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I drove from San Diego to SF in one of my many long trips and most of my charging stops were 10 minutes. I also had two 20 minute stops, one 30 minute, and one
by natch 8y ago
I drove from San Diego to SF in one of my many long trips and most of my charging stops were 10 minutes. I also had two 20 minute stops, one 30 minute, and one 15 minute. The 30 minute stop was near the end where I wanted to arrive home near half full.
Food, checking out local shops, and coffee + bathroom break for those three longer stops. For the short stops, it was just get a bit of charge, maybe a quick stretch or bathroom visit, and on my way.
People have the most bizarre misconceptions about Tesla charging, I think because they assume you have to charge from 0 to full at every stop, which truly would be slow. It simply doesn’t work that way if you do it properly.
I mean seriously... most of my stops were 10 minutes. Quite a contrast from what people think. Plugging in numbers from a map and going by total charge-to-full time overlooks the way charging is so much faster at the bottom of the range.
On the other hand taking a trip to New Mexico and back from California, many stops were 40 minutes to an hour because the chargers are spaced further apart in some of the desert states. YMMV. It depends on your route but the chargers are getting dramatically faster very soon, AND the charger network is getting more and more densely built out.
- jhalstead 8y agoCorrect me if I misunderstood (or read things too literally), but you're saying you stopped more than 8 times in a 500 mile trip? That seems like a lot, especially if they were for recharging. But I don't know the charging rate so maybe it was a case of many short sessions vs. 1 or 2 long ones? Note: I got >8 because you said most stops were 10-min and then listed 4 stops longer than 10-min.
- dragontamer 8y agoShort sessions are optimal. The battery charges faster when below 50% capacity.
- Reason077 8y agoThat’s true, but you also spend extra time driving off the main road, pulling up to the charger, and plugging in. So while 2 stops is going to be much faster than 1 on a 500 mile journey, there’s likely to be diminishing returns after that.
- natch 8y agoChargers are usually right near an exit.
- natch 8y agoYes it was 9 or 10. But I was having fun checking out the different charging locations since it was only my second time on that route. There still are plenty more stations on that route that I haven’t been to yet, btw.
- sailfast 8y agoI was going off of a brand new Model 3 performance review on TopGear.com from the Fremont factory to LA design center, which indicated it was closer to an hour with a single stop. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gsS-Q3j_Pk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gsS-Q3j_Pk)
- woodandsteel 8y agoMost people who drive from SF to LA take more than one break, and if it is only one it will be long with a meal and bathroom breaks, plus some walking around to overcome having sat for so long.
- Reason077 8y agoI saw that review too. It’s a bit deceptive because it’s not optimal to charge all the way up to ~100% on a supercharger. He could have saved a lot of time by stopping twice (2x 15-20 minute stops instead of one 50-60 minute one)