Anybody gone Bay Area to Tahoe yet?

[Trnsl8r]

Trip report:
I made my first road trip from Santa Clara County to Echo Lake, el. 7400' in the Sierras over Memorial Day weekend. It's about 220 miles from home. My companion has been involved in EVs for decades; he built a electric/gas hybrid as a college project, and formerly leased the original GM EV1. He has worked on EV vehicle interfaces and solar power. So to get behind the wheel of a modern Tesla was a real treat for him. He was really impressed.

The drive from Santa Clara Co to Folsom was uneventful; we stopped in Davis to meet friends and charged $0/17 miles at a downtown parking lot J1772. Our main charge was at Folsom Supercharger where we topped off to a full range charge; this added 128 miles of range in 45 minutes. The 75 mile, 7000' climb to Echo Lake consumed an indicated 128 miles of range, arriving with 135 miles of indicated range. There was no where to plug in at Echo Lake, but I wasn't worried about the 75 mile downhill return to Folsom.

The weather over Memorial day was surprisingly cold and breezy, reaching freezing overnight. Backpackers were bailing out of Desolation Wilderness. The Tesla lost 24 miles of range in the 2 days parked. We drove back to Folsom, 75 miles downhill consuming only 42 miles of indicated range.

In total, the 150 mile round trip from Folsom to Echo, 7000' gain, burned an indicated 170 miles of range, and parking for two nights consumed an additional 24 miles.

Returning to Folsom, I recharged, adding 134 mi of range in 30 minutes. This was enough to get home comfortably.

Thanks for the report. About how fast were you going for uphill climb?

 

[Kermit]

Thanks for the report. About how fast were you going for uphill climb?

We were driving normal Highway 50 speeds. So, about 50-55ish. We weren't deliberately ;-) trying to impress anyone with the amazing acceleration of the Tesla (normal ICE cars start wheezing at high elevation).

 

[Marty]

Here are some details for trip up charging at Folsom and back with no charging required.
Tesla trip to Tahoe - Atherton/Marsh Road to Carnelian Bay at Tahoe

We drove HWY 80/50 to Folsom, charged at the Supercharge station to charge for 1 hr 10 mins then back to HWY 80 up to Carnelian Bay (80 to 267 to N Lake Blvd). We had 98 extra miles when we arrived, so didn’t need to stay at the charging station so long!

2:19 Departed Atherton Odometer 7373 Rated Miles “RM” 262
4:45 Folsom RM 118 Plugged in at Supercharge station
5:15 RM 214 turned off AC
5:22 RM 228
5:43 RM 258 (Should have stopped here – seems to take longer to get those last added RMs.)
5:55 RM 264
From Folsom Supercharge it took 35 minutes to get back to HWY 80 at which point RM 243
6:40 RM 209 APPLEGATE
7:30 RM 121 SODA SPRINGS
7:33 RM 114 DONNER SUMMIT
7:45 RM 114 MARTIS CAMP
8:00 RM 98 CARNELIAN BAY

RETURN TRIP – CARNELIAN BAY TO ATHERTON
235 mile trip starting with 262 Rated Miles and ending with 57 Rated Miles with no stopping! HWY 267 to 80 to 880 to 92W to 101.

1:03 Depart Carnelian Bay RM 262
1:24 RM 248 TRUCKEE
1:53 RM 218 SODA SPRINGS
Accident at Dutch Flat RM 221
Temperature 97
2:07 RM 221 at 3000 ft
2:18 RM 216 at 2000 ft
2:29 RM 211 at 1000 ft; ODOmeter 7703
2:44 RM 199 ODO 7721
Temperature 100
3:41 RM 127 ODO 7787
4:35 RM 73 ODO 7840
4:52 RM 57 ODO 7855 HOME
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- - - Updated - - -

Should have added for the above that I tried to drive 65-70 the whole way...

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Thanks for the report, Marty. While up at Carnelian Bay, where did you charge? At the Firelite Lodge?

 

[85n280]

To "Coast", do I turn off regenerative braking?

Hi, this is excellent, so detailed, and encouraging. I plan to make this trip this coming weekend. When people mention "Coasting" does that mean on a downhill you are turning off the regen braking so that you maximize the coasting effect?

The new Vacaville station is the tipping point for me, it really lowers the anxiety.


Thanks to all!

Here are some details for trip up charging at Folsom and back with no charging required.
Tesla trip to Tahoe - Atherton/Marsh Road to Carnelian Bay at Tahoe

We drove HWY 80/50 to Folsom, charged at the Supercharge station to charge for 1 hr 10 mins then back to HWY 80 up to Carnelian Bay (80 to 267 to N Lake Blvd). We had 98 extra miles when we arrived, so didn’t need to stay at the charging station so long!

