My First Longish Road Trip in Cybertruck

[Houston079]

I'm usually an in-town driver but recently needed to drive about 3.5 hours away for a work trip. I had some extra time so I figured I'd take the Cybie and give this trip planning and supercharging a try. I had never used a supercharger before; just my wall charger at home. Here's a summary of how the trip went:

Route Planning

I was sure to charge to 100% the night before just to give myself some wiggle room. When I entered my destination the nav actually routed me to my destination with no supercharging stops and a remaining charge of 10%. Not ideal, but doable. So I manually added a supercharger stop mid way. Note the destination did have a supercharger location about 1.0 mile from my destination but not at the destination.

Supercharging

Blown away at how fast and cheap this was. I think I was charged up in 20 minutes and it cost me $19. Gave me plenty of time for a bathroom break and to grab a snack at the gas station. I also like how the CT goes into supercharger mode, providing updates to your iPhone and Apple watch and even offering games or a movie while you wait. The process is very user friendly. I really love that I am learning new things about my CT after owning it for a year and a half.

The Return and FSD Issues

FSD did great on the way down, but on drive back it really struggled. This was 100% weather related. Unfortunately my drive back was cursed by horrible weather. Blowing rain, thunderstorms, strange breaks in the rain that resulted in road spray and odd glare. If the cameras weren't obscured by rain they were obscured by mist or dirt. Texas roads have poor, often non-standard road markings. At one point I was distracted by the rain, disengaged FSD, and then missed my off ramp - nearly resulting in disaster because I thought I was committed on the wrong route with no way to detour and still have enough battery to reach my supercharger stop. In this case, the navigation re-routed me nicely on some rural roads. Disaster averted.

With the supercharger stop planned in the route, the battery began "pre-conditioning" about 10 miles out. I thought that was interesting. This time I was charging from about 15% to 90% because I wanted to be prepared for the weather and I am glad I did. The supercharging took a little longer but it was more juice this time. I am glad I added the extra charge because the weather did not let up and routing was an issue due to flooding. I did have a chance to drive through some high water on the road and really appreciated the adjustable height.

FSD did two stupid things on this drive - on the good weather day: It camped the left (passing) lane too much and then it inexplicably merged into the right lane between an 18-wheeler and a car going much slower. As a result, we slammed on the brakes in front of the 18-wheeler causing it to swerve to my left and pass me horn blaring. I don't blame the driver at all. That was a shitty and unexplaned maneuver.

Conclusion

I was a little nervous to take the CT out on a long trip but it turns out it's a dream. Much better than the same trip in my gas powered Lexus. FSD, when it works, is a great tool against fatigue.

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[Thumpernator]

What's the safest way to intervene into FSD session when needed quickly? My instinct was to grab the wheel but it fights your input at first before disengaging which can be dangerous at highway speeds.

I like to just tap the brake.

 

[UberNoob]

Tip: in the nav, you can scroll to the bottom and set arrival energy, this will ensure you have your desired %

 

[Beetlebug62]

I'm usually an in-town driver but recently needed to drive about 3.5 hours away for a work trip. I had some extra time so I figured I'd take the Cybie and give this trip planning and supercharging a try. I had never used a supercharger before; just my wall charger at home. Here's a summary of how the trip went:

Route Planning

I was sure to charge to 100% the night before just to give myself some wiggle room. When I entered my destination the nav actually routed me to my destination with no supercharging stops and a remaining charge of 10%. Not ideal, but doable. So I manually added a supercharger stop mid way. Note the destination did have a supercharger location about 1.0 mile from my destination but not at the destination.

Supercharging

Blown away at how fast and cheap this was. I think I was charged up in 20 minutes and it cost me $19. Gave me plenty of time for a bathroom break and to grab a snack at the gas station. I also like how the CT goes into supercharger mode, providing updates to your iPhone and Apple watch and even offering games or a movie while you wait. The process is very user friendly. I really love that I am learning new things about my CT after owning it for a year and a half.

The Return and FSD Issues

FSD did great on the way down, but on drive back it really struggled. This was 100% weather related. Unfortunately my drive back was cursed by horrible weather. Blowing rain, thunderstorms, strange breaks in the rain that resulted in road spray and odd glare. If the cameras weren't obscured by rain they were obscured by mist or dirt. Texas roads have poor, often non-standard road markings. At one point I was distracted by the rain, disengaged FSD, and then missed my off ramp - nearly resulting in disaster because I thought I was committed on the wrong route with no way to detour and still have enough battery to reach my supercharger stop. In this case, the navigation re-routed me nicely on some rural roads. Disaster averted.

With the supercharger stop planned in the route, the battery began "pre-conditioning" about 10 miles out. I thought that was interesting. This time I was charging from about 15% to 90% because I wanted to be prepared for the weather and I am glad I did. The supercharging took a little longer but it was more juice this time. I am glad I added the extra charge because the weather did not let up and routing was an issue due to flooding. I did have a chance to drive through some high water on the road and really appreciated the adjustable height.

FSD did two stupid things on this drive - on the good weather day: It camped the left (passing) lane too much and then it inexplicably merged into the right lane between an 18-wheeler and a car going much slower. As a result, we slammed on the brakes in front of the 18-wheeler causing it to swerve to my left and pass me horn blaring. I don't blame the driver at all. That was a shitty and unexplaned maneuver.

Conclusion

I was a little nervous to take the CT out on a long trip but it turns out it's a dream. Much better than the same trip in my gas powered Lexus. FSD, when it works, is a great tool against fatigue.

You can go to the bottom of the Nav display and "edit" your trip, add your home to make it a round trip, then the planner will figure out where you need to stop to charge.

 

[Beyond]

What's the safest way to intervene into FSD session when needed quickly? My instinct was to grab the wheel but it fights your input at first before disengaging which can be dangerous at highway speeds.

I usually just push the right scroll wheel. Push it again to reengage FSD.

 

[Eka]

I was sure to charge to 100% the night before just to give myself some wiggle room. When I entered my destination the nav actually routed me to my destination with no supercharging stops and a remaining charge of 10%. Not ideal, but doable. So I manually added a supercharger stop mid way. Note the destination did have a supercharger location about 1.0 mile from my destination but not at the destination.

What I'd have done is initially navigated to the Supercharger 1 mile from the destination and supercharged enough to make it to the destination, and on to a reasonably positioned Supercharger on the return trip, then finished the trip. That way the battery is already warm from driving, and charging will go fast. I do this for my doctor's appointments, and for when I visit a friend. I can adjust the charging time depending on how early or late I am running for the appointment.

Charging to 100%. It only needs to be done every 6 or so months for the battery pack to rebalance it's self. Generally the night before a trip I'll charge up to 80% like normal. When I get up or as I'm getting ready I'll tell it to charge to 100%, and set it to precondition the cabin temperature for my expected leave time. If it hasn't made it up to 100% I just go when I need to. Most often I'm leaving at 95% to 99% charge.

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