Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Tampa to Boston Road Trip... advice, tips, etc?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

Btrflyl8e

MSLR, W/W 21s FSD 1145 DEL 11/26 VIN MF454
Supporting Member
Mar 24, 2013
2,890
2,722
Seminole, FL
In mid-June my bf and I will be making our biggest electric roadtrip from Seminole to Boston for a family event. I made a trip from home to Charlotte, NC late last year by myself, so I'm not nervous about the trip, plus I'll have a CHAdeMO adapter this time as extra insurance. I know there have been many owners who have made the reverse trek, and from even further points north. Any tips or advice that could prove helpful on my first epic adventure? 6.2 kind of makes this even more of a no brainer, but I'm sure there are things I haven't even thought of.

I'm really excited to make this trip, and the best part is that it was my bf's suggestion that we drive!
 
In mid-June my bf and I will be making our biggest electric roadtrip from Seminole to Boston for a family event. I made a trip from home to Charlotte, NC late last year by myself, so I'm not nervous about the trip, plus I'll have a CHAdeMO adapter this time as extra insurance. I know there have been many owners who have made the reverse trek, and from even further points north. Any tips or advice that could prove helpful on my first epic adventure? 6.2 kind of makes this even more of a no brainer, but I'm sure there are things I haven't even thought of. I'm really excited to make this trip, and the best part is that it was my bf's suggestion that we drive!

In the summer that trip should be pretty worry free in a S60. Use plugshare, evtripplanner, and plan your food/rest stops around the super chargers whenever possible.. Have fun!
 
Don't forget paper towels this time around. :tongue:

The stretch from St. Augustine to Savannah won't be as worrisome this time around with higher temps. That coupled with the Chademo adapter should make ur trip a breeze. Plus there's another driver.
 
Having made the trip from Sarasota to Rochester NY twice, Philadelphia once and OBX once I'll offer a couple of insights. I now drive Ocala to St Augustine, handily avoiding Orlando which is a mess to drive through. I don't stop in Brandon since its only 150 miles to Ocala from our house. Quick charge at Ocala since its only about 80 miles to St Augustine. Unless , of course , you want to plan on lunch at Mimis Cafe. Plan on a long charge at St Augustine especially with a 60. You want a buffer to get to Savannah.If you like to shop St Augustine is the place!
You probably know this stuff given your previous trip.
We were surprised by a couple of nice salad offerings at the Texas Steakhouse at Rocky Mount. The superchargers at Glenn Allen can be a little tricky to find, my nav has never gotten us there. They are in the plaza with Chilis and Panera Bread and back up to Route 1 but are behind a berm.
I would advise driving from Glenn Allen to Newark via 301 through Maryland ( via Annapolis) to avoid the route 95 parking lot. That might be a bit dodgy in a 60 but the speeds are a little slower. From there we headed to Paramus which I don't think is the direction you will be going.
Hope this helps. Have a great trip!
 
You are making an assumption that I'll allow Jim to drive!

Yeah, thanks the paper towel reminder. Trying to clean agave nectar off a leather seat with wet public restroom t.p. es no bueno.

The new trip planner is actually routing me from Ocala to Lake City to Tifton, then across to Savannah. It'll be superchargers the entire trip! I think I'll just follow what it says and see if it's better than pulling in to Savannah with 6 miles left like last time!

- - - Updated - - -

I am doing the opposite soon, looking forward to it myself! :D
It would be pretty awesome if it was the same time we are returning! We're actually going more to the Cape, staying in Plymouth. Family event is at the niece's in Duxbury, her twins are graduating high school this year. Of course, this is all the bf's family, I'm a southern girl! FL born and raised. Maybe another item I need to bring is my New England to English dictionary...

- - - Updated - - -

Having made the trip from Sarasota to Rochester NY twice, Philadelphia once and OBX once I'll offer a couple of insights. I now drive Ocala to St Augustine, handily avoiding Orlando which is a mess to drive through. I don't stop in Brandon since its only 150 miles to Ocala from our house. Quick charge at Ocala since its only about 80 miles to St Augustine. Unless , of course , you want to plan on lunch at Mimis Cafe. Plan on a long charge at St Augustine especially with a 60. You want a buffer to get to Savannah.If you like to shop St Augustine is the place!
You probably know this stuff given your previous trip.
We were surprised by a couple of nice salad offerings at the Texas Steakhouse at Rocky Mount. The superchargers at Glenn Allen can be a little tricky to find, my nav has never gotten us there. They are in the plaza with Chilis and Panera Bread and back up to Route 1 but are behind a berm.
I would advise driving from Glenn Allen to Newark via 301 through Maryland ( via Annapolis) to avoid the route 95 parking lot. That might be a bit dodgy in a 60 but the speeds are a little slower. From there we headed to Paramus which I don't think is the direction you will be going.
Hope this helps. Have a great trip!
Great info, thanks so much!
 
HmmmHmmm, I hadn't done the math. The distance from Tifton to Savannah vs St Augustine to Savannah is basically the same, but Tifton route is on smaller roads. I wonder if that's why it does it that way? I may just repeat St Augustine to Savannah then. When I did it before, temps were in the 50's so it might be better in June, even with an extra 220lbs! At least on that route I'd have a couple of "emergency" options along the way.
 
