Help with Grand Canyon Road trip

[jlucero]

we will start near las vegas, but my real issue is From St George to Page, and Page to Grand Canyon South Rim

i own a 2015 Model S with max range about 208-210 miles right now. i have never charged at chargers other than Tesla Superchargers and at my own house in a 110v.

heres the stats.

St George to Page, Mileage 155 miles, elevation change is 1518 ft.
Page AZ has a supercharger
Page AZ to Grand Canyon village via highway 64, Mileage 139 miles, elevation change 2731 ft.

in between St George and page, i have read other people suggest to charge in Kanab. i dont know much about this. how fast are these chargers? do i need a special adapter? do i just put in credit card to pay?

between page and grand canyon south rim, i see one option for destination charging a bit out of the way in Tuba City.

any help greatly appreciated!

 

[ucmndd]

What does a better route planner or similar online tools say?

 

[GHammer]

I did the St.George to Page run in my '14 S a year and a half ago. I charged a little in Kanab but didn't really need to. I left St.George with 88%, added 5% in Kanab, got to Page with 20%. According to plugshare, the chargers in Kanab are pretty reliable. To use the fast chargers in Kanab you'll need either a Chademo adapter (pretty much obsolete and only available in the secondary market, not advised) or a CCS adapter which requires a retrofit to your cars charging system (from Tesla $450 includes retrofit and adapter). There are two levels of fast chargers dedicated 50kW units and shared 150kW units that operate like Tesla V2 Superchargers. There are also slow chargers that just use the Tesla included J1772 adapter. You'll need a Chargepoint account and phone app to use them.

 

[jlucero]

honestly, i just discovered https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ and about to enter my data in. pretty accurate? does it take into account elevation changes?

 

[jlucero]

oh wow Ghammer, so you made it! wow. nice. gives me hope.

 

[bruce4000]

I just did this trip in my 2021 LR MY. Using PlugShare ap, I found that the Best Western Plus at Springdale has 2 slow chargers. We were staying 3 nights anyway so stayed there and nice hotel and location for Zion. Most of the time nobody was charging so no problem using. No cost and no codes, just use 1772 adapter that comes with car and plug in. Was on 3300 mile road trip and used ABRP all the time and is accurate to a few percent and seems to know about elevation etc. what is really needed is a SC at Seligman AZ if going in the Vegas to GC direction as 3000’ elevation gain. Is an EA charger at Williams but those are dicey.

 

[jlucero]

i see the Kanab destination chargers are at the La Quinta Kanab and Days Inn Kanab. both offer 4 Connectors up to 16kW. does anyone know if they use the 1772 adapter that comes with the car? should i expect speeds of more like 10-12kW?

 

[RandyS]

In 2014, we made a trip to the Grand Canyon in our Model S and ended up charging at the campground there for a few hours so we could get back out to Interstate 40 and on to the next Supercharger. They were very nice about it...

 

[GHammer]

i see the Kanab destination chargers are at the La Quinta Kanab and Days Inn Kanab. both offer 4 Connectors up to 16kW. does anyone know if they use the 1772 adapter that comes with the car? should i expect speeds of more like 10-12kW?

Chargers at both those locations use the Tesla connector but generally chargers at hotels are for guests only. They are both 10kW, 40amps @ 208v, not 16. These types of questions can be answered at plugshare.com.

 

[Harriscott]

honestly, i just discovered ABRP and about to enter my data in. pretty accurate? does it take into account elevation changes?

I've found it quite accurate, but by default it assumes you drive the speed limit. If not, you had better adjust that I use ABRP for trip planning, but for the trip the in-car nav works really well.

 

[bradtem]

I also recommend stopping at Zion, where a large fraction of the hotels have charging. There is also charging in the parking lot of the park, and since in summer you have to park there and take the shuttle, it's a perfect time even for level 2 charging to boost you up. It costs $5. You used to be able to rent the chademo adapter. But this is only 155 miles so you should not have any problem, and Page to GC Village is less.

If you want a real challenge try Page to Blanding, with the obligatory visit to Monument Valley. Even if you use the CCS charger in Bluff (which is supposedly free!) this is very difficult. There is an expensive inn at Monument valley with an RV park. And you can hire a Navajo to drive you around Monument Valley (they can go more places) and also save the electricity for that, and there might even be a guide who lets you park at a level 1 plug to pick up 15 miles (you will need every mile) while on tour. Or call to see if there is a guide who will pick you up at the RV park. $30 to charge at RV park. Maybe the KOA will be nicer?

 

[PKMAN]

...do i need a special adapter?

Definitely go buy J1772 adapter and both NEMA 14-50 and 14-30 connectors (for RV parks). We drove to Death Valley and also Yellowstone (separate trip) a few years back in 2019 M3SR with rated range of 240 miles but actual of <200. Never needed NEMA connector (fortunately, would've been boring if we had to stay at a RV park just to charge) but the J1772 did come in handy.

 

[bradtem]

Definitely go buy J1772 adapter and both NEMA 14-50 and 14-30 connectors (for RV parks). We drove to Death Valley and also Yellowstone (separate trip) a few years back in 2019 M3SR with rated range of 240 miles but actual of <200. Never needed NEMA connector (fortunately, would've been boring if we had to stay at a RV park just to charge) but the J1772 did come in handy.

The NEMA connector is not to spend time at an RV park, except in emergencies. On the other hand, I have used it fairly often when staying at motels which have an RV park (or just a few RV hookup spaces) or at RV parks that also have cabins, which are fairly common. In fact, the 14-50 will charge faster than most J1772 charging stations, should you need it, as a lot of those are 208v or 30a, while 14-50 gives you up to 40a and always 240v.

A few times I have also just run into 14-50s at state parks and a few other attractions so you can pick up quite a few miles while on a visit or hike. In the future this should be the norm at trailheads (NACS or 14-50 or for now J1772.) You don't bother with this when just driving around your town, but on a road trip, picking up 40 miles gives you more flexibility, grants you a side trip you couldn't otherwise take.

 

[jlucero]

id like to update the group on our St George to Page trip. actual mileage 155 miles and we spent about 163 miles in range. i estimate that we lost about 7-8 miles per 1000 ft in elevation rise and gained about half back when going down 1000 ft. about 4 miles.

we didnt have to charge at Kanab. the key thing is that we drove 60 miles per hour the whole way.

perfect weather the whole way. hope this helps