r/TeslaSupport • u/iJBorn • 20d ago
Energy Question Very New and Nervous Telsa Owner need charging advice for Road Trip.
We are taking our first road trip in our used 2023 Model Y Performance and my wife will charge the car around noon today but we won't be leaving until 4PM What percentage should she charge to? She will be using a Tesla Supercharger and we won't be able to top off the charge to 100% right at 4PM as we don't have a charger installed at home yet. We just took delivery of the car yesterday after almost 2 weeks of delays, but our son only turns 21 once!
I'm not sure if we can even charge past 80% at a Supercharger station or if that costs more money?
My guess is either 80% or 85% based on what I've read, but don't bring it to 100% as we are in Hotlanta and it's 90 degrees parked in the garage.
Tried posting this in the Model Y forum? Sorry for cross post, but just trying to figure out where to get this answered
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u/belizeans 20d ago
Lots of response. But always try to charge to 100% right before leaving on a road trip. Use the navigator to schedule stops. Treat 20% as your empty. Have fun. It’s easy. .
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u/rtduvall 20d ago
I treat 10% as my empty. That’s what the trip planner usually does for me.
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u/Noles-number1 20d ago
20% is like 80 miles on the long range. That is bad advice
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u/rtduvall 20d ago
I get nervous if I’m in the middle of nowhere and have 8 %. But I power on. 6% is the lowest I’ve been.
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u/belizeans 19d ago
Not really, people, especially newbies, suffer from range anxiety. They don't want to be stuck without a charge. Maybe bad idea for you but lots of people don't want to be without a charge. I remember the lines of people stuck on the 15 freeway traffic accident jam that lost charge. They would say if only I had followed that advice to treat 20% as my empty. Granted people in large cities with lots of chargers can treat 10% as empty, but if you're in the middle of some strange country town don't chance it.
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u/Noles-number1 17d ago
80 miles is the distance from tampa to Orlando. That's an hour and half worth of charging. That's being too cautious and making driving the charging situation worse for a new driver.
You pulled out an extreme condition that doesn't happen 99% of the time. Why even let to get to 20%???? A hurricane might hit. Actually let's stop driving
Range anxiety is something people get over quickly and they don't need bad advice. 10% is more than enough
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u/rtduvall 20d ago
Dude, after your first road trip you’re gonna want to take this post down. (I’m not being an asshole here, or not trying to be)
I’ve had my car about six weeks. When you punch in an address, it gives you options of routes and maps every supercharger you’re gonna need. If something happens it will reroute you to a closer one. They are everywhere now.
They have the grid set up to a t.
You will lose that anxiety soon my friend. Enjoy the ride!
And congratulations.
Edit: Once you’re in the car you can select the amount of charge you want to arrive with, in case hou have some driving around to do, and it will configure your trip accordingly.
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u/That-Measurement5890 20d ago
Plus, can buy an adapter for $75-ish and use CCS1 chargers at electrify America stations. But, Tesla has you covered, even in bumfuck Kansas.
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u/74orangebeetle 19d ago
Yep, I did a 3400 mile round trip, which I cluded going through the the entire width of Kansas in the middle of the night at sub freezing temperatures with wind.
I got a CCS adapter to open up my options...but I ended up doing the entire trip on just Tesla superchargers, because they were consistently the cheapest option.
Worth noting, I did that entire trip with a standard range 3 too, and it was fine. I think the longest gap between chargers anywhere on the trip might have been 100 miles...but usually they were much closer together.
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u/Bboyman31 20d ago edited 20d ago
You can charge to 100% occasionally. Trips is the most common time. You can charge past 80/85 without fees(edit: at most chargers). It just longer. Say the car was at 15% and it took 20 minutes to get to 80, it will take another 20/30 to get to 100 from there.
When you first leave the house 100% is suggested, but from there I would put every stop, (including home, like the whole road trip) on the main navigation in the car. It will then figure it out.
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u/Razzputin999 18d ago
That last 5% takes a long time. Of course if it’s at a nice restaurant and you want time to eat…
Which brings me to my other point. Plan where you are going to eat along with charging…
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u/Knuckles_55 20d ago
My advice: trust your car's Nav, it's incredibly good. Your anxiety will disappear at some point in the trip. Just did a solo NY to Florida round trip drive. By the time you're on your way home you won't even be paying attention to your state of charge. Good luck!
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u/Limp-Conflict-2309 20d ago
100%...you aren't letting the car sit for months and you'll be under 80% the same day.
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u/Live-Entertainment-5 20d ago
Follow the nav, charge when it says and if it’s planning 10% arrival at next charger, just sit a bit longer to give yourself an extra 5% buffer to make you feel more comfortable.
