My first-ever EV Road Trip! - Long post!

• First leg was 209.51 miles with a 2.02mi/kWh efficiency - Stopped for lunch
  • First charge was all the way to 91% (from 19%) while we ate - Tesla Supercharger
• Second leg was 131.87 miles at 2.24mi/kWh. Had to make a quick restroom break! My plan was to keep going but nature called for myself and my son.
  • Found an EA Charger at a Target, it was rated as 150kw but to my surprise they were brand-new 350kw chargers. Plugged in for 7 minutes and went from 45 to 58%... Nice!
  • Given that unplanned stop, I quickly updated the route/map and pointed myself to Baton Rouge's RAN charger.
• Third leg was at an amazing 2.37mi/kWh efficiency (Thanks Black Ford F150 who provided a nice draft for 126.53 miles!!) and arrived at 15.9% SoC.
  • 
    
    
  • Arrived at the RAN charger (right next to a Tesla, a bit into an odd location). There was a nice Italian Coffee Shop nearby (4 min walk) which served as the perfect chill-down spot while charging.
  • Charged up to 74% and took off
  • 
• Fourth leg was 142mi with again a great 2.32mi/kWh efficiency. This time there were multiple drafting events from other trucks/minivans and I think there was a slight tail wind blowing east which helped.
  • Made it to our Dinner spot in Mississippi which was an Outback Steakhouse right next to a Tesla Supercharger.
  • Charged from 26.3% up to 90.4%. We basically just took an easy/nice dinner and (of course) over-charged and over-ate. Because...that's what you do in a steakhouse.
• Fifth and final leg, 153mi, no draft, and a bit of a head wind. 1.88mi/kWh efficiency though almost no traffic so it was the highest Avg Speed (73mph avg).
  • Made it to the hotel, conveniently located nearby a Tesla Supercharger in Crestview, FL which was also right next to a Starbucks (key for the Day2 start!).
  • Charged from 26% up to 70% (it was 34F outside so I wanted to have more than just a few kWh in case it was needed) which took just 24mins while my wife and son got into the room and showered. I came back afterwards to have a nice night of rest and sleep.
• 
  
  

• This day was meant to be a bit more weird in terms of stops. I knew that Day1 I could get away with 3 stops with a 4th maybe just to be on the safe side (which ended up being the bathroom break one), but on day 2 I knew that traffic was going to play a part in our schedule. If I can't align charging stops with lunch/dinner/coffee's etc, it'll take more time.
• Started up (like I said at the end of day1) in Starbucks, had my truck plugged into the Supercharger right next to it while I had my Venti Vanilla Latte + Penguin Cookie (Don't get me started with not having the snowman one from years before and paying the same money for the down-sized penguin... that's another story).
  • Charge was from ~70% from the day before to 86% in 23 mins (boy that charging curve drops steeply above 75%!!!)
• Picked up the family from the hotel (they made use of the included breakfast) and off we go heading SouthEast!
• First leg was 169 miles at a 1.94mi/kWh efficiency. I'd call it normal, but it was on the chilly side of the weather. Started at 35 and climbed to 45. Here, charging right before paid off in terms of warming up battery and the truck itself as well!
  • FIRST DERATED Charger! so far, perfect luck, here I started charging while I went inside of a gas station where the Tesla SC was located and quickly realized that It wasn't going anything above 130kw. After 7 mins, I decided to run back to and swap charging position. Boom! 213kw!!
  • Charged another 12 mins and took off. Total charge time 19mins total charge from 26% to 57%
• Short stint for the Second Leg of the day. 116mi at 2.21mi/kWh efficiency with a nice 73mph average speed (can't remember why the now higher efficiency).
  • Stopped for lunch nearby Gainsville at a weirdly layed out Tesla SC, had to had my truck blocking part of the parking lot. Charged for a nice 21 mins until another charger (it was a packed up 8-stall location next to a Burger King) was freed up where I could relocate without being the a-hole of the day. Charged in total 28 mins from 16 to 68% and took off
  • 
• Third leg started nice but soon after ...we hit Florida Traffic. Welcome to i75!
  • 
    
