Yosemite Valley

[Healy]

[Apologies if this has been answered but a cursory search didn't find anything] [Apologies as I posted this on the Tesla forum as well] I will be picking up my 75D with Pano roof and high amp charger at the factory in Fremont Saturday 8/6. We will be driving back to Illinois. First overnight stop will be in Winnemucca NV. Want to stop in Yosemite valley as we drive 120 east to Lee Vining then up to the Hawthorne supercharger. Will I likely be able to use the HPWC at Majestic/Ahwahnee? I should get ~50 miles per hour charge right?
I wonder if it will be too crowded or if it is limited to guests (doesn't look like it).
I have less range anxiety after reading pretty much everything on this and tesla forums but I'm still a new tesla owner to be and wouldn't like to get me and the family stuck in Yosemite on my first day! The 'I told you so" from everyone would be soul crushing

 

[RogerHScott]

It is never a bad idea to call ahead to verify that a given destination charger is a) working, b) available to you, c) free -- or how/
how much must be paid for it. Wow, driving through Yosemite in your brand-new Tesla -- that sounds delightful. Enjoy!

I'll be over in Champaign with my Tesla in the very near future, taking my son on a campus visit to UIUC. See ya 'round

 

[Owner]

I'm confused on your exact route. You want to go to Fremont to Winnemucca in one day? That is doable. Adding in Yosemite and getting all the way to Winnemucca is a long haul. And then you throw in Hawthorne in the mix? That is in southern California.

Can you clarify? There are some charging options if you want to drive over Tioga pass such as the Awhanee. You might want to charge up in Groveland for $5 or stay overnight there.

 

[Healy]

To clarify: Fremont to Manteca supercharger to Yosemite valley and hopefully a charge to Hawthorne supercharger (in Nevada) to lovelock supercharger to Winnemucca. 12 hour trip.

 

[AustinP]

I see on the Tesla web site that the Tesla charger is a 64Amp, so pretty fast. It is also reserved for patrons, which means customers. I guess if you have a drink there, you fall in that category.
That being said, we passed in Yosemite on July 11th, and I also noticed two EV public chargers on the Visitor Center's parking: the first one, close to the parking reserved for people with disabilities.
Can't tell you which system is required to enable them, as I'm not from the US. But you could call Yosemite's to get the details. Always good to have a backup plan

Side note: I wanted to add this in ChargeMap, but as there is no real address for that spot, it's hard to do. Also, I was sure I took a picture of the spots, but can't find them. Damned. Will try again to add in ChargeMap

 

[ecarfan]

First of all, congratulations on becoming a Tesla owner! You will love it.

"Range anxiety" is a common phenomena among new EV owners. Fortunately, Tesla owners really don't have to worry about it as long as they do a bit of planning in advance of a long distance trip. You can use the onboard navigation to plan a long route, but it has a lot of limitations since it doesn't let you select alternate routes and it does not take into account weather factors like rain and headwinds which can definitely impact range. It does take elevation changes into account.

You can also use www.evtripplanner.com to plan your route.

If you want to go from Fremont to Winnemucca obviously the most direct way is taking I80 through Sacramento and Reon, but you want to go through Yosemite (If you tell the onboard nav to plot a route from Fremont to Winnemucca it will tell you to take the I80 and will not offer an alternative nor will it allow you to select an alternative route).

Making that trip via Yosemite seems possible but it will be a very long day because you will have to charge in the mountains somewhere along Hwy 120 and there are no Superchargers on that road. I think you would have to charge either using the Groveland Hotel HPWC (which the hotel will let you do for a small fee but you can't be certain the charger will be available as they could have a guest who needs to use it) or detour to Yosemite valley to charge at the Ahwahnee Hotel hotel's HPWC (which you also cannot be certain will be immediately available when you arrive there). At either location you may have to spend hours charging to make sure you can then get to the Gardnerville NV Supercharger.