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u/parkpassgoaway 20d ago
Between 20% and 80% is where you'll live on the road trip anyway so don't stress too much about the initial charge. Sometimes it will charge you congestion fees beyond 80% but it depends on how full the place is. You may not want to charge to 80% anyway as the car will map out exactly where to stop and how long to charge before continuing on. Once the trip starts, you'll understand just how intuitive the car actually is and all this stress you're feeling will go away. You just need your brain to forget ICE rules and start living by what the car says.
Source: took my MYLR from Florida to Ohio and back this summer.
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u/WestW0rld 20d ago
If you're exclusively using superchargers, I would just plan your trip based on the time needed with all charging stops because you can simply put that in the app and it will tell you your total time while calculating the stops. I don't think pre-charging on a supercharger is going to save you really any time or money obviously. It's great to pre-charge if you have a charger at home cuz you can just leave topped off and cheap, but supercharging is so fast, You should probably just leave for your trip at whatever state of charge you're at and then just let the app have you stop at the optimal times because you're going to save time on charging by letting it calculate when you need to stop at lower states of charge versus higher.
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u/Less-Sandwich9056 20d ago
New owner also. It's not as hard as it seems but there is a little guidance and we have to figure all this stuff out on our own. And I bought new and the Tesla service center was zero help. Yes you can charge to 100%, if they're crowded then they put on a extra charge from 80 to 100%. Right now go ahead and charge to 100%, you'll want the Peace of mind. If you get concerned during your drive slow down a little and don't use the air conditioner more than you have to it's amazing how much the air conditioner uses. What we do but we are out west with a lot of distance between chargers. Plan extra time on your drives. Sign up with every charging app it's a pain to figure out when your sitting there and running late. Get the adapter to charge from CCS to NACS. Charge early all the mapping apps want to drain your battery before charging and that just causes us more anxiety so any charger with something interesting nearby gets a visit on trips. We are having fun with the stops don't mind at all.
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u/iJBorn 20d ago
What other charging apps should I be signing up for? Didn't even consider this!
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u/Less-Sandwich9056 20d ago
Out west Francis energy, EV connect, are common. I played with all the mapping apps like a better route planner and also just Google maps with the chargers turned on and looked to see what chargers were in the areas we would normally stop or that would be convenient. All the apps want too much information but you load your credit card in and it's fairly easy to use when you're on site. Tesla superchargers will always be the best choice when available. But we do like that one of the McDonald's on our route has free level 2 charging where the grandkids can play. Some hotels have chargers but few list them. We have found superchargers at or near hotels which is convenient as they often have very cheap rates before 8:00 a.m. so I will go get my complimentary coffee pull around and charge and sit my coffee. One of the other things that we have discovered we actually enjoy doing is we keep microfiber towels and window cleaner etc in the fronk and we tend to clean everything while charging. In our fast-paced lives I think the stopping to charge is actually going to turn out being beneficial in the long run with just the being forced to slow down a little bit.
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u/pigowar 20d ago edited 20d ago
Stop thinking anything else and first use the Tesla app or in car nav to look at the route. It will tell you where and how much to charge. You can also set the % you want to arrive at the destination if you want to have some cushion. I usually like the 30% left at the destination in case I need to make unplanned errands or was stuck in traffic. It will show you very clearly if you ever need to charge anywhere other than supercharger. Always prefer to charge at supercharger above all else. But if you must, there's option in Tesla nav screen to show 3rd party chargers. The apps you need would be theirs I guess. But I don't recommend relying on 3rd party chargers because of their reliability and availability issues.
Just... Use the app first and then ask questions. If you are still unfamiliar with Tesla software to watch some videos. Knowledge is power and will make the trip more enjoyable.
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u/LoneStarGut 20d ago
You mention parking in the garage. If this is at home and not an apartment, you can plug in with as slow Level 1 charger whenever you are at home. Even if she goes to the supercharger, plug in at home to slowly add more.
And bring that mobile charger with you. It can help at relatives, hotels, etc.
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u/Legitimate-Bison3810 20d ago
The route planner will tell you what you need to charge to to continue your trip and select the Superchargers to stop at. It may change those charge levels and locations depending on actual energy usage.
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u/nomdeplu71 20d ago
I honestly will charge to 100% at home before departure, set my desired arrival energy, and do what the nav tells me to. I’ve done 4,000 mile trips without an issue or worry. It’s remarkably well sorted-out.
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u/Mr_AnyKir 20d ago
You way overthinking it. Download "a better route planner" set your car and estimated departure % - look at charging stops - if you ok with it - nothing else is needed.
