North to Alaska

[Daks]

@coleAK - You forgot to mention the sad shape the ferry system is in right now. Not very reliable. Now that I have my Y, I can attest that I lose over 50% of range in the winter. And even a buddy that has a place in Denali National Park has told me that when the leaves Anchorage to go back home, he has to top off in the Valley, then at Trapper Creek to make it the next 80 miles to his house as it's uphill, in addition to cold and usually snow covered roads. He's seen close to 1KW/MI. A lot of the places you charge are super slow too. The J1772/32A ones in town don't even add 20 miles per hour of charging for me, which is what a 14-50 will add with your mobile charger. (I'm considering getting a portable 14-50 aftermarket 40A J1772 EVSE since RV Parks tend to have that 14-50 adapter) Now with a Cyber with it's even higher WH/MI use, you might get only 10 miles per hour added. (hard to say as we don't have full specs on it - so that's a SWAG at best)

A couple of people have driven from the L48 to Alaska in a Tesla-but that last leg (read almost 2k miles) is painful if you like to make time driving. Lots of RV Park stopping with only 30AMP/120V. At least Northern Rockies Lodge will let you rent a RV space to charge your car. I usually stay in their cabins for my drives. BTW - Electrify Canada has different options then plugshare, so get both! Haines has a Chademo/CCS so the expensive Tesla Chademo adapter would help with that leg, but that's about all it's good for as the Chademo chargers in the state all have the Tesla adapter - at least the ones I know about.

Canada tends to suck in the Northern areas as most places you can't charge unless you are a Patron - can't even pay to just charge. I think that's kinda wrong, but whatever. Just means that 200-300 miles just cost you a nights stay at a hotel.

I feel confident the Soldotna Supercharger will go in this year and there are more 25KW-49KW "fast chargers" with Chademo/Tesla adapters on them in the pipeline. It'll ease the driving within the state, but not getting here from Canada. I have that same dream about driving to/from the L48 in a Tesla the same way I have done it in gas and diesel vehicles.

 

[coleAK]

@coleAK - You forgot to mention the sad shape the ferry system is in right now. Not very reliable. Now that I have my Y, I can attest that I lose over 50% of range in the winter. And even a buddy that has a place in Denali National Park has told me that when the leaves Anchorage to go back home, he has to top off in the Valley, then at Trapper Creek to make it the next 80 miles to his house as it's uphill, in addition to cold and usually snow covered roads. He's seen close to 1KW/MI. A lot of the places you charge are super slow too. The J1772/32A ones in town don't even add 20 miles per hour of charging for me, which is what a 14-50 will add with your mobile charger. (I'm considering getting a portable 14-50 aftermarket 40A J1772 EVSE since RV Parks tend to have that 14-50 adapter) Now with a Cyber with it's even higher WH/MI use, you might get only 10 miles per hour added. (hard to say as we don't have full specs on it - so that's a SWAG at best)

A couple of people have driven from the L48 to Alaska in a Tesla-but that last leg (read almost 2k miles) is painful if you like to make time driving. Lots of RV Park stopping with only 30AMP/120V. At least Northern Rockies Lodge will let you rent a RV space to charge your car. I usually stay in their cabins for my drives. BTW - Electrify Canada has different options then plugshare, so get both! Haines has a Chademo/CCS so the expensive Tesla Chademo adapter would help with that leg, but that's about all it's good for as the Chademo chargers in the state all have the Tesla adapter - at least the ones I know about.

Canada tends to suck in the Northern areas as most places you can't charge unless you are a Patron - can't even pay to just charge. I think that's kinda wrong, but whatever. Just means that 200-300 miles just cost you a nights stay at a hotel.

I feel confident the Soldotna Supercharger will go in this year and there are more 25KW-49KW "fast chargers" with Chademo/Tesla adapters on them in the pipeline. It'll ease the driving within the state, but not getting here from Canada. I have that same dream about driving to/from the L48 in a Tesla the same way I have done it in gas and diesel vehicles.

I can’t imagine the AMHS will completely go away.

