# First road trip in our LR RWD Model 3



## DWalker (Apr 18, 2019)

So, we made our first long road trip with the Model 3. We went from McDonough, GA to Daytona Beach, FL (I know, it's not THAT long of a trip - 400ish miles), but I did want to share some of my experiences.

1. We stopped at the SuperCharger in Live Oak, FL at the Busy Bee. We were the ONLY Tesla there, though I did see a truck with a trailer blocking 3 or 4 stalls by parking across them. Very frustrating to see. The Busy Bee itself was great (extremely clean bathrooms!) and we bought lunch at the Burger King inside. If anything, the charging went so quick (500 mi/hr, 145kw) we really didn't have as much time as I thought we would. We arrived at the chargers with about 14% of our battery left and charged up to 90% (we departed McDonough with roughly 95% charge). Given the remaining miles we had to drive, I decided to reduce the charge limit to 90% instead of the full 100. The extra 30 miles of range didn't seem necessary at all. 

2. We arrived to the condo in Daytona Beach with about 34% battery left (right at 100 estimated miles). Since we won't be driving much this week, we decided to go to the Port Orange SuperCharger (one other model S was there) and fuel up. We also got the 500 mi/hr, 145kw charge. We ate at a Five Guys - and again - by the time we got back to the car, it was at 293 miles (90% charge). I don't think we were gone more than 20 minutes.

3. On both occasions, the cost to charge was right around $12 and some change. Our son drove a 2019 Honda Civic on this trip and he had to fill up once, which cost about $30 in gas. The Civic gets about 40mpg, so the Model 3 wasn't a HUGE savings against a really fuel efficient car, but it still comes out ahead.

4. Navigate on AutoPilot is worth it's weight in gold. We did have one incident where the interstate was blocked off and the road curved around the closed off portion. AP did not appear to be reading it properly, so I had to intervene. We had one other incident in Jacksonville where AP freaked out and couldn't handle an interstate transition. Overall, very positive experience, if not quite perfect. Just a reminder that the driver still needs to be alert and paying attention. FAR less stressful drive than I've ever experienced in the past. Not sure I can go back to a car without these features.

In total, the super charging experience was fantastic. In some ways, the v3 super charging may make it feel even more rushed. Having 25-30 mins to grab food, stretch and walk seemed the perfect amount of time. Not sure I want that squeezed down to 10-15 mins, though I'm sure I'll survive . 

If you have any questions, let me know.


----------



## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

Nice. I plan on doing my first road trip as well later this month. Going 800mi from a Chicago to Durham NC. I usually start the trip at 6pm to bypass traffic. Though I’m concerned about showing up to superchargers I’m the middle of the night and finding shops closed. Don’t really like the idea of sitting in the car for 30min in the dark in the middle of nowhere.


----------



## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

Congrats on the trip. We went to Cocoa Beach last weekend to see a SpaceX launch. Was thinking about coming back through JAX, but the fires suggested we go back through Orlando. It’s a piece of cake to make it all the way to Miami


----------



## skygraff (Jun 2, 2017)

Nice.

One thought on the fuel cost comparison: your son filled once for the trip but did he fuel up again at the destination? Perhaps a better comparison would be the round trip cost maybe even including the pre-trip fuel cost (if you charge at home, may have to estimate).

When I spent just over $300 for a 9600 mile trip (excluding the cost of rv parks/hotels where charging was included - not many - gas driver would’ve paid for stay but still bought fuel), it compares very favorably to roughly 3 times that for gas.

Have fun taking more trips no matter the savings!


----------



## DWalker (Apr 18, 2019)

skygraff said:


> Nice.
> 
> One thought on the fuel cost comparison: your son filled once for the trip but did he fuel up again at the destination? Perhaps a better comparison would be the round trip cost maybe even including the pre-trip fuel cost (if you charge at home, may have to estimate).
> 
> ...


Great point. The Civic had about a half a tank left after the fill-up while the second "fill-up" of the Model 3 had us at basically 100%. That said, the Civic is ridiculously fuel-efficient, so it's not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison.

I'm more than happy with the "fuel efficiency" of the Model 3. If it compares favorably with a Civic, that's nothing to balk at.


----------



## cabbie (Feb 17, 2019)

Nice trip DWalker! I just drove my first round trip from St. Louis area to Kansas City, Kansas and it was pleasure. Stopped in Columbia Mo to add some watts and saw several model S's and model 3's. Had to wait a few minutes at the Independence Mo supercharger. Apparently there was an issue, probably from recent storms, and there was a Tesla employee working to get all the chargers up and working (this was Thursday). I'd like to give a shout out to the Tesla employee (whose name I did not get) who was polite, pleasant and worked hard to get me plugged in and on my way. Very happy with my first experience. Started with 304 miles, stopped four times to add watts and only spent about $14 roundtrip and that included driving around KC. Love my car!


----------



## DWalker (Apr 18, 2019)

cabbie said:


> Nice trip DWalker! I just drove my first round trip from St. Louis area to Kansas City, Kansas and it was pleasure. Stopped in Columbia Mo to add some watts and saw several model S's and model 3's. Had to wait a few minutes at the Independence Mo supercharger. Apparently there was an issue, probably from recent storms, and there was a Tesla employee working to get all the chargers up and working (this was Thursday). I'd like to give a shout out to the Tesla employee (whose name I did not get) who was polite, pleasant and worked hard to get me plugged in and on my way. Very happy with my first experience. Started with 304 miles, stopped four times to add watts and only spent about $14 roundtrip and that included driving around KC. Love my car!


