Frustrations planning Sequoia & Kings Canyon trip

[Dennisis]

First of all I want to thank this group for giving me the intestinal fortitude to trust my regenerative braking and give this a try

I wanted to try a loop through both parks from the new Selma Supercharger and this is what I experienced.

Stock 2020 MYLR with 39k on it. AC off. 2 persons.

100% at Selma Supercharger, 283 mi range, 308’ elev
60% at Kings Canyon gate, could literally watch the % points drop
56% at 7000’, Wuksachi Lodge, about halfway distance, no turning back now
54% at General Sherman tree, carefully kept under park speed limits 15/25/35
55% at Giant Forest Museum, about to drop 5000’ at 25 mph
62% at Sequoia Gate leaving the park for flat but gorgeous orange groves
48% at Selma Supercharger having driven 172 mi

I would never have guessed how well this would work. Speed limits really helped range. Regained 7% on the way down just like previous poster said.

Park was really worth it. Don’t miss Moro Rock. Strongly recommend. Saw about 4 other Teslas I think.

Curious if you think my 283 max range is typical for 39k?
Also, if you look close, you’ll see my Contisilents are done. Recommendations?

Great info! Planning my trip for May 23 now so this is very helpful. I'm staying at Wuksachi Lodge (2 nights) so hopefully will be able to get some charge there overnight as I'd like to have a full day of exploring. Did you go roundtrip from the Selma Supercharger all in one day? Did you get to see all you had planned?

 

[SVMike]

Great info! Planning my trip for May 23 now so this is very helpful. I'm staying at Wuksachi Lodge (2 nights) so hopefully will be able to get some charge there overnight as I'd like to have a full day of exploring. Did you go roundtrip from the Selma Supercharger all in one day? Did you get to see all you had planned?

See my post #18. I think going from Selma to park and back to Selma is about the same as Traver to Traver like I did.
I haven't been to Selma, but there might be more to do while charging at Traver (Bravo farms has a kids play area)

Mike

 

[Dennisis]

See my post #18. I think going from Selma to park and back to Selma is about the same as Traver to Traver like I did.
I haven't been to Selma, but there might be more to do while charging at Traver (Bravo farms has a kids play area)

Mike

Yeah I’ll probably stop at Traver and try to top off in Three Rivers while grabbing lunch.

 

[Falcon73]

When we had our Volvo C40, with about 220 miles of real (flat land) range, this was quite doable. We were up there in July. And yeah, regen going down was fun! It sure beat ICE engine braking.

However, we sold the C40 and with our current "Road Tripper" being a Model X 75D, I'm much less confident, especially since we don't have CCS (yet). Even when Visalia goes online this would be a stretch for the MX, I'm thinking.

Edit: It looks like Tesla need to update their "Find Us" map... Visalia (Goshen) is online:

Supercharger - Visalia, CA

 

[sandeepz]

Visited Kings Canyon (Princess Campground) this weekend. I have a Standard Tesla Model Y with 230 miles range. So, was a bit worried at first. But it worked out great in the end.
1. Drove from Cupertino, CA to Fresno supercharger in Clovis. Miles left at Clovis were 25 miles.
2. Then charged to 90% - 210 miles and headed to Kings Canyon. By the time, we reached Princess Campground - it had 100 miles left.
3. Tried not to accelerate too much, put the driving mode in Chill and brake mode in Hold. Also, look for any tips in the Energy Usage app on Tesla's screen.
4. On the way back from Princess Campground to Fresno - was left 60+ miles by the time I reached the supercharger at Madera, CA. On the Kings Canyon downhill, it pretty much gained miles.
5. Charged it to 90% at Madera and reached home in Cupertino with 20 miles left.
Overall a great visit with 1 stop in both directions.

 

[ecp23]

This has been a very useful thread.

I am planning a trip to Wuksachi Lodge in November, coming from Prescott Arizona.
I have a 2020 Model S Long Range.

I plan to drive to Visalia, spend the night there, then get a full charge in the morning at the Visalia Supercharger, then head to the Wuksachi Lodge.
I am there for 4 days so I will budget my range accordingly, and use shuttles where I can, just so that on departure day, I have enough to get me back to the Visalia Supercharger, then head back to Prescott.

