Home, final numbers

Day 18- I came home a day early (see the post that I should have made Sunday) so I got home last night around 8pm. I was too tired to go ahead and do all the math and make a post so I waited to do it today to be sure everything is accurate. I will start with the numbers this time for those with short attention spans, then hit the rest of the trip summary.  :-)

Totals for the trip:
miles driven: 4542.72
States visited: 12
Countries visited: 2
kwh used: 1130 (4.02 miles per kwh)
cost of electricity $102.02
cost of gas: $543.20
cost of an oil change (trip length would have required one at some point): ~$30 at a cheap place
total savings: $468.26
Range lost due to running climate control, defrosters, seat heaters, having bad weather, having too much fun with the accelerator, etc.: 3%
Total trip efficiency: 97%
(that's a loss of 9.3 miles per full charge using the Tesla number of 310 miles per charge, or actually getting an avg of 300.7 miles per charge for those of you on summer break like me & not wanting to do math. LOL) 
This is amazing just for the fact that most of the trip was done at highways speeds of 70-80 mph depending of course on what the legal speed limit was for the roads. AND I still got close to the tesla rated 4.1 miles per kwh too!

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Overall I would say this is one of the best road trips I have ever gone on. I spent $ on hotels and food which I would have anyway, slept in the car a few nights which I really enjoyed, got to see a bunch of old friends I haven't seen in ages, met a ton of new people & got to share about EV's along the way, saved a ton of $ on fuel, got to play with wolves & see baby peacocks (not at the same time), and had a great time. A few minor concerns along the way, but really not a big deal in the grand scheme (and the hotel issue would have happened even in an ICE car). The trip was low stress and the car handled great in all situations. I couldn't be happier with the trip!

Here is a map of the trip from start to finish (some stretches were doubled b/c I hit the same road both ways). I know I could have done this online, but I was at the hotel with no wifi so I went old school. LOL

The facts, the good, and the bad:

Facts....
Stops: overnight (1-3 nights) to visit friends unless it says it was just a charge stop
KCMO area (started at home), St Louis charge, Evansville IN charge (unsuccessful so continued on), Jasper IN charge (car camp destination charge), Blue Ash OH charge, Akron OH, Erie PA charge, Buffalo NY, Syracuse NY charge, Lee MA charge, Old Orchard Beach ME, Brewer ME charge, border (got searched), Ganong Nature Park charge (car camp destination charge), Moncton New Brunswick Canada, St Stephen charge, Brewer ME charge, Kennebunk ME charge, Boston MA, Auburn MA charge, White Plains NY, Plainfield NJ charge, Dunellen NJ (lunch only w/ a friend, not overnight), Bloomsburg PA charge, Falls Creek PA charge, Streetsboro OH, Angola IN charge, Fort Wayne IN (charge & afternoon with a friend, no overnight), Indianapolis IN, Brookeville IN (no charge, just play with wolves then back to Indy), Indianapolis IN, Effingham IL charge (safety stop, probably could have made it without this one), St Charles MO, KCMO (ended back at home).

Charge types:  public free chargers, an adapter for a 10-30 wall outlet (220 volt), Tesla destination chargers, a Ford dealership charger, Tesla superchargers, a 14-50 wall outlet (220 volt), 110 volt wall outlets

# of car related issues over the course of the 18 days on the road: 3, all easily resolved, see below
Average time on the road during "drive days": 9-10 hrs a day, a few were actually 12

Starting with the bad, ending with the good here....

The bad: (all of these were easily fixable & not REALLY issues, just inconveniences)
*First public charger on the trip didn't work. See the post "have a back up plan" for the experience
*The Indy supercharger only had a few stalls working. There WERE stalls working though so it was fine.
*Pay attention to your speed- it goes VERY fast Very fast! LOL (fun, not actually bad if you pay attention that you are not speeding)
*wiper on drivers side stopped clearing bugs, Tesla sent a mobile unit to install a new wiper blade at my hotel the next day for free though. Would have done it the same day if it hadn't been a Sunday.
*St Louis hotel was terrible (had nothing to do with the EV so doesn't count- it would have sucked even in a gas car). See the post "destination #6."