As I’ve said on this forum many times over the last over 6 years with at least one Tesla in AK. Until we get super chargers at all the road junctions and ends an EV is an in town vehicle only. In the summer our range is anchorage to Seward south and to Talkeetna north. Further then that I don’t take the Tesla. In the winter I cut that to Girdwood south and Wasilla north.

Yes I see days where I get 1kw/mi on short trips and around town. But I regularly do Girdwood and back in the winter and get ~280-330 Wh/mi and almost never see over ~400 Wh/mi on that trip. Even last weekend round trip I got 315 Wh/mi when it never got above 10F.

As for the drive across Canada to/from AK in an EV. Yeah I’m guessing 5-10 years until it is really possible without taking forever to charge and risking running out of juice. Heck I carry 20 gallons of gas when I do that drive pulling my camper due to scarcity of well pretty much everything.

I’m not holding my breath for the SC in Soldotona. When we got our S in 2014 the SC map showed a “planned” SC in Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Fairbanks. Within 2-3 years “planned” in Talkeetna and Fairbanks were gone. Some time last year “planned” in Anchorage disappeared. Doesn’t give me much hope for Soldotona which doesn’t make sense at all for the first SC in AK.

 

[Daks]

I can’t imagine the AMHS will completely go away.

As I’ve said on this forum many times over the last over 6 years with at least one Tesla in AK. Until we get super chargers at all the road junctions and ends an EV is an in town vehicle only. In the summer our range is anchorage to Seward south and to Talkeetna north. Further then that I don’t take the Tesla. In the winter I cut that to Girdwood south and Wasilla north.

Yes I see days where I get 1kw/mi on short trips and around town. But I regularly do Girdwood and back in the winter and get ~280-330 Wh/mi and almost never see over ~400 Wh/mi on that trip. Even last weekend round trip I got 315 Wh/mi when it never got above 10F.

As for the drive across Canada to/from AK in an EV. Yeah I’m guessing 5-10 years until it is really possible without taking forever to charge and risking running out of juice. Heck I carry 20 gallons of gas when I do that drive pulling my camper due to scarcity of well pretty much everything.

I’m not holding my breath for the SC in Soldotona. When we got our S in 2014 the SC map showed a “planned” SC in Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Fairbanks. Within 2-3 years “planned” in Talkeetna and Fairbanks were gone. Some time last year “planned” in Anchorage disappeared. Doesn’t give me much hope for Soldotona which doesn’t make sense at all for the first SC in AK.

I wish I was getting 400 wh/mi... Living up a mountain is takes a lot of energy. I just went down to get mail and my average was 1020 WH/MI. Into Anchorage and Back (24 miles roundtrip) and I am in the 700s if I am lucky. I imagine if I did a long run it'd be better... Preheating/conditioning helps.

The nightmare of the people stuck in Juneau on the Ferry comes to mind, so will it be gone, no. But could you be seriously inconvenienced -- yes...

The Soldotna SC is so far, still looking really good. But yeah, anything can happen. It's not exactly widely known, but a private company was supposed to help with the Anchorage Service Center/Parts Depot/Supercharger back in 2014 and well - things went so bad it's in court. And that is why it didn't happen - Not even sure it's finished yet, I haven't poked around enough to figure it out. It is rumored we will get a "garage" to go to, not a true service center, but at least a fixed building. But that is far from official.

In the winter there are several people that routinely drive from Anchorage and Fairbanks. It is a pain but getting better. Granted they live IN Fairbanks, so they leave with a full charge and get back and can charge. Whereas you and I that live in Anchorage, once we get to Fairbanks, where do we charge up? Fairbanks is "supposed" to be getting a J1772/32A charger. Just south of Fairbanks you can stop at "Driving on Sunshine" in Denali NP area off the parks - currently has a destination Tesla Charger and he is in the process of acquiring a DC fast charger with the Tesla Chademo adapter - thinking actual power to the Tesla would be around 38KW or so. Then you have places in Talketna and Trapper Creek for a top off to make it to Wasilla in the winter (or vice versa). I've been warned that Trapper Creek up in the winter, you need to have a good charge as the elevation and slush will cause you to lose about 50% or more of range. Alaska Blasting in Wasilla has a destination charger... Wasilla Chevy has a CCS so when Tesla releases that you have another fast charger. My understanding is right now Aleyska's charger is down. (sadly) Exit Marine is Seward has some now too....

