First trip to Tahoe in the X

[vangogh]

I'll be doing my first trip to Tahoe South Shore from the Bay Area in the X...The trip planner and my original plan was to drive and charge to full in Folsom. My question is will I have enough juice to get to DL Bliss State park and back to Folsom on a single charge or will I need to find a place to charge in Tahoe (only north shore chargers)...Any experience/input. Thanks

 

[Merrill]

I'll be doing my first trip to Tahoe South Shore from the Bay Area in the X...The trip planner and my original plan was to drive and charge to full in Folsom. My question is will I have enough juice to get to DL Bliss State park and back to Folsom on a single charge or will I need to find a place to charge in Tahoe (only north shore chargers)...Any experience/input. Thanks

I can only tell you about going to North Shore, we do this trip every August and charge at Roseville from Roseville to truckee is 100 miles and we use around 150 to get there. So figure you will use 50% more going from Folsom to South Shore.

 

[ohmman]

I'll be doing my first trip to Tahoe South Shore from the Bay Area in the X...The trip planner and my original plan was to drive and charge to full in Folsom. My question is will I have enough juice to get to DL Bliss State park and back to Folsom on a single charge or will I need to find a place to charge in Tahoe (only north shore chargers)...Any experience/input. Thanks

You should be fine, especially if you're not doing a lot of driving around in Tahoe. If you are, it might be worth charging somewhere. The last time I went to South Tahoe in my P85, we had enough juice leftover for some meandering around, plus I plugged into a 110. Yeah, it's 3mph of range, but being plugged in for about 11 hours while at the rental made for enough gain to assist.

Coming back down the mountain uses very little, so don't freak out if you're getting somewhat tight.

We almost always rent a house in Tahoe, and I've got an extension cord with a 14-30 adapter now. If there's a dryer near the garage (there almost always is), it's an option for VRBO/Homeaway/airbnb rentals. Just clear it with the owner first.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Always plug in if you can - those extra few miles on a 120V circuit make a difference, even if only in piece of mind.

 

[aesculus]

My back of the napkin calculation thinks you will use ~60 kWh of juice (450 w/mi on the way up and 200 on the way down for 90 miles). I agree with Ohmman. Just find a plug of any sort to trickle power into so you don't feel restricted about going places while you are there. Once in the valley you should just average around 330 w/mi and all you have to do to leave is make it up over Echo Summit. You can probably coast most of the way back to Folsom.

 

[Gas Guzzler]

I've got my first Tahoe trip from San Francisco coming up also. It is about 110 miles to Folsom supercharger or 198 miles directly to my destination nearly Heavenly Ski Resort. I'd be a bit nervous on my first trip to try and make it over those mountains. Anyone else have experience getting to South Shore on a single charge? I've got 22" rims so that is a slight hit on mileage. There seems to be a few L2 chargers at Harrah's and other locations so once there, I don't anticipate any challenges. Anyone?

 

[loganintx]

The strategy I've seen is to start off driving slower 55-60mph and then as you get closer and the estimated remaining battery is still good enough then you can drive a bit faster. Taking it easy up the big hills will surely be necessary and have a good webpage that shows you wind speed/direction.

 

[Hengist]

Heavenly has an 80 amp destination charger. Most of the casino hotels have J1772s available, and there are two sets of superchargers in Truckee. I have had no problem with asking for a plug at any of the places I have stayed in Tahoe, though I did once need my own extension cord and had to make do with a 110 volt connection. Still, even at 3 miles an hour, you get 36 miles of charge a day, which more than covers local use.

I strongly recommend that all owners get signed up with Blink and with Chargepoint. It adds peace of mind. And do educate owners of places you stay about the destination charging program.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[vangogh]

Thanks for all the input....Is there any way to do trip planning past a "final destination" to look at returns allowances? I know there is a feature to see if you can make a RT to a local destination (by double clicking the final destinations), but it does not seem to work when you have a supercharger required to make the trip. It would be great if, after you've put in a final destination, you can add additional destinations but I don't sees to see this functionality...a future upgrade perhaps? Any thoughts?

 

[ohmman]

Thanks for all the input....Is there any way to do trip planning past a "final destination" to look at returns allowances? I know there is a feature to see if you can make a RT to a local destination (by double clicking the final destinations), but it does not seem to work when you have a supercharger required to make the trip. It would be great if, after you've put in a final destination, you can add additional destinations but I don't sees to see this functionality...a future upgrade perhaps? Any thoughts?

No, trip planner doesn't allow "waypoints," which is what I think would work for you. Best you can do right now is hit evtripplanner.com and get an accurate estimate.

