5000-mile US Road Trip (2014 S85)

[docrice]

I recently completed a 2-week, 4,982-mile trip starting from California and on through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and back to California with my 2014 S85. Started with over 102k on the clock. I've never attempted a trip like this in my life but I figured I'd live a little. It would've been nice to spend more than just a night's stay at most places, but my schedule didn't permit a month-long vacation. At least I got to see the open road and experience life beyond California for once.

From what I could see, Teslas are still pretty rare outside of California (lots of pickups though, of course) except at Superchargers. Almost all driving was done with Autopilot. Had almost no issues except for a door handle that stopped working (of course) and the nav system got confused in certain places. The drive was planned around the Supercharger/destination charging network and even with the tornado weather last month across the central states I managed to luckily make it by unscathed. I feared the worst with the tornado and hail warnings.

Note for those going through Kansas - there's a toll system you may not be familiar with so read up on it if you're passing through.

I did a trip write-up and broke it into several parts:

2019.05.13: US Road Trip I
2019.05.16: US Road Trip II
2019.05.22: US Road Trip III
2019.05.26: US Road Trip IV
2019.05.29: US Road Trip V

In the end, I relied heavily on the nav system to direct me. I just turned the wheel obediently, although on occasion it got confused and had me going in circles. Overall it was a pleasant drive with almost no hiccups. With the Supercharger/destination charging network in its current form, trips like this are relatively pain-free if you plan to stick to the main highways.

 

[Ryan Autry]

That was a fantastic read! Thank you for sharing that with us.

I’m about to head up to Vancouver, BC (3,000ish round-trip). I hope I can capture and share my experience also.

 

[aerodyne]

Last Fall, I also did a 5k trip, LA to Chicago and return.

No issues except had to reboot IC once, and radar inop breifly when I went over the Rockies in a snowstorm.

SCed or DCed all the way, 313 wh/mi, high SOC 93%, low 29%

 

[bmah]

Awesome trip report!

Bruce.

 

[whitex]

I went did a round trip from Seattle to Toronto back in October 2016. Back then, not many Teslas anywhere except at the end-points of the trip (Seattle and Toronto), even superchargers were mostly empty. I made myself a little collage of all superchargers I visited on the way back.

 

[docrice]

On my trip I never encountered a Supercharger location which was completely full, although Quartzsite in AZ was nearly so and had those temporary SC stalls (due to Memorial Day Weekend, presumably). Also the Grand Junction, CO site had 3 non-functioning stalls out of 6, and when I was there all remaining ones got occupied.

Otherwise it was typically maybe 1/4 - 1/3 full.

 

[Kenz]

If every EV owner asked one business to install a destination charger just think how the charging options could expand.
Contact a local store, restaurant, hotel, shopping center, Costco or any other place where you stop and shop for an hour or more.
Even Costco needs to stop adding gasoline pumps for ICE vehicles and move to install EV chargers instead.
Many businesses need to understand that there is demand for these chargers and that having chargers will be good for their business.
It is easy to look up a local business online and send an email or talk to the manager when you stop in. You might be surprised by the impact you can have.

 

[darxsys]

That was a fantastic read! Thank you for sharing that with us.

I’m about to head up to Vancouver, BC (3,000ish round-trip). I hope I can capture and share my experience also.

Assuming you’re leaving from California, that will be a very easy trip. SCs are plentiful, destination chargers and chargepoint/flo chargers are everywhere, too. West coast just rocks

 

[Bodyhauler]

I just finished a 3,200 mile road trip from Austin, Tx to Yorktown, Va in our '16 S 90D. It was a great trip. The car had no problems, drove great. Had no problems with supercharging stops. Actually stopped a little more frequent than required but after hooking up, walking to a restroom and maybe getting a snack, the car had enough charge by the time we got back to it. Really didn't have any delays. Even used a destination charger at the public garage in Williamsburg, Va while we walked around historic Colonial Williamsburg. Had nearly a full charge by the time we were ready to leave. I noticed that while cruising down the interstate on autopilot I was actually adding miles to the range, 5-15%, so I never had any range anxiety. And the best thing, with free supercharging, the trip cost me nothing in fuel!

 

[AMPd]

If every EV owner asked one business to install a destination charger just think how the charging options could expand.
Contact a local store, restaurant, hotel, shopping center, Costco or any other place where you stop and shop for an hour or more.
Even Costco needs to stop adding gasoline pumps for ICE vehicles and move to install EV chargers instead.
Many businesses need to understand that there is demand for these chargers and that having chargers will be good for their business.
It is easy to look up a local business online and send an email or talk to the manager when you stop in. You might be surprised by the impact you can have.

Chargers at stores are useless, you’re not there long enough to get any meaningful amount of charge.
Same with a restaurant, you’re there an hour, great you got 20 miles of charge.

Hotels are the only useful places as one can charge their car over night.

 

[Evbwcaer]

Chargers at stores are useless, you’re not there long enough to get any meaningful amount of charge.
Same with a restaurant, you’re there an hour, great you got 20 miles of charge.

Hotels are the only useful places as one can charge their car over night.