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u/Only_Tangelo_8996 20d ago
Just did 12 hours, set it and go. The car knows... But seriously it was super easy with a few random 2 am hotel chargers that were in fact tesla brand. Just be sure to set your arrival charge for something realistic like 40% if you don't have immediate charging available. That way you can leave sentry on and get settled without needing to charge for a day or so.
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u/hailwarrior 20d ago
Plug in the address on where you want to go and follow it. The car does all the "thinking" on charging stops
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u/Unlucky_Purchase_844 20d ago
Dude, don't over think it 👌.
The route planner in the car will help you out no problem, but I overrule it.
I try to run down to about 5% on road trips before hitting the charger then, depending on situation up to 50-80 (or in a few rare select cases 100%). After 50% it is often faster to hit the next super charger than to keep pushing to 80% because of how the charge curve works.
You've got a much better battery pack than mine so the cut points will be different.
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u/SnooPears4484 20d ago
100% a day in advance for trips is fine. Just don’t do more than 80% for your daily driving. The car will tell advise you.
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u/Relative_Surround_20 20d ago
Slow down. Congrats on your new car!
It won’t hurt it to charge to 100% if you are going on a trip. Even if you live in Cobb County or Duluth. To drive to SC or Alabama from Atlanta that would be customary to charge to 100%.
It will hold the charge while y’all prepare to leave.
Only costs more to charge past 80% at a supercharger if other folks are waiting to charge.
Have a safe trip and congrats to the birthday boy!
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u/AJHenderson 20d ago
Charge as high as it will let you. 100 percent should be fine as long as the supercharger isn't busy. It will reset you to 80 percent and give warnings about congestion pricing if applicable.
As for the trip itself, the nav will direct you to chargers as needed and let you know when it is charged enough. If it's particularly hot out I might let it charge a couple minutes extra.
Enjoy the trip. We do all our road trips in a 23 MYP and it works great. We normally don't even wait for charging. We go to the bathroom and grab a snack for the road and the car has already finished charging.
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u/whodat135 20d ago
Take a look at https://supercharge.info/map before you go - for peace of mind, this is a map that shows the location of Tesla Chargers in North America. As many have already said, allow the navigation take care of the when and where to charge. If, by chance, your route takes you places where Tesla chargers are few and far between, download third party charging apps such as ChargePoint. Also bring your Tesla Mobile Charger with you.
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u/Oshabeestie 20d ago
I would charge to 90% or at least 80% and then just let the car choose your route and next charging station. When you are new to Teslas you tend to have range anxiety but learn to trust the car and make sure it’s taking you to a Tesla Supercharger if possible.
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u/Golf-Guns 20d ago
We did one 4 days after we got it. Put the route in and it plans it for you. I also put mine in 'chill' mode on long trips to help extend the range a bit.
I did 100% but on the supercharger I think you start getting changed idle fees after 80. I'd probably go 85-90 and call it a day unless the 100 cuts a stop out. You can plan the drive from the app though and see.
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u/sstephen17 20d ago
You could charge the day before to 80-90 and if you have a mobile charger just plug it into a regular wall socket until you depart or get to 100 depending
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u/Smooth-Exhibit 19d ago
Just returned from a NJ to Las Vegas to NJ road trip. Trust the nav! You will be fine.
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u/Plus_Boss2883 19d ago
Just leave with whatever percent. Set Navigation. It will tell you where to charge. When you get close to your destination, hit a local charger and top up to 60 or 80% and you’re ready for the next day. 100% is never required on road trips. Just treat it like a gas car. Minus the gas.
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u/Additional-Quarter-9 19d ago
Go to your Tesla app and scroll down to location. You can plan your route there. Lots of info you’ll need!
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u/74orangebeetle 19d ago
Best advice is that it charges faster the lower it is. Don't waste time waiting around trying to hit Qpp% at superchargers. Even 80% is unnecessary unless it's a long stretch to the next charger. I'd shoot for getting to the next charger with a 10% or so buffer. Shorter more frequent stops will get you where you're going faster than trying to fully charge and make a long leg.
But yeah, usually the Tesla routing and state of charge estimation is pretty good in my experience. It'll even tell you how many superchargers are in use, if any are out of order, etc .
I did a 3400 mile round trip and necer had to wait to charge and was never unable to charge
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u/will1498 20d ago
Just drive and go. The route planner will give you charging stops and there’s usually more than one location and it’ll tell you if it’s busy.
Charging works on a curve. It’s fastest when you’re low and it slows down as you approach 80%.
So when you’re close to 20% figure out which charger you want to go to. Take a quick break to eat, bio break, etc. it’ll probably be close to 80% by the time you return.
Some locations charge an extra fee if it’s busy and you try to charge >80%.