Tucson to Seattle via Reno

[Bbjonz]

Hi All,

We have a 2018 M3, RWD LR and are planning our return to Seattle in May. When we drove from Seattle to Tucson in August, the two routes provided by ABRP were through either LA or SLC, and we chose LA because more charging options were available. (It was our first road trip in the M3 so we were cautious.). ABRP now gives a more direct, if a bit slower route, via Vegas and Reno, presumably because of new superchargers along the way, and I am curious if anyone has made this trip. Looks like a great option but it seems not much of it is freeway, at least through parts of western Nevada. Screenshot of route attached. Thanks in advance.

 

[roblab]

Just took part of this route last week. 55 mph all the way, although you can get away with 60. No police except once, though that's all it would take to ruin a vacation. I just set it on cruise and motored on. By the way, we also enjoy a Model 3 RWD. Great car. Never did see the advertised wild burro herds. I guess they blend in really well.

All I can say is it's one heck of a long drive through miles and miles and miles, AND MORE miles, of desert, desert, and an occasional Joshua tree in the desert. Took us two days to go half as far as you're planning! Remember to keep a hand on the wheel in FSD mode. Sleepy drivers (day or night) can cross the double yellow line in seconds, and you gotta be able to move quick.

 

[Bbjonz]

Thanks for your reply, roblab. Yes, the M3 RWD is a great car. Bought it used in Seattle last summer before prices went crazy. And it does have FSD—not sure I’d pay $12k for it but it is useful on long trips. Still unsure which route we’ll take. LA is all freeway, which is nice, and we are quite familiar with driving through SLC on our way to Missoula. Not sure I have the patience for long stretches of 55 MPH but it will sure improve our range…

 

[PLUS EV]

I just drove this one and I've driven it quite a few times both in my Tesla and my old ICE cars. The reason it shows up on ABRP now is because the supercharger in Susanville opened in September. It's definitely the fastest way to get there if you are in a hurry, but it isn't faster by much and it's mostly v2 superchargers so if you'd prefer to take one of the other routes, I wouldn't fault you.

There's almost zero chance of hitting significant traffic between Vegas and Springfield, OR (maybe a small chance of a slowdown if you hit Reno at the wrong time), but that same long stretch is very desolate, some call it boring, but I personally enjoy drives like that. The most scenic part is from Susanville up to the Oregon border, but really the entire stretch from Reno to Springfield is fairly scenic. Vegas to Reno is all desert and fairly straight, but the mountains on the horizon can be pretty at times.

Most of the AZ and NV portions of this trip have 70 and 75mph speed limits so I'm not sure what roblab is talking about. That short stretch from Susanville to Klamath Falls is probably 55mph, then Klamath Falls to Springfield ranges from 55 to 65mph depending on the terrain. Springfield to Seattle is typical OR/WA freeway speeds of 60 and 70mph depending on population density.

You can do the drive in 2 days if you push it. Just overnight in Reno. 3 days would be more leisurely but you'd end up overnighting in some fairly small towns as there isn't much between Vegas and Reno or Reno and Springfield. If you really want to take your time, take 4 days and overnight in Vegas, Reno and Springfield/Eugene.

 

[PLUS EV]

Actually I take that back. It looks like the route through Page, AZ and Beaver, UT is a little faster and the route through SoCal is allegedly faster (though that really depends on your timing with traffic... I'm dubious!). I had to make a stop in Vegas so I was kind of forced into the route through Reno, but you don't have that limitation. Page to Beaver is a somewhat tough leg which might be why ABRP didn't recommend it, but it's very doable in a LR M3. Just keep in mind that it's 1500 ft uphill so that will burn an extra 15 rated miles. 185 miles and 1500 ft uphill can be reached with 200 rated miles in good weather driving like a grandma, but you'll want to charge to close to 300 and drive the speed limit (at least at the beginning of the leg) just to be safe.

If you do go this route, I would rate it as at least equally scenic to the route through Reno, but it's much more front-loaded. The area around the AZ/UT border is incredibly scenic but after that it gets progressively more boring as you go along (I find the drive through Idaho on I-84 to be very boring).

Anyways, I don't see any obvious advantages to one route or the other. If I were you, I would probably just drive whichever route took me to new places that I had never been to before. The route through Page has more interstate so if you prefer interstate driving, that might be the one for you.

 

[Bbjonz]

If I were you, I would probably just drive whichever route took me to new places that I had never been to before. The route through Page has more interstate so if you prefer interstate driving, that might be the one for you.

Thanks for your thoughtful and detailed comments. We took the LA route last summer with the M3 and have driven through Page in one of our old ICE cars on our way to Missoula. The Reno route is about 60 miles shorter, though seems to take about the same time to drive as the other two. But we haven't taken that route, yet, so I think we'll give that one a whirl. Will report back after we finish the trip--heading up in mid May.

