Sign of the times in Phoenix

I've only had my MYP for less than 2 weeks, but it does train your eye to spot other Teslas. Yesterday I was driving on the 101 north through Scottsdale when I notice a model S in front of me. I caught up and dropped into line. The model S was following a model Y, and the model Y had a 90D in front of it. So we're all humming along in the HOV lane at 80mph or so for about 8 miles. We did pass a few other Teslas as well.

I bought the MYP because my Infiniti M37 is coming up on 100,000 miles, and I just couldn't see buying another gas vehicle, except perhaps to replace my motorcycle someday. I would never have bought it without the price cut made in January, and the $7500 tax credit this year pushed me into buying one now. I'm not alone. In my gated community, there are at least three new Teslas this spring/summer, including my neighbor across the street. He bought a M2 RWD in April because of the price cut/tax credit too. And I see a model S with paper plates coming by the house now. Not sure how many more are hidden in garages here.

My thinking on EV's has followed a typical curve, I think. Benign ignorance followed by interested after riding in a Tesla, followed by the realization that EV's are a lot further along the adoption curve than I ever would have noticed. Superchargers? It stuns me to learn that most of the SC's in Arizona are already 9 years old or more! The thoughts about road trips and charging issues and range anxiety seem kind of silly in terms of buying an EV. I mean if I worked on a ranch in a rural area, that's one thing, but I live in Phoenix, AZ, within the outermost freeway ring. I can hardly think of a more suitable place to have an EV, (or perhaps an EV with a roof shade.) I don't have to worry about extremely cold winters, and if I hot foot it enough on the freeways to only have - let's say 150 miles range - I still have more than enough for every trip I've made around Phoenix for the past 5 years. I plug in when I get home and have it set to charge after 9pm to 80%. It's always enough.

My one (so far) road trip was just up to Flagstaff and back to see my daughter. Up in one charge, no problem. Then supercharge once and come home. Tucson looks to be about the same, and I just don't drive farther than that except about once a year on a road trip. What to do then? Depends on the trip, at the moment. I still have the Infiniti, and it may be that it only gets used once a year to drive to Colorado via Four Corners. Just about anywhere else I want to go should be easily doable in the Tesla as there are SC's more along the route I want to take. (The Navajo reservation is a true challenge at the moment. Not sure, but Carlsbad Caverns might be another ICE vehicle trip.)

I've come to realize that my MYP gets about the same mileage on a 'fill' as my BMW motorcycle (K1300s). That bike gets about 170 miles around town and 240 on the road (if I don't go much above 85mph). The car looks to be very similar. Drive it like an old lady and maybe 240 miles. Drive it the ways it wants and about 170 miles (probably more, but I notice an alarmingly fast drop in charge after those aggressive freeway entrances.)

Sure wish there were SC's on the Navajo reservation. I love driving through there, and the MY seems like such a good road tripper.

I wonder when someone will butcher a crashed Tesla to remove the battery pack and mount it on a small trailer, then figure a way to hook it in the car's existing battery to double the range? (And then put a small camper shell on top to also take advantage of the battery.)

"Tesla Model Y Front View" by Monotoan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

 

[HankLloydRight]

I wonder when someone will butcher a crashed Tesla to remove the battery pack and mount it on a small trailer, then figure a way to hook it in the car's existing battery to double the range? (And then put a small camper shell on top to also take advantage of the battery.)

It's been done. But the extra weight and extra drag really kills consumption, so it would never double the range. And with Superchargers getting more and more closer, there's really no need for more than 300-400 miles of range these days.

 

[ewoodrick]

Welcome! It seems that you are enjoying the car!

You've got the classic range anxiety; it will subside over time. I'm in Atanta and wouldn't think twice about jumping in the car and driving out your way.
Sure the vast nothingness of the desert and the reservations cause some challenges. But they can often be mitigated.

The folks on the ranches aren't necessarily left out. Charge on the ranch and that gives you a lot of driving. You should be able to get to town and charge in the worst case.

To Carlsbad Caverns? ABRP shows that it can be done. Have you asked the car if it can do it? You can also use PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge

If you chill out a little and slow down to 70, you'll find that your range increases significantly. For about ever 5 mph over 60 mph, you can expect a 5% decrease in range.

