# Trip report: Huntsville to Beau Rivage casino



## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

Great time by all, scenario:

Huntsville to Birmingham, 107 mi - the hated gate for parking is gone. Superchargers worked great but extra Teslas slightly slowed charging Model 3. Coffee shop at hotel had pricy 'treats' but three shot espresso, $3.
Birmingham ($9.28) to Greenville, 133 mi - the Cracker Barrel service speed matched the charge rate of this often over subscribed 125-150 kW, 6 stall charging station. By the time I sat down for lunch, the car was fully charged to a SuperCharger limited 80% and I had to move it to avoid idle fees.
Greenville ($4.35 + $5.51, moved for speed) to Mobile, 129 mi - the Mobile Target store is open 8 AM to 9-10 PM with bathrooms and groceries. Needed a short charge to reach Beau Rivage.
Mobile ($2.32) to Beau Rivage, 60.2 mi - hotel has three stall, Tesla distribution EVSE. We fully charged car overnight.
Beau Rivage to Greenville, 185 mi - arrived with 7 mi estimated miles remaining. Just as I started eating Cracker Barrel lunch, charging stopped at 80% and I had to move car to avoid idle fees.
Greenville ($14.68) to Birmingham, 133 mi - Birmingham coffee shop and restrooms came to our relief. The hated gate is gone ... for now.
Birmingham ($11.89) to Huntsville, 106 mi - over charged, we arrived with 70 miles indicated.
We left with $1,000 'gambling money' and arrived home with ~$1,300. Stephanie learned basic craps (and loves it.) Unlike the slot machines, craps is a party as we are playing against the house, not each other.

Other than the over subscribed Greenville SuperCharger that twice stopped at 80%, everything was easy. No cards or calls to support. It was fast enough we often left early for each segment. Quite a contrast to our experience as recent as August with a 2014 BMW i3-REx and CCS-1, fast DC chargers.

Bob Wilson


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

bwilson4web said:


> Other than the over subscribed Greenville SuperCharger that twice stopped at 80%


While Tesla will lower the charging limit to 80% for locations with over 50% of stations in use, you are still able to override this to any value you want after it has been lowered.


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## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

garsh said:


> While Tesla will lower the charging limit to 80% for locations with over 50% of stations in use, you are still able to override this to any value you want after it has been lowered.


Thanks! I found: https://electrek.co/2019/05/27/tesla-override-new-charge-limitation-busy-superchargers/

When on a trip, I keep the charge limit at 100% and limit the charge by getting back on the road. I like to have at least a predicted 10% reserve to the next SuperCharger. If eating, I'll let it charge to 100% and move the car when full. So adjusting the charge limit up would not work after reaching 100% SOC. However, I do not know if adjusting it down and then back up would work ... nor know I needed to test it on this trip.

I move the car to avoid 'idle fees'. But on the return trip, the App had 'frozen' or communications update did not work. I did not know it had reached the SuperCharger station 80% limit until I restarted the App. I was charged $2.50 idle fee which I'll try to appeal.

Bob Wilson


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

bwilson4web said:


> Thanks! I found: https://electrek.co/2019/05/27/tesla-override-new-charge-limitation-busy-superchargers/
> 
> When on a trip, I keep the charge limit at 100% and limit the charge by getting back on the road. I like to have at least a predicted 10% reserve to the next SuperCharger. If eating, I'll let it charge to 100% and move the car when full. So adjusting the charge limit up would not work after reaching 100% SOC. However, I do not know if adjusting it down and then back up would work ... nor know I needed to test it on this trip.
> 
> ...


I wouldn't recommend setting the limit to 100% when on trips as a default, just set it if you need to. And if I'm not mistaken the Supercharger limit is different from the normal limit. If you have the normal limit set to 100%, I believe that when you plug it into a limited Supercharger, it will reset to 80%

Good luck on complaining about the idle limit. After all, the car told you how long it was going to take when you plugged in. And if you didn't look, you should ALWAYs look at the screen when you plug in, not to see how long it is going to take as much as is it charging at the speed that you need it to.

And if you are keeping a 10% buffer, well, you still have some significant range anxiety. It's not even fun if you don't see the yellow indicator. And I believe that it you were running from 5% to 95%, your charging would decrease in cost. Charging at a Supercharger to 100% is expensive.


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