2000 Miles in two days CA and AZ (USA)

Silicon Desert · Apr 10, 2023

Interesting trip. I've taken about 20 such trips over the years in a Tesla, but you must be a lot younger than me. No way I am going to push 1,000 miles in a day. I'm more comfortable with 500-600 mile per day. Tesla is not going to create restrooms at superchargers, and as far as I know, there are no federal regulations at this time. I'm happy about that. You know that anytime politicians stick their nose into things, it quickly goes to hell

JB47394 · Apr 10, 2023

beemboy said:
I wonder if Tesla could consider adding restrooms to their charging areas since we already pay for the product. Does the federal government set any relevant regulations regarding charging stations? What are your thoughts on this matter?

Tesla is doing the absolute barebones that they need to in order to give us functioning electric cars and supporting infrastructure. They simply cannot build "niceties" yet. You mention restrooms. You'll notice that we don't even have covers over the Superchargers.

I don't expect Tesla to get into building restrooms until they get into building the equivalent of a gas station with a minimart. By the time they get around to it, we may be looking at a fully automated system, like a big vending machine. That will give them the revenue that allows them to justify whole buildings and things like restrooms. It's important to realize that the Supercharger network is it's own business unit. It is responsible for turning a profit all on its own.

This, from a guy whose bladder wasn't taking "no" for an answer at a Supercharger with no businesses within a couple hundred meters. On my next road trip, I'll be paying closer attention to any description of amenities available at Superchargers. If there isn't anything at the chargers, then I'll pit stop at a McDonald's first.

Silicon Desert · Apr 10, 2023

One other thing caught my attention. I've never paid for charging, so I was surprised to see the cost of electricity be so high at superchargers. I guess I am out of touch with the times. I'm used to paying 9 cents at home.

Rice&Curry · Apr 10, 2023

Costs of electricity vary by state. CA state has one of the highest rate in the country. Even home non peak hour charging is ~ 20 cents / KW

Prairie · Apr 10, 2023

I learned after the fact the the charge for electricity varies not only with the DC but also with how long you charge. X for first 15 min y for next 5 min and z for remaining time, increasing substantially. Because of lack of ANY charging infrastructure other than campgrounds for 200 miles to my home charger, and wind weather and hills, I charge to 96% at that SC. If you are miles from a charger (rural isolation) did you know your Tesla will start and continue every 5 min to urgently “yell” (loud insistent notification) at you to say there isn’t any charger within remaining range? Good that it knows this but not much I can do about it. Arrived with about 15% charge.

beemboy · Apr 10, 2023

Prairie said:
I learned after the fact the the charge for electricity varies not only with the DC but also with how long you charge. X for first 15 min y for next 5 min and z for remaining time, increasing substantially. Because of lack of ANY charging infrastructure other than campgrounds for 200 miles to my home charger, and wind weather and hills, I charge to 96% at that SC. If you are miles from a charger (rural isolation) did you know your Tesla will start and continue every 5 min to urgently “yell” (loud insistent notification) at you to say there isn’t any charger within remaining range? Good that it knows this but not much I can do about it. Arrived with about 15% charge.

This is interesting, and I am not aware of this. I thought the charging rates per kilowatt were the same from the start to the end of the charging period. (I am aware there are some places where they add idle fee)

JB47394 · Apr 11, 2023

beemboy said:
This is interesting, and I am not aware of this. I thought the charging rates per kilowatt were the same from the start to the end of the charging period. (I am aware there are some places where they add idle fee)

Apparently there are lots of ways to structure charging. In my area, it's a flat rate per kWh (with time of day introducing some variation). On my road trip I ran into a flat rate per minute of charging. If you take a look at this Electrified video (link is to pertinent clip) you'll see Superchargers that charge different rates depending on the power draw. To be honest, I think they all boil down to pretty much the same cost for a typical charge (varying only by the cost of electricity in that area), but that local laws require Tesla to structure charging accordingly.

Make sure your Tesla app is updated if you want to see this stuff for your location. Tap "Location", then swipe up to see the list of local Superchargers. Tap one and you can get details on it, including how busy it is during the course of a day and how charging is structured.

