bradtem
Robocar consultant
I have done that drive a couple of times in my Tesla. It's not as much as a desert as you fear. There is a charger at Big Sur and at Fort Bragg, and that doesn't seem a lot, but there are also few detours so the only way you will run out of power is if you do a bunch of backtracking.I took my car from LA to Mendocino county on the coast. Once you get up on the PCH up there, it's a charging desert. I had to drive over a mountain range to t he next valley to a super charger. I was extremely nervous as I was cutting it fine, especially considering the mountains. I took it really slowly up the hill and regen down the mountain. I actually ended up barely using any electricity at all by the end, I was gaining so much power going down the hill, it almost seemed miraculous. Also shout out to many of the wineries and breweries in Anderson valley that have Tesla chargers on site (albeit slow).
Now I have done that backtracking when I was staying in one town or another along the route, but then you can find quite a lot of hotels (though not that cheap) with level 2 charging and even Tesla destination charging to get you set. There is even a hotel in Mendocino with Tesla Destination charging that will let you park there if they don't have guests using their stations that night.
My favourite though is the chargers that are found at several of the beaches. What better thing to do while charging than spend time on the beach? We did a 3 hour kayak trip at Van Damme State Park, and there's charging essentially right on the beach! Here's me and another Tesla charging up while at the park. Free, too!
That said, it could get a bit better, and it will. If you want to truly do highway 1 from Stinson Beach to Fort Bragg in a SR+ it could be an issue if you don't stop at a beach like this. That's 170 flat miles from Sausalito though, and should not be an issue even in that SR+ unless you backtrack a bunch.