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Mountain Driving Stats

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Beavis

Model S Signature 991
Dec 24, 2011
697
19
Colorful Colorado
I drove from Parker, CO (elevation 5,869) to Tabernash (elevation 8,333) today, a 97.8 mile drive. I started with a full range charge on a lovely day. The temperature at the start was 62F and was 55F in Tabernash. I used 35.4 kWh for an average of 362 wpm. I had 138 of rated range remaining and 174 miles of projected range remaining using a 30 mile average. I had the regenerative brakes set to max, as I usually do. Climate control set to 70F and I typically was doing 5-10 mph over the limit. The highest usage was over 900 wpm going over Berthoud Pass at 11,307 ft. I'll post the stats for the return trip later in the week.

Editorial note: This car is a real pleasure to drive in the mountains. Instant torque and regenerative brakes make it very easy to drive. There is no searching for gears on the climbs and no need to ride the brakes on the downhills.
 
I'm 136 miles north of Berthoud Pass so there's no turning back for me from that point. Unless I want to scrounge some recharge off a 120 volt plug somewhere. Never noticed any campgrounds in Winter Park/Granby area (need to research).

Going down the south side of Berthoud Pass, then down I-70 to Denver will regen ~6000 ft worth of KWHs, essentially a free ride to the Tesla Store @ Park Meadows Mall. Or in your case a bit further into the eastern foothills.

You picked a great route for your S. I just got mine out on the road yesterday after being snowbound for 22 days. Berthoud is the only high pass around here open all year.
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We recently completed a 2,200 km (1,367 mi) road trip through all three ranges of mountains in British Columbia and into Alberta-- the Canadian Coastal Range, the Kootenay, and the Canadian Rockies. We crossed at least seven mountain passes (I lost count).

As this was a round trip, so there was no net elevation gain. Weather ranged from 10C (50F) to -10C (10F) and mostly dry pavement with a few showers. Speed limits in BC are a bit lower than the US (80-110 km/h), and we mostly held to them, though exceeded them more than were under them.

We averaged 188 Wh/km (302 Wh/mi) for the whole trip, just below rated range! We were very pleased by this!
 
Here are the return trip stats: 22 kWh and 229 wpm. Temps were similar as the trip up and I didn't change any of the settings. Please check my math but I think the range loss averages about 10.5 miles of range per 1,000 feet of elevation gain for this route.

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I'm 136 miles north of Berthoud Pass so there's no turning back for me from that point. Unless I want to scrounge some recharge off a 120 volt plug somewhere. Never noticed any campgrounds in Winter Park/Granby area (need to research).
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I was staying at Devil's Thumb Ranch and charged off the 120 volt plug in their parking lot. 3 miles/hour but I was there for a couple of days so that was fine.