2:19 Departed Atherton Odometer 7373 Rated Miles “RM” 262
4:45 Folsom RM 118 Plugged in at Supercharge station
5:15 RM 214 turned off AC
5:22 RM 228
5:43 RM 258 (Should have stopped here – seems to take longer to get those last added RMs.)
5:55 RM 264
From Folsom Supercharge it took 35 minutes to get back to HWY 80 at which point RM 243
6:40 RM 209 APPLEGATE
7:30 RM 121 SODA SPRINGS
7:33 RM 114 DONNER SUMMIT
7:45 RM 114 MARTIS CAMP
8:00 RM 98 CARNELIAN BAY

RETURN TRIP – CARNELIAN BAY TO ATHERTON
235 mile trip starting with 262 Rated Miles and ending with 57 Rated Miles with no stopping! HWY 267 to 80 to 880 to 92W to 101.

1:03 Depart Carnelian Bay RM 262
1:24 RM 248 TRUCKEE
1:53 RM 218 SODA SPRINGS
Accident at Dutch Flat RM 221
Temperature 97
2:07 RM 221 at 3000 ft
2:18 RM 216 at 2000 ft
2:29 RM 211 at 1000 ft; ODOmeter 7703
2:44 RM 199 ODO 7721
Temperature 100
3:41 RM 127 ODO 7787
4:35 RM 73 ODO 7840
4:52 RM 57 ODO 7855 HOME
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- - - Updated - - -

Should have added for the above that I tried to drive 65-70 the whole way...

 

[lloyds]

The Vacaville station definitely helps. Out of curiosity, anyone make it up to North Tahoe from Vacaville without stopping in Folsom?

 

[bkenchan]

Pretty sure you can with an 85. Just drive from 55-65mph range. I went from Folsom to Reno with 80 mile range left. Vacaville to North Lake Tahoe is like an extra 25 miles and maybe a little less mounting climbing.

Oh and I also did a 90% charge and drove a little crazy for some of the way up from Folsom to Reno.

 

[Jeddi]

I just made my fifth trip to Lake Tahoe this past weekend. I didn't charge in Vacaville but this time I paid attention to my mileage while I was passing Vacaville (ended up charging at Folsom instead) and feel confident that next time I can charge at Vacaville and make it to Lake Tahoe with about 40 rated miles left. My trip is usually 221 actual miles.
Just don't run the heater or heated seats the whole time.

 

[bkenchan]

I think you can run the heat just lower than you would normally run it.

 

[cantdecide]

We had 7 of us in the Tesla a couple of weeks ago go up to Tahoe for the weekend. My critical finding was that we could use evtripplanner with the advanced options set correctly and it would be within 1% of correct. That meant sticking to the speed limit if you say you will on evtripplanner!
Vacaville wasn't yet open so we did Folsom going up. We stayed at cedar house sport hotel in Truckee which has free l2 charging. We arrived with plenty of range so I'd have no issue with vacaville instead of folsom provided it isn't actually snowing on the Pass and provided I keep to the speed limit
Coming home we started with a range charge in Truckee, spent the day in Northstar and came home (where home is on the Western edge of silicon valley at 1000ft elevation) with 40 miles left and no charging for the day... So we could have made it to Santa Cruz even had we lived there (although I would not have attempted that)

 

[IVGID]

Hi everyone. Bumping this thread to let you know there are now four Eaton 70A stations online in Incline Village, NV.
Two are located at Diamond Peak Ski Resort - www.diamondpeak.com
Two are located at the Incline Village Championship Golf Course - www.golfincline.com
These are Chargepoint networked stations and are free to use with a Chargepoint account.
I hope you'll plan your next trip to Tahoe to include some skiing at Diamond Peak or a round of golf at the Champ Course.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

A bit of an embarrassing situation tonight in Tahoe

Doing our second trip in a month to Squaw for one last weekend of snow play for the season. Uneventful getting here - charged at Vacaville while having lunch and doing some shopping (one of the stalls was not working btw) and then topped off at Folsom (still waiting on Roseville that'd work better for my 60).

Then, charged for about 4 hours at the Clipper Creek 30A stations at the Squaw resort to get to 120 miles of range (these pics were from my last trip). Noticed some broken glass today near the EV spots so, was concerned about leaving the car for longer out there (though the sign there says to move the car by 2 am, the village lodging front desk chap told us that it'd have been okay to leave it there overnight given no snow on the ground there and no need for access to snow moving equipment).

So, decided to move the car to the underground lot beneath the village lodging where we are staying. There's enough time tomorrow anyway to top off before heading back to Vaca.

Now, as I was driving through the underground lot to under the building we are staying in, noticed a couple of 110V outlets on a wall next to a parking spot and also next to a door marked electrical room. Was immediately tempted to get some opportunistic trickle charging done overnight and plugged in. Although the outlet was a 5-20R, decided to make the car draw only 8A as I had no idea about the breaker, of course. The car was drawing power just fine so, I walked away.

