Chad

If you have a Tesla, you already know what an economic and low-impact vehicle it is. Long road trips with Teslas are even more convenient. When road tripping with your Tesla, you simply need to plan your route around available charging stations on the way and enjoy the advanced technology designed to assist you in driving. Road trips with Teslas are a convenient and efficient mode of travel.  Read on to discover the perks of traveling in your Tesla and how to make the most of your road trip with their available features and accessories.  Tesla’s Route Planning Tool Each model of Tesla has its own built-in road trip planner! This is an easy and useful tool for anyone trying to plan their road trip. You simply enter your location and destination, and Tesla does the rest of the work. Go Anywhere Tool with Tesla The Go Anywhere Tool is much like Google Maps or other navigation systems. Rather than planning the quickest route, it searches for the fastest routes with the most Tesla superchargers and destination chargers available. It’s important to note that this option does not specifically search for hotels or accommodations along your route; you will be responsible for booking these on your own. This tool will route your trip through the locations with the most destination and superchargers available, so you’ll never have to worry about being stranded without power. You may have to adjust your route if there aren’t any available stations, however, or check into non-Tesla charging options (more details on those options below).  The Go Anywhere Tool  is packed with handy information and provides: Information regarding how long to charge at the station to make it to the destination or next charging station Available on your touch screen display’s Navigation function Customizable routes: you can make adjustments to Tesla’s recommended route Information regarding how many stalls are currently open and what charging rate is available at each For example, entering a starting point of Seattle, Washington, and a destination of San Francisco, California, the Go Anywhere tool provides the following Supercharger station recommendations, assuming a Model 3 Standard Tesla starting with a full charge: 15 min charge in Woodburn, OR 35 min charge in Springfield, OR 30 min charge in Grants Pass, OR 35 min charge in Mount Shasta, CA 20 min charge in Williams, CA You have the option to see available destination chargers at each of these stations as well. The Go Anywhere Tool is designed to be user-friendly and simple, routing you toward Tesla’s own charging stations. Luckily, there are other available options for charging if Tesla stations are not readily available in your desired location. Charging Your Tesla on a Road Trip All Teslas are electric, meaning the usual gas station stops are unnecessary. However, they still require energy, and charging your Tesla will be the most important part of planning your road trip. When planning your route, it’s a good idea to plan your charge stops around your regular meal and bathroom breaks. Some of these chargers will fully charge your Tesla in the amount of time it takes to eat a meal at a restaurant.  By doing this, you virtually eliminate the “charging time” you would wait, by engaging in necessary activities (restroom, meals) during that time, your car charges when it would otherwise be sitting empty anyway. As a benefit, most charging stations are located in convenient places for this reason. There are two in-network, Tesla-based options for charging your Tesla on a road trip: Tesla Destination Chargers Tesla Superchargers With either charger, your Tesla Owners app (available on iOS and Android) will provide real-time updates from your car regarding charge level, and you pay for charges from your Tesla owner’s account with both. Tesla claims that they are opening six new charging stations every week, so accessibility is always increasing. Using Destination Chargers to Charge Your Tesla Destination chargers are the most common charging port for your Tesla. They are housed by Tesla’s “Charging Partners” worldwide and trade a charging location for (hopefully) more business, as their charging station is listed on Tesla’s software. There are over 4,500 destination charging stations, with variations in the number of ports available at each station. Some stations may only have 2 or 3 ports, while others can have dozens. These destination chargers are generally found in places where you’d be spending a moderate amount of time, such as: Restaurants Hotels These chargers are the slower of the two options, with an average of adding about 37.5 miles of range per hour of charge. To maximize your time, try to utilize these chargers when you stop overnight or have the time to leave your car for several hours, like when hiking or exploring a downtown area for the day.  Another perk of these chargers is that they are usually free to use as long as you are a patron of the facility you are charging (hotels, for example). If you’re on your route and need a quick boost to reach your next overnight stop on your road trip, a supercharger station is going to be the best choice.  Supercharging your Tesla on a Road Trip There has been a recent upgrade to charging your Tesla. In addition to the standard Destination Chargers, a Supercharger has been developed. Superchargers have been installed on popular routes and in densely populated areas, such as: Where to Find Tesla SuperChargers Main interstates Parking Garages in urban areas Downtown areas/city centers Grocery stores There are currently over 2,000 Supercharger stations in the US, with over 20,000 individual Supercharging stalls available. This charging station can fully charge any Tesla model under an hour and a half, or roughly 70 minutes. Why Superchargers are Useful With a supercharger, Teslas are designed to charge up to 80% capacity in the first 40 minutes of charging. The rate then slows to protect the battery, but a full charge isn’t necessary. If you find yourself needing a quick

