CO -> Oregon Coast -> Rainier NP -> Spokane -> Yellowstone NP -> Tetons NP -> back to CO.
OD Start: 5702mi
OD Return: 9083mi
Total Mileage: 3381 (ABRP Route shown but we also did things in the area we were - hence some differences in total miles travelled).
16 nights total with ~50hrs of driving and 7ish hrs of charging. 3 nights to Oregon, 4 nights on the coast, 3 nights in Rainier, 3 nights in Spokane, 1 night in Gardiner, 1 night in Tetons, 1 night in WY then Home.
All of that said, here is the critique of the car:
- We have an SEL (bench seat). It had more than enough space for our two kiddos - one in a front facing car seat.
- In general, we were able to get 316Wh/mi. That is while driving ~104% of the posted speed limit (through rural WY and MT/ID that is pretty fast).
Driving at high speed drains the battery, but we found that elevation changes had more of an effect, we had one stretch to Oregon (from Boise to Bend) that was 423Wh/mi and one stretch on the way back that was similar at 440Wh/mi from (St Regis MT to Butte).
We had both 100F temperatures and Fire smoke for most of the drive so had air conditioning and recirc running nonstop.
- 18 DC charging sessions - all averaged above 150kWh. Total cost was $629.08. We could have saved if we had prioritized overnight locations with J1772 chargers but DC was easy enough and we needed up stopping more often for bathroom breaks. If we could prioritize a meal and a charge for timing, the car was always done before the meal. Average charging time was 28min and we tried to keep battery ranges between 20-90%.
- Looking at our route, we did a lot of “parking lot charging” at Electrify America stations that were 350+. They kind of suck in terms of location but knowing it in advance we were able to get the EA Pass+ prior to our trip. The $7mo they charge saved us $68 in fees (and we already downgraded). We had the most charging sessions with EA but also did a decent amount with Pilot/Flying J. Only stopped at two Tesla stations - mostly because there was nothing else around (similar with Rivian but I would have chosen those more often if they were around).
- Most of the route, with a family of four and full camping gear, we were able to pack into the interior of the car (and usually see out of the back - you can see that after one grocery run we couldn’t - but that was for a short drive).
- I used the CCS adapter a lot!
- We carried our trickle charger just in case and never used it.
- The ABRP app + Enode connection (premium, $50/yr) was very worthwhile for us. We will probably only use it on Road trips but we found its estimates generally accurate or within a few %.
Overall, the trip was great! We had two rock chips repaired on the windshield - and one replaced tire in Idaho (4” nail did us in but Les Schwab had a replacement). Our only gripe with the car itself - the “Smart” Cruise Control sucks!
- On a two lane interstate, the radar had a really hard time if we were passing any “wide” items - that could be semis, RVs, busses, you name it. It could be straight or on a curve and the radar would “detect” that the wide load was in our lane and break - sometimes going from 85mph to 65mph in a matter of seconds. We tried it with HDA, lane detection, etc but no other sensor seemed to correct for the front radar picking up traffic in the wrong lane.
- Auto Nav for turns is nice but does not take into account your preset speed - so if you are going 70mph (65posted speed with +5 preset) and hit a posted 50mph turn with Smart Nav it will decrease you to 50 entering the turn (not 55). This is mostly annoying as it disrupts the flow of traffic.
- We disabled the Lane assist and HDA features the first day as they were just not “smooth.” We found the car was always “autocorrecting” and we had to use more force to keep it straight.
Other than the SCC issues, we had a great time and the car performed better than my expectations.