Checked from the mobile app a couple of minutes later to find that the car had stopped charging. Headed back to see that there was indeed no wall power and yours truly had indeed seemingly tripped the breaker! Unplugged the car and moved it right away. As I was heading back to my room, noticed a gentleman in work overalls coming out of the said electrical room; I walked up and mentioned my misadventure and apologized for any inconvenience. Turned out that the breaker was pretty overloaded as it was and all the TVs in all 5 village lodging buildings were on the same breaker. Moments earlier, the front desk was apparently flooded with phone calls from folks who had no TV at 9:30 pm on a Saturday The electrician was understanding and said that it was no biggie and that it was fortunate that he was around to do the necessary to reset the breaker.

All said and done, the takeaway for me was that attempts at opportunistic charging can have undesirable consequences :biggrin:

Happy Easter, everyone! Coincidentally my birthday too

 

[SFOTurtle]

Happy bday GG and Happy Easter to you as well. Just curious, how much charge did you leave Folsom with and how many rated miles did you have when you arrived at your hotel?

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Happy bday GG and Happy Easter to you as well. Just curious, how much charge did you leave Folsom with and how many rated miles did you have when you arrived at your hotel?

Thanks!

We left Folsom with 197 (and there was plenty more to go to get to 100%; if I were to guess, 203-204 miles) and arrived at Squaw with 47. Got to I-80 from the Folsom SC via the meandering Hazel Ave route through Rocklin that the car nav took us through rather than the Oak Pkwy (?) route through Roseville that the iPhone Google Maps took us through the last time.

Weather was much warmer (in the mid-high 60s in the post-Folsom stretch) than the last time and I kept AC (in range mode) on throughout at 66 deg. Drove pretty aggressively too maintaining around 75-80. There was little range lost from Donner Summit onwards.

Supercharging was much more pleasant this time. Had three stalls on offer at Vaca although the first one we tried was not functional. Two were available at Folsom and that too a pair. Two blues were unwittingly (or by prior timing/coincidence) sharing the older 90 kW pair.

 

[SFOTurtle]

Thanks!

We left Folsom with 197 (and there was plenty more to go to get to 100%; if I were to guess, 203-204 miles) and arrived at Squaw with 47. Got to I-80 from the Folsom SC via the meandering Hazel Ave route through Rocklin that the car nav took us through rather than the Oak Pkwy (?) route through Roseville that the iPhone Google Maps took us through the last time.

Weather was much warmer (in the mid-high 60s in the post-Folsom stretch) than the last time and I kept AC (in range mode) on throughout at 66 deg. Drove pretty aggressively too maintaining around 75-80. There was little range lost from Donner Summit onwards.

Supercharging was much more pleasant this time. Had three stalls on offer at Vaca although the first one we tried was not functional. Two were available at Folsom and that too a pair. Two blues were unwittingly (or by prior timing/coincidence) sharing the older 90 kW pair.

Do you have range mode setting on?

When the Roseville SCs open, can a 60 make it there on a full charge to avoid having to stop twice on the way up to Tahoe? I can make it to Vacaville very easily from Los Altos but not sure of the distance from there to Roseville.

 

[Peter1087]

Do you have range mode setting on?

When the Roseville SCs open, can a 60 make it there on a full charge to avoid having to stop twice on the way up to Tahoe? I can make it to Vacaville very easily from Los Altos but not sure of the distance from there to Roseville.

From the Cupertino area driving via 580 I'm passing the Galleria having used roughly 175 rated miles. That's averaging about 70 mph this time of year.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Do you have range mode setting on?

When the Roseville SCs open, can a 60 make it there on a full charge to avoid having to stop twice on the way up to Tahoe? I can make it to Vacaville very easily from Los Altos but not sure of the distance from there to Roseville.

Yes, have had range mode on for several months now.

I can make Roseville with ease from Redwood Shores even on a 90% charge. From Roseville, a max charge will get us to the north shore with about the same bit of juice left as today from Folsom.

Roseville's definitely perfect for Bay Area 60s.

 

[Merrill]

Looking forward to Roseville this summer, spending a few days at Northshore and will stay at the Ritz in Northstar which has 3 Nema 14-50 outlets. Do not forget that the Firelite lodge has a Nema 14-50 plug that they will let you use even if you are not staying with them.

 

[russman]

Why do you drive with range mode on? Is it because you have a 60kWh? Need to look at the manual. What does that do to increase range?

Yes, have had range mode on for several months now.

I can make Roseville with ease from Redwood Shores even on a 90% charge. From Roseville, a max charge will get us to the north shore with about the same bit of juice left as today from Folsom.

Roseville's definitely perfect for Bay Area 60s.

 

[dirkhh]

Why do you drive with range mode on? Is it because you have a 60kWh? Need to look at the manual. What does that do to increase range?

Makes the A/C use less power and tells the car to reduce max power earlier.
I run my 60 in range mode at all times.
Never felt anything was lacking