    
  • We managed to get to Orlando RIGHT ON TIME for the planned Drone Show at Lake Eola. It was great for us, but not for everybody, sadly. Hope that affected people promptly recover!
  • It was 116miles at a 2.62mi/kWh efficiency (hated traffic, loved the efficiency while in traffic)
  • After said show, I planned another Tesla SC just outside Orlando where we charged from 25% to 57% and moved one. Just had a quick coffee from a Wawa and waited in the car for a 17mins total stop.
• Fourth leg! As you can see, the pattern of this day was messier as I said before, so I did the "Splash and Dash" strategy all day with no deep charges. This leg was a 112mi at a 2.11mi/kWh efficiency with a decent 70mph avg. speed.
  • 19 minutes got me from 16% to 53% and moved onto the next one.
• Fifth leg and final leg started at 9:30pm, I was decently tired already I must admit. 108.26 miles with 2.23mi/kWh efficiency.
  • Though we made it to our friend's house, I did a QUICK stop in a Tesla SC to get the battery above 20% as I didn't want to park my car for the night below 20... Don't ask me why, just made me feel better.
• WE MADE IT.
  • 
    
    
  • 644 miles for the day and now it's 11pm and I'm ready to fall asleep.

mudito said:

Details:
Trip Start: DFW area, Texas.
Trip End: Miami, FL (Visiting friends for the holidays).

Details:
Day1: We took off on Friday 20th at around 9am with a full battery and after picking up the mandatory Starbucks to start the day, we took off west-bound.

Click to expand...

KBabione said:

I've enjoyed many of your other posts so was happy to read this one - I really like your positive attitude towards life. It comes through in your posts.

I did get a little concerned though when you started your trip from DFW to Miami by taking off west-bound...

Click to expand...

mudito said:

I'm an EV driver since 2022 (My wife's Model 3) but I wasn't into Teslas... I'm a car guy, I love my Manual Transmission HotHatch and I try to drive fast cars as daily drivers, slow cars aren't fun for me So, when the opportunity came to own a Gen1 QuadMotor Large Battery R1T with 4800 miles, I jumped straight into it. With ownership, deep nerding started (of course!).

I watched Hundreds of hours of OutOfSpec videos (That's about 2 or 3 videos ) and also I have more hours reading/posting in this forum that I would like to admit All these made my road-trip experience WAY smoother that I (or even my family) ever anticipated.

Details:
Trip Start: DFW area, Texas.
Trip End: Miami, FL (Visiting friends for the holidays).
Trip Speeds: 85mph constant highway speed (only when/where allowed, of course )
Driving Mode: Conserve all the time, except when entering Start-stop traffic, I like the way All-Purpose regens with all four wheels. I feel better about temps and braking feels stronger/smoother.
Total Distance: 1408mi
Energy Consumed: 673.8 kWh
Total Efficiency: 2.09mi/kWh
Total Driving Time: 21hr 57min
Average Speed: 64mph

Tesla SuperCharger Monthly Membership was obtained for the sole purpose of this trip. It already paid itself off multiple times

Details:
Day1: We took off on Friday 20th at around 9am with a full battery and after picking up the mandatory Starbucks to start the day, we took off east-bound.

• First leg was 209.51 miles with a 2.02mi/kWh efficiency - Stopped for lunch
  • First charge was all the way to 91% (from 19%) while we ate - Tesla Supercharger
• Second leg was 131.87 miles at 2.24mi/kWh. Had to make a quick restroom break! My plan was to keep going but nature called for myself and my son.
  • Found an EA Charger at a Target, it was rated as 150kw but to my surprise they were brand-new 350kw chargers. Plugged in for 7 minutes and went from 45 to 58%... Nice!
  • Given that unplanned stop, I quickly updated the route/map and pointed myself to Baton Rouge's RAN charger.
• Third leg was at an amazing 2.37mi/kWh efficiency (Thanks Black Ford F150 who provided a nice draft for 126.53 miles!!) and arrived at 15.9% SoC.
  • 
    