The good/awesome:
*4542.72 miles with ZERO emissions. NOT killing the environment!
*Instant torque/speed, it goes VERY fast VERY fast (see what I did there? LOL)
*Hugs the road in all situations
*AP handles like a dream! It made harrowing parts of the drive like bad weather and bad traffic no big deal.
*Only added a few hours to the trip (remember that is over the course of 18 days) and only if you don't eat/pee when you charge.
*Didn't stop any more times for electricity than I would have for fuel (a few times had to stop for the bathroom without actually needing to charge).
*Charge stations are available pretty much everywhere. Some may not be free, but they are there. (even at the first stop where I had the issue. check the edit at the bottom of that entry. LOL)
*The ride is SOOOO much smoother & quieter in an EV than a traditional gas-powered car!
*Spent 18 days getting to know my car & loved it!
*The ability to set the climate control from the app means the car is always a comfortable temp when you get in, even in extreme weather.
*Can anyone say car camping? It was super comfortable for me to do in the Model 3 & I loved the all glass roof- I was sleeping under the stars but still fully protected. (and no tent to set up/take down).
*Climate control all night when sleeping in the car! You can't do that in an ICE car without worrying about carbon monoxide poisoning or freezing/sweating to death or rolling down the windows to get attacked by bugs or rained on. Climate control can be left on all night in an EV without the car trying to kill you!
*Had a blast getting to see old friends.
*Enjoyed meeting all kinds of new people. Literally over 100 of you guys stopped me to chat & I loved talking with each and every one of you!
*Was able to take my electric car to the middle of nowhere to play with wolves with no range anxiety!
*Got to play with wolves! Come on, you know that deserves the second shout out. LOL
*I was able to make it all the way to Moncton, New Brunswick Canada with an EV! You know that rocks!
*This car gets better over time due to over-the-air updates!
*8 year/120k mile warranty on the battery! no kidding! (this will be different with different cars or different versions of this car) There is also the standard 4 year warranty on everything else.
*The only fluid I need to mess with is the WASHER fluid for the windshield wipers!
*I need my tires rotated due to the length of the trip (I now have 6300ish miles on the car, Tesla recommends a rotation at 6250 miles) but it is only $50 for that at the service center. That's less than my G6 was.
*Tesla roadside assistance # is fabulous, open 24 hrs/day, friendly, helpful, & patient, even when you just call for reassurance. LOL
*Chargepoint help # is open 24 hours/day, helpful & friendly.
*Tesla mobile units come to you FAST for minor fixes (thanks for the wiper blade!)
*Photos, stares, & waves from strangers on the road are entertaining on a long drive
*Saved $438.34 on fuel!!!!!! Take that gas & oil companies (sorry to my friends who are involved in them in one way or another. OK not really but I do still love you!)
*It was a great feeling to be able to drive right by the gas stations, especially when the prices were over $3.00 a gallon. Even better in Canada where it was over $4 a gallon (after converting it over from liters- that's how they fool you). :-)

I will admit that, while I never really had range anxiety (just a little nervousness that first night), I was more aware of my electric range than I ever was about my gas, but that is not a bad thing. There were multiple times that I "pushed it" getting to a gas station on my ICE car road trips (I even ran out of gas one day in my hometown when I was a block away from the gas station) so the one night of "range anxiety" is no different. In fact, if I had known the car a little better when it happened I would have NOT stressed about it at all. The more I drove, the more I realized this car is really good at predicting range and adjusting for conditions during the drive. Had I owned the car long enough to know I could trust this I would have not had any anxiety at all.

I can honestly say that after having made dozens of road trips with an ICE car before this and now having done this massive road trip with the EV, that I don't ever want to go back to an ICE car!


PS: the cat it seems is over it, but this little guy hasn't left my side since I got home. lol

Destination #6 St Louis

Destination #6 St Louis

I'm in St Louis, stopped once again at the supercharger in St Charles. This one is the one that doesnt charge a few for Model 3 so my electricity is once again free! Charged up for about 25 minutes to get to 250 miles to run around on locally and not have to stay forever when I top up to full for the trip home on (probably Monday now, not Tuesday as planned). I am visiting with a college friend tomorrow (hey Karyn) and will head home from there.

Short version of why I am heading home early? The Wingate by Wyndham in St Charles sucks. I won't get into why on here b/c it's a bit of a rant, but you can see my review of the hotel to get the whole crazy experience here if you wish. Grab your popcorn and settle in for the read!

