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Road trip to Rocky Point, Mexico

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I was just wondering, has anyone has taken their Model S to Rocky Point, Mexico on a road trip?

It is about 2-3 hours south of Tucson. I was thinking the Gila Benz, AZ supercharger would be closest.

I'm not so much worried about the range as I am about safety, especially in a luxury car attracting attention outside the US. Just wondering if any of our fellow Model S owners has made the trek, and if so, their experiences with the safety aspect especially.

TIA.
 
Rocky Point is about an hour and twenty minutes south of Gila Bend (84 miles). It's an easy trip over relatively good roads. I've never felt unsafe in Mexico and Rocky Point is a huge tourist destination. A lot of large expensive vehicles travel into Rocky Point (think Tahoe) because it is a family destination for Phoenix and Tucson. Obviously, any potential thief who knows about Teslas will know that it's hard to steal a car whose movements are tracked 24-7. You obviously WILL attract a lot of attention from the locals.
 
Hello, I live in Rocky Point full time. (I sell beach homes and condos) Hope I can help. Your vehicle will blend in, there are MANY nice sedans and SUV's that come here on weekends, plus many are here full time. In the barrios, then you will get noticed there of course.

Rocky Point is 212 miles from either Tucson or Phoenix, to the ocean. (I'm from Tucson and drove here every weekend) about a 3.5 hour drive. (going the speed limit and in some spots a little faster) From Gila Bend to the border is 80 miles, 1 hour and 20 minutes drive. Then from the border (Lukeville) to the ocean, is an hour drive if you drive the speed limit of 55 in Mexico (90kph)

Just like any other luxury car, make sure to get Mexico insurance for 2 reasons, first, for the obvious theft and accidents. Second, it is a requirement, if you are pulled over for any reason, or hit another vehicle, even a small dent, and you have no MX insurance, your vehicle may be impounded. I have personal experience, long story, feel free to ask.
The other caution in a luxury vehicle, or any other vehicle, watch out for some of the city roads in town, there are many potholes and poorly repaired holes. They will be worked on eventually, they are rough on cars. As you will see, we have been seeing, and getting more, several newly paved roads, it's just a matter of time.

Have an awesome trip!!!
 
Mark: I just google-mapped it as 144 miles from the Gila Bend SpC to Puerto Peñasco. Is that wrong? If correct, it sounds un-reachable as a round trip.....

You don't just go to Rocky Point for a day. I haven't been down there in ~20 years, but there are RV parks that should have 50A avail. Even 120V charging while there for a weekend should make it doable...
 
My girlfriend and I just got back from a Rocky Point road trip with the Tesla. We stayed overnight in Phoenix on the way down, topped off in Gila Bend and the Sonoran Sky was kind enough to let us use a wall outlet to trickle charge while we were there (I had made arrangements to charge at an RV park, but didn't need to). Coming back, we drove straight through...

We had no concerns at all re: safety, and the car didn't attract any more attention than it does here in Vegas. A few locals (who were clearly car buffs) asked if they could see inside, and I got a lot of questions from fellow tourists that were shocked that an electric car could make it there from Nevada. There was no hint of any negative attention... We had a lot of fun, and driving on the "roads" out to Wrecked on the Reef and JJ's was a blast (see below).

Coming back through the border checkpoints, the customs agents were all excited to see the Tesla and asked if I could show them around the car and acquaint them with it. They could not have been nicer. I am guessing that they don't see many Teslagringos... ;-)

The only caveat is that -- unless you have better cellular data than I do to tether to -- you can forget about nav and data once you cross the border.

A highly recommended road trip. I was wondering the same before I left, and felt way safer parking my car there than I do some places in town.

IMG_7335.JPG
 
My girlfriend and I just got back from a Rocky Point road trip with the Tesla. We stayed overnight in Phoenix on the way down, topped off in Gila Bend and the Sonoran Sky was kind enough to let us use a wall outlet to trickle charge while we were there (I had made arrangements to charge at an RV park, but didn't need to). Coming back, we drove straight through...

We had no concerns at all re: safety, and the car didn't attract any more attention than it does here in Vegas. A few locals (who were clearly car buffs) asked if they could see inside, and I got a lot of questions from fellow tourists that were shocked that an electric car could make it there from Nevada. There was no hint of any negative attention... We had a lot of fun, and driving on the "roads" out to Wrecked on the Reef and JJ's was a blast (see below).

Coming back through the border checkpoints, the customs agents were all excited to see the Tesla and asked if I could show them around the car and acquaint them with it. They could not have been nicer. I am guessing that they don't see many Teslagringos... ;-)

The only caveat is that -- unless you have better cellular data than I do to tether to -- you can forget about nav and data once you cross the border.

A highly recommended road trip. I was wondering the same before I left, and felt way safer parking my car there than I do some places in town.

