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Bend <--> Crater Lake on a Single Charge
- Thread starter omarsultan
- Start date
I was also having to argue with someone on Tesla’s Facebook page about a year ago because a sales person in a Tesla store had told him that EVERY Tesla Supercharger was entirely off grid, running on solar panels at each site. He refused to believe anything different. So yeah, sometimes they have bad information.
So, I did the trip this last week:
Note, if you come in from the north gate like we did, hold onto your receipt for the park entry as you have to exit the park through the south gate to get to the charger and will need to show the receipt to get back in without paying.
- Model X P90D
- 5 passengers
- Ambient temps: 75-85
- Speed: 65-70 mph
- No range mode
Note, if you come in from the north gate like we did, hold onto your receipt for the park entry as you have to exit the park through the south gate to get to the charger and will need to show the receipt to get back in without paying.
ecrsail
Member
Sorry for the late posting as I just noticed this thread. I also took a trip to Crater Lake earlier this summer. My trip report might be of interest to someone who is planning to transit through Crater Lake from the Bend or Sunriver area to Grants Pass, rather than visit the rim with a return loop back to Bend.
My trip to Crater Lake was part of an extended multi-week road trip through the western United States in May and June of 2016. Having seen Crater Lake many times from the air while traveling to/from Portland and Seattle, I had always wanted to see it "in person".
My leg through Crater Lake started at the Sunriver Resort, just south of Bend on June 18, 2016. Sunriver Resort offers destination charging to guests and is a little closer to Crater Lake than Bend itself. Since the Bend Supercharger had literally just become operational the day before, it wasn't part of my plan and hence was not used to charge up overnight the night before the trek to Bend. Unless you also decide to stay at the Sunriver Resort, you'll likely be topping off at the Bend Supercharger -- which will add approximately 13 miles to the trek to Crater Lake and the drive to Grants Pass. This extra distance may or may not matter for your trip --- review the range conclusions at the end of this posting to determine if it does.
My Model X P90D left Sunriver at approximately 10AM with 246 miles of rated range. The outside temperature was 46 F with relatively partly sunny skies and some precipitation expected later in the day. Like @omarsultan, we took US-97 south to OR-138 and entered the park at the North Entrance. With the day's ultimate destination being Grants Pass, and not knowing whether the destination charger near the South Entrance at Mazama Village would be available, I kept my speed at or below ~60 mph for this portion of the drive.
June was still "early" in the season this year, and the North Entrance was open but not staffed. This caused some confusion for the vehicles entering through this entrance as the station was also out of self-pay permits. Most of the climb to the rim from the north occurs late in the drive after one enters the park, and sure enough, shortly after entering, things got more challenging. The intermittent patches of snow on the side of road became more prevalent and deeper, and the outside temperature dropped quickly.
And then almost without warning, whiteout conditions prevailed, and we entered a bona fide snowstorm:
At these elevations, conditions can and did change quickly, and the temperature dropped below freezing. As we approached the rim, it was not uncommon for the snow bank on the side of the two lane Rim Drive to be deeper than the X was high, and at times ice covered parts of the road. At safe speeds, the P90D X handled the slushy conditions nimbly despite only being equipped with summer aka "performance" tires.
Although it was exciting to drive the X in snow for the first time, we reached the rim overlooks without any incidents. Unfortunately the lake and crater were well hidden by the clouds at this point. But Wizard Island was barely visible:
Fortunately, we had a plan given the weather forecast and continued along the rim and then down to the South Entrance and more importantly the 80 A destination charger adjacent to the Mazama Village restaurant and gift shop. Luckily, the one parking spot available was also immediately in front of the destination charger (the spot is not obviously marked -- when approaching from the north, you are forced to briefly exit and re-enter the park through the South Entrance in order to access the parking lot with the charger).
Reaching this point from Sunriver Resort required a 102 mile drive and 37.7 kWh energy expenditure which translates to 371 Wh/mile. Managing one's speed before entering the park was key to reaching this point with 128 miles of rated range remaining the battery. This would have been more than enough range to make it to Grants Pass directly from the South Entrance without charging, but we wanted to head back up to the rim after lunch when the weather was expected to be clearer and hence the extra charge was beneficial. The external temperature at the charger was 37 F.
After lunch, the short drive back to the crater rim was rewarded with shockingly clear and stunning views of the snow accented crater, the deep blue lake, and another unbelievable wonder of nature.
Including returning to the rim after charging at Mazama, the drive from Crater Lake to the Grants Pass supercharger was 113 miles and used only 28 kWh of energy, or 248 Wh/mile.
Conclusion: Given the significantly better efficiency on the downhill leg south of the park, there seems little doubt the P90D X could have made it directly to Grants Pass from Sunriver (and even Bend) via Crater Lake without charging at Mazama in these weather conditions. Doing so would require keeping one's speed below 60 mph on the drive south from Bend into the park, and any "extra" driving along the rim while inside the park would need to be monitored -- especially if you were leaving from Bend. However, it looks possible (to me, based on my experience) in the event the Mazama charger were not available or functioning.
Hope this is useful to someone at some point in the future.
