Eclipse Trip: Supercharger Saturation?

[SeminoleFSU]

Hey gang,
My wife is saying we shouldn't take the Tesla for an upcoming trip. Leaving Atlanta the afternoon of April 5th and traveling to Hoover, AL for the evening then leaving Saturday late morning for Benton, AR. Staying around Benton until Wednesday April 10th and driving all the way back to Atlanta.

while in Benton we'll be staying at an Air BnB without a lvl 2 charger, but I'm sure I can find a wall plug. We will need to run some errands while out there but I don't anticipate a ton of driving every day. Maybe just a couple days. There will be gas vehicles out there if we are on fumes that we could use in a pinch and there's always Uber if we get really desperate and I'm low on juice. Thoughts?

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I'm a seasoned EV road tripper (owner since 2013) so I know all the tricks but just worried about long lines at the superchargers going out and coming back

 

[LoudMusic]

It will very likely be busier than normal, but I doubt it will be "thanksgiving rush in California" busy. You could juice up at the supercharger near the Bass Pro Shop on your way in, and then 12A wall charge whenever you're at the house. That's essentially how I've done long term abnb trips.

Arkansas isn't great for EVs, unfortunately, but there are a few L2 chargers down that way. Most of them are at hotels and dealerships, but there's a couple NEMA 14-50 plugs in city parks. Up in Little Rock there are a bunch and many are free, but then you're driving a lot to slow charge, and could just go to the supercharger instead.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

OK I didn't listen to my wife (which is normal) and my trip details have changed.
1. We're still leaving Friday afternoon but we are driving to Little Rock to our hotel. There's 6 chargers there so I suspect we should be OK and that will mean I'll be in Arkansas with a full battery Saturday morning.
2. She does have more day driving than I anticipated but I don't see that as a big deal because I will find an outlet at the air bnb
3. Driving back late Wednesday may stop in Birmingham but that far after the eclipse I think we should be clear on the superchargers so it's really just Friday on the way out

 

[LoudMusic]

That sounds like a workable solution. Bring a 15A extension cord and a J1772 adapter


The Memphis Supercharger at 6073 Park Avenue is a bit inconvenient to get to, but it has many great restaurant options. It's the original site in Memphis and has been upgraded from 8 V2 150KW stalls to an additional 8 V3 250KW stalls. I haven't been to the others, but for food options I can recommend theirs are good.

Brinkley's chargers are in walking distance of Sonic.

Little Rock's chargers are next to the outlet malls, which has a couple mediocre food court options.

Tupelo's chargers are at a shopping mall. I've been there once and just sat in the car. It was covid season and I think everything was closed anyway

 

[SeminoleFSU]

That sounds like a workable solution. Bring a 15A extension cord and a J1772 adapter


The Memphis Supercharger at 6073 Park Avenue is a bit inconvenient to get to, but it has many great restaurant options. It's the original site in Memphis and has been upgraded from 8 V2 150KW stalls to an additional 8 V3 250KW stalls. I haven't been to the others, but for food options I can recommend theirs are good.

Brinkley's chargers are in walking distance of Sonic.

Little Rock's chargers are next to the outlet malls, which has a couple mediocre food court options.

Tupelo's chargers are at a shopping mall. I've been there once and just sat in the car. It was covid season and I think everything was closed anyway

Yeah we've done the trip a few times over the years just a little worried about the volume of people heading out there for the event. I'd imagine the volume on the chargers will be like a big holiday but much more localized

 

[swaltner]

You're not planning on road-tripping on the day of the actual eclipse (Monday the 8th), so I wouldn't expect any trouble with charger access during this trip.

The people that will run into problems are the people that wait until the morning of the 8th to leave home and don't account for any extra charging or travel time, or hit the road immediately after the eclipse concludes running into potential traffic jams. Travel to the destination city on Sunday and wait several hours after the eclipse before getting back on the road to avoid the worst of the travel delays. Same as back in 2017 for the last total eclipse...

 

[ginmqi]

You're not planning on road-tripping on the day of the actual eclipse (Monday the 8th), so I wouldn't expect any trouble with charger access during this trip.

The people that will run into problems are the people that wait until the morning of the 8th to leave home and don't account for any extra charging or travel time, or hit the road immediately after the eclipse concludes running into potential traffic jams. Travel to the destination city on Sunday and wait several hours after the eclipse before getting back on the road to avoid the worst of the travel delays. Same as back in 2017 for the last total eclipse...

Indeed.

I unfortunately will have to travel very early on 8th to drive 2hrs to totality in southern MO. I looked at hotels about 2 weeks ago for the night of 7th to the 8th and hotels in Cape Girardeau were already at $500+ so that was out. Hotels that were in southern STL were also sold out. I booked the southern most hotel that's avilable in STL and friend and I will plan to get to Cape Girardeau before 8am (hopefully that's not too late) and charge up to 100% at that SC and then make our way back.

Given that totality occurs around 2pm, 8am may actually be a bit too late.....6am may be safer.

Remember that partial eclipse starts around 1hr prior to the total eclipse...and so take that into account and to beat the majorit of other arrivals, probably want to plan to be at the site at LEAST 4-6hrs PRIOR to the start of the partial eclipse (which is 1hr BEFORE totality)....so probably 5-7hrs+ prior arrival to be safe