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Road Trip from Los Angeles to Monterey....
- Thread starter EFS83
- Start date
gcsutton
Member
Did Monterrey to LA about a month ago. Only one supercharger in Big Sur at Ventana resort. Great drive.
Hearst Castle has Tesla destination chargers in their parking lot.
Just curious... if not signal in this area, that's means that there is not tesla connectivity?
Canyonero
Member
Probably not. Be sure to download some music/podcasts before you get into the Big Sur section, or just enjoy the peaceful sounds one of the most beautiful drives anywhere.
Watts_Up
Well-Known Member
I experienced having no cell connectivity when visiting the Yellowstone National Park.
In this case you cannot set a destination for the Navigation, so you need to estimate
your charging range in advance, but you still have the map and the GPS location of the car on the map,
If you are not familiar with the area, beside the Hearst Castle, Solvang is a tourist attraction,
and also Pismo Beach is famous for its clam chowder, and the Splash Café is a good place.
Making a stop at the Big Sur, Ventana destintion charger, is worth the detour for the view.
There is a fancy restaurant The Sur House near by, but it's almost impossible to get a reservation.
Depending of your schedule, you should plan to make it as a two days trip with a stay in the middle.
I imagine that making hotel reservations in advance might be the most critical point for the whole trip.
Canyonero
Member
I assume the car caches the map to some degree, but haven’t really driven any extended stretch without service to find out. But if you’ve set the route and it’s factored in a charging station in an area without cell service, it would still be able to get you there as long as you don’t reset your navigation, right?
I've done repeated round trips from the SF Peninsula to Santa Barbara and back in the past 2 months, including one that was the full roundtrip in one day, and it's pretty painless on 101 aside from the actual driving. There is construction on 101 in King City that can create a serious backup, depends on time of day and traffic when you hit that area. But plenty of supercharger locations, I've never had a problem with finding a spot at one, etc.
Of course, that assumes you are taking 101 to get from LA to Monterey California quickly. If you take the scenic route on Highway 1 it will be a lot longer drive with fewer charging options.
Personally, I wouldn't take Highway 1 unless you are doing a 2-3 day drive each way, stopping along the way, etc. Especially with a car full of people. and I for sure wouldn't take Highway 1 both ways. It's beautiful, but for actually getting somewhere I find it combines irritating driving, frequently stuck behind slower vehicles, and motion sickness for the passengers since it is a very winding road. and you can't do it for 30-60 minutes then exit, once you're taking the highway 1 option you are committed more or less all the way to Monterey. Not worth it IMHO.
And if you're actually talking about Monterrey Mexico, that's a completely different direction and I have no useful input
Of course, that assumes you are taking 101 to get from LA to Monterey California quickly. If you take the scenic route on Highway 1 it will be a lot longer drive with fewer charging options.
Personally, I wouldn't take Highway 1 unless you are doing a 2-3 day drive each way, stopping along the way, etc. Especially with a car full of people. and I for sure wouldn't take Highway 1 both ways. It's beautiful, but for actually getting somewhere I find it combines irritating driving, frequently stuck behind slower vehicles, and motion sickness for the passengers since it is a very winding road. and you can't do it for 30-60 minutes then exit, once you're taking the highway 1 option you are committed more or less all the way to Monterey. Not worth it IMHO.
And if you're actually talking about Monterrey Mexico, that's a completely different direction and I have no useful input
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Being from the middle of the country it always makes me laugh to see people express concern about road tripping the coasts in a Tesla. There are more Supercharger locations in California than the next four states combined.
Even crossing the middle of the country we're to the point now that we can all just put the destination address into the car's navigation and start driving. If you don't want to, you don't have to do any more planning than that and the drive will be great. It will lead you to each charging stop and tell you when it's OK to unplug and continue driving. It's really remarkable.
Now if they'd just incorporate multi-point navigation like we were promised months ago ...
Even crossing the middle of the country we're to the point now that we can all just put the destination address into the car's navigation and start driving. If you don't want to, you don't have to do any more planning than that and the drive will be great. It will lead you to each charging stop and tell you when it's OK to unplug and continue driving. It's really remarkable.
Now if they'd just incorporate multi-point navigation like we were promised months ago ...
leaftoy
Member
Coincidentally SF Bay Area to Santa Barbara is a route will likely be driving often in our Y once we take delivery. Sounds like supercharger availability (number of superchargers and open spots) is not an issue on this route, which is great to hear.
Correct. The only thing you can’t do is to search for a new destination (the routing logic resides on the server). Navigation still works to-any previous destinations.
I did that trip in 2012...that was when we had 3 superchargers: Fremont, Harris Ranch, and Hawthorne/SpaceX
Today, you literally can jump in the car, drive, and go charge whenever you want or need to.. Firebaugh and Kettleman City are nice SC's.. but they all are sort of
Today, you literally can jump in the car, drive, and go charge whenever you want or need to.. Firebaugh and Kettleman City are nice SC's.. but they all are sort of
LionelHutz
Member
There's also probably 10 times as many Teslas in CA as in the next most common state.
This is what supercharger stations on OP's route can look like during the holidays:
They've build some more chargers in the area since that video but the charging infrastructure getting overwhelmed here is still very much a road trip concern.
Did that drive couple years back, took 101 since 1 was shut down past san simeon/hearst castle, easy breezy. No issues with the chargers (did not go during holiday weekend), on the way back, took 101 back to 5 via some other backroad (to check out the kettleman supercharger), don't remember which windy road it was, but somewhat scary, blind hilly sharp turns. Never had a concern with range anxiety
Hwy 101 is fine, but if you have the time take the 1.
Wow. I washed dishes there when I was in college. It was the biggest restaurant in town then. Don’t know if it still is since I haven’t been back for many years.
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