CA to MA -- Day #1 of Cybertruck Cross-Country Delivery Trip Home

[2new2care]

It would also be informative to know approx. how much you spent in supercharging fees once you complete the trip.

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[Cold.Truth]

Elon specifically said it was NOT a strategic move and he's not sure whether this was beneficial to Tesla or not, he did it because it seemed like the "right" thing to do (in terms of the mission to accelerate the transition to electric).

No other automaker would have done this, if they were in the same shoes. I support it because this will force third party fast charge networks to improve and lower pricing, or die. And if they improve, then we will see Tesla owners charging there in significant numbers, just as some legacy autos will be charging at Superchargers. It will be better for all EV owners; potential congestion is still dependent upon the speed of new DCFC station buildouts overall.

My Performance Model 3, that has been my daily driver, and our primary road trip car for 6 years has Free Supercharging for Life and I've never had to wait (ever) to Supercharge. Even in my gas cars it was common to wait a couple of minutes for a pump to open up, sometimes as much as 10 minutes at the big stations that had the lowest prices (like Costco). So if I have to wait for another stall to open up because a Mach-e is blocking two stalls, so be it. It's not a big deal, I'm just glad it's one more car not adding to the layer of smog over the roadway.

Hi,
I agree with your points about opening the SC network up to non-Tesla will likely result in increasing competition, lowering prices, and improving quality over time.
I said “it might be/probably is” a strategic move for those very same reasons you rightly pointed out. I don’t know this. I’m guessing. But I think the smart money is on us.
While I never quoted Elon as saying it was “Strategic” in my post, I do think it is not only the right move, but the smart move, regardless of what he might post. But there might also be short-term growing pains. I’m simply setting my own expectations, even though I don’t use the SC network unless I am travelling, which is rare these days...for me. (ymmv)

As an aside, I too, had "free supercharging for life" on my 2013 P85+. Jinx! Notably, I did have to wait several times at SuperChargers in San Jose, Vacaville, and Roseville, over the four years of ownership before I traded it in for a 2017 Model 3. But it wasn’t a big deal for me. Now, to be fair, the SC network was smaller back then but there were fewer Teslas also, so I’m not really sure about the ratio comparison - hence my uncertainty about the immediate (not ultimate) future opportunities for improvement. I suspect that the number of EV cars and drivers will temporarily outpace the number of SC stations, especially with an influx of legacy manufacturer EVs using Tesla SC stations over the next few years. I might be wrong about that. It’s just a guess. And I also guess a homeostatic mechanism will kick in to find an equilibrium set by the (hopefully somewhat free) market forces over time.

As another aside, 95% of my charging needs in CA were met by home or the office charging, not the SC network, so I’m not concerned about SC crowding from a personal level. Even waiting for a SC station once in a blue moon won’t be a big deal for me when I’m on vacation. In CA, I had a 100AMP line with a seperate meter on Time-of-Use, and had a NEMA 14-50 installed at work). Originally, for the first month or two, while awaiting the parts for my home HPWC setup, I used 110v outlets (!) and it worked out just fine. (would have been dicey during the Oroville Dam spillway fracture, with mandatory evacuations. I had my HPWC by then and charged at 80amps (dual on-board chargers) so I was ready to flee while all my neighbors were lined up for (not kidding) FIVE HOURS trying to get gasoline - pay attention kiddies, this is a rare, and often ignored, win for EV over ICE that you won’t see in the useless MSM. But back to the SC - I only used SC for weekend trips to Tahoe, Chico, and the Bay Area. Today, here in NM, I did 100% of my charging at home via 40A HPWC, but typically trickled at only 5A to 50% state of charge since I work from home and 50% is all I needed to buzz around ABQ and SantaFe. But I sold my Model 3 last February to make space for my CT so now I have been driving an old, 1987 air-cooled flat six with stick shift and no power steering…and I love the intense engagement driving it demands of me on these curvy roads here! = very different from Tesla and I love both experiences they render.

Apologies for the long, rambling story. My fingers are crossed for delivery in a week or three. (12/26 order + 100 days = VIN assignment in my case). Happy to share pics or try to answer questions, although few might remain at this point.

 

[scohen2002]

You make it to Chicago? Reddit has a CA temp tag in Chicago

 

[cgladue]

no, wasnt me, today was a bad day unfortunately, they closed the entire interstate (i guess its somewhat common, wyoming people) and i was forced to end the day early :'(

Wyoming was the first state people actually didnt know what cybertruck was and came up and asked to see it.

Wind was 40mph+ on highway apparently tractors were flipping over and shutting down the highway.

 

[scohen2002]

no, wasnt me, today was a bad day unfortunately, they closed the entire interstate (i guess its somewhat common, wyoming people) and i was forced to end the day early :'(

Wyoming was the first state people actually didnt know what cybertruck was and came up and asked to see it.

Wind was 40mph+ on highway apparently tractors were flipping over and shutting down the highway.

