I just finished a 1,300 mile road trip in my Tesla Model Y from New York to southern Florida and one observation really stands out. Tesla has changed the way you charge for a trip. In the past you would set the charge amount and the Tesla Navigation would point you to one of their supercharges. This approach worked well. Traditional Tesla Approach
My mistake was charging at each stop to 100%. If I charged to 80%, I could shave about an hour off of the travel time. Why?
Because, it takes almost as long to go from 80% to 100% as it does from 0% to 80%. As you calculate the math, you figure that you can stop more frequently and sill save time by charging to 80%. I can share the math if you would.
Tesla’s New Approach
When I loaded in my destination into the Tesla Navigation, I noticed that the charging stops were significantly short times. Most of the charging times were between 5 and 15 minutes. It seems that Tesla was to cut down the charging to bring its charging times in line with filling up a car with gas. It turns out that I stopped only 1 additional time. My charge at each stop did not reach 80% let alone 100% but it was enough to make it to the next charging destination. It was great that it cut down on the time at each charging station. I did feel pressured when I went to the bathroom to be back in time when the charge was finished. I know this is a little crazy because there was not downside to letting it charge up some more. But I am a little crazy.
The end result was a faster turnaround at each charging stop. No longer did I feel annoyed waiting for 30 to 40 minutes to complete a charge. As I get older, I welcome the frequent bathroom stops so I did not feel that I was losing any real amount of time.
I feel that this was a positive development by Tesla!!