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5000 km road trip - Vancouver (BC) to San Diego round trip

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We have our tesla S for over 2 years and decided to go on a road trip along the old pacific coast highway from Vancouver to San Diego. Family traveling with tesla is a disaster. It was the most stressful trip of our life, initially planned for 2 weeks but we got stuck for a month, we lost over $3000 on hotels, tow trucks, and other expenses..
the super chargers are very far apart and there's not enough of them, same with destination chargers. Most hotels that we stayed didn't have outlet to plug the car. We got stuck few times at night in the middle of nowhere with an infant because tesla took us to a super charger or destination charger that doesn't exist, and we didn't have enough electricity to continue. California and specifically Los Angeles was a nightmare for EV as more people have tesla and there's very limited number of super chargers/ destination chargers available. we had to travel long distances in traffic to get to the super charger and wait in line as it was a fight in every super charger as they're all full and people waiting half hour to 40 minutes for a super charger to finally charge their car.
The whole trip was stressful. instead of enjoying the beautiful scenery we were planning the next charger and waisted half or most of the day to find the charger and charge the car. As we had to pay for super charger, after all it came more expensive than gas with much more stress.
A 4 hr drive was 6 hrs with Tesla. Tesla map is not accurate, took us out of the highway to some routes that made the trip longer and not fuel efficient. Caused us in one occasion to get stuke in the middle of nowhere with no charge. Google map is much better.
This was a very stressful trip as we missed our hotel reservations a few times and had to find the last minute hotel and pay double where we were stuck and cost us a fortune. Never travel with Tesla again.
 
Was that $3000 USD or CAD ?

Was this your first road trip with the car? Had you used superchargers before? Did you do any planning before you left, or just get in the car and go?

The longest section between superchargers that I could find was actually the last one coming in to San Francisco at 160 miles. If you had trouble with the coast route then I have a hard time believing it had anything to do with the superchargers.

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We have our tesla S for over 2 years and decided to go on a road trip along the old pacific coast highway from Vancouver to San Diego. Family traveling with tesla is a disaster. It was the most stressful trip of our life, initially planned for 2 weeks but we got stuck for a month, we lost over $3000 on hotels, tow trucks, and other expenses..
the super chargers are very far apart and there's not enough of them, same with destination chargers. Most hotels that we stayed didn't have outlet to plug the car. We got stuck few times at night in the middle of nowhere with an infant because tesla took us to a super charger or destination charger that doesn't exist, and we didn't have enough electricity to continue. California and specifically Los Angeles was a nightmare for EV as more people have tesla and there's very limited number of super chargers/ destination chargers available. we had to travel long distances in traffic to get to the super charger and wait in line as it was a fight in every super charger as they're all full and people waiting half hour to 40 minutes for a super charger to finally charge their car.
The whole trip was stressful. instead of enjoying the beautiful scenery we were planning the next charger and waisted half or most of the day to find the charger and charge the car. As we had to pay for super charger, after all it came more expensive than gas with much more stress.
A 4 hr drive was 6 hrs with Tesla. Tesla map is not accurate, took us out of the highway to some routes that made the trip longer and not fuel efficient. Caused us in one occasion to get stuke in the middle of nowhere with no charge. Google map is much better.
This was a very stressful trip as we missed our hotel reservations a few times and had to find the last minute hotel and pay double where we were stuck and cost us a fortune. Never travel with Tesla again.
Glad you took the time to post your first message after two years of ownership. I'd like to think there were some positive experiences in there somewhere. One doesn't have to do too much planning to make this trip work. Hard to believe after two years worth of driving you were unable to make it work.
 
I went from Eastern Ontario to British Columbia in 2020 (9,000 km in two weeks overall). Superchargers along the highway existed and were serviceable and available. I picked hotels with destination chargers to start with 500 km of range every day. Never had a problem.
Ymmv but I'd do a road trip in a Tesla on any given day. It's not that hard to keep the battery happy.
 
We have our tesla S for over 2 years and decided to go on a road trip along the old pacific coast highway from Vancouver to San Diego. Family traveling with tesla is a disaster. It was the most stressful trip of our life, initially planned for 2 weeks but we got stuck for a month, we lost over $3000 on hotels, tow trucks, and other expenses..
the super chargers are very far apart and there's not enough of them, same with destination chargers. Most hotels that we stayed didn't have outlet to plug the car. We got stuck few times at night in the middle of nowhere with an infant because tesla took us to a super charger or destination charger that doesn't exist, and we didn't have enough electricity to continue. California and specifically Los Angeles was a nightmare for EV as more people have tesla and there's very limited number of super chargers/ destination chargers available. we had to travel long distances in traffic to get to the super charger and wait in line as it was a fight in every super charger as they're all full and people waiting half hour to 40 minutes for a super charger to finally charge their car.
The whole trip was stressful. instead of enjoying the beautiful scenery we were planning the next charger and waisted half or most of the day to find the charger and charge the car. As we had to pay for super charger, after all it came more expensive than gas with much more stress.
A 4 hr drive was 6 hrs with Tesla. Tesla map is not accurate, took us out of the highway to some routes that made the trip longer and not fuel efficient. Caused us in one occasion to get stuke in the middle of nowhere with no charge. Google map is much better.
This was a very stressful trip as we missed our hotel reservations a few times and had to find the last minute hotel and pay double where we were stuck and cost us a fortune. Never travel with Tesla again.
Sounds legit. Mentioning ‘supercharger’ 42 times was a nice touch. Did an automaker launch a ‘special projects’ PR program this week?
 