6.2 will probably help you but north of Hartford, CT on 84 and north of New Haven on 95 there are hills to contend with.
There are plenty of superchargers on the route though (West Hartford/Auburn on 84/90) or (Milford, Greenwich, RI, Sagamore on 95).
Milford has only 2 stalls on each side of the highway and is a bit of a pain sometimes. Another bottleneck can be Newark, DE which
has 4 stalls for both directions.

Other than that, have fun!
 
Thanks, EdA! We're staying just a few miles from Sagamore so that will likely be our route. We're allowing plenty of wiggle room so we won't be in any hurry, I think it'll be OK. Good to know Milford is only 2 stalls, we'll try to plan it at an off time of day, if there is such a thing.
 
Don't take 95 north from New Haven, even if nav says to. That whole strip of road is 60+ miles of 2 lane traffic in each direction. In anything approaching warm weather, it's a nightmare. Add beach/cape traffic on Fri/Sun night, and it's a parking lot for literally dozens of miles (I used to live in Mystic and commute to New Haven. Friday nights were "stay late and wait for backups to complete" nights).

Take 95 to 91N in New Haven or rt 15 (Merrit/Wilbur Cross pkwys - prettier drive) to I84->Mass Pike (I90). From the Pike, if you're going straight to Plymouth/Duxbury on a weekend or non-rush hour, it's probably faster to go to rt 128 south->rt 3 south. In rush hour, I'd go 495 south.

The "inland route (84/Pike) is < 20 miles longer, 3 lanes min and less traffic, too, and adds lots of charging stops these days (West Hartford, Auburn, 80A HPWC @ Natick store in a pinch, Dedham SC "coming soon").

If you want to top off before arrival at your destination, take 495 south from the Pike. The road turns into rt 25 as you approach Cape Cod. Continue until it ends, follow rt 6 to the Sagamore supercharger. Then rt3 north to Plymouth (~20 miles). The Sagamore SC is right at the end of Rt 3.
 
Just a thought. You have a few people here, make a tag and let us follow your trip. You get the fun of announcing how the things are going and we get to watch. Trouble?? you might have local help. Consider talking about certain locations and have a meetup for lunch maybe. I'm in No VA/DC/MD area. Not so excited about that? of course: take down numbers as you travel, like car numbers and charging times and busy superchargers. And report after the trip. Anyway, Have a great time!
 
Since you will have the new adapter by then, maybe think about a CHAdeMO charging stop in Jacksonville to give plenty of buffer for the Savannah leg. From your house it could be Ocala (Mimi's for brunch!), then 301 to I-10 to Jacksonville.
Great idea, Rick! Jim already pegged Mimi's for breakfast but i plan to leave the house around 4am so it likely won't be open yet. That adapter should arrive today or tomorrow, so maybe we can find a CHAdeMO to test it on after Cars & Coffee Saturday!

- - - Updated - - -

Just a thought. You have a few people here, make a tag and let us follow your trip. You get the fun of announcing how the things are going and we get to watch. Trouble?? you might have local help. Consider talking about certain locations and have a meetup for lunch maybe. I'm in No VA/DC/MD area. Not so excited about that? of course: take down numbers as you travel, like car numbers and charging times and busy superchargers. And report after the trip. Anyway, Have a great time!
I sent a few folks a Glympse invite during my last trip, wonder how I could make that "public"? At any rate, last time I took pics of my dash info when I stopped and when I left each charger but never really stitched together the story. I will try to do better.

How do I "make a tag"? I think your suggestion is outstanding, btw
 
Last edited:
I did Ft Laauderdale to Western Mass last fall. a couple of notes. The run from St Augustine is really no problem in a 60, you will probably arrive with 20+ miles if you fully charge at SA. You will make great time if you just leapfrog from SC to SC. Take the actual miles (I used google earth) and add about 15% fudge factor and charge to that number to get to the next one. I spent an average of about 20 minutes at each SC except SA. You can probably make it to Rocky Mt in 1 long day and there are SC in the parking lot of the hotel. If you only go to Lumberton, there are 2 hotels adjacent to where the SC is. Be very careful about driving from Fredricksburg-DC time wise. The traffic is unbelieveably bad. On the return trip Wed, Thur and Fri you MUST get to DC BEFORE 3pm. Otherwise you will be in a parking lot of highway for 50 miles going south. It took us 4 hours to go that distance. You now have many more charging options along the NJT but stay away from EDISON. It is very difficult to find and more difficult go get back on the NJT. The trip from I went from Greenwich to Hamilton Mkt with no problem going South. Aside from the traffic in the DC going south the trip was a breeze. Some other possilbilities now that Hartford, and Auburn Ma are open. The Springfield SC will be out of your way but Auburn may work. Fun Trip.
 
Another option is to avoid DC all together and go through Norfolk, VA (there is a ChAdEmO adapter downtown) and go across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and go through the Salisbury, MD supercharger. Note: I never used the ChAdEmO since the adapter wasn't available last time I was there.
 
The good thing is, we are not on any kind of real time crunch. So we can plan to hit certain areas off-peak, even with no time crunch it's no fun sitting in an interstate parking lot for sure!

Just make sure to check the traffic ahead of you while charging which I sometimes forget to do!
That way you can decide if you want to take an alternative or charge a while longer to make sure
you can take a detour or two.