Looks like Premium Connectivity is in my future.
It works great. I do the yearly subscription, $99 I think, as it gives you a discount over monthly. Almost all of my time in the car is spent listening to Spotify and like the live traffic display and the ability of the nav to route me around traffic.
I'm driving from Charlotte to the DC area for my first "long" trip on Wednesday. What are supercharger stations like during holidays?
Let the car figure out your stops. It's smart. It will route to away from Superchargers that are busier to avoid having to wait. Always navigate to Superchargers. When you do, the car will precondition the battery so that it is ready to charge quickly. A cold battery charges slowly.
Set your car to precondition and, separately, to end charging at your proposed departure time. Set it for 100%. It will delay charging to reach 100% shortly before the time you set. It will also use the home's power to warm up the car and the battery so that you won't use any battery power to do that once you start driving. No reason to start a trip at less than 100% with a cold car and battery.
Don't try to "top it off" when you stop. It's like flight planning; charge until you have enough to make it to the next stop plus reserve. This keeps the battery in the lower ranges of state of charge which is where it charges the fastest and will reduce your total time spent charging. Shoot for arriving at your next Supercharge around 10% SoC. As you build confidence in the navigation estimate, drop that a little bit more. If you stay in the 5%-60% range your total charging time will be a lot less than if you charged to a higher level. It's fine to run the car down to a very low SoC, just don't leave it there. Charge, at least a bit, when you arrive.
Whenever you stop, charge. If you need a bathroom break, pick a stop at an upcoming Supercharger. If you're hungry, eat near a supercharger. This way the car is always charging while you are doing things that you would have been doing anyway so that charging isn't adding to your travel time.
Learn how to display Superchargers on your map then tap on their icons to see what amenities are nearby. This way you'll be charging near the places that you want to be. You can also see information on pricing and how busy the Supercharge is.
On your last leg to your destination you'll probably want to arrive with a higher SoC so that you have power for driving around while you're there. You can change your arrival SoC and the car will tell you when you have enough to arrive with that and/or it will pick a final charge stop closer to your destination.
If you are staying at hotels, use PlugShare.com, or their app, to find ones that have destination chargers. If you are staying at someone's house, bring the 120V adapter (5-15) for the mobile charger so you can add some miles while you're there.
If you think something is more difficult than it should be, you're probably doing it wrong. Ask your favorite AI search tool how to do it better and there will likely be a better way.
Use Autopilot or FSD. Makes the drive much less fatiguing.
