Maximum speed driving cross country

[mongo]

The Tesla navigation app does allow you to set an arrival energy. Check the Owner's Manual.

That setting is only for the final destination.
Charge stops have max 10% arrival energy.

Sponsored

 

[Hazard One]

That setting is only for the final destination.
Charge stops have max 10% arrival energy.

Max or min of 10%?

 

[Outdoors]

That setting is only for the final destination.
Charge stops have max 10% arrival energy.

Yet for most they can just select an at risk destination as the endpoint. Saying. I want to arrive here at X%. Then carry on. Most will use something like this on a cross country jaunt at least once or twice.

Yet most don't travel cross country. So many wouldn't use something like this in this fashion, yet it is useful. I think having an endpoint on the other side of the country that keeps reloading as kind of annoying, and often filled with glitches. I need to know when to make a left or a right pulling out of a SC. Reloading 64 chargers and directions is slow.

 

[mongo]

Max or min of 10%?

Max, if the leg is long you can end up lower than 10%. I have a route that the truck sets up at -4% (speed limit) with an under 72 speed requirement.
First charge stop may be >10% depending on inital charge and distance.

 

[Beetlebug62]

Very cool chart! Questions: what is the lower blue line,, is there a Cybertruck V3 line?

So, if you look at the gray dots, I took the raw data from Teslalogger.de. He collected all the supercharger data and that blue line is his best-fit line for V2 supercharging.

I know, I know, it's weird. It shouldn't go above 150kW. Obviously, some mixed up data when calculating the V2 average.

So, I made this chart for my 2018 Model 3. And, so I drew my V2 and V3 charge tapers on the chart, the red lines.

Then, when I got my Cybertruck, I added my few datapoints, blue stars, to my chart, and it occurred to me that the charge taper was the same as my Model 3, after hitting 30% SOC. So, if you want to know what a V3 Cybertruck charge taper looks like, it should look like that red V3 line. I know, confusing, but it makes sense to me!

 

[Hazard One]

Distinguished owners and followers of the Best Truck on the Market,

Greetings,


I'm a Tesla newbie by most standards, bought a 2024 MY for my wife 18 months ago and a 2025 CT for me a few months ago. Love these vehicles! Spent 25 years in the USAF as a pilot, now make my living working for a think tank part time. Translated, means I'm a warrior nerd if ever was such a thing. Anyhow, I did some analysis on the question of what is the optimum speed to drive a CT if minimizing total transit time is the goal on a cross country. In other words, how fast to drive if the intent is to get "there" as soon as possible. With gas powered cars the answer is: as fast as the vehicle goes! since the "fill up" time is so short. But with EV's the equation is more complex because of the non-linear recharge time. Punchline for the CT: using 250 kW Superchargers, 75 mph is the best cruise speed assuming 5 minutes from highway exit to "on charge." If using less cable chargers, say 125 kW, the optimum speed to drive on the highway lowers to 68 mph.

Jeff

I've refined the model a lot with help from many of you and a lot of research. My original stab was off by a fair amount owing to a bad watt-hr/mile estimate.

Here's my punchline for those who want to skip the details:

I contend there is a speed for Teslas (and all EVs) at which going faster will cause you to arrive later than if you had slowed down. This speed is fast at sea level (95 mph in a CT, 110 mph in a M3) and increases as air density goes down. I general, this exceeds the speed limit by a wide margin, so it’s safe to say for practical purposes if you want to get there sooner push the tron pedal down and be ready for a speeding ticket! However, when towing or on stretches with long gaps between superchargers or stretches with low powered charging (less than 250 kW), the best speed slows into the “normal” range at/near/below the posted speed limit.

For those who like, the details are here:

 

[mongo]

I've refined the model a lot with help from many of you and a lot of research. My original stab was off by a fair amount owing to a bad watt-hr/mile estimate.

