Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg EV or ICE car?

[antneed]

We are taking a road trip to Pigeon Forge in a few weeks, cabin overlooking the Smokeys etc.

I noticed there is only one Supercharger in the P. Forge & surrounding are, and in speaking with someone who was just there, they mentioned there is alot of driving around.
We plan on doing alot of tourist attractions both in PF and Gatlinburg area.

For those that know the area, do you think its a good idea to take the long range Model Y or take the wife's ICE Lexus?
Our VRBO does not have EV charging, I did notice some Destination chargers, but we are with another family who will be in their ICE car, do i don't want to wait around at slower level 2 chargers.

thanks!

 

[Cellsaver]

We are taking a road trip to Pigeon Forge in a few weeks, cabin overlooking the Smokeys etc.

I noticed there is only one Supercharger in the P. Forge & surrounding are, and in speaking with someone who was just there, they mentioned there is alot of driving around.
We plan on doing alot of tourist attractions both in PF and Gatlinburg area.

For those that know the area, do you think its a good idea to take the long range Model Y or take the wife's ICE Lexus?
Our VRBO does not have EV charging, I did notice some Destination chargers, but we are with another family who will be in their ICE car, do i don't want to wait around at slower level 2 chargers.

thanks!

Very familiar with this area. The SC is great actually, fast and never crowded, and the new Bucees at exit 407 right off I40 should be open as well I think. However if you’re with another couple with an ICE car it’s probably just gonna be annoying to them. It’d be different if you could charge at your cabin and always start off with a full “tank”. Having said that it’s certainly doable though as mostly you’re sitting in traffic and you might only travel 10 miles in 20 minutes. If you need any tips let me know

 

[antneed]

Awesome thank you.
I think we’re going to take the Tesla, we enjoy the whole experience, and my kids love it. I heard about the new Bucees as well, they have SCs as well I take it?

Regarding tips, having never been there, we were wondering: (4 adults, 3 kids ages 12,11,9)
which mountain coaster is best?
which go kart track is best?
which Smokey mountain tour do you recommend?
What about those river raft tours, (not a wild one) lol?
do you recommend the mountain aerial tramway?
do You recommend one of those dinner and shows? (The pirate one or paula deens lumbarjack show)?
Titanic museum or Alcatraz crime museum good or pass?
the Island stores and attractions?

any thing you recommend is a must see or do?

appreciate your suggestions.
thanks

 

[IronCoffee_Max]

Currently flying to the area in October. I might switch to driving (from Colorado). Not sure yet…but if I do, I have no concerns about bringing my Tesla

 

[AudreyHTX1]

Are you still deciding?

We drove our Model X there and stayed for several days with daily runs into different sections of Smoky Mountains NP. We used the Pigeon Forge supercharger as needed, it was on the way to our lodging and convenient to some shopping. We stayed out in a cabin near Townsend with no cell coverage, so the car didn’t have cell either which wasn’t a problem. Overall effortless no problems.

It’s a real thrill to drive mountain roads in a Tesla. What incline? Car doesn’t care. It’s also fun to see recharging happen on a long downhill run.

 

[antneed]

Nice! Appreciate the feedback!
I believe we are going to take the Y!

 

[Cellsaver]

Awesome thank you.
I think we’re going to take the Tesla, we enjoy the whole experience, and my kids love it. I heard about the new Bucees as well, they have SCs as well I take it?

Regarding tips, having never been there, we were wondering: (4 adults, 3 kids ages 12,11,9)
which mountain coaster is best?
which go kart track is best?
which Smokey mountain tour do you recommend?
What about those river raft tours, (not a wild one) lol?
do you recommend the mountain aerial tramway?
do You recommend one of those dinner and shows? (The pirate one or paula deens lumbarjack show)?
Titanic museum or Alcatraz crime museum good or pass?
the Island stores and attractions?

any thing you recommend is a must see or do?

appreciate your suggestions.
thanks

Awesome thank you.
I think we’re going to take the Tesla, we enjoy the whole experience, and my kids love it. I heard about the new Bucees as well, they have SCs as well I take it?

Regarding tips, having never been there, we were wondering: (4 adults, 3 kids ages 12,11,9)
which mountain coaster is best?
which go kart track is best?
which Smokey mountain tour do you recommend?
What about those river raft tours, (not a wild one) lol?
do you recommend the mountain aerial tramway?
do You recommend one of those dinner and shows? (The pirate one or paula deens lumbarjack show)?
Titanic museum or Alcatraz crime museum good or pass?
the Island stores and attractions?

any thing you recommend is a must see or do?

appreciate your suggestions.
thanks

I would probably recommend taking the tram up to Ober Gatlinburg just for the experience and there is a decent mountain coaster up there and an alpine coaster.

With kids of that range I’d do the Hatfield and McCoy dinner show, it’s funny and the food is pretty good.

All the rafting places go out of the same place right off I40 and again are gonna be all similar. It’s not too over the top, our kids did it around that age but I can’t remember if they have a minimum age.

Haven’t been to Titanic but Alcatraz East is super cool, one of my fave places. They have the actual OJ slow chase Bronco and Ted Bundy’s VW bug. But then again your kids probably don’t even know who those people are lol.

Also check out Dolloywood definitely worth it with kids of that age.

If your kids have never seen a dam before, it’s only a few minutes out of the way to drive by Douglas dam as you are coming in, you can just drive by it or stop and check it out.

Traffic is a real nightmare so use Waze even if you’re only going a couple of miles.

Enjoy!