You were remiss not using the great planning tools. PlugShare and ABetterRoutePlanner. Yes, it takes a little intellect to do the planning.
A good carpenter doesn't blame his hammer.
I have easily and enjoyably done four over 4,000 mile road trips including Sacramento to Jasper. My long trips go back to 2015, when the network was not as robust.
 
It's important to refute the negative information with real and genuine information, otherwise there becomes a large collection of false negativity without counter argument. And eventually one of them becomes president.
Let's wait and see if the OP ever comes back and makes another post, then we'll know if this is in good faith. I would certainly understand the frustration if the story is true, but it will take a lot more information and facts to make the post convincing:
  • The route that was taken
  • The missing/nonexistent SC suggestions by your Tesla map
  • Receipts for the extra $3,000 spent - tows, last-minute hotels, etc.
  • Photos of the long lines at SC - I imagine the OP must have taken photos of the long lines. If I'm that frustrated, I would've taken as much photo evidence as I could.
  • Any conversation to service centers to diagnose any issues with your car
Everything in the OP is a generic reference with no specifics. It's good for venting, not for a constructive discussion. Let's see if he can put some meat on the bones.
 
You were remiss not using the great planning tools. PlugShare and ABetterRoutePlanner. Yes, it takes a little intellect to do the planning.
A good carpenter doesn't blame his hammer.
I have easily and enjoyably done four over 4,000 mile road trips including Sacramento to Jasper. My long trips go back to 2015, when the network was not as robust.
your brain.

Fixed that for you.
 
We have our tesla S for over 2 years and decided to go on a road trip along the old pacific coast highway from Vancouver to San Diego. Family traveling with tesla is a disaster. It was the most stressful trip of our life, initially planned for 2 weeks but we got stuck for a month, we lost over $3000 on hotels, tow trucks, and other expenses..
the super chargers are very far apart and there's not enough of them, same with destination chargers. Most hotels that we stayed didn't have outlet to plug the car. We got stuck few times at night in the middle of nowhere with an infant because tesla took us to a super charger or destination charger that doesn't exist, and we didn't have enough electricity to continue. California and specifically Los Angeles was a nightmare for EV as more people have tesla and there's very limited number of super chargers/ destination chargers available. we had to travel long distances in traffic to get to the super charger and wait in line as it was a fight in every super charger as they're all full and people waiting half hour to 40 minutes for a super charger to finally charge their car.
The whole trip was stressful. instead of enjoying the beautiful scenery we were planning the next charger and waisted half or most of the day to find the charger and charge the car. As we had to pay for super charger, after all it came more expensive than gas with much more stress.
A 4 hr drive was 6 hrs with Tesla. Tesla map is not accurate, took us out of the highway to some routes that made the trip longer and not fuel efficient. Caused us in one occasion to get stuke in the middle of nowhere with no charge. Google map is much better.
This was a very stressful trip as we missed our hotel reservations a few times and had to find the last minute hotel and pay double where we were stuck and cost us a fortune. Never travel with Tesla again.
I had only had my car 2 months before I took my first OH-FL road trip in 2016. I devoured everything on the forum about planning and charging techniques for a quick trip. Far fewer superchargers then and I don't recall a lot of trip planning services (ABRP, etc). I don't recall much about navigation at the time but I'm pretty sure it routed me to Superchargers. I don't believe it did nearly as much as it does now. All this planning for a solo road trip! Had I been planning for a family excursion I am sure I would have put some time into looking for ideas on what to expect; trip planning and execution; backup plans; etc. I have never had the car take me to a non existent supercharger (I'm not sure it is capable of that feat).
Google maps cannot be too much better; I'm pretty sure the nav system is based on Google maps so odd complaint there.
After reading and rereading this I think you should consider selling the Tesla immediately, take a nice profit while demand is high and perhaps consider Greyhound on you next trip (will relieve some of the planning and execution on your part). VIA Rail or Amtrack might provide a means as well. Or maybe just an ICE vehicle. I hear they're less stressful and you never have to wait in line for gas (hear that COSTCO customers).
I would avoid the forums and stay faraway, Farawill; won't get much sympathy here.:rolleyes:
 
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