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So I just did my first solo road trip with the AWD model 3 and can say it was the best road trip experience I’ve had.
The trip was 750 miles each way, google estimated time to be 11 hours and 15 minutes. The last time I made that trip in an ICE car was around 12 hours I believe because of the stops and having our dog. During that trip, we changed drivers a lot and were pretty tired after getting to our friend’s house.
The tesla website estimated the trip to take 15 hours, but when plugging it into the in car navigation, it estimated it to be 12.5 hours. abetterrouteplanner said the same.
The way there it took about 13 hours and 15 minutes because of lots of traffic. It was cold and rainy with passing a few accidents, including a flipped semi truck. Also had to detour through small roads to get there. Only had range anxiety once because it had me getting to the next supercharger with 4% battery left. With it being cold and rainy, I decided to be on the safer side and stop at another supercharging station the car wanted me to skip. Getting to my friend’s house I felt good and helped set up for the celebration party they were having.
On the way back, much nicer weather without accident traffic and I was able to skip the charger I stopped at on the way there with the overall trip taking the advertised 12.5 hours.
I have the basic autopilot and it worked really well. I’d estimate that about 80-90% of highway driving was done with the car on autopilot, even in the mild-moderate rain and wet roads. I’d just rest my hand on the wheel to provide slight torque to let it know I was paying attention or just play radio DJ as changing volume or song resets the autopilot nag. It handled most situations perfectly. The car doesn’t seem to like where lanes merge together or add on. Basically when one line disappears and now the line it sees is from the other lane merging on, it would center itself between the two lanes for a short period of time. Another thing the car doesn’t like is when cars drifts into your lane. The car tends to be overly cautious and brake/slow a fair amount as if the car is going to change into your lane (when most human drivers would just think the other car was drifting and not worry too much). It even handled construction zones with new/vague line markings.
Charging was easy as the car just told me what to do. Stop here, charge for 20-30 minutes and then get to the next stop about 2-3 hours later. The charge usually was around 15-80%. The charging stations had amenities (gas station, supermarket, fast food restaurants) nearby but required a short (100-200 ft) walk. At the charging stops, I usually got a snack/drink, used the restroom then came back to the car. There were a couple of times where I sat in the car for 5 minutes to wait for an extra little bit of charge before heading to the next charger.
I usually drive pretty conservatively on my morning commute and lifetime average usage was 212 wh/mi. the trip averaged around 270 wh/mi going 75-80 most of the way. I currently have free super charging miles so it was free, but estimated costs were $31 each way for using the superchargers.
Another thing I noticed was that I’ve gotten so used to the minimalist interior. I sat in my friend’s new lexus rx (I think the middle suv size) and was overwhelmed by all the buttons and knobs everywhere. also their in car navigation was awful like a tomtom from 15 years ago and half of the screen didn’t make any sense. I did notice how it seemed to have slightly less road noise and a more satisfying clunk when closing their door.
Overall, a very pleasant experience. The seats are comfortable so no real pain from sitting for a long time. Even when I had to readjust my seating position, the car was on autopilot and easier than trying to adjust while steering. As for arriving feeling refreshed, not sure if it was from the forced stops every 2-3 hours or the less mental energy used from autopilot. Half way through the trip I decided to check out car-aoke or the in car karaoke feature and it’s great. Something about singing a karaoke song while driving through the state is fun. Sweet home Alabama, Tennessee whiskey, take me home country roads, new York new York (I didn’t drive through NY but it’s still a great song), party in the usa while driving through the usa
Were you solo? Another adult? Kids?
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