Love hearing these stories. One of my biggest fears when we considered going electric was how easy/hard it would be to charge for a long road trip. Honestly, I think it's a major hangup for a lot of people. Many of my friends cite it as their biggest reason for not buying (even more so than cost). It's silly when you consider how infrequently these types of trips are, but range anxiety is real.

Having done it now, I can easily say it was as easy as fueling up a car. You just change your habits slightly. We just combined our "gas stop" with our stretch/food/bathroom stop and it almost seems comical to think that it would be difficult now.


----------



## turnem (Apr 26, 2019)

Very cool! We are doing our first smallish road trip in July. We are heading to Asheville, NC from Charlotte, NC (about a 150 mile drive). The interesting part is that my wife has actually come to like the Tesla M3 so much that she actually asked if we could take my car instead of hers (Mercedes GLS 450)! I'm really curious to see how the family enjoys the trip. The kids (ages 6, 5, and 3) have ridden together in the M3 and loved it for a shorter trip (50 miles) but this will be their first experience actually going on vacation in it.

We should easily fit everything we need in the trunk and frunk. 

I'm personally very much looking forward to letting the M3 do most of the driving. It will likely be the most relaxing trip I've ever done (with three young kids in tow!).


----------



## cabbie (Feb 17, 2019)

turnem said:


> Very cool! We are doing our first smallish road trip in July. We are heading to Asheville, NC from Charlotte, NC (about a 150 mile drive). The interesting part is that my wife has actually come to like the Tesla M3 so much that she actually asked if we could take my car instead of hers (Mercedes GLS 450)! I'm really curious to see how the family enjoys the trip. The kids (ages 6, 5, and 3) have ridden together in the M3 and loved it for a shorter trip (50 miles) but this will be their first experience actually going on vacation in it.
> 
> We should easily fit everything we need in the trunk and frunk.
> 
> I'm personally very much looking forward to letting the M3 do most of the driving. It will likely be the most relaxing trip I've ever done (with three young kids in tow!).


If you will be stopping for watts I suggest checking out the area around the stop for food if you will be needing it. One of my stops had only a sandwich shop so we drove through a favorite fast food place that was close but not in walking distance then ate in the car while it charged.


----------



## littlD (Apr 17, 2016)

DWalker said:


> So, we made our first long road trip with the Model 3. We went from McDonough, GA to Daytona Beach, FL (I know, it's not THAT long of a trip - 400ish miles), but I did want to share some of my experiences.
> 
> 1. We stopped at the SuperCharger in Live Oak, FL at the Busy Bee. We were the ONLY Tesla there, though I did see a truck with a trailer blocking 3 or 4 stalls by parking across them. Very frustrating to see. The Busy Bee itself was great (extremely clean bathrooms!) and we bought lunch at the Burger King inside. If anything, the charging went so quick (500 mi/hr, 145kw) we really didn't have as much time as I thought we would. We arrived at the chargers with about 14% of our battery left and charged up to 90% (we departed McDonough with roughly 95% charge). Given the remaining miles we had to drive, I decided to reduce the charge limit to 90% instead of the full 100. The extra 30 miles of range didn't seem necessary at all.
> 
> ...


I love the Busy Bee in Live Oak, did they still have a squeegee over by the superchargers?

And we stopped in McDonough at the TRU by Hilton after starting our trip in Saint Peters, MO as they had several destination chargers. Worked out great.


----------



## DWalker (Apr 18, 2019)

littlD said:


> I love the Busy Bee in Live Oak, did they still have a squeegee over by the superchargers?
> 
> And we stopped in McDonough at the TRU by Hilton after starting our trip in Saint Peters, MO as they had several destination chargers. Worked out great.


I didn't see any squeegees but I wasn't even looking for them.

That Hilton is about 15 mins from where we live.


----------



## DWalker (Apr 18, 2019)

turnem said:


> Very cool! We are doing our first smallish road trip in July. We are heading to Asheville, NC from Charlotte, NC (about a 150 mile drive). The interesting part is that my wife has actually come to like the Tesla M3 so much that she actually asked if we could take my car instead of hers (Mercedes GLS 450)! I'm really curious to see how the family enjoys the trip. The kids (ages 6, 5, and 3) have ridden together in the M3 and loved it for a shorter trip (50 miles) but this will be their first experience actually going on vacation in it.
> 
> We should easily fit everything we need in the trunk and frunk.
> 
> I'm personally very much looking forward to letting the M3 do most of the driving. It will likely be the most relaxing trip I've ever done (with three young kids in tow!).


My wife and I sold our Honda Odyssey (our oldest of 3 boys is going to college now) and the transition to the M3 was a little rough at first for her. I don't drive much since I work at home, so she has spent far more time in the car than I have.

Now? She hates driving any of our other cars. She once hated the regenerative braking but loves it now. She loves the performance and the comfort. We have both agreed that we will never buy anything other than a Tesla again. I'm already eyeing the truck in a few years, whenever it comes out.


----------