As for today, I had mostly filled up at the Indy supercharger yesterday so I was able to top off on the 110 outlet at the hotel overnight last night. That was nice to get those last 40ish miles on there to get me to 314. Yes, I said 314. I know it is rated at 310 but nearly all of my total fill-ups have been between 312 & 314 which has been really nice! I also have been using the tezlab app to track efficiency and such and my overall efficiency for the whole trip thus far is 97%, not too bad! I can handle losing 3% of my range due to mountains, rain, seat heaters, heat, air conditioning, defrosters (front and rear) and hard accelerations all being done or used throughout most of the trip. lol

Numbers as of dinner:
miles driven: 4324.02
kwh used: 1076 (4.02 miles per kwh)
cost of electricity $102.02
cost of gas: $516.21
total savings: $411.27

*Well crap a duck. The hotel wifi isn't working so I can't upload. will do it when I get home. Sorry guys.*

edit: I'm home now, St Louis was a bit of a crazy experience with limited crappy wifi in the hotel so I couldn't post the entry above while I was there. I will follow this up with a final summary of the trip in a few minutes, but here is what I was unable to post Sunday night or Monday. :-)

Destination #5 Indianapolis- wolves!!

Yesterday I drove through Fort Wayne, IN to see a friend who has a farm there (hey Ron, was good to see you!). Had a great afternoon hanging out, grilled hamburgers for dinner, then continued down to Indy. He had the most adorable baby peacocks there! I intended to update the blog last night, but went to the pool instead. lol

I have spent the last couple of days in Indianapolis at the Hilton Garden Inn by the airport. They don't have a destination charger OR a public charger, but the did let me plug into an outdoor 110 outlet. I was charging at about 5 mph, but hey, it was enough of a boost to get to the nearby supercharger in the morning if needed. I actually stopped with about 100 miles left on the car so I would have been fine anyway, but never say no to free charges! For the record, the staff here is amazing and the pool/hot tub temps are perfect! Not too hot and not too cold.  The room is large and the bed is comfy.
This morning I woke up bright and early, had breakfast, and went off on my adventures. I had gained about 40 miles overnight from the 110 outlet, not too bad.

I am doing this to give an overall picture of what it is like to drive an EV, and want to make sure it is honest and real, not all just the rose-colored glasses experience. I feel like this trip has really pretty much all been rainbows and unicorns though, with no problems at all except for that first night when the charger at the car dealership didn't work. Today I had the second hiccup on the trip, and this time it was at a Tesla supercharger. I arrived at the supercharger in SE Indianapolis and the first 3 stalls I tried wouldn't work. Bummer and momentary panic attack that something was wrong with my car.

I took a deep breath and called the Tesla roadside assistance number (it's a button on the touch screen that dials them directly so you always have the number handy). They are always super nice and helpful and can check the diagnostics on the car over the air no matter where you are at.  The guy said they were showing power issues with the stations and my car was fine. He told me which stations appeared to be working (1A and 4B) so I moved to 4B and had no problem. I charged to 300 because I had a 185 mile round trip today with no chargers of any kind on my route, not even any public chargers, and wanted to have some emergency extra.

Where did I go? I went to PLAY WITH WOLVES!!!! Yep, there is an awesome place called Wolf Creek Habitat where you can give a "donation" to go into the enclosures and interact with their wolves. You can also go up on the overlook bridge and just watch them for free.  I highly recommend the interaction (get there early for the wolves to be most active, they open at 10 and are only open on weekends), it is totally worth it. Wolf kisses are the best!!! :-)

Funny story, it actually took me about 30 minutes to get away from my car when I arrived at WCH, because a couple of groups of people kept leaving and stopping at the car to see it. lol  I let a couple of people sit in it and showed it to a bunch of others.  It is pretty far out there with no chargers around so I guess no one out there has ever seen a Tesla in person. let alone a Model 3. Good thing I enjoy sharing with people and being an EV ambassador! :-)

Side note, I am super bummed my hair seems to be fading now. This is how it started out....

 

On the way home I arrived back at the south Indy supercharger with 40% battery left. I went back to good old 4B and plugged in. There was one other Tesla there, a black model 3. This was the first time I have seen another M3 on my trip. He was having trouble with charging so I got out to chat and let him know he needed to go over to 1A.  When I got back in my car I realized it had stopped charging. Crap on cracker. Tried twice more, no dice. Going to have to wait for the other guy to finish. I got back out to chat again and while we were talking another gentleman came over and asked to look at our cars. He has a reservation but hasn't seen one in person yet so we both let him poke around and see the cars/ask questions.  The black car finished and moved over one spot so I could move to the one working station, then we got pictures of the two M3's next to each other since it is rare to see 2 at once. :-)

I charged up to 90% and headed back to the hotel to go swimming and then a friend came over to go to dinner (in my car). Hey Shannon, love you girl! Ben seems pretty cool too :-) Tonight I am plugged back in on the 110 outlet to top up and be ready for tomorrow; I am heading out bright and early.