The technology many of us have been waiting for is on the horizon: a fully autonomous self-driving car. Tesla’s Autopilot is the boldest step we have seen a car manufacturer take to making this futuristic accomplishment a reality. However, while Tesla’s Autopilot is a breakthrough, it may not satisfy the expectations many eager consumers want out of a self-driving vehicle. Is it even worth the cost? If you are looking for a vehicle that can ease the hassles that come with driving, the Tesla Autopilot is a great and intuitive feature to utilize. However, if your desire is to be completely disengaged from your vehicle and the road, you may want to hold out until the technology further develops. There is a lot to take in when determining whether the Tesla Autopilot is right for you. Read on to learn about these factors and ensure you make the right decision before committing to this investment. Tesla’s Autopilot is now standard, we’ll cover it’s current features and explain the difference with the optional Full-Self Driving package. Read on! Tesla Autopilot Features Tesla’s innovative technology undergoes constant rapid growth, and we see this with their Autopilot feature. If you are considering investing in a Tesla vehicle for Autopilot, you should know there are two current versions of this technology: Base Level Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Mode. Let’s dive into the specifications of Tesla Autopilot’s two options and what kind of performance and key features you can expect from each one. Base Level Autopilot  While the Base Level Autopilot technology does not quite amount to the expectations one would associate with the traditional concept of an autopilot feature, it proves to be convenient and intuitive, nonetheless.  Tesla promotes two primary features with their standard Autopilot: Auto Steer and a Traffic-Aware Cruise Control.  Auto Steer When driving on the highway, it is easy to become absent-minded and accidentally drift over to the neighboring lane. This generally results in needing to make a quick readjustment in your steering but can become a dangerous hazard that can potentially lead to a traffic accident.  To prevent this common incident from occurring, Tesla has made auto-steering a primary function and highlight of their Autopilot feature. When you have autosteering enabled, your vehicle will ensure that you stay within your appropriate lane when driving.  Traffic-Aware Cruise Control Much like the cruise control system that can be found in almost any modern-day vehicle, the traffic-aware cruise control feature of the Tesla Autopilot will keep your car driving at a consistent speed. However, the technology of Tesla’s Autopilot also ensures that you keep a certain level of distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. To give you versatility and control over your traffic-aware cruise control system, Tesla has created the option to manually adjust the speed of your car, as well as the allocated distance you want to maintain between you and other vehicles.  With that being said, you will find the autopilot feature is quite sophisticated and will make logical adjustments in speed and distance without you needing to make manual changes yourself.  Full Self-Driving Mode When Tesla announced their Full Self-Driving Mode, the prospect of having a fully autonomous car available peaked consumers’ interests and stirred quite a bit of hype.  Unfortunately, this title has proved to be somewhat of a misconception. This feature did not deliver on the fully self-driving car that most of us have imagined since drivers are still required to pay attention to the road.   However, the Full Self-Driving Mode has some incredible features that Tesla drivers will swear by, and the package includes the primary functions that come with the Base Level Autopilot.  Navigate on Autopilot This feature made opting for the Full Self-Driving Mode a no-brainer for absent-minded drivers and those who simply want to arrive from Point A to Point B without dealing with the tediousness of driving on the highway while having to check their navigation system continually.  With the Tesla Autopilot, all you need to do is have a destination marked on your vehicle’s navigation system. The auto-navigate feature enables the vehicle to control your trip for your entire time on the highway. That means the car is doing all the driving for you from the moment you hit the on-ramp to your exit point—including all lane changes and adapting to highway interchanges. Street-Level Autopilot Street-Level Autopilot allows Tesla vehicles to recognize and react to traffic lights and stop signs on the road. While this is an entirely new feature in Tesla’s Autopilot technology and is still in a preliminary phase, the potential it will have as it further develops will be paramount to getting us closer to fully autonomous self-driving cars. Drivers who are looking forward to the day of never having to manually drive a car again are sold on the notion of a street-level autopilot. Smart Summon  If you have ever been blocked by a neighboring car due to a driver parking too close to your parking space, the Smart Summon feature may just be the highlight of the Full Self-driving Mode for you.  So, instead of getting frustrated and dealing with the hassle of locating the owner of the vehicle or having to resort to awkwardly sliding in through the passenger or backseat of your car, simply open up your Tesla App and engage your vehicle via your phone to back out of the spot to your location—without ever needing to be behind the wheel.  Of course, for safety reasons, this feature was intentionally designed to be limited to being used within a distance of 200 feet of your car. Smart Summon is also only available to be used within private driveways and parking lots. Auto Park No matter the longevity of your experience on the road, parking can be an absolute nightmare for many drivers. The Auto Park feature with Tesla’s Autopilot has made fitting into tight spots and parallel parking a breeze. As you cruise through a parking lot looking for

