Been meaning to drive to Mexico for a while and finally had a reason to for a family member's wedding. This was something I would do every other year in my previous ICE vehicles but just hadn't had a chance with the M3. Last time I did a trip to Mexico was Christmas 2021 and while some things changed, it wasn't out of the ordinary even with an EV.
Biggest factor... marriage! All my trips prior were solo and I could run a fast and efficient cannon ball like run all the way to Mexico City in a day. Minimum stops to fuel, max mileage per tank, eating on the go, red bull powered, 85+ mph average cruising drive, full 18h day drive! She said "NO MAS!" and it took forever just to give this the go ahead hahaha! Curiously, EV's seem to dovetail well with this life, the charging stops break up the trip, which allow wife to rest-up and get anything she might need. But it does mean trips need to stay at 12h or less or I risk injury or death.
Parras, Coahuila was a perfect candidate for our 2022 M3 LR's maiden drive to Mexico from Houston, TX. We decided to cross thru Laredo because it allows us to bypass Monterrey even though I think the Reynosa crossing is much nicer. Got all the prerequisites done, Mexico insurance, Temporary Vehicle Import Permit (now it's a QR code you print out instead of a holographic sticker you get mailed), determined where the immigration office was at Laredo to get passport stamped (they make this really confusing on purpose btw even for a native Spanish speaker and you need to do it due to the vehicle permit in case you get stopped), double checked with ABRP trip times and charging amounts (printed out to have as reference during the trip), double checked with Plug Share that both Supercharger and Destination Charger were working by looking for latest check-ins, and bought a bunch of snacks.
From Houston to Laredo I let Tesla's navigation do it's thing by setting the Laredo Supercharger as the destination. Once there, we set the Ramos Arizpe Supercharger as our destination and had lunch while the M3 charged. This is where I noticed the first discrepancy, Tesla's Nav wanted us to leave with 65% SoC while the ABRP sheet had 83% as it's departure SoC. Since we were eating lunch, I just let it keep charging till we were done, ended up leaving with 87% SoC. After jumping through hoops to get our passport stamp, we left Nuevo Laredo with 85% in the tank and supposedly healthy 18% buffer.
Well! This was not to be, we hit strong headwinds on the highway to Monterrey and 101F weather that needed AC. Spent 37% on the first 79 miles by the time we past the toll booth. Still looked doable with a supposed 150mi of range for a 94mi drive but it got worse! We started to climb elevation as we neared Monterrey and while we were on the Monterrey bypass, Tesla's navigation wanted us to reroute into Monterrey for a 5min charge to get to Ramos Arizpe. This was+30min detour, at which point we were at 14% SoC (est. ~46mi range), and only 28mi to go! Summoning all my two years of EV driving know how, decided to gamble and go for the Ramos Arizpe SC! Boy did it get worse from there, after Monterrey it's a pretty steep climb with lots of truck traffic and my buffer just tanked. With still 10min to go but only 3 miles, the SoC hit 0%! It was mostly stop and go traffic at this point but still uphill and I dreaded loosing any momentum and having to "rev up" again to get going. Wife noticed something was odd earlier when I shut the AC off lol but she has seen me go to 1-2% before and was not as concerned as I was. I kept an eye on the regen bar to see how many limited acceleration dots appeared and tried to keep a low steady speed. When we were less than a mile away and only had 3 dots I relaxed knowing I'd make it. Hopefully the SC was working and thankfully it was! Plugged right away and got a free charge curtesy of Tesla Mexico! Got enough to have extra at our destination and got there without issue but if an hour later than planned/estimated.
The way back was immensely more straightforward. Much less trucks on the road and the toll booths weren't all backed up with traffic. Also, left with a 90% full battery from Parras and overcharged at Ramos Arizpe to easily make it to Laredo, which was mostly downhill at this point too. We both had a great time at Parras, beautiful Pueblo Magico that is a great 2-3 day weekend getaway. Crisp dry air mornings at 65-75F, super hot in the mid day, and cools off again as soon as the sun sets. Driving in Mexico was just like I remembered, confusing signage, beautiful mountain scenery, slow/fast traffic, ok roads, and felt safe along the whole route (don't drive at night and stick to main highways).
