2000 Miles in two days CA and AZ (USA)

In early April of 2023, my children and I embarked on a road trip to visit the college they plan to attend. We covered a distance of 2000 miles over two days, starting from Placerville, CA, and making several stops along the way, as indicated on our route map.

Despite the long journey, we did not experience any concern with mileage or electric vehicle (EV) charging, unlike my previous trip. (Trip to Death Valley) However, we did encounter some inconvenience regarding the lack of restroom facilities at some of the supercharger locations. No public restroom was available, and we had to purchase something to use the restroom from the local business. Furthermore, if we stop for a charge our EVs after business hours, we would be out of luck in terms of finding restroom facilities.

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?

Some statistics are below.
Total mileage driven: 1980 miles
Average Energy: 318 Wh/mi
Average speed: 75 Mph
Total charging cost: $215.00
Compared with the gas vehicle - Honda Civic- (30 Mpg) 66 gallons, and the average cost in California is $4.50 total comes to $297.00

Supercharger stops:
Firebaugh, CA @$ 0.45 - free restrooms available in a nearby business
San Luis Obispo, Madonna Inn hotel, CA - @$ 0.42 - NO restroom available
Santa Barbara, CA @$ 0.48 free restroom public in a nearby business
Redland, West Sturat Ave, CA@$ 0.41- The charger is located on the rooftop, and many eatery places are available. However, restrooms depend on where you eat
Quartzsite, AZ, @$ 0.42 - free restroom available in a nearby business- if you are after business hours, good luck to you
Phoenix, AZ North 19th Ave- @ $0.11 - free restroom available in a nearby business (target), and this is cheaper, almost equal to home charging
Quartzsite, AZ, @$ 0.42 - free restroom available in a nearby business- if you are after business hours, good luck to you
Cabazon, CA @$ 0.41- free restroom available in a nearby business
Castaic, CA @$ 0.43- NO restroom available - buy something from a nearby business to use the restroom
Visalia, CA, CA @$ 0.42- free restroom available in a nearby business
Turlock, CA @$ 0.45- free restroom available in a nearby business

 

[seenhear]

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

Sounds like a lot of charging time though. How did that go? How long was each charge? Did you optimize for speed (e.g. charge only to 60% with more stops) or minimize stops (charge to >80% with fewer stops)? Did you use ABRP or just the Tesla in-car system?

 

[beemboy]

Sounds like a lot of charging time though. How did that go? How long was each charge? Did you optimize for speed (e.g. charge only to 60% with more stops) or minimize stops (charge to >80% with fewer stops)? Did you use ABRP or just the Tesla in-car system?

Charge limit to 60-75% and used the tesla in-car navigation

 

[airborne spoon]

I'm confused on how little you spent on charging. I just drove across the country and these are my numbers. 56 hours total (including 16.7 hours of charging), 2,640 miles, $1721.13 SC cost (unpaid I have free charging)

If I were to do some napkin math that same trip for you would've cost like $350. Obviously 2.6k miles is further than your 1.9k but not by that much it's strange how my trip would've been so expensive compared to the pennies for yours.

 

[tivoboy]

I'm confused on how little you spent on charging. I just drove across the country and these are my numbers. 56 hours total (including 16.7 hours of charging), 2,640 miles, $1721.13 SC cost (unpaid I have free charging)

If I were to do some napkin math that same trip for you would've cost like $350. Obviously 2.6k miles is further than your 1.9k but not by that much it's strange how my trip would've been so expensive compared to the pennies for yours.

That price of $1721 really makes no sense. At let’s say a nationwide average of .46$ per kWh It would appear that you would have used over 3700 kWh? That doesn’t make any sense. Even in a P or sorts with a lead foot and doing a Canonball, I would expact a Tesla to be able to manage at least 3 miles per kWh used. Which would land at about $400 total?

How many kWh did you consume and refill? And, does FREE charging include leaving that car overnight and accumulating any and all per minute charges for once a car is full and simply left there?

UPDATE: just saw your footer, even IF you were towing that trailer and getting what you posted, overall cost COULD have been / should have been much closer to $700 overall. Obviously, not knowing the efficiency or the circumstance or kWh it’s pretty hard to tell

 

[airborne spoon]

That price of $1721 really makes no sense. At let’s say a nationwide average of .46$ per kWh It would appear that you would have used over 3700 kWh? That doesn’t make any sense. Even in a P or sorts with a lead foot and doing a Canonball, I would expact a Tesla to be able to manage at least 3 miles per kWh used. Which would land at about $400 total?

How many kWh did you consume and refill? And, does FREE charging include leaving that car overnight and accumulating any and all per minute charges for once a car is full and simply left there?