 

[MyJoule]

I'm a bit late to the party so to speak. We drive from Tucson to Edmonds and back several times each year- In a Model S, so YMMV, but we find that now it's pretty much a wash between using I-10-I-210-I5 ie ( AZ, CA, OR, WA)ie LA route vs I10-I17-US89, UT20, I-15, I84, I 82 and I 90(AZ, UT, ID , OR , WA ) ie SLC route. In the winter, it's probably better though CA from a winter weather point of view. We'll be going in a few weeks again, and have been playing around with the routing. I should add that we take the "bypass" and use some 2 lane roads to cut probably 45 min off the trip around Kennewick WA, The in car nave did that once we had enough charge in Pendleton OR to skip Kennewick supercharger and Yakima was on line.

We are Still deciding which way to go next time, Now that we have a newer LR S, if we go the SLC route, we won't need to charge in Kanab UT. I think the number of V3 superchargers on the LA route is higher, but I haven't counted it all the way up yet. I don't particularly like driving on the 2 lane roads from Flagstaff -Kanab and to Beaver, but I'm sure I'd hate the 2 lane roads through NV. So we've not considered the Reno route.

My biggest worry now though is with all the new Teslas on the road, which way will have the least supercharger congestion? I don't have an answer for that yet. When we did the trip in January, we went via LA and while we didn't have any full superchargers along the way we did have some that were close to full. Of course the LA route has the most stalls along the way, so that's a plus for dealing with LA traffic. SLC traffic can be bad too though. Then there is wind in ID that can cut the range- I think PlusEV pointed that out to us a few years ago. One thing that might influence our decision- some of the superchargers along the LA route are a bit "sketchy" so to speak, particularly Medford OR, The last experience that was wild- A crazed lady was running through he lot 1/2 naked screaming, It was a bit unnerving.

FWIW- we typically do the trip with 2 overnights- LA route Medford and Tejon Ranch area SLC route, Kanab and Mt Home ID. Sometimes we'll stretch it to 3 overnights with one day being a "short day" most recently, on the SLC route, Pendleton OR, Tremonton, UT and Kanab AZ. On the last LA 3 overnight, Tejon Ranch, Redding CA, then Wilsonville OR.

We had to stop I think 13 times in our older S85, I think the new LR S it will be in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 times, so V3 chargers might be the tie breaker for which way to go.

 

[Bbjonz]

I'm a bit late to the party so to speak. We drive from Tucson to Edmonds and back several times each year- In a Model S, so YMMV, but we find that now it's pretty much a wash between using I-10-I-210-I5 ie ( AZ, CA, OR, WA)ie LA route vs I10-I17-US89, UT20, I-15, I84, I 82 and I 90(AZ, UT, ID , OR , WA ) ie SLC route. In the winter, it's probably better though CA from a winter weather point of view. We'll be going in a few weeks again, and have been playing around with the routing. I should add that we take the "bypass" and use some 2 lane roads to cut probably 45 min off the trip around Kennewick WA, The in car nave did that once we had enough charge in Pendleton OR to skip Kennewick supercharger and Yakima was on line.

We are Still deciding which way to go next time, Now that we have a newer LR S, if we go the SLC route, we won't need to charge in Kanab UT. I think the number of V3 superchargers on the LA route is higher, but I haven't counted it all the way up yet. I don't particularly like driving on the 2 lane roads from Flagstaff -Kanab and to Beaver, but I'm sure I'd hate the 2 lane roads through NV. So we've not considered the Reno route.

My biggest worry now though is with all the new Teslas on the road, which way will have the least supercharger congestion? I don't have an answer for that yet. When we did the trip in January, we went via LA and while we didn't have any full superchargers along the way we did have some that were close to full. Of course the LA route has the most stalls along the way, so that's a plus for dealing with LA traffic. SLC traffic can be bad too though. Then there is wind in ID that can cut the range- I think PlusEV pointed that out to us a few years ago. One thing that might influence our decision- some of the superchargers along the LA route are a bit "sketchy" so to speak, particularly Medford OR, The last experience that was wild- A crazed lady was running through he lot 1/2 naked screaming, It was a bit unnerving.

FWIW- we typically do the trip with 2 overnights- LA route Medford and Tejon Ranch area SLC route, Kanab and Mt Home ID. Sometimes we'll stretch it to 3 overnights with one day being a "short day" most recently, on the SLC route, Pendleton OR, Tremonton, UT and Kanab AZ. On the last LA 3 overnight, Tejon Ranch, Redding CA, then Wilsonville OR.