Here's my punchline for those who want to skip the details:

I contend there is a speed for Teslas (and all EVs) at which going faster will cause you to arrive later than if you had slowed down. This speed is fast at sea level (95 mph in a CT, 110 mph in a M3) and increases as air density goes down. I general, this exceeds the speed limit by a wide margin, so it’s safe to say for practical purposes if you want to get there sooner push the tron pedal down and be ready for a speeding ticket! However, when towing or on stretches with long gaps between superchargers or stretches with low powered charging (less than 250 kW), the best speed slows into the “normal” range at/near/below the posted speed limit.

For those who like, the details are here:

Nice! You can also find the dyno calibrations for constant, linear, and quadratic loading on the EPA filings.
AWD

Beast

400W for vehicle load may be optimistic, 200 pounds total payload definitely is if I'm driving

 

[Hazard One]

Nice! You can also find the dyno calibrations for constant, linear, and quadratic loading on the EPA filings.
AWD

Beast

400W for vehicle load may be optimistic, 200 pounds total payload definitely is if I'm driving

excellent find!

 

[mongo]

excellent find!

The other models have much more useful data if you want to see highway style driving efficiency.

 

[HaulingAss]

I've refined the model a lot with help from many of you and a lot of research. My original stab was off by a fair amount owing to a bad watt-hr/mile estimate.

Here's my punchline for those who want to skip the details:

I contend there is a speed for Teslas (and all EVs) at which going faster will cause you to arrive later than if you had slowed down.

Full stop! There is no one speed that is the fastest for any vehicle because it depends so much on the speed and number of the chargers enroute, amongst other factors.

As I originally pointed out early in this discussion, the fastest speed on routes well-covered with Superchargers, in a Dual Motor Cybertruck, is it's speed limited 112 mph. But there is a point of diminishing returns and not a lot of point in driving faster than the flow of the fastest lane. But on a wide open road with plenty of 250 kW or better Superchargers, the fastest speed is pedal to the metal, highly illegal, immediate jail territory, in states like Oregon and many others.

Not advised. Just drive normally at whatever speed you would normally drive in an ICE vehicle.

 

[CyberGus]

I contend there is a speed for Teslas (and all EVs) at which going faster will cause you to arrive later than if you had slowed down. This speed is fast at sea level (95 mph in a CT, 110 mph in a M3) and increases as air density goes down.

Conversely, there is a speed for maximum efficiency. If the planner says you will arrive at the charger with -4% SoC, then drive 45 MPH in the right lane with your hazards on and ignore all the honking

 

[mongo]

Conversely, there is a speed for maximum efficiency. If the planner says you will arrive at the charger with -4% SoC, then drive 45 MPH in the right lane with your hazards on and ignore all the honking

I can get planner to tell me I'll arrive at Supercharger with -4%, but if I stay under 72 (limit is 75 for a section), I'll get to the destination just before the charger with 10%.

 

[CyberGus]

I can get planner to tell me I'll arrive at Supercharger with -4%, but if I stay under 72 (limit is 75 for a section), I'll get to the destination just before the charger with 10%.

YMMV

literally

 

[Hazard One]

Full stop! There is no one speed that is the fastest for any vehicle because it depends so much on the speed and number of the chargers enroute, amongst other factors.

As I originally pointed out early in this discussion, the fastest speed on routes well-covered with Superchargers, in a Dual Motor Cybertruck, is it's speed limited 112 mph. But there is a point of diminishing returns and not a lot of point in driving faster than the flow of the fastest lane. But on a wide open road with plenty of 250 kW or better Superchargers, the fastest speed is pedal to the metal, highly illegal, immediate jail territory, in states like Oregon and many others.

Not advised. Just drive normally at whatever speed you would normally drive in an ICE vehicle.