I belong to a Statewide group of Tesla/EV Owners and business people here. There is a lot going on behind the scenes and it would have been here already, but COVID... IMHO, The biggest delay and your 5-10 year estimate is spot on for this for my AK to L48 drive is the AK/Canada border to the Canadian Supercharger network. Rural Canada isn't as easy. Like you, in a ICE vehicle I leave the Anchorage area and I have extra fuel on board and for the the same reason. I've done 9 trips to/from the L48 and Alaska... And that extra fuel has been the difference between making it to the next fuel station or having to wait for a fuel delivery truck as the one I wanted to top off at had no fuel...

I agree that right now, this is really a good short distance commuter vehicle, especially in the winter. It'll do well taking my last at home kid to/from school and activities and running my other errands. Our other car is a gas car and it can be the, I need to run to the Kenai or Fairbanks in the winter - at least until the better charging infrastructure is up. I have more, but this post is long enough!

 

[mark95476]

How high up the mountain do you live? Here's some stats after going up and down Mt Hamilton which is the highest peak (>4000ft) in the Silicon Valley area. The drive up the mountain itself is ~19 miles to the top and another 19 back out. I got ~5% regen going downhill through two false peaks on a wet and dreary day to avoid traffic. I go up and down mountains regularly on my fun drives and I'm blown-away by the efficiency.

Stats: ~87 miles; 231 Wh/mi average

I wish I was getting 400 wh/mi... Living up a mountain is takes a lot of energy. I just went down to get mail and my average was 1020 WH/MI. Into Anchorage and Back (24 miles roundtrip) and I am in the 700s if I am lucky. I imagine if I did a long run it'd be better... Preheating/conditioning helps.

 

[coleAK]

I wish I was getting 400 wh/mi... Living up a mountain is takes a lot of energy. I just went down to get mail and my average was 1020 WH/MI. Into Anchorage and Back (24 miles roundtrip) and I am in the 700s if I am lucky. I imagine if I did a long run it'd be better... Preheating/conditioning helps.

The nightmare of the people stuck in Juneau on the Ferry comes to mind, so will it be gone, no. But could you be seriously inconvenienced -- yes...

The Soldotna SC is so far, still looking really good. But yeah, anything can happen. It's not exactly widely known, but a private company was supposed to help with the Anchorage Service Center/Parts Depot/Supercharger back in 2014 and well - things went so bad it's in court. And that is why it didn't happen - Not even sure it's finished yet, I haven't poked around enough to figure it out. It is rumored we will get a "garage" to go to, not a true service center, but at least a fixed building. But that is far from official.

In the winter there are several people that routinely drive from Anchorage and Fairbanks. It is a pain but getting better. Granted they live IN Fairbanks, so they leave with a full charge and get back and can charge. Whereas you and I that live in Anchorage, once we get to Fairbanks, where do we charge up? Fairbanks is "supposed" to be getting a J1772/32A charger. Just south of Fairbanks you can stop at "Driving on Sunshine" in Denali NP area off the parks - currently has a destination Tesla Charger and he is in the process of acquiring a DC fast charger with the Tesla Chademo adapter - thinking actual power to the Tesla would be around 38KW or so. Then you have places in Talketna and Trapper Creek for a top off to make it to Wasilla in the winter (or vice versa). I've been warned that Trapper Creek up in the winter, you need to have a good charge as the elevation and slush will cause you to lose about 50% or more of range. Alaska Blasting in Wasilla has a destination charger... Wasilla Chevy has a CCS so when Tesla releases that you have another fast charger. My understanding is right now Aleyska's charger is down. (sadly) Exit Marine is Seward has some now too....

