of the outlets in the mall had not opened yet. There were limited options for food, I was able to find a bathroom in JC Penney. As we were travelling through downtown Atlanta traffic was OK and we made great time. I now faced the choice of finding a Hotel or simply driving on. I felt great so decided I would at least go as far as I could.

The plan was to stop at Kimball TN as our last charge. However as we were traveling up I-75 we noticed signs for Buc’ees ahead. Brisket sandwich vs Taco Bell was no contest. I did not navigate to the Supercharger as I prefered a slower charge to eat dinner. Buc’ees supercharger is in Adairville GA, well north of Atlanta. Another brand new location that had opened just three weeks prior. The Adiarville charger at Buc’ees was empty when we arrived, we got brisket sandwiches for dinner and ate while we charged. Two Teslas arrived as we ate dinner. I realized we could make it all the way home if we charged to 67% and would arrive at 9:40pm. I decided to just go for it and we did indeed get home by 9:40pm. A 13 hour drive. Autopilot makes driving less tiresome and at no time did I feel drowsy or in need of a nap.

Plan vs Actual.

On reflection the trip back from Florida was much faster than the trip down to Florida. This was in part due to incredible luck in not having traffic holdups returning home like we did on the way down. In addition we used 250 kW charging stations exclusively on the way home, most of which were new, empty or lightly used. Does that mean one should not plan? No, plans can change but planning is important so you know your options should you change your mind on the fly.

A better route planner estimated the charging cost would be $54 for the outward leg to Florida. The actual cost for the round trip was $107.82. ABRP got the cost right almost to the penny, just 12 cents difference at $108 for the round trip!! The estimates per charging station were not the accurate, but overall it nailed it.

The travel time was very conservative with ABRP, since I had it set to use 65 mph as an average. I averaged more than that, saving over an hour compared to the plan for the return leg. Not having any holdups at all on the way home helped boost the average speed significantly. I would still plan with an average of 65 mph to account for traffic holdups.

Trip Stats and the value of Hotel charging.

The journey was a round trip of 1583 miles with 450 kWh of energy used. I averaged 284 Wh/mile.

Supercharging was totally flawless, every plug I tried worked and charged as fast as expected. Stopping every 2 1/2 hours is very reasonable for a long road trip, giving you the ability to stretch your legs and visit the facilities while charging. I got 4,500 steps according to my fitbit, so I did get a reasonable amount of exercise finding restrooms etc. I think this helped me stay alert the whole way.

I have always charged an EV at a Hotel and sought Hotels with charging stations when staying away. Running the numbers for this trip showed the value of doing so. Leaving the Hotel with a full charge means the first leg of the journey takes you to lunchtime before you need to stop to charge, up to three hours. It’s a great time saver over using supercharging the night before. In addition it saves quite a lot of money. More than I realized.

Hotel charging represented 25% of the total energy used on this trip and saved $50 (at Florida supercharger rates). Hotels provided 116 kW of free fuel. Thanks Radisson.

I noticed on my trip that nearly all the J1772 public charging stations were free and did not require membership to a network. All the stations were clipper creek brand and all seemed to be in good working order. I used several with no problems, no RFID cards required, plug and charge, the way it should be.

The state of charging infrastructure has improved dramatically in the last twelve months. 75% of the superchargers visited were opened in 2021 or later. The same journey just a year ago would have been slower and require meticulous planning and execution. Tesla have done a great job ‘filling the gaps’ on the charging map. The trip was anxiety free and very enjoyable. Road tripping a Tesla is the way to go.

What’s next

Now I know I can make a long trip with no issues, next up is a really long trip out west. Hopefully in the summer of 2023.

Blink have notified its customers for several weeks now they are planning a major update to their portal and mobile apps the weekend of Oct 8th/9th 2022.

I got an email early Sunday morning informing me the mobile app updates are ready. I updated all my apps and the Blink app was not updated. I tried the Blink app and it failed. It turns out you need to search for and download a new app with a new name, the old app will not automatically update, the old app should be removed from your phone.

The old app is called “Blink Mobile”. The New app is called “Blink Charging Mobile App”. Why Blink chose to update the app in this counter intuitive way is unknown.

The new app has a green bar across the top of its icon. When I launched it I had to login in for the first time and I also had to add my EV’s to the app. My account balance and blink cards are retained which is encouraging. Favorite stations are not retained and need to be “hearted” again. Charging history has been erased.

Each time a natural disaster occurs people who oppose electric vehicles ask us to imagine how much worse it would be if all vehicles were electric. It’s a powerful argument, without electricity how are electric vehicles going to recharge, especially if the power is out for a prolonged period? Electric vehicle proponents do not mention such things but if we are honest with ourselves at times like this a sneaking doubt does creep in that maybe we made a mistake going all electric for our transportation.