View attachment 53034
Thanks so much for the write up! This is why I love tmc, I was wondering about a potential trip, and boom there's a forum member who happens to live in my neighborhood with experience. Thanks so much Mikial. Hopefully I'll see you at the Tesla meeting this Sunday at Dom DeMarco's!
 
My girlfriend and I just got back from a Rocky Point road trip with the Tesla. We stayed overnight in Phoenix on the way down, topped off in Gila Bend and the Sonoran Sky was kind enough to let us use a wall outlet to trickle charge while we were there (I had made arrangements to charge at an RV park, but didn't need to). Coming back, we drove straight through...

We had no concerns at all re: safety, and the car didn't attract any more attention than it does here in Vegas. A few locals (who were clearly car buffs) asked if they could see inside, and I got a lot of questions from fellow tourists that were shocked that an electric car could make it there from Nevada. There was no hint of any negative attention... We had a lot of fun, and driving on the "roads" out to Wrecked on the Reef and JJ's was a blast (see below).

Coming back through the border checkpoints, the customs agents were all excited to see the Tesla and asked if I could show them around the car and acquaint them with it. They could not have been nicer. I am guessing that they don't see many Teslagringos... ;-)

The only caveat is that -- unless you have better cellular data than I do to tether to -- you can forget about nav and data once you cross the border.

A highly recommended road trip. I was wondering the same before I left, and felt way safer parking my car there than I do some places in town.

View attachment 53034

Thanks so much for the write up! This is why I love tmc, I was wondering about a potential trip, and boom there's a forum member who happens to live in my neighborhood with experience. Thanks so much Mikial. Hopefully I'll see you at the Tesla meeting this Sunday at Dom DeMarco's!

Awesome to hear others were able to make the trip! My family is considering a trip there for Labor Day weekend. We were planning SD, but without El Centro (or Indio at this point even), its just not really feasible. Rocky Point is actually a lot closer and if we can find a place to charge while there for the trip back, much easier to do.

Mikial (and Hussain, if you did go since), who did you talk to At Sonoran Sky to use the outlet? We're looking at staying either there or Las Palomas if we do go.

Also, how did you handle Mexico Auto Insurance (assuming you did get it). As the online rating engines don't have Tesla as a manufacturer listed!
 
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Wow, good for you! We thought about taking our Tesla to Rocky Point in May (memorial day weekend) but decided against it. I was too concerned about the road quality (driving without a spare) and what how the general population would react to the car. I'm glad we didn't because the population was mostly drunk college students. On an off peak week or weekend I would consider it. We rented a house and it would be easy to trickle charge and get all the juice we needed to go wherever we wanted.
 
So after much deliberation around cost, time, and charging logistics, my family (wife, 2 young daughters) are set to go to Rocky Point this weekend. Leaving on Friday, back on Monday.

We're staying at Las Palomas. I called them and while they do have electric golf carts and outlets they use to charge them, they said they will not allow me to use any of them to charge.

So, I contacted Reef RV Park 2 miles up the beach. They do have 14-50 hookups. They take reservations 14 days in advance. Otherwise, you just show up and its subject to availability. But they said that since I am not looking for a beachfront space, they don't anticipate they will be sold out. The only concern is that in some reviews, there are references to Voltage spikes or Voltage running high. Not sure if that will be an issue.

There are a couple of other RV Parks, but I couldn't confirm any of them actually have 50A hookups, much less 14-50 outlets. Another one (Playa Bonita RV Park, just half a mile down the beach said they have 30A hookups, but can "switch it to 50A if I want", not sure what that means).

Mikial posted that he was able to get the staff at Sonoran Sky resort to let him use a 120V outlet in their garage/maintenance shed. So, it is my last resort if I need to. I figure I will go there and tip someone to let me use it.

Obviously, I'll use Gila Bend SC each way. We should arrive at the resort with about 40-50 rated miles left. We're not planning to drive much once we get there, but I figure I want to recoup about 45-50 kWh while there to make sure i have enough to get back to Gila Bend. And border traffic could be heavy on Monday, so while it won't use lots of miles, we will need to use AC for an extra hour -90 depending on the traffic.

Will report when we're back. We're not nervous, but just a bit anxious. But our excitement to go to a new place is far greater. Any other tips, suggestions, or advice?

Update: Other logistics: we got a letter from our credit union (through which we financed) letting us drive to Mexico, bought Mexico auto insurance, have my AAA coverage, and the kids have passport cards. Those, we're told, are good to have in general.
 
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Awesome looking forward to hearing your review when you get back. Safe travels for the family. My wife, I and some friends are going on an Ensenada cruise from Long Beach this weekend as well I'm a bit nervous about the closest charging locations / safety at the Long Beach Pier myself.