    
  • Arrived at the RAN charger (right next to a Tesla, a bit into an odd location). There was a nice Italian Coffee Shop nearby (4 min walk) which served as the perfect chill-down spot while charging.
  • Charged up to 74% and took off
  • 
• Fourth leg was 142mi with again a great 2.32mi/kWh efficiency. This time there were multiple drafting events from other trucks/minivans and I think there was a slight tail wind blowing east which helped.
  • Made it to our Dinner spot in Mississippi which was an Outback Steakhouse right next to a Tesla Supercharger.
  • Charged from 26.3% up to 90.4%. We basically just took an easy/nice dinner and (of course) over-charged and over-ate. Because...that's what you do in a steakhouse.
• Fifth and final leg, 153mi, no draft, and a bit of a head wind. 1.88mi/kWh efficiency though almost no traffic so it was the highest Avg Speed (73mph avg).
  • Made it to the hotel, conveniently located nearby a Tesla Supercharger in Crestview, FL which was also right next to a Starbucks (key for the Day2 start!).
  • Charged from 26% up to 70% (it was 34F outside so I wanted to have more than just a few kWh in case it was needed) which took just 24mins while my wife and son got into the room and showered. I came back afterwards to have a nice night of rest and sleep.
• 
  
  

(Total map for day one, mind you the first "charge" was the 100% home-charge. So 4 actual stops in a 700+ mi day, not bad!)

Onto Day2

• This day was meant to be a bit more weird in terms of stops. I knew that Day1 I could get away with 3 stops with a 4th maybe just to be on the safe side (which ended up being the bathroom break one), but on day 2 I knew that traffic was going to play a part in our schedule. If I can't align charging stops with lunch/dinner/coffee's etc, it'll take more time.
• Started up (like I said at the end of day1) in Starbucks, had my truck plugged into the Supercharger right next to it while I had my Venti Vanilla Latte + Penguin Cookie (Don't get me started with not having the snowman one from years before and paying the same money for the down-sized penguin... that's another story).
  • Charge was from ~70% from the day before to 86% in 23 mins (boy that charging curve drops steeply above 75%!!!)
• Picked up the family from the hotel (they made use of the included breakfast) and off we go heading SouthEast!
• First leg was 169 miles at a 1.94mi/kWh efficiency. I'd call it normal, but it was on the chilly side of the weather. Started at 35 and climbed to 45. Here, charging right before paid off in terms of warming up battery and the truck itself as well!
  • FIRST DERATED Charger! so far, perfect luck, here I started charging while I went inside of a gas station where the Tesla SC was located and quickly realized that It wasn't going anything above 130kw. After 7 mins, I decided to run back to and swap charging position. Boom! 213kw!!
  • Charged another 12 mins and took off. Total charge time 19mins total charge from 26% to 57%
• Short stint for the Second Leg of the day. 116mi at 2.21mi/kWh efficiency with a nice 73mph average speed (can't remember why the now higher efficiency).
  • Stopped for lunch nearby Gainsville at a weirdly layed out Tesla SC, had to had my truck blocking part of the parking lot. Charged for a nice 21 mins until another charger (it was a packed up 8-stall location next to a Burger King) was freed up where I could relocate without being the a-hole of the day. Charged in total 28 mins from 16 to 68% and took off
  • 
• Third leg started nice but soon after ...we hit Florida Traffic. Welcome to i75!
  • 
    
    
  • We managed to get to Orlando RIGHT ON TIME for the planned Drone Show at Lake Eola. It was great for us, but not for everybody, sadly. Hope that affected people promptly recover!
  • It was 116miles at a 2.62mi/kWh efficiency (hated traffic, loved the efficiency while in traffic)
  • After said show, I planned another Tesla SC just outside Orlando where we charged from 25% to 57% and moved one. Just had a quick coffee from a Wawa and waited in the car for a 17mins total stop.
• Fourth leg! As you can see, the pattern of this day was messier as I said before, so I did the "Splash and Dash" strategy all day with no deep charges. This leg was a 112mi at a 2.11mi/kWh efficiency with a decent 70mph avg. speed.
  • 19 minutes got me from 16% to 53% and moved onto the next one.
• Fifth leg and final leg started at 9:30pm, I was decently tired already I must admit. 108.26 miles with 2.23mi/kWh efficiency.
  • Though we made it to our friend's house, I did a QUICK stop in a Tesla SC to get the battery above 20% as I didn't want to park my car for the night below 20... Don't ask me why, just made me feel better.
• WE MADE IT.
  • 
    
    
  • 644 miles for the day and now it's 11pm and I'm ready to fall asleep.

