I made my 11-day trip to see the solar eclipse in Texas. Supercharging went mostly well with significant waits only at two locations. A few other places only needed about 5 minutes wait time. The worst was at Willcox, AZ. In Childress, it was raining a lot suddenly, and Tesla rerouted me through a side-street and it was partially flooded and got worried about the water. Then the weather was really crappy that day driving from Childress, TX where I was worried I would not make it to the next charger, and it was really in the middle of nowhere. I learned in areas with only one supercharger on route, to top up in case it will be a long wait at the supercharger to make it to the next one, but rarely went beyond 85%.
It was nice to have Supercharger locations near the rest areas, where they have the convenience store to hang around in. Many other locations are near a hotel, where they seem to let me hang out in the lobby when I asked if it was okay. It was only in the urban areas at night (in a mall or strip mall), where there is nowhere to go. Luckily none were feeling dangerous.
Saw a Rivian and Lighting charging at some point. In Grants, NM the temperature dropped to 32 F and I was worried about things getting frozen but it turned out okay. I picked up some Invisible Glass and a spongy thing to clean the windshield at the end of the day, as the stuff at the gas station was really not doing a good job.
I drove on relatively new Hankook iON EVO AS, which seemed to drive pretty efficiently. Luckily no tire issues on the road! Driving speed was mostly 70-75 mph. I am thankful for the adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping, and lane changes (not a FSD purchaser). I initiated all lane changes manually, but let the car do the lane change itself. And I was always sleepy on these long drives so it was very helpful to have it do lane-keeping so I don't wipe out on the road. Kept it off where it was busier traffic in the city.
I think once more supercharger are deployed, more non-supercharger chargers are deployed, the waiting issues will be gone. The 150 kW chargers had the most trouble. The major cities I went to (Dallas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Tucson) did not have any issues with finding a charging stall. Even in Dallas on evening after the eclipse it was not an issue.
This was my first time experiencing a solar eclipse, so I didn't want to spend time fidgeting with cameras and trying to get a shot. Here is just going home passing through Petrified Forest National Park.
It was nice to have Supercharger locations near the rest areas, where they have the convenience store to hang around in. Many other locations are near a hotel, where they seem to let me hang out in the lobby when I asked if it was okay. It was only in the urban areas at night (in a mall or strip mall), where there is nowhere to go. Luckily none were feeling dangerous.
Saw a Rivian and Lighting charging at some point. In Grants, NM the temperature dropped to 32 F and I was worried about things getting frozen but it turned out okay. I picked up some Invisible Glass and a spongy thing to clean the windshield at the end of the day, as the stuff at the gas station was really not doing a good job.
I drove on relatively new Hankook iON EVO AS, which seemed to drive pretty efficiently. Luckily no tire issues on the road! Driving speed was mostly 70-75 mph. I am thankful for the adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping, and lane changes (not a FSD purchaser). I initiated all lane changes manually, but let the car do the lane change itself. And I was always sleepy on these long drives so it was very helpful to have it do lane-keeping so I don't wipe out on the road. Kept it off where it was busier traffic in the city.
I think once more supercharger are deployed, more non-supercharger chargers are deployed, the waiting issues will be gone. The 150 kW chargers had the most trouble. The major cities I went to (Dallas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Tucson) did not have any issues with finding a charging stall. Even in Dallas on evening after the eclipse it was not an issue.
This was my first time experiencing a solar eclipse, so I didn't want to spend time fidgeting with cameras and trying to get a shot. Here is just going home passing through Petrified Forest National Park.