Numbers as of dinner:
miles driven: 4011.14
kwh used: 996 (4 miles per kwh)
cost of electricity $99.38 
cost of gas: $481.40
total savings: $382.02

2 minor issues that were easily resolved.
under 3 hours extra travel time over driving an ICE car.
met dozens of people asking to see the car or asking about Teslas/EV's in general
never stopping to buy gas- priceless!

Pit stop outside of Boston/destination #4, outside of NYC

So, I apparently did my route planning with the "no toll roads" option checked. ROFL I was WAY ahead of schedule today and made it all the way to Boston by 8pm, instead of back to the beach like I originally thought would be the case. The good news is I only had a 3-4 hour drive today, the bad news is, there wasn't really a place to stop and charge overnight here while sleeping in the car. At least not one I feel safe sleeping at. I couldn't find a hotel with all three necessities (pool/hot tub/car charger) so I settled for one that had the first 2 and was near a supercharger- stayed at the Residence Inn in Framingham Mass. Hard bed but fabulous rooms.  After I left there I drove another 3ish hours to my next stop and will be here for a few days, so probably no more updates until after the holiday. Stay safe and have fun everyone!

I got stopped quite a few times at the Kennebunk Maine supercharger (on my way to Boston) by Tesla owners who haven't seen the 3 yet and non-Tesla owners asking general EV questions. Elon where's my commission? ROFL (actually I do have a referral code if anyone is thinking about getting an S or X) Seriously though, I love this car so I don't mind getting stopped. I smile and wave for the cell phone cameras and looky-loos on the road, and try chat it up with the strangers at the charge stops because I enjoy sharing it with others and helping to further the EV movement.


New stats after this mornings supercharge:
miles driven: 2985.2
kwh used: 723 (that is still 4.1 miles per kwh)
cost of electricity $63.74 (NY and Maine are expensive states to charge in)
cost of gas: $360.22
total savings: $296.48
time added for charging: still about 2.5 hours, due to eating/bathroom breaks at chargers & overnight charging

No superchargers? No problem!

I spent 3 days in Moncton, New Brunswick Canada with an old friend and his family/local friends. It was also Canada Day (bonus) so we also got to see fireworks. I stayed at the Delta Beausejour, right on main street with a view of the "chocolate river." The fireworks were right over the river, which we watched from the indoor pool area (pool, hot tub, water slide- adults could use it too!).

Ok, now for what you are waiting for- can you make it without superchargers? The answer is yes! The hotel had a J1772 charger about 10-20 steps from the front door, so I plugged into that every night and it was just like plugging in at home (except it was free). I woke up every morning ready to go with a 90% charge (the limit I set).  We did some chilling at the pool, some local walking around, and some daily commute type driving plus some extra touristy driving one day, I had no problems with range lasting all day and there were a bunch of J1772 stations all over to get a boost from should I have needed it. These are located at convenient places like restaurants, grocery stores, malls, etc. I used one on the way back across the border as insurance getting back to the first supercharger in Maine and had zero issues getting it working. I stopped into the 5 Kings restaurant in St Stephens, plugged in, and let it charge for an hour while I read my book & had lunch. When I left the restaurant I had added about 30 miles to the car, just enough to give me the extra cushion I wanted. I could have made it with 7% left, but as you know I don't like cutting it that close on electricity. My dad is probably doing a happy dance, he bugged me all the time about being low on gas (I did once run out of gas a block away from the gas station though). The difference I guess is that I know there are not as many places to "fill up" on electricity so I am more mindful of it. Not range anxiety, just fuel aware. I have found that the car does really well at keeping up with how much real range you have left.

Time for bed now; I will catch up on the stats next time. Here is a pic of me and Nik in Ponte-du-Chene off the Northumberland Straight  :-)

Destination #3, New Brunswick Canada

After heading out from Old Orchard Beach, Maine, I stopped at the Brewer supercharger near Bangor for a "safety net" boost. My in car navigation said I could make it to my destination for the day without charging, but I was going to be driving through the mountains, so I wanted to be sure I had a cushion just in case. Plus it was again storming throughout most of the drive. The car performed great in the bad weather, and did fabulous on the mountain roads though, I am super impressed with the autopilot capabilities, this system has made the drive so much easier! I love the smooth quiet ride of the car, the instant power when I press the accelerator, and the ability to pass up expensive gas stations and giggle as I go by. :-)

I arrived at my destination with 25% battery left and it had predicted I would get there with 30% when I left Brewer. Overall not bad considering road conditions, wind, heavy rain, and mountains, plus the fact I had to again have on either the heater or the seat heaters almost the whole way, along with both window defrosters. I also got stopped and searched at the Canadian border so the car sat idling for about 30 minutes while border patrol went through every bag and storage compartment in the car.  Apparently a single female driving across the border alone with no visible luggage sends up red flags (FYI this happens at airports as well). LOL They were surprised when I unlocked the car for them from my phone, and totally impressed at the interior and storage. They figured out the touch screen right away to open the trunk and frunk, checked out the car and my bags, asked a bunch of questions (about the trip AND the car) and let me go. I told them they could have just asked to see the car and I would have showed them around it and they laughed. Shout out to the Canadian border patrol officers with a good sense of humor.