Since you are a new owner, I advise against trying to do such an ambitious route in a single day. Take two days to get to Winnemucca if you want to take Hwy 120, or take one day and use the less scenic I80 route which is all Superchargers and easily doable.

I also recommend that you install the Plugshare app on your smartphone. You will discover there are lots of places to charge, but be aware that many charging locations listed in Plugshare are not 100% reliable. You can arrive at a location and discover the charger is not operational, or it is occupied and the car charging at it could be there for hours.

Plotting a route that takes you from Tesla Supercharger to Supercharger is the most reliable way to travel long distances in a single day.

 

[ecarfan]

To clarify: Fremont to Manteca supercharger to Yosemite valley and hopefully a charge to Hawthorne supercharger (in Nevada) to lovelock supercharger to Winnemucca. 12 hour trip.

Didn't see your follow up post until I completed and made my post.

Wow. Really long day after allowing for charging time in the Yosemite area, and considering that you might have to wait to get a charging spot in the Yosemite area at the two places I mentioned in my post (because you can't reserve or guarantee those charging locations in advance).

You are welcome to try doing your described route, but I don't recommend going that far on that route in a single day. Your decision.

 

[AustinP]

I see on the Tesla web site that the Tesla charger is a 64Amp, so pretty fast. It is also reserved for patrons, which means customers. I guess if you have a drink there, you fall in that category.
That being said, we passed in Yosemite on July 11th, and I also noticed two EV public chargers on the Visitor Center's parking: the first one, close to the parking reserved for people with disabilities.
Can't tell you which system is required to enable them, as I'm not from the US. But you could call Yosemite's to get the details. Always good to have a backup plan

Side note: I wanted to add this in ChargeMap, but as there is no real address for that spot, it's hard to do. Also, I was sure I took a picture of the spots, but can't find them. Damned. Will try again to add in ChargeMap

My BAD - It was Zion, not Yosemite - Sorry

 

[DrManhattan]

Thread hijack for Yosemite: I'm going Thursday anyone know how road conditions are? I went a few years ago and roads were being redone and I drove an hour through loose gravel. Don't want to risk that with the S!

 

[AustinP]

We came from El Portal (140), drove to the visitor center, then left to Lee Vining using the 120. Roads looked like new to me, no gravel on those parts.

 

[blc1017]

Didn't see your follow up post until I completed and made my post.

Wow. Really long day after allowing for charging time in the Yosemite area, and considering that you might have to wait to get a charging spot in the Yosemite area at the two places I mentioned in my post (because you can't reserve or guarantee those charging locations in advance).

You are welcome to try doing your described route, but I don't recommend going that far on that route in a single day. Your decision.

Completely agree with this. Even in an EV like the Model S, 12 hours is a long day. If there is time for the OP to do it, and they really want to see Yosemite, I'd recommend staying overnight in Yosemite and then continuing on. I recall meeting a brand new owner at the Corning SC (we were both on our way up to Oregon) who had no idea how to calculate range (this was pre-trip planning software updates), and when he arrived at Corning he was literally at ZERO % on his battery (I was stunned). I spent half an hour going over the system and range calculations with him before heading back out.

 

[RogerHScott]

If ... they really want to see Yosemite,

I was gonna say...
It is criminal to zip through Yosemite so fast you have no time to actually get out and see anything.
And don't just fixate on The Valley -- be sure to see Tuolumne Meadows, where there's enormous beauty and many fewer people.

 

[ecarfan]

I'm going Thursday anyone know how road conditions are? I went a few years ago and roads were being redone and I drove an hour through loose gravel.

I was on Hwy 120 all the way to Tuolumne Meadows less than 2 months ago and there was no active road work being done at that time.

It is criminal to zip through Yosemite so fast you have no time to actually get out and see anything.

I agree that one should allow significant time to at least get out and look around, if not actually walk somewhere.