We had to stop I think 13 times in our older S85, I think the new LR S it will be in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 times, so V3 chargers might be the tie breaker for which way to go.

Thanks for your reply. We are concerned about the same issue. The most crowded SC we witnessed on our trip from Seattle via I-5 was the new one in Centralia, WA. Most others were fine but I suspect that they will be more crowded this summer. We plan to leave on Sunday morning, which will get us to LA in the early afternoon when, theoretically, traffic will be reduced...

 

[PLUS EV]

Thanks for your reply. We are concerned about the same issue. The most crowded SC we witnessed on our trip from Seattle via I-5 was the new one in Centralia, WA. Most others were fine but I suspect that they will be more crowded this summer. We plan to leave on Sunday morning, which will get us to LA in the early afternoon when, theoretically, traffic will be reduced...

Summer Sundays can be very busy at superchargers, especially in California. Don't think you'd have any issues going either of the other routes though, except for maybe Flagstaff (if going through UT) and Kingman (if going through NV). And Kingman could probably be entirely avoided.

Also, Centralia is actually one of the oldest superchargers in the world, although it was expanded a couple years ago so maybe that's what you're referring to.

Generally speaking, crowding at superchargers is an overrated problem imo. Being aware that you are traveling on a busy supercharger day is half the battle. Most of the other half can be mitigated by checking the occupancies of area superchargers as you approach and adjusting plans accordingly. It's mostly the utterly clueless that are impacted by supercharger crowding (and then they come on here and other forums to complain about it!).

 

[MyJoule]

Summer Sundays can be very busy at superchargers, especially in California. Don't think you'd have any issues going either of the other routes though, except for maybe Flagstaff (if going through UT) and Kingman (if going through NV). And Kingman could probably be entirely avoided.

Also, Centralia is actually one of the oldest superchargers in the world, although it was expanded a couple years ago so maybe that's what you're referring to.

Generally speaking, crowding at superchargers is an overrated problem imo. Being aware that you are traveling on a busy supercharger day is half the battle. Most of the other half can be mitigated by checking the occupancies of area superchargers as you approach and adjusting plans accordingly. It's mostly the utterly clueless that are impacted by supercharger crowding (and then they come on here and other forums to complain about it!).

If going through NV, Kingman's old supercharger can now be avoided with the new one there- so that eliminates one "Carl's Jr" smelly supercharger (we have several of those in AZ )

And in our LR S- looks like we might be able to skip Flagstaff on the UT route. Probably won't but nice to know we could.

I'm leaning towards going via UT on our next trip. Its really a toss up time wise on any of the 3 routes.

And, I will chime in- yes, planning those superchargers you can skip is helpful, the CA route is especially conducive to doing that. If we change our minds and go via CA- I think we can hit all V3 superchargers and also, up to Sacramento, use very large installations, 20 stalls or more. After Sacramento, the options go down, but still there are a lot of choices depending on how long you want to stop at a charger- I think the risk of full chargers depends on where and what time of day- For example Woodland is a pretty busy site, next to a Costco- so always a lot of folks there when Costco is open. But someplace like Yreka I think we've seen 2 others chargers when we've stopped there - I'm sure I just jinxed us for the next time we go that way

I'm hopeful that the bladder will hold out for the new range capability of the LR S. I guess we'll find out next month

 

[Bbjonz]

Hi All,

Well, we started our trip on Tuesday, 5/17, at about 10am and decided to take our time and see the NoCal and Oregon coast. Couldn’t be more pleased with the choice. The coast is stunning and our 2018 M3 (RWD, LR) handled it beautifully. A few trip highlights (so far):

- Aimed for the Gustine, CA, supercharger and a nearby stay the first night. There’s a Best Western in that same lot but it didn’t have pet friendly room availability so we stayed at the Los Banos La Quinta, which is about 10 miles from the SC. Rolled into the parking lot with 38 miles of range left and awoke to 27 miles of range—wonder if the M3 does that do keep the battery warm with low SoC? Got to the SC with 8 miles of range, and then walked the dog around Andersen’s Pea Soup restaurant, all the while trying to avoid the feral cats in the area. Fun times.

- Our M3 did a reset just as it was transitioning from “5 minutes remaining” to “charge complete.” Was a bit disconcerting but then the Tesla logo appeared on the screen, which then transitioned to normal (all infotainment and nav available) and we are on our way. Wonder if it did that because of low SoC when we arrived. Or maybe ”Leonard” (our M3’s name—long story) decided to F with us with all the feral cats around.

- Decided to take the 580 to the 101 into Eugene, CA. Got to Oakland at about 10:30, which allowed us to avoid traffic, although traffic did get a bit heavy near Livermore. Hit the SCs at Santa Rosa, Laytonville, and Eureka before staying the night in Crescent City, CA.

