We drove home from LaQuinta yesterday completing our first road trip in the Model S. The route is about 480 miles door-to-door, and I normally complete this trip in about 7-8 hours in my ICE SUV including 2 stops for food/breaks/fuel. In the Model S, it took just under 11 hours including 3 stops for food/breaks/shopping/charging.
LaQuinta to Tejon Ranch Supercharger
The first leg of the day's journey was the longest and most challenging of our road trip so far. The total distance from LaQuinta to the Tejon supercharger is 217 miles. The journey begins at the lowest elevation, 56 feet above sea level, and will require crossing the Tejon pass at an elevation of 4,144 feet in the final miles of the journey before descending into the Central Valley and the supercharger. Even with a max range charge, I knew this would be pushing the limits of what the vehicle can do.
We set off in the morning with ~260 miles rated range after a max range charge. With only a 43 mile range buffer, I turned on the car's "range mode" and set cruise control to 63 mph once we hit I-10 (speed limit 70 mph). Unfortunately, it was very windy that morning and I was averaging over 430 Wh/mile for the first 40 miles of my trip. My 43 mile buffer was rapidly depleting. By the time we arrived at the windmills outside Palm Springs it was pretty obvious how windy it really was. There were hundreds of windmills spinning rapidly generating megawatts of electricity. Unfortunately, that same wind had cost me quite a few kWhs.
I had wanted to have at least a 20 mile range buffer before climbing up the grapevine, and I was already in the low 30s of my range buffer. Time for plan B.
We had earlier picked out a Kohl's with two L2 Chargepoint chargers located just off of the 210 freeway in La Verne as our first backup charging location. As we approached the exit for Kohl's, we checked that the chargers were available and my current range buffer. I was down to 21 miles of buffer and both chargers were available (and hopefully not ICEd). We pulled into Kohl's and both spots were in fact open, so we pulled in and started charing. After shopping at Kohl's, eating lunch at a nearby Subway, and picking up some drinks for the road at Starbucks, 90 minutes had elapsed and we had added 28 miles of range to the car. I now had a 49 mile range buffer with about 107 miles left to drive.
By the time we arrived at Santa Clarita, my range buffer was down to the low 40s, but well within my comfort level. We proceeded to drive, keeping my speed at 65 mph or less the entire time. By the time we reached the Tejon pass, I was down to 32 miles rated range, with 15 miles to the supercharger, so only a 17 mile range buffer. If I had not stopped to charge earlier I would be looking at a 4 mile rated range with 15 miles to go and sweating bullets! But here is where it gets interesting. It is basically all downhill from the Tejon pass to the supercharger. My rated miles never fell below 32 for the rest of the journey. By the time I descended all the way down the mountain, I had 34 miles rated range, and I pulled into the supercharger with 33 miles rated range. So I could have made it all the way from LaQuinta to the supercharger without topping off, and would have arrived with 5 miles rated range remaining. If I were to do it again, I would still stop and top off the car, that is just cutting it way too close for comfort.
Supercharged drive up I-5
After a brief break at Tejon for a frozen yogurt and more Starbucks, the car had already charged up to 200 miles rated range so we headed off to the Harris Ranch supercharger. Traffic was light, so we flew up the I-5 and arrived at Harris Ranch with about 50 miles rated range and discovered the new superchargers were now operational! I posted the news to the forums, put in some Tesla time with a few owners and onlookers, and checked out the Harris Ranch gift shop. About an hour later we departed for home with a full standard charge and a fast and easy drive home with very light traffic the entire way. All I can say is superchargers are awesome!