In case you weren't aware, an electric car doesn't draw power continuously at one level. Here's the basic idea for a Model 3 Long Range on a Version 3, 250 kW charger (though it's generally applicable to most electric cars). The greatest amount of power is drawn towards the lowest state of charge of the battery and then tails off as the battery fills up. That's just the way this type of battery charges.

I hope that Tesla will eventually be able to tell us exactly what cost we should expect on our trip when we visit each Supercharger. It knows the battery charging curve, it knows our expected state of charge at time of arrival, it knows the cost of each step in charging power at each Supercharger, so it should be able to say "This charge stop will cost approximately $11.71. The next will cost approximately $8.84" and so on.

wws · Apr 11, 2023

beemboy said:
...
San Luis Obispo, Madonna Inn hotel, CA - @$ 0.42 - NO restroom available
...

Actually the Madonna Inn has one of the more famous men's restrooms of any SC site....

beemboy · Apr 12, 2023

wws said:
Actually the Madonna Inn has one of the more famous men's restrooms of any SC site....

Probably I missed it- I went to Dennies to use their restroom

wws · Apr 12, 2023

beemboy said:
Probably I missed it- I went to Dennies to use their restroom

You have to walk over and go into the restaurant. Then go down the stairs by the gift shop.

Hiline · Apr 19, 2023

Fun fact about Quartzsite, AZ: it’s where the Oscar winning movie Nomadland was filmed. I checked out the camping ground right after charging my Tesla one time

GreenCoffee · Apr 20, 2023

Funny story about the time I "Almost" drove a 1,000 miles in a day, it was probably about 8 or 9 years ago, wife and I had planned a road trip/cruise, we spent the first week sight seeing on our way to New Orleans then went to Houston for our 1 week cruise, when the cruise was over and we left Houston I just wanted to get home, I had a 2013 Passat TDi and could squeeze out 700 miles a tank or more so we took off from Houston early in the morning with a full tank, at about the 600 mile mark S.O. wanted to stop, I said just a little more, a little later she asked again and this went on for a few times, at about the 975 mile mark she screamed at me "YOU BETTER PULL THIS F@#KING CAR OVER NOWWWWW!" she is a foot shorter than me and 100 pounds lighter than me so............... I pulled over at the next stop!

EV1980 · Apr 20, 2023

1980 miles in two days? At an average speed of 75mph that's over 26 hours of driving - In between charging and sleeping, did you have any time left to see what you needed to see there?

Vroomer · Apr 20, 2023

Interesting stats. I'm a new Tesla model Y Performance owner soon to travel 1300 miles going north from Florida. I currently am averaging 250W per mile but at slower Florida speeds but with 2+min stop lights everywhere. I do step on it once in a while, it's fun. It goes up to 275 ish or less if the AC is on. I expect to use more on the highway @ 75 mph average. I'm like you, I can drive a long time if necessary, actually have done this 1300 miles in 19 hours in a strait shot in a gas car. We plan on stopping one night for this trip. Wow, you pay $$$$ for electricity out west. It's 0.32-0.36/kw here. My garage is more like 0.14/kw. LOVE the car, never going back to gas

Ayushbh · Apr 20, 2023

What model and year is your car?

csrpenfab · Apr 20, 2023

wws said:
Actually the Madonna Inn has one of the more famous men's restrooms of any SC site....

Correct! Where else can you piss on a rock waterfall that then magically flows water as you walk away?

Vroomer · Apr 21, 2023

Ayushbh said:
What model and year is your car?

2023 model y performance

beemboy · Apr 21, 2023

EV1980 said:
1980 miles in two days? At an average speed of 75mph that's over 26 hours of driving - In between charging and sleeping, did you have any time left to see what you needed to see there?

We were four drivers, and we took turns every 300 miles and were able to take school-guided tour...Speed, I do not want to post here.

if you know how speed the tesla can go and how the teens drive

WyoDude · Apr 21, 2023

Businesses will start to align with charging and the restroom problem will be solved IMO. Buckee’s a gas station chain with a bunch of locations in TX is partnering with Tesla and putting in like 50+ chargers per location. More of this will happen across the US

The Honda civic comparison is funny to me. I’m guessing you wouldn’t be driving a civic if you didn’t have a Y or taking one on this trip with what sounds like multiple teens. A true comp is realistically higher.

2000 Miles in two days CA and AZ (USA)

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