Some people like to drive for many hours at a time without stopping (though that is not my preference). Of course in an EV, even a Tesla, that isn't possible since you have to spend time charging. But the trip the OP intends to make is an extremely long driving day even without any stops for sightseeing. And given that Yosemite National Park is one of the most visually spectacular places on earth, my recommendation is to allow time for that. Personal preference...

 

[DrManhattan]

We came from El Portal (140), drove to the visitor center, then left to Lee Vining using the 120. Roads looked like new to me, no gravel on those parts.

Thanks I should have clarified I'm comming from LA via hwy 41.

 

[Healy]

Thanks all. I'm thinking of skipping the valley and going north from 120 to 108 then up 395 to 80. Avoids the valley and unsure charging, gets me safely from sc to sc and is 9 hours total instead of 12.

 

[Ben W]

We just drove through Yosemite a few days ago, on the way from LA to the Reno Gigafactory party. We stayed overnight at Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp, which has two L2 EV chargers (J1772, 30amp) with more coming soon. Photo below. If you stopped for a meal there, I'm sure they'd let you plug in. We then drove into the Valley and hiked to Emerald Pool at the top of Vernal Falls, lovely!! (Very hot day, very cold water!) The road conditions were quite good the whole way through; after leaving Yosemite we continued up over Tioga Pass, past Tuolumne Meadows; beautiful.

The only hiccup was that we arrived at the Topaz Lake / Gardnerville supercharger with 30mi of rated range, only to find that it was offline!!! (apparently it went offline just minutes before we got there, otherwise the Nav would presumably have warned us sooner.) With 70mi left to Reno, we thought we might be stuck. Fortunately, Tesla Roadside Assistance directed us to a free L2 charger located 20 miles away in Gardnerville (HPWC, 80amp), which saved our day, and we pulled into the Gigafactory at 8:59pm for Elon's 9pm remarks

Note: if we had charged to 100% at Tenaya Lodge (~244 rated mi on our Sig P85) and driven a bit more carefully, we could have probably made it to Reno in one go. Hopefully the SC network will continue to get more reliable, and there will be more and more L2 options as backups for situations like these. The EV revolution continues; there's no going back!

 

[ForeverFree]

Thanks all. I'm thinking of skipping the valley and going north from 120 to 108 then up 395 to 80. Avoids the valley and unsure charging, gets me safely from sc to sc and is 9 hours total instead of 12.

If your family has never been to Yosemite before, it would indeed be criminal to skip it ... or to rush through it without at least one overnight stay.

That said, going that way rather than I-80 will make the trip immensely longer. Way more road miles as mountain highways squiggle their way through the terrain. And, much more time to drive each mile (some areas as slow as 25 mph).

Whichever route you take, remember that uphills gobble electrons. Easily 10+ miles per 1,000 feet gained. My own experience in the Sierra and here in the LA mountains is that steep climbs easily double consumption. Of course, the downhill portions consume virtually no range miles.

The car is so fundamentally efficient -- very little energy turned into heat -- that factors which are bit players in the ICE world, such as terrain and wind, take center stage in the Model S realm.

However you travel, enjoy your new Tesla!!!

 

[Owner]

Thanks all. I'm thinking of skipping the valley and going north from 120 to 108 then up 395 to 80. Avoids the valley and unsure charging, gets me safely from sc to sc and is 9 hours total instead of 12.

I love Tioga Pass / 120. Just was there last weekend. It is just fabulous. You will see the valley from a view point. May be my favorite place in the world.

It was a little smoggy because of the big fire north of Big Sur. August starts fire season here which means polluted air.

It is more than worth the detour!

 

[Owner]

Oh, the roads are all in great condition.

One note: don't try to stay overnight in Winnemucca. That's just too much driving.

 

[mikeash]

If you haven't already, check out the area on PlugShare (plugshare.com) to see what alternatives there might be. Having backup options always makes me happier, although I've never had to use one yet.