 

[SanCarlos]

I would just go up 80 and charge at the supercharger at the Safeway in Truckee. We rented a house just north of DL Bliss last September and took the northern route and had a full battery to drive around Tahoe after supercharging. The travel time is pretty close because the road is so congested between South Lake Tahoe past Emerald Bay to DL Bliss. We were able to trickle charge at the house, but if you are camping, I would definitely go north and supercharge.

 

[vangogh]

I would just go up 80 and charge at the supercharger at the Safeway in Truckee. We rented a house just north of DL Bliss last September and took the northern route and had a full battery to drive around Tahoe after supercharging. The travel time is pretty close because the road is so congested between South Lake Tahoe past Emerald Bay to DL Bliss. We were able to trickle charge at the house, but if you are camping, I would definitely go north and supercharge.

That was my thinking too...I'm doing the Rim/Flume trail ride on Saturday so I'll be up in that neck of the woods anyway....
Perhaps I'll bring my generator and trickle charge at the campsite too....

 

[aesculus]

The strategy I've seen is to start off driving slower 55-60mph and then as you get closer and the estimated remaining battery is still good enough then you can drive a bit faster. Taking it easy up the big hills will surely be necessary and have a good webpage that shows you wind speed/direction.

Up highway 50 it will be just about impossible to to 55-60 mph, even without the tourists.

But your advice is good to follow in general. I have done that before when I felt uncomfortable with my planned buffer. Turned range mode on too and drove a bit in the conditions that were to follow and once I saw how the car reacted (ie the estimated range started to climb) I would then either go faster, turn the climate on more aggressively and/or turn off range mode).

Note once you get to Pollock Pines the road is pretty much the same until you get to SLT. It's all winding 55 mph stuff. After Riverton it's 2 lanes with occasional passing lanes and you are sure to encounter lookey lou's or motor homes doing about 40.

 

[Hengist]

That was my thinking too...I'm doing the Rim/Flume trail ride on Saturday so I'll be up in that neck of the woods anyway....
Perhaps I'll bring my generator and trickle charge at the campsite too....

Generators are usually not able to charge a Tesla. You might try that at home briefly before relying on it.

 

[EV Family]

You should be fine, especially if you're not doing a lot of driving around in Tahoe. If you are, it might be worth charging somewhere. The last time I went to South Tahoe in my P85, we had enough juice leftover for some meandering around, plus I plugged into a 110. Yeah, it's 3mph of range, but being plugged in for about 11 hours while at the rental made for enough gain to assist.

Coming back down the mountain uses very little, so don't freak out if you're getting somewhat tight.

We almost always rent a house in Tahoe, and I've got an extension cord with a 14-30 adapter now. If there's a dryer near the garage (there almost always is), it's an option for VRBO/Homeaway/airbnb rentals. Just clear it with the owner first.

Im curious about your extension cord for your 14-30 adapter.
I have both the 10-30 and 14-30 discontinued tesla adapters but have only found a extension for my 10-30 plug and have been unsuccessful in locating a 14-30 extension cord for those newer dryers.
Any tips would be appreciated!

 

[ohmman]

Im curious about your extension cord for your 14-30 adapter.

I have a combination of one of these along with a couple of adapters from here.

 

[EV Family]

Very nice thanks for the links! Are you then using the EVSE 1430 plug with the 1450 end into your and the camco 1450 extension cord all together? I'd assume you manually dial amperage down to 24 amps inside the car as the slough of adapters and extensions could make you look like Don King in a quick minute!

I have a combination of one of these along with a couple of adapters from here.

 

[ohmman]

Very nice thanks for the links! Are you then using the EVSE 1430 plug with the 1450 end into your and the camco 1450 extension cord all together? I'd assume you manually dial amperage down to 24 amps inside the car as the slough of adapters and extensions could make you look like Don King in a quick minute!

Correct. I use my UMC and 14-50 adapter to plug into the extension cord. Then, I use the adapter to plug into the dryer outlet (or other adapters for other uses, if needed). I dial the car down manually. It works really well and the cord doesn't even get warm to the touch. The only downside is the Camco cord is that it's heavy, but there's no way getting around that.

 

[EV Family]

Correct. I use my UMC and 14-50 adapter to plug into the extension cord. Then, I use the adapter to plug into the dryer outlet (or other adapters for other uses, if needed). I dial the car down manually. It works really well and the cord doesn't even get warm to the touch. The only downside is the Camco cord is so heavy, but there's no way getting around that.

Thanks so much @ohmman! Tesla should really be paying you for all the wonderful insight you bring to its customers!

 

[Cosmacelf]

For a much more in depth look at charging adapters, including links to where you can buy them, check out this document.

http://cosmacelf.net/Home Made Adapters.pdf