Biggest Takeaways:
"Tesla Model 3 | E-Cannonball 2018" by JayUny is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail
Biggest factor... marriage! All my trips prior were solo and I could run a fast and efficient cannon ball like run all the way to Mexico City in a day. Minimum stops to fuel, max mileage per tank, eating on the go, red bull powered, 85+ mph average cruising drive, full 18h day drive! She said "NO MAS!" and it took forever just to give this the go ahead hahaha! Curiously, EV's seem to dovetail well with this life, the charging stops break up the trip, which allow wife to rest-up and get anything she might need. But it does mean trips need to stay at 12h or less or I risk injury or death.
Parras, Coahuila was a perfect candidate for our 2022 M3 LR's maiden drive to Mexico from Houston, TX. We decided to cross thru Laredo because it allows us to bypass Monterrey even though I think the Reynosa crossing is much nicer. Got all the prerequisites done, Mexico insurance, Temporary Vehicle Import Permit (now it's a QR code you print out instead of a holographic sticker you get mailed), determined where the immigration office was at Laredo to get passport stamped (they make this really confusing on purpose btw even for a native Spanish speaker and you need to do it due to the vehicle permit in case you get stopped), double checked with ABRP trip times and charging amounts (printed out to have as reference during the trip), double checked with Plug Share that both Supercharger and Destination Charger were working by looking for latest check-ins, and bought a bunch of snacks.
From Houston to Laredo I let Tesla's navigation do it's thing by setting the Laredo Supercharger as the destination. Once there, we set the Ramos Arizpe Supercharger as our destination and had lunch while the M3 charged. This is where I noticed the first discrepancy, Tesla's Nav wanted us to leave with 65% SoC while the ABRP sheet had 83% as it's departure SoC. Since we were eating lunch, I just let it keep charging till we were done, ended up leaving with 87% SoC. After jumping through hoops to get our passport stamp, we left Nuevo Laredo with 85% in the tank and supposedly healthy 18% buffer.
Well! This was not to be, we hit strong headwinds on the highway to Monterrey and 101F weather that needed AC. Spent 37% on the first 79 miles by the time we past the toll booth. Still looked doable with a supposed 150mi of range for a 94mi drive but it got worse! We started to climb elevation as we neared Monterrey and while we were on the Monterrey bypass, Tesla's navigation wanted us to reroute into Monterrey for a 5min charge to get to Ramos Arizpe. This was+30min detour, at which point we were at 14% SoC (est. ~46mi range), and only 28mi to go! Summoning all my two years of EV driving know how, decided to gamble and go for the Ramos Arizpe SC! Boy did it get worse from there, after Monterrey it's a pretty steep climb with lots of truck traffic and my buffer just tanked. With still 10min to go but only 3 miles, the SoC hit 0%! It was mostly stop and go traffic at this point but still uphill and I dreaded loosing any momentum and having to "rev up" again to get going. Wife noticed something was odd earlier when I shut the AC off lol but she has seen me go to 1-2% before and was not as concerned as I was. I kept an eye on the regen bar to see how many limited acceleration dots appeared and tried to keep a low steady speed. When we were less than a mile away and only had 3 dots I relaxed knowing I'd make it. Hopefully the SC was working and thankfully it was! Plugged right away and got a free charge curtesy of Tesla Mexico! Got enough to have extra at our destination and got there without issue but if an hour later than planned/estimated.
The way back was immensely more straightforward. Much less trucks on the road and the toll booths weren't all backed up with traffic. Also, left with a 90% full battery from Parras and overcharged at Ramos Arizpe to easily make it to Laredo, which was mostly downhill at this point too. We both had a great time at Parras, beautiful Pueblo Magico that is a great 2-3 day weekend getaway. Crisp dry air mornings at 65-75F, super hot in the mid day, and cools off again as soon as the sun sets. Driving in Mexico was just like I remembered, confusing signage, beautiful mountain scenery, slow/fast traffic, ok roads, and felt safe along the whole route (don't drive at night and stick to main highways).
Biggest Takeaways:
- Have ABRP as a sanity check on drives into the unknown
- Charge more than you need, if not maximum capacity, due to the long stints between SC’s in Mexico
- Understand that even in the Energy App, a good Consumption projected range might not be enough if elevation/weather is changing as you drive
- Even now, Drive Trip Projections can still be off by 10-20%
- Know how your vehicle behaves at low SoC (0-1%), when it loses power, when it cuts AC, etc.
- Set point-to-point destinations at each SC stop instead of the final destination from the get go
"Tesla Model 3 | E-Cannonball 2018" by JayUny is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail
Here’s a picture of our stop at Ramos Arizpe SC which we were happy to get to haha