Now we can rest, and replenish some energy to enjoy Andrea Bocelli's Concert in Miami on Sunday Night. It was amazing

Loved my experience, both my wife and my son agree that traveling with an electric car didn't impacted their experience negatively at all. While I think I did a great job planning the stops, now I know I can do better. I was looking at Rivian's estimates of departure/arrival range and I started to make my own calculations before hand and mine were always more accurate than Rivians, so I know I can push it a bit more and do 'deeper runs' for more efficient charges. That's a lesson learned for the new year when we get back to Texas.

Merry Christmas and happy new year from my and my family! (mandatory picture after the concert in Downtown Miami)

Click to expand...

mudito said:

I'm an EV driver since 2022 (My wife's Model 3) but I wasn't into Teslas... I'm a car guy, I love my Manual Transmission HotHatch and I try to drive fast cars as daily drivers, slow cars aren't fun for me So, when the opportunity came to own a Gen1 QuadMotor Large Battery R1T with 4800 miles, I jumped straight into it. With ownership, deep nerding started (of course!).

I watched Hundreds of hours of OutOfSpec videos (That's about 2 or 3 videos ) and also I have more hours reading/posting in this forum that I would like to admit All these made my road-trip experience WAY smoother that I (or even my family) ever anticipated.

Details:
Trip Start: DFW area, Texas.
Trip End: Miami, FL (Visiting friends for the holidays).
Trip Speeds: 85mph constant highway speed (only when/where allowed, of course )
Driving Mode: Conserve all the time, except when entering Start-stop traffic, I like the way All-Purpose regens with all four wheels. I feel better about temps and braking feels stronger/smoother.
Total Distance: 1408mi
Energy Consumed: 673.8 kWh
Total Efficiency: 2.09mi/kWh
Total Driving Time: 21hr 57min
Average Speed: 64mph

Tesla SuperCharger Monthly Membership was obtained for the sole purpose of this trip. It already paid itself off multiple times

Details:
Day1: We took off on Friday 20th at around 9am with a full battery and after picking up the mandatory Starbucks to start the day, we took off east-bound.

• First leg was 209.51 miles with a 2.02mi/kWh efficiency - Stopped for lunch
  • First charge was all the way to 91% (from 19%) while we ate - Tesla Supercharger
• Second leg was 131.87 miles at 2.24mi/kWh. Had to make a quick restroom break! My plan was to keep going but nature called for myself and my son.
  • Found an EA Charger at a Target, it was rated as 150kw but to my surprise they were brand-new 350kw chargers. Plugged in for 7 minutes and went from 45 to 58%... Nice!
  • Given that unplanned stop, I quickly updated the route/map and pointed myself to Baton Rouge's RAN charger.
• Third leg was at an amazing 2.37mi/kWh efficiency (Thanks Black Ford F150 who provided a nice draft for 126.53 miles!!) and arrived at 15.9% SoC.
  • 
    
    
  • Arrived at the RAN charger (right next to a Tesla, a bit into an odd location). There was a nice Italian Coffee Shop nearby (4 min walk) which served as the perfect chill-down spot while charging.
  • Charged up to 74% and took off
  • 
• Fourth leg was 142mi with again a great 2.32mi/kWh efficiency. This time there were multiple drafting events from other trucks/minivans and I think there was a slight tail wind blowing east which helped.
  • Made it to our Dinner spot in Mississippi which was an Outback Steakhouse right next to a Tesla Supercharger.
  • Charged from 26.3% up to 90.4%. We basically just took an easy/nice dinner and (of course) over-charged and over-ate. Because...that's what you do in a steakhouse.
• Fifth and final leg, 153mi, no draft, and a bit of a head wind. 1.88mi/kWh efficiency though almost no traffic so it was the highest Avg Speed (73mph avg).
  • Made it to the hotel, conveniently located nearby a Tesla Supercharger in Crestview, FL which was also right next to a Starbucks (key for the Day2 start!).
  • Charged from 26% up to 70% (it was 34F outside so I wanted to have more than just a few kWh in case it was needed) which took just 24mins while my wife and son got into the room and showered. I came back afterwards to have a nice night of rest and sleep.
• 
  
  

(Total map for day one, mind you the first "charge" was the 100% home-charge. So 4 actual stops in a 700+ mi day, not bad!)

