How much range need to go up mountain?

[jlucero]

we live in LA and going to snowboard with tesla at big bear lake. we normally take our gas car to not deal with the range. we are thinking about taking the model s up the mountain but wondering on range. from our home to the highland, ca supercharger, it is 75 miles (the supercharger before going up the mountain). my old MS has a total range of 215 miles now. i imagine when i get there, i should have 115 miles remaining. going up the mountain to snow summit takes 33 miles and goes from an elevation of 1309 to 6752 ft (net change of 5443 ft).

so i need 33 miles to get up there and 33 miles to get back down. since i anticipate the downhill to not draw any energy, 99% of the power needed will be on the uphill ascent.

how much range would you say i need to have to safely make this trip of 33 miles up and 33 down going up 5443 ft, and down 5443 ft?

we are only staying one day. going up at 9am and coming back down around 4pm and heading home. thanks!

 

[Gadget-X]

Interesting... The heater and accessories will draw some power. Please report back with results.

M

 

[AustinP]

Use abetterrouteplanner to simulate the consumption. Good estimation usually.

That being said I recommend adding buffer just in case.
We had once the mountain (France, Val Thorens, village elevation 7545ft) closed due to heavy snow storm, and had to wait 6h at standstill, then moving at foot pace up to the station. It was madness. Storm was expected, but later. It was earlier and heavier.
Fortunately, we had charged to 90% right at the last SuC stop, expecting to arrive with around 30%... we arrived with almost 0%. (*)
Keeping the car warm for such a long time (about 12h, for a 75 miles drive) did consume quite a bit of the battery.

A Better Routeplanner

(*) Now Tesla added Suc at the foot of that mountain, which would have made that trip much less stressful. I really hesitated to drive up the mountain with what was left in the battery. Only option was a potential L2 charger in the local town, but it was late, a detour and no guarantee that this public L2 would be functional. So we all wanted to arrive, and tried and made it. Not the best memory, but family was very supportive. Worst case I would have stopped at one of the small village and ask inhabitant to plug in their home.

 

[bo3bdar]

As a data point, I live on a steep hill, and watch my power consumption when I drive up using TeslaFi. My range/efficiency is roughly 1/3 of normal for just that part of the drive, so if that is similar for your case, we might expect to have 1/3 of 216 range, or 72 miles. Coming down from the hill, I always get charge back from regen and have more at the bottom.

In your case, I'd think you should have no problem getting 33 miles, even going uphill the whole way. Coming down should actually give you energy too.

Scope out other L2 chargers on the path using Chargepoint, Plugshare, ABRP, on the off chance you find yourself too low, you can always take a couple hours break and add juice. Absolute worst case, you could always just turn around and go downhill to get energy.

 

[BigBearGroups]

There are charging options popping up in Big Bear. Check with the ski resort. They were supposed to have chargers going in. So get a full charge while you ski. Otherwise, The REMAX in the village has some. My lodge should have a 50amp open to guests and public soon as well. I'll report back. If you are coming to Big Bear on a busy weekend. Consider going up the 15 to Hesperia (Hesperia has a SuperCharger) to Bear Valley Cutoff to Lucerne to Big Bear. You will be on less snowy roads, less windy roads, less car sick passengers, and probably need less heater. The road from Highland to Big Bear is an hour of winding roads. The Lucerne to Big Bear makes that only 10-15 minutes of windy roads, but adds 15 miles or so of highway miles.

 

[jlucero]

There are charging options popping up in Big Bear. Check with the ski resort. They were supposed to have chargers going in. So get a full charge while you ski. Otherwise, The REMAX in the village has some. My lodge should have a 50amp open to guests and public soon as well. I'll report back. If you are coming to Big Bear on a busy weekend. Consider going up the 15 to Hesperia (Hesperia has a SuperCharger) to Bear Valley Cutoff to Lucerne to Big Bear. You will be on less snowy roads, less windy roads, less car sick passengers, and probably need less heater. The road from Highland to Big Bear is an hour of winding roads. The Lucerne to Big Bear makes that only 10-15 minutes of windy roads, but adds 15 miles or so of highway miles.

Well im wondering how much range would you guess i need for the 33 miles it takes to get from highland to big bear? im not concerned about going home since its mostly down hill. i just want to make sure i have enough to go up the mountain. we have made that trip many times, but with a gas car.

 

[Snerruc]

You don’t need 33 miles to come back down. You will be regenerating electricity. I was at the top of the saddle road on the Big Island with 12 miles range and 40 miles to go. When I got home, I had gone 40 miles and showed 34 miles in the battery. Polywog on Maui goes to the top of haleakala and regens 50+ miles coming down. Don’t worry.

 

[ChadS]

See the "elevation" section in THIS post.

In a Model S, you might lose an extra 10 miles of range for every 1,000' of elevation gain. But you'll gain roughly 6 of those when you come back down.

The in-car nav system now takes elevation in to account.

 

[jlucero]

ok cool---10 miles lost for every 1000 ft elevation...hadnt heard this. but good to know!

 

[TarmacSurfer]

My rule of thumb is you’ll use about 3% per 1,000’ of climb and regenerate about 1% per 1,000’ coming back down. YMMV.

 

[beachmiles]

A big bear supercharger is currently the #1 requested charger in the world.
Please vote to keep it in the #1 spot.

Supercharger Voting | Tesla

Vote on the next Supercharger location.

www.tesla.com

I added 2 more specific location requests in big bear for the next voting cycle at these locations. Maybe if more people add these spots manually this will increase the chance further of getting a charger installed here.
42170 Big Bear Blvd, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315
630 Knickerbocker Rd, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315