I ran the numbers on my phone so I might of fat fingered something, now that ti have my laptop I'll open excel and do it again. Gimme a bit I'll do the maths

 

[airborne spoon]

That price of $1721 really makes no sense. At let’s say a nationwide average of .46$ per kWh It would appear that you would have used over 3700 kWh? That doesn’t make any sense. Even in a P or sorts with a lead foot and doing a Canonball, I would expact a Tesla to be able to manage at least 3 miles per kWh used. Which would land at about $400 total?

How many kWh did you consume and refill? And, does FREE charging include leaving that car overnight and accumulating any and all per minute charges for once a car is full and simply left there?

Ok yeah my bad let this be a lesson to not try and uses sheets on your phone, it all makes sense now

i redid the math and it was $325 in supercharging fees, i definitely fat fingered the crap out of it on the phone somewhere, also the car reported i used 866kWh to make the trip.

 

[Mr. Nuke]

i redid the math and it was $325 in supercharging fees, i definitely fat fingered the crap out of it on the phone somewhere, also the car reported i used 866kWh to make the trip.

That is a lot more in line with what I would've expected.

 

[airborne spoon]

That is a lot more in line with what I would've expected.

yeah thanks for catching that, since i dont pay i just gloss over the numbers but it did seem high. I just wish there was an edit post button so i could fix that in my original statement

 

[tivoboy]

Ok yeah my bad let this be a lesson to not try and uses sheets on your phone, it all makes sense now

i redid the math and it was $325 in supercharging fees, i definitely fat fingered the crap out of it on the phone somewhere, also the car reported i used 866kWh to make the trip.

View attachment 933637

Indeed, 800 kWh is what I 'guesstimated', also your kWh unit cost was about 15% below my stag at national estimate... AWTEW, but yeah FREE is FREE

 

[Prairie]

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.

 

[Tinkerin]

Isn't Nebraska one of those states that does not allow billing by kWh? I looked at my charging invoices when I traveled through there last summer and they also all had billing by time. It appears to me that Tesla is listing billing rates that reflect the $/kWh as the charge rate ramps down. One stop at the supercharger in Lincoln, NE September 3 last year had a total price of $12.21 for 37kWh which works out to $.33/kWh even though the invoice showed several $/minute rates. $.33/kWh was one of the lowest SC rates across the west that I found.

 

[beemboy]

Interesting, so far, I haven't seen these details. All I saw is cents per kWh times how many kWh charged ($.29 * 30kWh = $8.70)

Replied to : Prairie Model X LR 2022 delivered after 453 days

 

[Prairie]

Isn't Nebraska one of those states that does not allow billing by kWh? I looked at my charging invoices when I traveled through there last summer and they also all had billing by time. It appears to me that Tesla is listing billing rates that reflect the $/kWh as the charge rate ramps down. One stop at the supercharger in Lincoln, NE September 3 last year had a total price of $12.21 for 37kWh which works out to $.33/kWh even though the invoice showed several $/minute rates. $.33/kWh was one of the lowest SC rates across the west that I found.

I recently looked up lincoln electric costs for residential and it’s basically 5 cents or 8 cents depending on season per kw.

 

[Mr. Nuke]

Isn't Nebraska one of those states that does not allow billing by kWh?

Yeah Nebraska doesn't allow billing per KWh so you are charged by the minute at superchargers.

 

[Mr. Nuke]

I recently looked up lincoln electric costs for residential and it’s basically 5 cents or 8 cents depending on season per kw.

Which tends not to really have a high correlation to what supercharging costs in a given location. My supercharging on a per minute basis this year in Grand Island was inline with my per KWh pricing at Shelby Iowa and St. Joseph Missouri.

 

[Prairie]

Which tends not to really have a high correlation to what supercharging costs in a given location. My supercharging on a per minute basis this year in Grand Island was inline with my per KWh pricing at Shelby Iowa and St. Joseph Missouri.

Yes, I figured commercial ,such as superchargers, rate would not be the same as residential. Does show how much cheaper it is to charge at home.

 

[JimBob 909]

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

View attachment 930321

My dad took us there as kids. Every woman had to go in a see the waterfall. I took my wife in there on our honeymoon. Stayed in Caveman Room...rock waterfall shower. Going to the Cal Takeover event in July.

 

[Steinmetz]

yeah thanks for catching that, since i dont pay i just gloss over the numbers but it did seem high. I just wish there was an edit post button so i could fix that in my original statement

Hello, I too have free supercharging and I'm curious how you know the charges at the supercharger were it not free. I have never seen real number as it is always no charge and I do use the superchargers a lot when I travel.

 

[airborne spoon]

Hello, I too have free supercharging and I'm curious how you know the charges at the supercharger were it not free. I have never seen real number as it is always no charge and I do use the superchargers a lot when I travel.

It used to be on the Tesla website but they took it off there a while back and moved it to the app.

In the app click your profile at the top right then account, charging, history then download and it'll open a Excel file you can then email to a computer to make it easier to read.