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Planning for long drives - lesson learned

GlitteringResort9111 | 2026-03-10 10:06 | 19 views

So drove from Philly to Florida. First ride trip. Amazed at how accurately the car planned charges. Then the drive between west and east coasts. Winter at home plus long drives had average wattages up high. That made ride to FL just fine. Was one west coast for six weeks and efficiency was great, under 200. Then the drive from Sarasota to the east coast. Car said one charge at 20%. That was based, it seemed in hindsight, on the 200 watt average. Unfortunately, ride averaged about 325 watts. As I drove, 20% dropped to 18, 16, and finally down to 2%. Yes, did things to stretch the mileage as we got closer, but damn near ran out. Granted this route was unique, but what I learned was to better understand averages using the energy screen before leaving on a trip and leverage ABRP to better anticipate charging needs. It has a setting where you can adjust average wattage for more peace of mind. I’m on the road back home and as expected, car’s charging estimates are spot on.

Comments (10)
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Krunk83 2026-03-10 10:39

Did you have a stroke writing this? Cuz I did reading it.

GlitteringResort9111 2026-03-10 10:44

You must know the wife 😵‍💫

[deleted] 2026-03-10 11:19

[deleted]

LivingInMatrix 2026-03-10 11:33

As a backup, keep J1772 and CCS adapters in Tesla and download/register with Blink, ChargePoint and EvGo. If the charge is down to 10% and next Tesla charger is more than 30 miles out, start looking for alternate closest charging location.

AJHenderson 2026-03-10 14:49

The only time it might have a problem is when it's going through an area with no chargers. Most of the time it will reroute as needed to a charger if the estimate is off in either direction, but when there's nothing to route to it's normally a good idea to put a little extra time at the prior charger. Just glance at the map of chargers and if it's a big empty area, give it an extra 5 to 8 percent.

GlitteringResort9111 2026-03-10 15:31

I like it cause it’s offline for planning or scoping a route. Love the Tesla nav when in the car.

Smooth-Oil-3814 2026-03-11 03:43

Thanks for the informative tip!

Hushed_Rl 2026-03-11 04:48

Yeah I don’t get it at all, he some how averaged under 200 and over 325 wh/mi on the same trip?

Huge_Ad_2133 2026-03-12 18:17

My very first drive last week was a 280 mile trip home. The car suggested I pull in at the Tesla superstation with 1% left. No way says I. Until I understand what I am doing with an EV no way am I going under 20% actual range.

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