I belong to a Statewide group of Tesla/EV Owners and business people here. There is a lot going on behind the scenes and it would have been here already, but COVID... IMHO, The biggest delay and your 5-10 year estimate is spot on for this for my AK to L48 drive is the AK/Canada border to the Canadian Supercharger network. Rural Canada isn't as easy. Like you, in a ICE vehicle I leave the Anchorage area and I have extra fuel on board and for the the same reason. I've done 9 trips to/from the L48 and Alaska... And that extra fuel has been the difference between making it to the next fuel station or having to wait for a fuel delivery truck as the one I wanted to top off at had no fuel...

I agree that right now, this is really a good short distance commuter vehicle, especially in the winter. It'll do well taking my last at home kid to/from school and activities and running my other errands. Our other car is a gas car and it can be the, I need to run to the Kenai or Fairbanks in the winter - at least until the better charging infrastructure is up. I have more, but this post is long enough!

we’ve made the trip to Fairbanks once in a Tesla, it was 4 years ago when we had the S. It sucked, 3 hours at the Talkeetna Tesoro, then 3 hours at the campground behind 49th state Healy on the way there then 3 hours at the rainbow campground at park entrance then 2 hours at Tesoro on the way back.

The Alyeska charger isn’t down it just moved from the side lot at the hotel to the lot in front. I don’t charge in Girdwood though, no need. If I leave home with 80% I get back home with 25-40%


I live fairly high up on the hillside ~1000 ft above Anchorage. In the LR AWD 3 going to mid town I get 50-100 Wh/mi then 500-700 Wh/mi home total trip is usually 300-400 Wh/mi in the winter. Since you have a Y haven’t had it that long, is this your first Tesla? If so, Short trips around town in the winter will have huge usage so you have to look at the big picture. Also things get more efficient after 3-5k miles. I reset a tip card every fall/spring. May-September I average ~250 Wh/mi. Oct-April I’ve average 350-400 Wh/mi on the lower end when I make a bunch of trips to Girdwood.

 

[Merle]

How high up the mountain do you live? Here's some stats after going up and down Mt Hamilton which is the highest peak (>4000ft) in the Silicon Valley area. The drive up the mountain itself is ~19 miles to the top and another 19 back out. I got ~5% regen going downhill through two false peaks on a wet and dreary day to avoid traffic. I go up and down mountains regularly on my fun drives and I'm blown-away by the efficiency.

Stats: ~87 miles; 231 Wh/mi average

Mt. Ham is nice, I'd take the motorcycles up to there and back down through to I5 or Niles Canyon via Calaveras along with Quimby Rd back past Alum Rock. But it's not especially indicative of driving of the mountains, considering that cold temperature extremes are real drags on the battery.

* Up at 7000+ feet and though we do benefit from the drag of the regenerative brakes ...
* When it is cold outside, you will NOT regen fully.
* Grades at 6% can allow you to come to a near stop if you're not going too fast. But when you have traffic zoom-zooming behind you at 55MPH, you'll be on and off the brakes more losing efficiency, and I'd rarely see folks on the back roads there
* Overnight parking, outdoors, means that you will not be able to benefit at all from regenerative braking, until the vehicle warms up. For me, that's 10-15 minutes (at a minimum) and all of that energy I've gained from climbing to the homestead at 7000' is lost when I descend to 4200.

 

[mark95476]

I go up and down the local mountains (~2500 ft) very frequently. I had a good run this afternoon and got 943 Wh/mi average across 5 miles on the way up. We had a lot of wind yesterday (road debris) so I backed off a bit, but I was still hustling.

Stats at the top: 21.5 miles @ 474 Wh/mi avg
Stats at the bottom: 36.4 miles @ 248 Wh/mi avg

I gain ~3% SoC on the way down. This is very consistent, even when I'm driving in the wet or cold and regen is limited.

Mt. Ham is nice, I'd take the motorcycles up to there and back down through to I5 or Niles Canyon via Calaveras along with Quimby Rd back past Alum Rock. But it's not especially indicative of driving of the mountains, considering that cold temperature extremes are real drags on the battery.

