What I Realized On My “Tesla Cannonball” From Tampa To Seattle

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Within the article, I describe what I realized about Tesla Supercharging, Tesla Autopilot & Full Self Driving, fuel station meals, the healthcare system within the US, and my preliminary impressions of Seattle. A couple of months in the past, my son determined to maneuver from Florida (the place he has lived his complete life) to Seattle. I discussed that’s about as distant from Florida as you may get within the continental US, and he replied “that’s sort of the purpose.” I don’t know if he’ll like Seattle (extra about that later), however I believe it’s good to go away the realm you grew up in, as a result of it helps you mature and higher perceive completely different regional views. I moved from Minnesota to Florida at the same age 30 years in the past and it is a crucial a part of my life expertise.

I’m utilizing the time period “cannonball” in a common sense to explain a protracted journey throughout the nation. We didn’t drive 24 hours a day like in an actual “cannonball” run; we stopped to sleep at motels/motels. The automobile was crammed with my son’s belongings. In any other case, we might have simply slept within the again as I described in this text. Though, a Mannequin 3 is way much less comfy to sleep in (particularly for 2 individuals) than the bigger Mannequin Y.

Autopilot & Full Self Driving

My son drove on Tesla Full Self Driving (FSD), whereas my profile was set to make use of Navigate on Autopilot (NOA). I discovered I want Navigate on Autopilot for driving on interstates as a result of it doesn’t change lanes with out warning (which occurs with FSD even in case you have it set to “minimal lane modifications”). I believe it additionally may nag you much less, however I’m unsure about that.

I admire all of the truck drivers who carry me all my meals and different items, however they do clog up the interstates, and I discovered that about 2% of the time they’d confuse NOA/FSD into slowing down from 80 mph to 50 mph (known as “phantom braking”). It’d even brake extra extraordinarily than that, however I don’t let it proceed as a result of going slower than 50 mph on the interstate is kind of harmful.

5 months since my final article on this, FSD has made little progress, vindicating my prediction that FSD is years away from working as a degree 5 driver. I do know — now the optimists all suppose V12 will clear up all the issues that 5+ years of improvement have been unable to resolve. I believe that’s potential, however over 30 years of software program improvement expertise tells me a radical rewrite of software program regresses in operate 99% of the time and often take years to get to the extent of operate because the earlier structure. The optimists inform me my 30 years of expertise imply nothing as a result of synthetic intelligence (AI) works in another way, and they’re partially right. It does work in another way. I’ve been very impressed with the gorgeous progress with each giant language fashions (LLM) and film and video era in a really quick time period. In fact, I’m impressed with the flexibility of computer systems to play chess and Go. However I haven’t been impressed with the progress of FSD. I preserve an open thoughts and definitely hope that FSD begins to progress on the excessive price of velocity LLMs have been progressing at, however we received’t know till extra individuals get V12 and see the way it advances.

Having stated all of that, NOA/FSD was nice for this journey (in comparison with cruise management), and it meant I might drive longer distances with much less fatigue. I actually refuse to drive greater than 50 miles now with out some sort of Autopilot or lane centering and site visitors conscious cruise management (TACC). It’s simply too tiring for me (possibly I’m simply getting outdated, lazy, and spoiled).

Supercharging

A lot has been written about how dependable Tesla Superchargers are in comparison with different quick chargers, together with this nice current article by my good friend Steve Hanley. The chargers have been 100% dependable in my expertise, and I used to be shocked what number of had been upgraded from 150 kW (Gen 2) to 250 kW (Gen 3). I travelled in early December (which isn’t round any massive holidays within the US), so the chargers have been by no means greater than 50% used.  This considerably reduces charging time for those who arrive on the charger with a low state of cost (beneath 30% or so), possibly saving you 10 or quarter-hour.

We determined we have been going for velocity greater than effectivity, so we tried to go about 75 or 80 mph throughout many of the journey (slowing down primarily based on velocity limits and climate, after all). I’ve been driving electrical for 12 years (largely round Tampa), so I knew that regardless that my son’s 5-year-old Tesla has had very low battery degradation (can usually rise up to 295 miles of vary), going this quick it wouldn’t get anyplace close to 295 miles per cost. As well as, I knew that it wasn’t time environment friendly to cost the automobile larger than 80% (~235 miles), because the charging price is then dramatically slower. I additionally knew that we didn’t need to get beneath 5% (15 miles), since we is perhaps stranded if we made a mistaken flip in an unfamiliar space. So, doing that match, we had 235 miles minus 15 miles or 220 miles of vary to make use of on every 20-minute cost (we want to cost 5% to 80% at a 250 kW charger).

