An unplanned call led to a trip to Manchester TN: The car had an estimated range of ~105 miles at 55 F in Huntsville. But within 30 miles, there was a stiff headwind, light rain, and cold, ~40F. These are not friendly to any EV. Although initially showing a 10% margin, when we hit the cold air, it soon dropped to 1% in the original route. But instead of taking the Interstate, we took an alternate approach using state and county roads. As soon as we turned off, the reserve jumped from 1% to 4% thanks to shorter distance and lower speeds. We arrived at the Dunkin Donuts SuperCharger with 4% reserve remaining. After setting the cabin heat to high and plugging in, I went in for a biology break and coffee. My wife is cold-phobic and stayed in the car. Her grandchild arrived from Murfreesboro with his father who drove the Interstate. After installing the child seat and overnight bag, we headed back to Huntsville with over 160 miles indicated. The trip back was unremarkable. The key is EVs are different which means drivers have to be flexible and aware of where the chargers are and optimum routing. For us, an unplanned trip was no big deal. I also used it to explain what we were doing as I adjusted our route. But then I find dealing with 'the real world' a fun exercise. Bob Wilson
i agree one hundred percent. one must be somewhat flexible to drive an ev in some situations. that's why mrs b is keeping her hycam for the time being.
Had the same thing happen just before a planned 1200 mile spring break trip (without leaving Texas). This quickly became a life/death event full of stress, anxiety, heavy emotions, and too many “big decisions” having to be made; all prefaced with a race across Texas to get to a hospital in time (we did). I was soooooo glad I didn’t need to add charging to the mix. Our PHEV melted into the background of all that chaos on a trip that eventually extended to an additional 600 miles + several hours idling in a hospital parking lot. Life is full of irony and this was another one: I had reserved a Model 3 Turo rental for that trip.
We could have taken her BMW i3-REx but no autopilot and several fuel stops made the Tesla a better answer. Bob Wilson