Your firm stance on "peddle to the metal" and your earlier post referencing the cannonball run got me thinking. So, here's what I found:

Porsche record Cannonball did not run wide open

https://www.thedrive.com/news/38578...esla-for-the-fastest-ev-cannonball-run-record
Key text from the article:
“Remember that EVs are more efficient at lower speeds. In fact, the average speed of the run was right around 64 MPH, though that accounts for charging time as well, so it may have been a little bit higher. That’s not to say that they didn’t push the car either. Kyle told me that his team did use speed to their advantage, but not necessarily aimed at getting from A-to-B faster. It was also used to precondition the battery when approaching a charging station since the software problems with the car prevented it from automatically taking place. At their height, they hit around 160 MPH, which is incredibly close to the Taycan’s top speed.”


Tesla Model S Cannonball record also did not run wide open and used a charging strategy of arrive at 10% leave at 50% (in general)

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a38095522/ev-cannonball-record-tesla-model-s/
Key text to that article:
“But the sustained speeds weren't quite as high, as there's still a benefit to driving slightly more efficiency”

Reading about each of these record runs, they used super high speed sprints nearing certain charging situations to pre-condition the battery faster, but in cruised slower than that in general.

Finally, here's an academic research paper on the same subject, published on the IEEE site titled, “The Nature and Strategy of Minimizing the Total Travel Time for Long-Distance Driving of an EV” available (with subscription) at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10431811 (warning- the site will go down for maintenance today (23 Sep 2025) from 1PM to 5PM Eastern). I can't post this in a public forum as it's licensed and would be unethical. But, it says the same: minimizing total transit time in an EV is a balance between speed and charge time and optimum speed is slower than max speed.

 

[HaulingAss]

Your firm stance on "peddle to the metal" and your earlier post referencing the cannonball run got me thinking. So, here's what I found:

Porsche record Cannonball did not run wide open

https://www.thedrive.com/news/38578...esla-for-the-fastest-ev-cannonball-run-record
Key text from the article:
“Remember that EVs are more efficient at lower speeds. In fact, the average speed of the run was right around 64 MPH, though that accounts for charging time as well, so it may have been a little bit higher. That’s not to say that they didn’t push the car either. Kyle told me that his team did use speed to their advantage, but not necessarily aimed at getting from A-to-B faster. It was also used to precondition the battery when approaching a charging station since the software problems with the car prevented it from automatically taking place. At their height, they hit around 160 MPH, which is incredibly close to the Taycan’s top speed.”


Tesla Model S Cannonball record also did not run wide open and used a charging strategy of arrive at 10% leave at 50% (in general)

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a38095522/ev-cannonball-record-tesla-model-s/
Key text to that article:
“But the sustained speeds weren't quite as high, as there's still a benefit to driving slightly more efficiency”

Reading about each of these record runs, they used super high speed sprints nearing certain charging situations to pre-condition the battery faster, but in cruised slower than that in general.

Finally, here's an academic research paper on the same subject, published on the IEEE site titled, “The Nature and Strategy of Minimizing the Total Travel Time for Long-Distance Driving of an EV” available (with subscription) at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10431811 (warning- the site will go down for maintenance today (23 Sep 2025) from 1PM to 5PM Eastern). I can't post this in a public forum as it's licensed and would be unethical. But, it says the same: minimizing total transit time in an EV is a balance between speed and charge time and optimum speed is slower than max speed.

Yes, all those accounts generally support what I was saying, even though they were using different vehicles, with different charging abilities. The Cannonball Run involves human factors as much as charging. It is not practical to think one could remain at 160 mph for long, or that speeds much over 130 mph would be safe at all. And because the time savings decrease to nearly insignificant at very high speeds, they are used sparingly, only when they make sense.

The vehicle my comments applied to were a Dual Motor Cybertruck. My answer was pointing out the fallacy of determining any particular speed that was fastest overall, taking into account charging time. That speed is generally as fast as the Cybertruck will go but this is an impractical and illegal speed (and there is no one "quickest" speed since it depends so much on the charging infrastructure available). The original question had the false assumption embedded in it that the fastest speed would would be a practical speed, perhaps somewhere around 85-90 mph. That is not the case if there is typical charging infrastructure in place.

In other words, it's a useless question with no real answer.

Sponsored