During natural disasters stories often circulate about how electric vehicles fared much better than imagined and maybe even thrived when compared to gasoline vehicles. It’s counter intuitive, I mean how is that even possible? Hurricane Ian left millions without power in central Florida, and tragically many lost their lives or properties during the disaster.

I examined plug-share to see if rapid charge stations were operational or just dark and useless. I was surprised to see that fairly close to landfall many rapid charging stations were working and drivers were able to charge their cars.

Sarasota Superchargers operational

Not only was a driver able to charge he noted that lines for an adjacent gas station were very long. So long they blocked access to the supercharger it was necessary to take a diversion.

Port Charlotte – Closer to landfall. Electrify America station working.

Closer still to landfall than Sarasota, Port Charlotte had an operational Walmart rapid charger provided by Electrify America. Service was intermittent but a driver was able to get a partial charge. As is the norm with natural disasters both Tesla and Electrify America provide free charging sessions. The opposite is true for gasoline drivers when gasoline goes up in price. Florida had to pass anti price gouging laws that apply during hurricanes.

Tampa has free charging for all

Further North in Tampa stations are all operating normally. All on free vend.

Despite what people tell you, electric vehicles are not a problem during natural disasters and maybe be better off than their gasoline counterparts. Gas stations will run out of gas until supplies can be re-established, panic buying will be rife. Once electricity service is restored rapid charging stations come online, one doesn’t have to wait for a new delivery to come by truck, it’s instantaneous.

Newton Nissan have replaced their previous CHAdeMO rapid charger with a new unit from ABB that has both CHAdeMO and CCS ports. This is in preparation for the Nissan Ariya EV which will have a CCS port instead of CHAdeMO. So far so good, ABB units are solid.

However… Newton Nissan have chosen a 50kW rapid charger that is essentially the same as the one it replaces that was installed almost ten years ago. Many charging stations being installed today charge at 150kW or 350 kW. I presume the dealer are trying to minimize the cost of installation as much as possible, The transformer is the same one the previous charger was attached to. In addition the charging station has a payment terminal which the dealer representative told me will be activated in the future. Right now the charging station can be used for free.

I used my Tesla CHAdeMO adapter to test the unit and got 40kW charge rate, which isn’t unusual with Tesla and the CHAdeMO adapter. The adapter is limited to 50kW. Interestingly when the CHAdeMO adapter is attached to the Model 3 it now pops up a Supercharger Tips screen, many of the tips also apply to third party rapid chargers. I haven’t rapid charged my Model 3 since before Covid-19 so I’m not sure when the tips screen was introduced.

Range Inflation

I’ve noticed as the range of EV’s has increased in the last ten years, the expectations of what range is adequate has also increased outpacing EV development.

When EV’s could go 100 miles, folks desired 200 miles. When 200 mile EV’s came on the market expectations increased to 250 or 300 miles. With the introduction of 300 mile EV like the Tesla Model 3, people still desire more. Tesla now sell a 400 mile Model S.

As with many things in life you can never get enough of what is desirable. It’s the human condition.

So how do you determine what range you actually need? More sounds great until you realize more range adds a lot to the cost of a EV. Spending wisely should be the goal in selecting an EV.

JP’s EV Range “Rule of Thumb”

Daily driving distance X 3.

That’s it in a nutshell.

When calculating your daily driving range consider your daily commute and add extra miles for a lunchtime trip for and running the family to the ballpark or a run to the store when you arrive home.

I created this rule of thumb after driving 160,000 EV miles over ten years.

This rule of thumb means you will not need to charge away from home. Charge overnight and wake up to full “tank” everyday.

How I arrived at my rule of thumb

If your daily driving needs are say 60 miles, clearly the EV must be able to travel 60 miles. That’s one times the daily driving needs.

EV’s can lose 30-50% of their stated range in frigid winter temperatures thanks to the need to heat the cabin and the loss of efficiency of a cold battery. So a 60 mile EV may only be able to achieve 30 miles in the darkest and coldest night. So 120 miles, or twice the daily needs is essential to be sure you can travel the 60 miles you need.

The next thing to consider is EV’s may lose up to 30% of their range as the battery ages naturally through battery degradation. You will also want to leave a 20% buffer for unexpected needs and to avoid range anxiety as the distance to empty decreases through the day. That’s another 50% you might lose to degeneration and a reasonable safety net. So another 60 miles is needed to compensate for these losses.

So if your daily driving needs are 60 miles, then you need an EV that can go 180 miles at the very least. More is always better, if you can afford more then there is no harm in buying more. If mone is tight, then be sure you do not buy less than three times your daily needs and you will be fine.

Workplace Charging can reduce the rule of thumb.

If you are fortunate enough to have workplace charging you can calculate your need as 2 1/2 times your daily needs. So the 60 mile example used above would suggest a range of 150 miles.