Onto Day2

• This day was meant to be a bit more weird in terms of stops. I knew that Day1 I could get away with 3 stops with a 4th maybe just to be on the safe side (which ended up being the bathroom break one), but on day 2 I knew that traffic was going to play a part in our schedule. If I can't align charging stops with lunch/dinner/coffee's etc, it'll take more time.
• Started up (like I said at the end of day1) in Starbucks, had my truck plugged into the Supercharger right next to it while I had my Venti Vanilla Latte + Penguin Cookie (Don't get me started with not having the snowman one from years before and paying the same money for the down-sized penguin... that's another story).
  • Charge was from ~70% from the day before to 86% in 23 mins (boy that charging curve drops steeply above 75%!!!)
• Picked up the family from the hotel (they made use of the included breakfast) and off we go heading SouthEast!
• First leg was 169 miles at a 1.94mi/kWh efficiency. I'd call it normal, but it was on the chilly side of the weather. Started at 35 and climbed to 45. Here, charging right before paid off in terms of warming up battery and the truck itself as well!
  • FIRST DERATED Charger! so far, perfect luck, here I started charging while I went inside of a gas station where the Tesla SC was located and quickly realized that It wasn't going anything above 130kw. After 7 mins, I decided to run back to and swap charging position. Boom! 213kw!!
  • Charged another 12 mins and took off. Total charge time 19mins total charge from 26% to 57%
• Short stint for the Second Leg of the day. 116mi at 2.21mi/kWh efficiency with a nice 73mph average speed (can't remember why the now higher efficiency).
  • Stopped for lunch nearby Gainsville at a weirdly layed out Tesla SC, had to had my truck blocking part of the parking lot. Charged for a nice 21 mins until another charger (it was a packed up 8-stall location next to a Burger King) was freed up where I could relocate without being the a-hole of the day. Charged in total 28 mins from 16 to 68% and took off
  • 
• Third leg started nice but soon after ...we hit Florida Traffic. Welcome to i75!
  • 
    
    
  • We managed to get to Orlando RIGHT ON TIME for the planned Drone Show at Lake Eola. It was great for us, but not for everybody, sadly. Hope that affected people promptly recover!
  • It was 116miles at a 2.62mi/kWh efficiency (hated traffic, loved the efficiency while in traffic)
  • After said show, I planned another Tesla SC just outside Orlando where we charged from 25% to 57% and moved one. Just had a quick coffee from a Wawa and waited in the car for a 17mins total stop.
• Fourth leg! As you can see, the pattern of this day was messier as I said before, so I did the "Splash and Dash" strategy all day with no deep charges. This leg was a 112mi at a 2.11mi/kWh efficiency with a decent 70mph avg. speed.
  • 19 minutes got me from 16% to 53% and moved onto the next one.
• Fifth leg and final leg started at 9:30pm, I was decently tired already I must admit. 108.26 miles with 2.23mi/kWh efficiency.
  • Though we made it to our friend's house, I did a QUICK stop in a Tesla SC to get the battery above 20% as I didn't want to park my car for the night below 20... Don't ask me why, just made me feel better.
• WE MADE IT.
  • 
    
    
  • 644 miles for the day and now it's 11pm and I'm ready to fall asleep.

Now we can rest, and replenish some energy to enjoy Andrea Bocelli's Concert in Miami on Sunday Night. It was amazing

Loved my experience, both my wife and my son agree that traveling with an electric car didn't impacted their experience negatively at all. While I think I did a great job planning the stops, now I know I can do better. I was looking at Rivian's estimates of departure/arrival range and I started to make my own calculations before hand and mine were always more accurate than Rivians, so I know I can push it a bit more and do 'deeper runs' for more efficient charges. That's a lesson learned for the new year when we get back to Texas.

Merry Christmas and happy new year from my and my family! (mandatory picture after the concert in Downtown Miami)

Click to expand...

Erik+ said:

Great detailed write up. Pretty solid efficiency numbers for those fast highway speeds. Looks like you ran conserve and in low height the majority of the time, and are also on the 21s right? Hope the trip back goes smooth and your coffee intake does not suffer too much.

Click to expand...

DBL-R said:

Great write up and Stats/details, curious what was the average cost per kWh?

Click to expand...

ksujeff99 said:

Great write-up.

That’s crazy good efficiency at those speeds! I cannot get anywhere near that in my quad. You must have some sort of unicorn!

Click to expand...