My destination for the day was the Ganong Nature Park, just across the boarder near St Stephens, New Brunswick, Canada. I had arranged with the caretakers to have the gate left open for me so I could plug into their new Tesla destination chargers (they recently installed 2) and sleep in the car while I charged up overnight. It was still raining when I arrived but it was earlier than planned (I took off early due to the weather) so I checked the building for security cameras (under my umbrella), changed into comfy pj's, set up my bed, and made a few phone calls before settling in with a movie and falling asleep. While I was watching the movie I had a couple visitors, one set was a couple of deer checking me out, the other was some type of large cat (I THINK it may have been a bobcat? not sure). I woke up the next morning and one of the employees had already arrived and unlocked the bathroom so I went in to use it and change clothes. When I got out the others had arrived so I thanked them again and let one drive the car around the lot.  Shout out to Shelley & the guys!

 

From there I continued on to Moncton, NB, Canada for a few days of hanging out with a friend there. As of my arrival in Moncton, my updated numbers for the trip are:

miles driven: 2106
kwh used: 513 (that is 4.1 miles per kwh)
cost of electricity $38.19
cost of gas: $252.62
total savings: $214.43
time added for charging: less than 2.5 hours (overnight charging are places I would have stayed the night anyway)

I will talk about driving around Canada without superchargers in the next post in a few days, for now here are some pics of the Ganong nature park and some landscape from the drive up Maine:

 

Destination #2 Old Orchard Beach, Maine

I had a great time seeing everyone in the Buffalo area, love you Grace, Tom, Gordon, Dan and Traci! Shout out to Chris and Red, it was nice to meet you and I now have a new show I need to watch. LOL

The drive from Buffalo to Old Orchard Beach Maine was a great one, I stopped once in Syracuse, NY (think it was actually Lockport) and once in Lee, Mass. The Lockport charger was just off the highway at the Holiday Inn. The convention Center doors were unlocked so I was able to use the restroom, then I read a little bit of my book while I waited for the car to charge. Overall I was there for about 30 minutes.  I was the only car using the charge stop so I got full juice from the station. The entrance back onto the highway was right there at the stoplight to leave the parking lot, so this was a very easy stop to make. Actually easier than it would have been to go to a gas station up the road.

The charger at Lee, Mass has one nose-in spot which was great, I LOVE those spots! It was at a grocery store so I was able to grab some lunch and eat while I charged. I also took a short nap here b/c it was going to be a long session, about 50 minutes. I did have a friend when I woke up from my nap, a model S was parked a few spots away.  I had some friends at the Buffalo charger as well, there were three of us there so I thought two had to share the charge regardless. I was thankfully wrong about how the charge sharing worked though so we were all good. :-)

The weather was great and I made really good time on this part of the trip until I got to Boston. Traffic in Boston was atrocious. I was doing 17 mph in a 55 mph zone, and that was my top speed. It was mostly start & stop for an hour going around the city. On the plus side, this was the least stressful rush hour traffic/massive traffic jam I have ever been in thanks to Nik doing all the driving for me. Yay for autopilot! It did an excellent job of maintaining not only my position in traffic, but also my sanity. LOL It was really nice to not have to worry about gas/brake/gas/brake constantly and it handled it like a champ when people cut in between me and the car in front of me (I had my distance set at 7 seconds, I did actually end up making it 4 seconds for this part of the drive to keep the cut-ins from happening constantly).

I made it all the way to the house in Old Orchard Beach without having to charge again, despite being behind a car accident at one other point in addition to the Boston traffic delay. My friend (hey Shamus) met me in the driveway, helped unload the car, and got me plugged into his 10-30 wall outlet in the garage via an adapter. We dialed down the charge to 24 amps and let it go (if you don't manually dial it down you can start a fire since it is a non-tesla adapter b/c the car still thinks it is on a 14-50).  Charging this way was a bit slower than my home charger because of the lower power of the outlet, but we still charged up in about 8 hours, so overnight. I spent a couple of days of beach and games with my friend here in OOB (it really is a nice beach) and had a great relaxing time, all rested up to head out on the road again.  In the meantime, enjoy the beach!