 

[antneed]

Cool thanks for the info!

 

[Rcmpnc]

I didnt see it mentioned, but if you have the wall charger, you can top up your Y overnight on 110v.

 

[antneed]

Had no issue while in the area. As someone stated the PF SC is conveniently located and fast and there are plenty of destination chargers Around town as well. Got a few free charges while sightseeing etc is always a bonus!

 

[AudreyHTX1]

The main complaint about the Pigeon Forge supercharger has been that it’s one of the more expensive ones. We found it handy and fast. Decent shopping center too. That said Pigeon Forge traffic is pretty darn heavy and slow at times.

 

[illusion]

Just driving back from Smokeys today . To all.people planning a trip my suggestion would be to take a cabin with ev charging. It will save you a lot of time. Since the only charger is in Pigeon Forge you can add a good 1 to 1.5 hrs to your trip if you plan to charge there everytime depending on where you are staying or if you decided to juice up midway. To me that is a lot of precious time lost especially when you need to drive 13 Hrs to get to that place. I hardly saw any EV out there on my 5 day trip and I kind of understand why now. My cabin had a grizzl e which worked beautifully for me but that area really needs more chargers . If only they could set up say 1 charger every gas station all charging problems will be solved. All these demand for 700 mile battery range would be moot !

My 2 cents

 

[alexgr]

Just driving back from Smokeys today . To all.people planning a trip my suggestion would be to take a cabin with ev charging. It will save you a lot of time. Since the only charger is in Pigeon Forge you can add a good 1 to 1.5 hrs to your trip if you plan to charge there everytime depending on where you are staying or if you decided to juice up midway. To me that is a lot of precious time lost especially when you need to drive 13 Hrs to get to that place. I hardly saw any EV out there on my 5 day trip and I kind of understand why now. My cabin had a grizzl e which worked beautifully for me but that area really needs more chargers . If only they could set up say 1 charger every gas station all charging problems will be solved. All these demand for 700 mile battery range would be moot !

My 2 cents

We just now returned back from a trip to Gatlinburg and Smokies. The actual amount of driving in the Smokies is not that large. In 4 days we charged at Pigeon Forge SC twice and visited pretty much everything. After the last charge at PF, we went to the Clingsmans Dome and then drove to Cherokee NC, then to Waynesville and then up to I-40 via Knoxville with our next charge in Cookeville. If you look at the map of the Smoky Mountains, you will see that you have nothing to worry about.

By the way, this was our first trip to Smoky Mountains after many years exploring Rockies. I should say a bear cub that came out of the woods was cute, but the people visiting the area are vastly different from the people visiting and living in the Rockies. This visit made me think much higher than I thought before about the diversity and political indifference of the people of Oklahoma where I live.

 

[illusion]

How much did you charge in Pigeon Forge which lasted you until Cookeville? What I have seen is that Tesla Predictons are quite close on flat non hilly roads but in mountains you loose a lot of range than what shows in navigation. Did you see this as well ?

 

[alexgr]

How much did you charge in Pigeon Forge which lasted you until Cookeville? What I have seen is that Tesla Predictons are quite close on flat non hilly roads but in mountains you loose a lot of range than what shows in navigation. Did you see this as well ?

I believe it was close to 300 miles of range. Considering mountains driving, before charging, Tesla told me that we will be at 32% when arriving to the Clingsmans Dome, and at 39% when we come back to PF. I also remember I had to charge to something like 60% or 70% in Colorado Springs to drive 20 miles to the Pikes Peak and get there at 19%, but then I would regain most of the lost range on the way back. Often we drive the mountains at low speed in very mild temps, which are good conditions for EVs. In both Rocky and Smoky Mountains I managed to beat Tesla predictions pretty easily.

 

[alexgr]

How much did you charge in Pigeon Forge which lasted you until Cookeville? What I have seen is that Tesla Predictons are quite close on flat non hilly roads but in mountains you loose a lot of range than what shows in navigation. Did you see this as well ?

I should add that on flat road the Tesla predictions are often can be way off. Beware of the winds. In Kansas, if you drive west on I-70, it can be a struggle to drive 100 miles to Hays on a nearly full charge if you drive against the strong winds. Thanks god (Elon Musk) there is a supercharger in Russell now!

 

[illusion]

I should add that on flat road the Tesla predictions are often can be way off. Beware of the winds. In Kansas, if you drive west on I-70, it can be a struggle to drive 100 miles to Hays on a nearly full charge if you drive against the strong winds. Thanks god (Elon Musk) there is a supercharger in Russell now!

How many people in the car?

While driving back and passing through GA and then coming into FL I did not face much wind or rain so maybe that is why my prediction was close. I continuously drove at 75 which I think for me was the only reason range was lower by 3 to 4 % than predicted.

 

[alexgr]

How many people in the car?

While driving back and passing through GA and then coming into FL I did not face much wind or rain so maybe that is why my prediction was close. I continuously drove at 75 which I think for me was the only reason range was lower by 3 to 4 % than predicted.

Two people only. On my 2000 mile trip, I drove drove over 1600 miles on highways at 75-85 mph. The overall consumption was about 275 Wh/mi.

 

[alexgr]

Two people only. On my 2000 mile trip, I drove drove over 1600 miles on highways at 75-85 mph. The overall consumption was about 275 Wh/mi.

Correction, 279 Wh/mi

 

[illusion]

Ok that is pretty good . For me I averaged around 290 wh/mile with 2 adults and 4 kids . I think the only difference would have been the rear ac and slightly more luggage .