Just spent an hour on a gondola ride at an 80amp HPWC and got a much needed 60 miles. Prevented a Supercharger stop at an overused 4 stall.

 

[AMPd]

Just spent an hour on a gondola ride at an 80amp HPWC and got a much needed 60 miles. Prevented a Supercharger stop at an overused 4 stall.

That’s awesome. Not many cars can charge that fast, including new teslas.

 

[David29]

I recently completed a 2-week, 4,982-mile trip starting from California and on through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and back to California with my 2014 S85. Started with over 102k on the clock. I've never attempted a trip like this in my life but I figured I'd live a little. It would've been nice to spend more than just a night's stay at most places, but my schedule didn't permit a month-long vacation. At least I got to see the open road and experience life beyond California for once.

From what I could see, Teslas are still pretty rare outside of California (lots of pickups though, of course) except at Superchargers. Almost all driving was done with Autopilot. Had almost no issues except for a door handle that stopped working (of course) and the nav system got confused in certain places. The drive was planned around the Supercharger/destination charging network and even with the tornado weather last month across the central states I managed to luckily make it by unscathed. I feared the worst with the tornado and hail warnings.

Note for those going through Kansas - there's a toll system you may not be familiar with so read up on it if you're passing through.

I did a trip write-up and broke it into several parts:

2019.05.13: US Road Trip I
2019.05.16: US Road Trip II
2019.05.22: US Road Trip III
2019.05.26: US Road Trip IV
2019.05.29: US Road Trip V

In the end, I relied heavily on the nav system to direct me. I just turned the wheel obediently, although on occasion it got confused and had me going in circles. Overall it was a pleasant drive with almost no hiccups. With the Supercharger/destination charging network in its current form, trips like this are relatively pain-free if you plan to stick to the main highways.

Excellent write-up! Thorough without being too lengthy. Thank you for doing the work of taking the notes and writing the story.

A couple of things I'd have liked to know: What was your average energy consumption on this trip in Wh/mile?
And a special concern because of the hot weather we are having in the East just now -- what were the daytime temperatures, and did the AC have any trouble keeping the car cool? My car has had trouble keeping itself cool in the past week with local temps in the 90-95 range. Did you experience temps over 90, and if so, how did the AC do?

And thanks again for the travelog!

 

[SilverGS]

I recently completed a 2-week, 4,982-mile trip starting from California and on through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and back to California with my 2014 S85. Started with over 102k on the clock. I've never attempted a trip like this in my life but I figured I'd live a little. It would've been nice to spend more than just a night's stay at most places, but my schedule didn't permit a month-long vacation. At least I got to see the open road and experience life beyond California for once.

From what I could see, Teslas are still pretty rare outside of California (lots of pickups though, of course) except at Superchargers. Almost all driving was done with Autopilot. Had almost no issues except for a door handle that stopped working (of course) and the nav system got confused in certain places. The drive was planned around the Supercharger/destination charging network and even with the tornado weather last month across the central states I managed to luckily make it by unscathed. I feared the worst with the tornado and hail warnings.

Note for those going through Kansas - there's a toll system you may not be familiar with so read up on it if you're passing through.

I did a trip write-up and broke it into several parts:

2019.05.13: US Road Trip I
2019.05.16: US Road Trip II
2019.05.22: US Road Trip III
2019.05.26: US Road Trip IV
2019.05.29: US Road Trip V

In the end, I relied heavily on the nav system to direct me. I just turned the wheel obediently, although on occasion it got confused and had me going in circles. Overall it was a pleasant drive with almost no hiccups. With the Supercharger/destination charging network in its current form, trips like this are relatively pain-free if you plan to stick to the main highways.

Fantastic read and fantastic photography skills as well! I'm a hobbyist photographer and I love your perspectives (the angles and creative cropping as well as sharpness and story telling.

Did you take notes after every stop? I'm curious to know how you remembered all the details for each leg as I would love to do this some day in the future. Just got a 2016 75D and your write up is very inspiring. Thanks!

 

[docrice]

A couple of things I'd have liked to know: What was your average energy consumption on this trip in Wh/mile? And a special concern because of the hot weather we are having in the East just now -- what were the daytime temperatures, and did the AC have any trouble keeping the car cool? My car has had trouble keeping itself cool in the past week with local temps in the 90-95 range. Did you experience temps over 90, and if so, how did the AC do?

I didn't reset a trip odometer when I started the trip so I don't have the exact numbers, but I was going through a variety of terrains and climates. If I had to guess my average Wh/mile it's probably around 300 - 325. This is greatly influenced by the higher speed limits that I encountered (85 mph which I generally didn't exceed) and areas such as Texas weren't exactly cool. I'm sure I went through 90+ F temps in states like TX, AZ, and NM. Didn't have issues with the AC though and it was always on.

Did you take notes after every stop? I'm curious to know how you remembered all the details for each leg as I would love to do this some day in the future. Just got a 2016 75D and your write up is very inspiring. Thanks!

I did indeed keep notes on my laptop and made brief updates at some charging stops or during overnight stays. I also had videos which I could later reference for specifics. Selfie videos help jog memories for write-ups.