Safe travels!

 

[RonGonRetired]

One thing that sort of annoys me is the fact that non-Teslas sometimes have to take up two spots to charge due to what you pointed out; the charge port being diagonal from the pedestal/connector. “Supercharging etiquette” is dubious/rare now with all the BEV n00bs driving Teslas and non-teslas. 10 years ago, you could pretty much count on everyone parking every other stall to maximize amperage/flow, etc. Today? Many BEV drivers are clueless. I’m not sure how this will unfold…and I have no direct experience super-charging over the last 12 months (I’ve been 100% home charging the past couple years since my CA-to-NM road trip, and have now sold my 2017 Tesla Model 3 to make room for CT). Time will tell. And it might (probably is) a savvy operational/strategic move by Tesla, regardless.

Interesting thing happened the last 2 times I came through Hawthorne Nevada,

One thing that sort of annoys me is the fact that non-Teslas sometimes have to take up two spots to charge due to what you pointed out; the charge port being diagonal from the pedestal/connector. “Supercharging etiquette” is dubious/rare now with all the BEV n00bs driving Teslas and non-teslas. 10 years ago, you could pretty much count on everyone parking every other stall to maximize amperage/flow, etc. Today? Many BEV drivers are clueless. I’m not sure how this will unfold…and I have no direct experience super-charging over the last 12 months (I’ve been 100% home charging the past couple years since my CA-to-NM road trip, and have now sold my 2017 Tesla Model 3 to make room for CT). Time will tell. And it might (probably is) a savvy operational/strategic move by Tesla, regardless.

interesting thing happened the last 2 times coming through Hawthorne Nevada, 8 v2 chargers but old pull in style (which would be great for pulling a trailer ). Model 3’s with Ca. Plates had backed in to charge effectively blocking the charger they had backed into and using the charger to their right . Not sure if they were ignorant to the pull in chargers or selectively blocking anyone wanting to share load the adjacent charger. That wasn’t an issue either time there was only 3 of us there. Anyone else experience this phenomenon or was it just weird coincidence?

 

[Mini2nut]

Enjoy the trip and safe travels.

Residents in the middle of the country must flip out when they see a Cybertruck on public roads. This is full size American truck country.

 

[scottf200]

Can you please show this screen for that day? You can just click on "Charges"

Blur out the personal info as you see fit if there are more than just the public Superchargers.

TeslaFI - My 2017 TMX examle from last Fall below:

 

[mbrockus]

It’s gonna be a great trip. I’m sure you’re gonna get your picture taken a thousand times. Safe Travels!

 

[Woodrick]

I am following the navigation suggestions. But yea I usually arrive in the teens

You can dramatically speed up your travels by arriving in the single digits and then only charging to about 50%.
It ends up being 2 15 minute stops instead of a 60 min stop.

 

[cgladue]

You can dramatically speed up your travels by arriving in the single digits and then only charging to about 50%.
It ends up being 2 15 minute stops instead of a 60 min stop.

Yea I was getting. Feel for the trip planner before I started overriding it's recommendation. I know how what I can get away with in my S and 3. But not sure with CT yet. I am getting more daring pushing charging off several points now.

 

[2new2care]

Yea I was getting. Feel for the trip planner before I started overriding it's recommendation. I know how what I can get away with in my S and 3. But not sure with CT yet. I am getting more daring pushing charging off several points now.

What is your goal location for the night?

 

[Woodrick]

Yea I was getting. Feel for the trip planner before I started overriding it's recommendation. I know how what I can get away with in my S and 3. But not sure with CT yet. I am getting more daring pushing charging off several points now.

I haven't taken any longer trips in the last few months, but I know that at the end of last year, the planner was hallucinating. It was giving nonsensical recommendations. Things like charging to 100%, even though you were about to pass 4 Superchargers. This was a part of the "Smart Planner" that looked at how busy Superchargers were.

But it has always been conservative.

I use it to make sure the route is doable. But then switch to seeing which Supercharger is the furthest I can go. Then charge to about 50% (in about 15 minutes) and head off for the next segment.

But yep, it's new numbers to learn.

 

[2new2care]

It's been 24 hours with no update, should we start worrying?

 

[scottf200]

I am following the navigation suggestions. But yea I usually arrive in the teens

Are you getting 250kw up to 50% yet or is it still dropping way down once you hit 30%?

Can you please show this screen for that day? You can just click on "Charges"

Blur out the personal info as you see fit if there are more than just the public Superchargers.

TeslaFI - My 2017 TMX examle from last Fall below:

In TeslaFI you can click on the supercharger icon (surrounded by green plug wire) to get the charging details for that charge. There is a graph but it is time based on the X axis. This is simple to generate our own since you can download a CSV file.

Aside: v2 Supercharging may be one of a handful of reason I'd get a CT over the Ford T3 or Chevy RST EV ... there are a lot of them still out there and in places I travel. I have a GIF showing the places of v2 vs v3.

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