Sound like a good plan?

 

[Tam]

...I plan to drive to Visalia, spend the night there...

If you stay overnight in Visalia, there are 2 Destination chargers at Holliday In Express, about 9 miles from the Supercharger.

Another option is the other 2 Destination chargers near the Park entrance at:

Home | Gateway Sequoia | Lodging | Restaurant | Events | Three Rivers |

The Gateway Restaurant & Lodge is one of California’s best lodging options for your visit to Sequoia National Park. Book your vacation today!

gateway-sequoia.com

That means it's 50 miles away from the Visalia Supercharger.

 

[ecp23]

If you stay overnight in Visalia, there are 2 Destination chargers at Holliday In Express, about 9 miles from the Supercharger.

Another option is the other 2 Destination chargers near the Park entrance at:

Home | Gateway Sequoia | Lodging | Restaurant | Events | Three Rivers |

The Gateway Restaurant & Lodge is one of California’s best lodging options for your visit to Sequoia National Park. Book your vacation today!

gateway-sequoia.com

That means it's 50 miles away from the Visalia Supercharger.

Thank you. good to know!

 

[SDKoala]

This has been a very useful thread.

I am planning a trip to Wuksachi Lodge in November, coming from Prescott Arizona.
I have a 2020 Model S Long Range.

I plan to drive to Visalia, spend the night there, then get a full charge in the morning at the Visalia Supercharger, then head to the Wuksachi Lodge.
I am there for 4 days so I will budget my range accordingly, and use shuttles where I can, just so that on departure day, I have enough to get me back to the Visalia Supercharger, then head back to Prescott.

Sound like a good plan?

See my previous reply regarding charging at Wuksachi. That was from last summer, though, so things may have changed. If you're there for multiple nights, you have a pretty good chance of being able to use the 120v outlet. Also, there's no shuttle between Sequoia and Kings Canyon, so if you want to make your way there, you'll have to drive.

Also, think about overnighting in Three Rivers at the Gateway Lodge that @Tam mentioned instead of Visalia. They have 2 destination chargers right outside the Foothills park entrance.

 

[ironchef_bklyn]

I've made the trip to Sequoia multiple times from the LA area in my ICE car... have been planning a trip in our new MY so can share what I've found.

That said, you have 2 realistic choices for charging near Sequoia:
1) Charge in Three Rivers, right by the southern entrance to the park. The Gateway restaurant/hotel is right by the park entrance and seems to be a solid option to top up. Might not be a bad place to stay, so you can charge overnight and enjoy the park during the day.
2) Use the Traver Supercharger, which is a bit out of the way. This should enable you to use either park entrance.

CA-65 is a pretty good choice for a trip up to Sequoia from SoCal - it’s far more scenic than the 99 and on the times I’ve been on it, traffic goes pretty fast (not a ton of slow trucks). Probably similar time on either road but the CA-65 way is more pleasant. But CA-65 is only an option if you are OK charging at a slow destination charger in Three Rivers. Otherwise your only choice is to go up CA-99 to Traver and then head over to one of the park entrances.

Either way, keep in mind that the main areas of the park are a pretty good distance (and a steep climb) up from the Three Rivers entrance. Similarly, the road up to the Grant Grove entrance from the Central Valley is long-ish and steep so will eat up range. But at least you'll regain some on the way down.

Finally - Kings Canyon is amazing but you'd need to plan charging carefully, as it's pretty deep in the park. I think it's doable if you go straight there from the Traver supercharger, spend the day exploring the areas of the park on the road that leads to Kings, and then head back to the Traver Supercharger.

I did this trip from Los Angeles. I basically stopped at Tejon Ranch and charged to 95% and then stopped at Traver and charged to 100%. I arrived at Lodgepole with 58%. The car was in a parking lot for 4 days and when I got back from backpacking it still had 58%. (Make sure you turn OFF Sentry mode...b/c that drains the battery like crazy).

A friend suggested the ABPR routing app/website...so I used that to help dial in the route. This was my first long roadtrip in the MYLR so I still had range anxiety and didn't trust the in-car routing. (I put in a lower current battery % into the app just to give myself a buffer so that the app thinks that I'm starting with less range)