If you are lucky enough to live in a part of the world that experiences all four seasons, you know how tumultuous winter driving can be. From the slippery snow to freezing car seats, to poor visibility to black ice, winter driving is no one’s favorite experience. So how does Tesla handle these undesirable driving conditions? Tesla’s, especially those equipped with all wheel drive can perform quite well in wintery conditions. With colder temps however, electric vehicles tend to get less range than during warmer conditions. Tesla has added a few features you can take advantage of within the app, and we’ll also cover some other tips to maximize your range, and safety, during less than ideal driving conditions. Electronic vehicles face a different set of challenges with cold winter weather than gas vehicles do. The more tech a vehicle has, the more that could potentially go wrong. This article will consider these specific challenges as well as advise you on how to best care for your Tesla model this winter season. Know the Winter Challenges That Come With a Tesla Most people do not like winter driving for a plethora of reasons. The snow and ice make driving on suburban roads a nightmare. The bad dream only gets worse when driving on the highway with more traffic at higher speeds. Tesla recognizes the problems electric vehicles have in winter and continuously tries to make the issues more manageable. Before the 1980s, it was a common practice to go out to your gas-powered car in the winter and let it warm up in the driveway for 10 minutes or so to ensure the oil was not frozen and could lubricate the car engine properly. Today, this practice is totally outdated and utterly unnecessary in your fossil fuel car. Electric vehicles, on the other hand, face a different set of problems and definitely benefit from preconditioning, or warming up the battery pack. The nice thing about Teslas is that you can turn on your car, prep the motor(s), and even defrost windows and mirrors remotely! With the Tesla app, the process is incredibly simple: Open the Tesla app on your smartphone Press to open the “Climate” section Turn the feature on By heating up the cabin interior, the battery will heat up as well. If you are able to preheat your car while it is plugged in at home, you will not waste any battery charge. Your car will also be nice and warm, inside and out, and ready to drive. The only downside is heating up your Tesla can take up to an hour. To defrost windows and mirrors, the process is almost exactly the same. Open the Tesla app on your smartphone Press to open the “Climate” section Press on the defrost icon Use Scheduled Departure to Heat Up Your Car If you want to save a little time in the morning before you head out to work or to an appointment, you can also use the Scheduled Departure feature. Your Tesla model will automatically start charging and preconditioning itself at the best time so you can be out on the road when you need to be. To use the Scheduled Departure feature: Tap on “Charging” lighting bolt icon Press on “Schedule” and punch in the time you want your car to be ready Everything from using the radio to warming your seat to running the heater uses up your battery charge. On the other hand, your battery can be warmed up with driving, charging, and preconditioning your vehicle. To keep your Tesla model working in the best possible way, it is important to keep your battery charged and warm. If your car is not properly heated before you use it, you will not be able to access all of the perks of having a Tesla vehicle. Cold weather can quickly decrease your battery charge and prevent you from accessing all the power storage. If your car battery is too cold, displayed with a blue snowflake on the touchscreen, your usage may be limited. Cold weather also limits your access to regenerative braking and battery power. Regenerative braking is a remarkable technology that allows the forces involved in braking to recharge your battery. This is super helpful to prolong the driving time in your Tesla vehicle. Know the Winter Difference Between EVs and Gas Vehicles Thus far this article has touched on the general interior driving lifestyle of a Tesla owner, but another equally important ownership factor to consider is how the operator of an electric vehicle will have to change their driving practices in the winter. Electric motors produce considerably more torque than your traditional gas-powered engine. This greatly influences how an electric vehicle will handle slippery roads. Luckily, Tesla has created technology to combat this inevitable factor and is constantly trying to improve the way Teslas’ onboard computers handle icy conditions. Consumers have found that in recent years, the traction control system in their Tesla models manage the tires in such a way that the power transfer and power limiting technology prevents the car from spinning out on slick surfaces.  This means that when the car senses itself losing control, the system is able to control the power output and limit the transfer of that power to the wheels so driving on icy roads is much easier. This keeps the wheels from spinning out and losing too much traction to propel the car forward. Use Slip Start to Escape Deep Snow Tesla also has a technology called Slip Start. This function allows the wheels to spin more freely and create more slip in the tires. You might think that this is the opposite of what you would want in a winter driving technology, but it is actually very helpful for snowy conditions. Turning off the traction control with Slip Start helps the tires spin which comes in handy when driving in deep snow. High-performance off-road vehicles use a very similar feature to dig themselves out of