San Juan Capistrano to Tejon Ranch in an 85

[spaghetti]

I am planning a trip down to San Diego from the SF Bay Area. I am concerned about the trip back on I-5. I plan to charge at the San Juan Capistrano supercharger, and my question is whether I will be able to make it over the Grapevine to the Tejon Ranch Supercharger in my 85. Google maps shows the distance as only 137 miles, but there is a significant climb up before getting to Tejon Ranch. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Shouldn't be a problem. People have done from northern San Diego all the way to Tejon on a full charge before, so should be easy from SJC.

 

[ecarfan]

Should be no problem just do a full charge at SJC, like 98% (no point in waiting around for the last couple of miles of range) and keep your top speed to no more than 70.

 

[Dave EV]

You have to climb to just over 4000 ft at the 125 mile mark from sea level. Model S uses about 6 rated miles for each 1000 ft of climbing [1] [2] so you would plan this as a ~162 mile trip worst case, but since you descend 3000 the last 15-20 miles you could do it with closer to 150 miles range.

Anyway, with 200 miles rated range you should have plenty of buffer to make it without any sweat.

[1] Charge required to climb 1000 feet
[2] Supercharger - San Juan Capistrano, CA - Post #195

 

[liuping]

I always check with EV Trip Planner, since it takes elevation into account.

From SJC to Tejon Ranch, even driving with a 1.26 speed factor, which is 80MPH on the 5 (good luck doing that with traffic ), it will only take 190 rated miles.

No need to get a full charge at SJC, 90% is way more than enough. Even 80% is quite a bit more than you will need.

I've gone straight from Del Mar to Tejon with about 20 miles to spare. I don't recommend that though. It was stressful going up the grapevine and watching the miles drop so quickly. That was my first long distance trip.

 

[SFOTurtle]

I have a 60. A couple months ago I made it from Tustin to Tejon Ranch SC starting with 190 rated miles or so, had to detour an extra 5-7 miles due to traffic on I-5, and made it to Tejon with something like 45 rated miles. I drove at reasonable speeds (I opened up the throttle over the last 30 miles or so when it was very clear I had a lot of buffer) and didn't need to have the A/C cranking because temps were not hot. But you should have no problem at all in your 85 making it from SJC to Tejon without anything close to 100% charge.

 

[radinator]

I've driven from the Peninsula down to Dana Point and back five times now with my last/first charge at Tejon Ranch, and never had a problem making it even driving in a very spirited manner <ahem>. Closest call I had was I had about 40 miles of range left, but never felt like I had to manage my speed to help with the range.

 

[spaghetti]

Thanks all for the advice and tips - very helpful and gives me the confidence to do the drive.