* Up at 7000+ feet and though we do benefit from the drag of the regenerative brakes ...
* When it is cold outside, you will NOT regen fully.
* Grades at 6% can allow you to come to a near stop if you're not going too fast. But when you have traffic zoom-zooming behind you at 55MPH, you'll be on and off the brakes more losing efficiency, and I'd rarely see folks on the back roads there
* Overnight parking, outdoors, means that you will not be able to benefit at all from regenerative braking, until the vehicle warms up. For me, that's 10-15 minutes (at a minimum) and all of that energy I've gained from climbing to the homestead at 7000' is lost when I descend to 4200.

 

[Daks]

ColeAK - We are very close to being neighbors, I'm at roughly 1400' elevation on the hillside - when I leave I have no regen, even at times preconditioning so all that potential energy is lost. Although it's been cooler out since I got the Y and like now it's snowing fairly hard so the roads are slushy and that hurts range too. It's getting better now that my heat pump is working properly. I went into town today and was almost positive wh/mi still by the time I got to the Verizon Building on A st. But this was after a early morning drive to/from Providence Hospital that was again in the 700-800 wh/mi 20 mile roundtrip drive. But since the car was still warm from the earlier drive I had regen going down. BTW - first time using a 48A J1772 - nice seeing 34 miles an hour charge rate instead of 16 miles at Dimond or Lowes. I have noticed short runs suck and I can see greater then 1KWH/MI for those. I could swear I just read a report that the place they moved the Girdwood charger from, the last person to try it said it was broken... And yes that drive would suck back and forth to FBX. My first Tesla, not my first EV. I totally expect to get much better wh/mi in the summer, especially once I switch back to summer tires from the winter tires. Cold, starting up high, studded winter tires are all not great for range. It is what it is. I wasn't really complaining about what I am getting, more just saying wish it was better. I also have a performance Y.

Mark - Part of the problem is that I start at the top of the mountain (or hill) and it's cold out right now. I can help the car out by doing a full 30 minute precondition and the Tesla tech said the engineers request that in my temps I do at least a 15 minute precondition, like you would remote start a gas/diesel car in the morning. That should really help out - although it is sorta "cheating" in that my real world wh/mi should be adjusted by the energy needed to do that 15-30 minute precondition - plugged into 110/12A I lose 10-15 miles of range. Also, I am now setting climate to 60F to see how much of a difference from 68F that makes.

 

[israndy]

"15 minute precondition" means turn on climate 15 minutes before you leave?

 

[Daks]

"15 minute precondition" means turn on climate 15 minutes before you leave?

yes. On my app I get a red battery icon with a snowflake in it. When the battery is "ready" that light goes out.

 

[gary3411]

I didn't read every post, sorry if this was mentioned. Plugshare DOES NOT have all campgrounds with electricity on it. Not even close. I'd venture to say less than 10% in the US. So if trying to take any remote trip do not limit yourself to plugshare for charging options. There are numerous RV/camping apps that show most of them, or good old google maps usually pulls up just about everything, but occasionally you have to change your wording to get better results trying "camping" "camp" "RV camping" etc.

 

[coleAK]

I didn't read every post, sorry if this was mentioned. Plugshare DOES NOT have all campgrounds with electricity on it. Not even close. I'd venture to say less than 10% in the US. So if trying to take any remote trip do not limit yourself to plugshare for charging options. There are numerous RV/camping apps that show most of them, or good old google maps usually pulls up just about everything, but occasionally you have to change your wording to get better results trying "camping" "camp" "RV camping" etc.

PlugShare has most of them up here in AK since camp sites are the only places to charge during travel.

 

[Daks]

PlugShare has most of them up here in AK since camp sites are the only places to charge during travel.

100% true for Alaska. If you are running around Canada and/or the L48 it'd make sense to get an RV locating app and then call ahead to make sure they will allow you to charge.

Also, an AIRBNB at Aleyska up here just added a RV charging spot for people that rent from them. So far, I haven't seen it on plugshare - although - there is a charger at the Aleyska hotel itself.

Cole- Getting my wh/mi sorted out. Precondition, lower use of climate and the updates Tesla has sent out have all made it go up. Also regen is working better after the latest update.