San Francisco to Seattle in 1 day

I just got back from a drive from San Francisco to Seattle yesterday (816 miles). Did it without sleeping over - left San Francisco at 10am, arrived Seattle at 3am. 4 rotating drivers.

Stopped for Supercharging at:

* Vacaville (was a very pleasant surprise. Didn't know this existed until I saw it on the SuperCharger list. It saved a planned drive through Sacramento. THANKS TESLA, this one is an amazing help, and next to an In-And-Out burger as well!)
* Corning
* Mt. Shasta
* Grants Pass
* Springfield
* Woodburn
* Centralia

The temperature was nearly freezing, with heavy winds in spots and dense fog for hours that forced us to drive fairly slowly. I always supercharged to at least 50% extra. Lowest I arrived at was 9 miles remaining in Centralia. At no point did I have range anxiety.

I've driven this in a day with an ICE before and it was a miserable experience with my passengers always pushing me to continue driving for up to 4 hours. The SuperChargers forces a series of nice stops to change drivers, but it was never so long that we felt we were waiting around the SuperChargers. It really felt only like the difference between grabbing coffee and food and having it while driving, vs. sitting down and having it. We never tried to delay any stop. It was just a natural 'get out, have something, go to the bathroom' stop.

Sure it probably took 2 hours longer than it would have an in ICE, but because of the stops we felt refreshed when we got back, and even unpacked before going to bed. The overall experience was miles above my previous rushed experience in an ICE.

In fact, my wife was so impressed with the trip that after we got back she said she's going to call and cancel our Freemark Abby club shipment next month and we're driving down to Napa to pick up the bottles in person. That's quite a statement after just coming of from a 17 hour drive!

khans said:

Thanks deonb.

This is great.

I recently did my first road trip to Portland from Seattle (and back) on a P85+ and suffered from serious (perhaps uncalled for) range anxiety.

I have to ask the obvious question - were you driving the P85 like it's meant to be driven or driving like a grandma (55 mph in the slow lane).

Also - what's the lowest you got in terms of rated range on the drive up.

thanks!

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I drove 10% over the speed limit the whole time (i.e. 77 max), except during some areas where the fog was so thick it was unsafe to even drive the speed limit. Also had the heat on at 75 degrees, while it was 33 to 39 outside. Nothing specifically held back, except that HVAC was turned onto 'Range'. The 50% extra I always got provided enough of a buffer, and then the natural stops were longer anyway than even that.

The lowest drive-up I had was Centralia at 9. The highest was Grants Pass at 85. (Beer in Mt. Shasta was good, so ended up with an almost full range charge).

It's all about enjoying your stops. If I stayed in the car (like I saw some people doing) it would be painful. But the way we did it the stops were great, and there wasn't a moment where we said "We're ready to leave, but the charge isn't done". More like, "Ok, charge is done - we can leave. NO - I'm still busy with my coffee!"

Our stops were:

* Vacaville - stopped for a Cheeseburger, Animal Style. (In-n-Out).
* Corning - stopped for a Starbucks.
* Mt. Shasta - beer at the Best Western Bar.
* Grants Pass - Taco Bell. (We did Black Bear on the way down, and didn't particularly like the "finger in our food" experience...)
* Woodburn - walked to the Chevron, went to the bathroom and walked back. Made fun of the Blink Charger's TV screen.
* Centralia - Coffee at Denny's.

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Zextraterrestrial said:

...and Seattle to SF, the pretty way? :wink:

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Very different story - but you already know

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...s-to-San-Francisco-on-101?p=539413#post539413

pwanjari said:

What about the scenic route 101? Anyone did that and want to share their experience? I-5 is boring.

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A one-day trip taking 101 down would be quite challenging.

I've done it with a stopover though before we had SuperChargers on the 101 (see the link at the bottom of the post just above yours).