We discovered that with 220 miles of vary, we might might go about 150 miles safely, which is about 2 hours of driving. Even with Tesla’s glorious driver help, that’s about so long as I need to drive with no quick break. So, all is sweet? Not precisely.

Throughout the drive within the western United States, the chargers have been much less widespread and regularly 50 or 80 miles aside. Now, you might suppose that’s tremendous —I’ve 295 miles of vary, why do I care that the chargers are spaced out a bit? All of it grew to become apparent on a stretch of street in rural Kansas and jap Colorado. With temperatures of about 30 levels Fahrenheit, or minus 1 diploma Celsius (so, the battery utilizing some energy to maintain heat and precondition for sooner charging, plus some energy to maintain us heat), a 20 mph headwind, and gaining important elevation, I observed the automobile had about 165 miles of vary but didn’t count on I might make it to a Supercharger solely 115 miles away. So, I discovered when the chargers are spaced out (like they’re in components of rural America), I discovered we needed to cost to 90% or 100%, which meant we might cost an hour to drive 90 minutes, a a lot completely different state of affairs to charging 20 minutes to drive 2 hours! I count on Tesla will proceed to roll out chargers at an extremely quick tempo, particularly now that the corporate is anticipating far more use since everybody however Stellantis has adopted the NACS customary plug.

I refuse to even think about using a non-Tesla quick charger, because the reliability is understood to be so low, however I’ll give them an opportunity if I hear issues have improved. It additionally doesn’t harm that I get free Supercharging from referral credit (thanks, CleanTechnica readers, for utilizing my referral code).

Whereas in Denver, I took a detour into the emergency division when my grandson bought a nasty case of the flu and bought very dehydrated. The US healthcare system could also be a monetary mess, but it surely did an excellent job of getting him hydrated, so he was capable of get well.

I initially complained that this station was 4 miles off the interstate, but it surely was such an awesome cease (with nice meals choices, together with a Hawaiian restaurant) that it was properly well worth the small detour.

On the West Coast, we observed that many occasions the restrooms listed by the automobile’s software program as out there to be used have been both closed at evening or had an indication saying “for purchasers solely.” We discovered these indicators solely on the West Coast, the place homelessness is a big challenge. In the remainder of the nation, the place the chargers have been at fuel stations (together with the superb Buc-ee’s), this wasn’t a problem as a result of the fuel stations have been open 24 hours, often had clear bogs, and have been open to the general public.

We bought caught in some deep snow in Washington and found the traction of the rear-wheel-drive Mannequin 3 with all season tires (with a number of tread) wasn’t that nice. They wouldn’t allow us to cross the go with out chains (or 4-wheel drive), and I’m glad we didn’t attempt. The opposite drivers with chains stated it was a $500 tremendous for those who bought caught with out chains, they usually additionally stated it was laborious to make it even with chains. We bought a motel and the street was 100% clear within the morning because of the nice work carried out by the Washington Division of Transportation.

Seattle

After we bought to Seattle, I helped my son transfer into his condominium and spent a while exploring town. I beloved the meals and the general public transportation, however discovered the prices considerably larger than in Florida. Some shops have been nonetheless boarded up from the demonstrations/riots of 2020, they usually have a extreme homeless drawback within the metropolis. I really feel downtown Seattle has nice potential however must determine issues out or it dangers going the way in which of different as soon as nice cities like Detroit. I don’t know the answer, but it surely does have some important issues.

Conclusion

I went on this journey to bond with my son, and I came upon that his state of affairs together with his girlfriend in Florida is “difficult” and he actually doesn’t like the way in which the US makes use of the Electoral School to elect presidents. As well as, it confirmed my impressions of Tesla’s driver help know-how and I realized new insights into how you can take lengthy journeys in a Tesla. One final statement I’ll make is that though I might use the GPS to navigate to the Superchargers, I’d love if Tesla put up large indicators. This might each assist EV house owners discover the chargers and in addition assist individuals nonetheless driving fuel vehicles know that they exist.

Disclosure: I’m a shareholder in Tesla [TSLA], BYD [BYDDY], Nio [NIO], XPeng [XPEV], Hertz [HTZ], NextEra Vitality [NEP], and several other ARK ETFs. However I provide no funding recommendation of any kind right here. 

All pictures by Paul Fosse