My trip to Crater Lake was part of an extended multi-week road trip through the western United States in May and June of 2016. Having seen Crater Lake many times from the air while traveling to/from Portland and Seattle, I had always wanted to see it "in person".
My leg through Crater Lake started at the Sunriver Resort, just south of Bend on June 18, 2016. Sunriver Resort offers destination charging to guests and is a little closer to Crater Lake than Bend itself. Since the Bend Supercharger had literally just become operational the day before, it wasn't part of my plan and hence was not used to charge up overnight the night before the trek to Bend. Unless you also decide to stay at the Sunriver Resort, you'll likely be topping off at the Bend Supercharger -- which will add approximately 13 miles to the trek to Crater Lake and the drive to Grants Pass. This extra distance may or may not matter for your trip --- review the range conclusions at the end of this posting to determine if it does.
My Model X P90D left Sunriver at approximately 10AM with 246 miles of rated range. The outside temperature was 46 F with relatively partly sunny skies and some precipitation expected later in the day. Like @omarsultan, we took US-97 south to OR-138 and entered the park at the North Entrance. With the day's ultimate destination being Grants Pass, and not knowing whether the destination charger near the South Entrance at Mazama Village would be available, I kept my speed at or below ~60 mph for this portion of the drive.
June was still "early" in the season this year, and the North Entrance was open but not staffed. This caused some confusion for the vehicles entering through this entrance as the station was also out of self-pay permits. Most of the climb to the rim from the north occurs late in the drive after one enters the park, and sure enough, shortly after entering, things got more challenging. The intermittent patches of snow on the side of road became more prevalent and deeper, and the outside temperature dropped quickly.
And then almost without warning, whiteout conditions prevailed, and we entered a bona fide snowstorm:
At these elevations, conditions can and did change quickly, and the temperature dropped below freezing. As we approached the rim, it was not uncommon for the snow bank on the side of the two lane Rim Drive to be deeper than the X was high, and at times ice covered parts of the road. At safe speeds, the P90D X handled the slushy conditions nimbly despite only being equipped with summer aka "performance" tires.
Although it was exciting to drive the X in snow for the first time, we reached the rim overlooks without any incidents. Unfortunately the lake and crater were well hidden by the clouds at this point. But Wizard Island was barely visible:
Fortunately, we had a plan given the weather forecast and continued along the rim and then down to the South Entrance and more importantly the 80 A destination charger adjacent to the Mazama Village restaurant and gift shop. Luckily, the one parking spot available was also immediately in front of the destination charger (the spot is not obviously marked -- when approaching from the north, you are forced to briefly exit and re-enter the park through the South Entrance in order to access the parking lot with the charger).
Reaching this point from Sunriver Resort required a 102 mile drive and 37.7 kWh energy expenditure which translates to 371 Wh/mile. Managing one's speed before entering the park was key to reaching this point with 128 miles of rated range remaining the battery. This would have been more than enough range to make it to Grants Pass directly from the South Entrance without charging, but we wanted to head back up to the rim after lunch when the weather was expected to be clearer and hence the extra charge was beneficial. The external temperature at the charger was 37 F.
After lunch, the short drive back to the crater rim was rewarded with shockingly clear and stunning views of the snow accented crater, the deep blue lake, and another unbelievable wonder of nature.
Including returning to the rim after charging at Mazama, the drive from Crater Lake to the Grants Pass supercharger was 113 miles and used only 28 kWh of energy, or 248 Wh/mile.
Conclusion: Given the significantly better efficiency on the downhill leg south of the park, there seems little doubt the P90D X could have made it directly to Grants Pass from Sunriver (and even Bend) via Crater Lake without charging at Mazama in these weather conditions. Doing so would require keeping one's speed below 60 mph on the drive south from Bend into the park, and any "extra" driving along the rim while inside the park would need to be monitored -- especially if you were leaving from Bend. However, it looks possible (to me, based on my experience) in the event the Mazama charger were not available or functioning.
Hope this is useful to someone at some point in the future.
Last edited:
ecrsail
Member
Thanks! Yeah, I check the Crater Lake webcam every now and then and the transition to dry "summer" conditions was pretty abrupt. This was a great adventure in the X.
I've been using inRoute with one of the upgrades to plan my more challenging trips. It's been a solid tool for investigating a variety of different routes and conditions (it also can display current weather and temperature), but I had to spend some time adding all of the supercharger waypoints manually.
I was recently beta testing an app that a forum member is getting ready to release that promises to be much more user friendly and functional and will be a solid alternative to inRoute.
I've been using inRoute with one of the upgrades to plan my more challenging trips. It's been a solid tool for investigating a variety of different routes and conditions (it also can display current weather and temperature), but I had to spend some time adding all of the supercharger waypoints manually.
I was recently beta testing an app that a forum member is getting ready to release that promises to be much more user friendly and functional and will be a solid alternative to inRoute.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
Very useful. I plan on Crater Lake being one of my road trips this summer. Nice to see that there is a destination charger at the campground where I was planning on staying. I stayed there eight years ago and it was a very nice. Looks like I should plan on going sometime mid July to mid August to make sure it's warm.