- Crescent City SC is newish and there are a few Chargepoint chargers under construction in the same lot. Played backgammon against the Tesla while waiting for it to charge and I’m pretty sure it cheats. It got every roll it needed but I never did. A rematch is on the horizon.

- Just left Bandon, OR. Neat SC in a strip mall parking lot with pull-through stalls.

All in all, a very pleasant experience and we are pleased with SC availability and spacing along the way. Going to Lincoln City, OR for one last charge before we head to Seattle via Portland. Seems we’ll get to Portland during rush hour, which is never fun. But the view from the bridges makes things a bit more bearable. A bit…

 

[PLUS EV]

Hi All,

Rolled into the parking lot with 38 miles of range left and awoke to 27 miles of range—wonder if the M3 does that do keep the battery warm with low SoC?

Did you have Sentry Mode on? Because that's about the typical amount of range lost to sentry mode overnight when not plugged in. You probably don't really want to park (unplugged) for the night with that low of a SOC. I'd try to keep it above 20% if parking it unplugged for a while. Also, had it been cold, you would have regretted it in the morning when your battery was cold and supercharging was slow. I've done it before and you only make that mistake once! When on a road trip, either stay some place where you can plug in or supercharge before going to the hotel.

Also, the Crescent City supercharger isn't new. It's been there since 2016.

Glad you're having fun on your trip!

 

[MyJoule]

Did you have Sentry Mode on? Because that's about the typical amount of range lost to sentry mode overnight when not plugged in. You probably don't really want to park (unplugged) for the night with that low of a SOC. I'd try to keep it above 20% if parking it unplugged for a while. Also, had it been cold, you would have regretted it in the morning when your battery was cold and supercharging was slow. I've done it before and you only make that mistake once! When on a road trip, either stay some place where you can plug in or supercharge before going to the hotel.

Also, the Crescent City supercharger isn't new. It's been there since 2016.

Glad you're having fun on your trip!

I thought Sentry Mode turned off at Low State of Charge? But that was my first thought too with the range loss overnight. I would suggest not driving it to that low of a SOC anyway-I'm not sure why the reset occurred either. Never had our Model S do that, although the MCU does crap out frequently on the older S.

FWIW- We just completed the same trip from AZ to WA last week in our LR MS- And we went via UT, ID, OR and for the first time, the length of time was comparable to and ICE- The new LR S will charge on V3 Superchargers at the full 250KW- we saw that several times on the trip- Made the full trip in only 8 stops, averaging 20Min each. It was amazing having the car ready to proceed almost before we were finished with the bio breaks. Only issues we had were not unexpected, Headwinds sucked range between Burley and Ontario which caused an extra stop in Boise. But we had anticipated that and planned accordingly. No waiting at any of the superchargers although Draper was close. it filled up while we were there, but only briefly.

Glad to hear the trip is working out though.

 

[Bbjonz]

No, sentry mode is off, as is the option to prevent cabin overheating. The Stats app shows .3 mph phantom drain, which might be a function of having the Tesla app running on my phone. Each time I dismiss it I get that message about the “best phone key experience.” I’ll keep checking and let you know what I find.

BTW, finished the trip last night. Kept going up the coast, charging at Lincoln City, Seaside (and the public house there has good sandwiches), and finally Federal Way. We took the 101 from Astoria, over the Astoria-Megler bridge, and made our way to Olympia. Will have to go back and check out Long Beach and Cape Disappointment. A great trip, made even more pleasurable in a Tesla.

 

[PLUS EV]

Interestingly I experienced a similar thing earlier tonight. Arrived in Custer, SD for the Tesla meet up with 58 rated miles on the battery. Was a late arrival for the opening night dinner, so rather than charging first, I drove straight to the dinner. Ambient temp was 35F and I did get the "battery is cold. we recommend charging now." warning, but parked it outside anyway and went and had dinner and socialized for 2 hours. When I got back out to the car the battery only had 38 rated miles left which was somewhat alarming. So at that point I drove to the supercharger and charged without issue. Definitely wouldn't have wanted to leave it like that overnight.

I should disclose that my 2018 S100D has 239k miles on it and has had issues with the car shutting down at extremely low states of charge (<5%) as well as limited power dash marks at moderately low SOC (in the 8-17% range depending on ambient temperature). So obviously my car's battery has more issues than most Teslas ("within spec" though of course lol).

 

[Rocky_H]

I think that symptom of the miles on the display dropping overnight is just the estimation reducing because of the battery getting colder. When you were driving, it was nice and warm, so the amount of available energy reads higher. When it chills down overnight, the estimation of available energy goes down with that temperature as well.