And for many of us, one charge does not a road trip make. That's a day trip out and back!

Have fun!!

 

[phxazcraig]

It's been done. But the extra weight and extra drag really kills consumption, so it would never double the range. And with Superchargers getting more and more closer, there's really no need for more than 300-400 miles of range these days.

Hmm. What about a trailer with powered wheels? You guide more than pull?

 

[phxazcraig]

Welcome! It seems that you are enjoying the car!

You've got the classic range anxiety; it will subside over time. I'm in Atanta and wouldn't think twice about jumping in the car and driving out your way.
Sure the vast nothingness of the desert and the reservations cause some challenges. But they can often be mitigated.

Yes, they can often be mitigated, but sometimes cannot. My normal route for the last 42 years from Phoenix to Colorado has been the most direct/shortest one, which cuts right through the Rez and ends up at Cortez, CO after 425 miles. I've done this route many times in both car and motorcycle. On the bike, I need to stop on the Rez to gas up once, usually Kayenta. Coming back once I almost ran out of gas on the bike skipping Kayenta and going to Tuba City some 70 miles later. In any case you still need to fill up in Flagstaff so it doesn't make sense to try to stretch to Tuba City going south. My Model Y is very similar in range to the bike. Kayenta - gateway to Monument Valley from the AZ side - is the place that most needs a charge station. And there is nothing. No EVgo, no EA, no destination chargers.

In Tuba City, Plugshare shows two hotel destination chargers. Near Monument Valley, on the Utah side of the border you have another hotel destination charger at Goulding's Lodge. But the vast areas of the Navajo rez are unplugged. There is hostility on the part of the Navajo for charging stations for tourists when much of the housing on the rez has no electricity. Plans for a SC in Kayenta were apparently scrapped 6 years ago.

So the mitigation? Completely different, longer and far uglier route up 666 in New Mexico to Farmington, then backtrack to Four Corners, with some routes needing a SC stop farther north in Blanding UT. Crossing the rez is no joke. Charging structure basically takes you from Flagstaff north into Utah where it seems many small rural communities get small SC station. Or you go east along I-40 into New Mexico then up.

I'll know EV's are mainstream when rural areas like the rez get chargers.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Hmm. What about a trailer with powered wheels? You guide more than pull?

Where is that power coming from?

There’s also aerodynamic drag.

 

[phxazcraig]

Where is that power coming from?

There’s also aerodynamic drag.

I say get a big trailer and redesign it with a battery pack floor, and throw on a small EV motor to help push the trailer along.

 

[ewoodrick]

I say get a big trailer and redesign it with a battery pack floor, and throw on a small EV motor to help push the trailer along.

It's a concept that's been mentioned many times. Not much happens, although I think that someone actually hooked up a generator on a trailer. But I'm guessing it was more of a farce, since the car won't move if something is plugged in.

 

[Cce32]

I saw this prototype at the most recent Tesla Takeover in SLO

Moving road trips to the electric age.

Lightship is the first American all-electric recreational vehicle company bringing travel trailers into the electric age.

lightshiprv.com

 

[father_of_6]

about once a year on a road trip. What to do then? Depends on the trip, at the moment. I still have the Infiniti, and it may be that it only gets used once a year to drive to Colorado via Four Corners

What's the nav say? I'd be surprised if there's actually anywhere left in the US that a Tesla can't travel using the supercharger network.

 

[Ti317]

Most states are seeing growth of over 50% in their adoption of EVs in general with Tesla being the far and away leader. Here in South Florida, it is next to impossible to pull up to a light and not see at least one other Tesla. Often there are 3 or 4 around.
I love my M3P but I would never have it as my only car. I live in a hurricane prone state and I have had to evacuate on more than one instance. When you are in the midst of a mass evacuation like Hurricane Andrew, cueing up at a SC doesn’t seem feasible. Or when as with Irma, you have to pick a less traveled route out of South Florida, through the agricultural areas around the lake, your chances of finding a SC rapidly diminish.
I also wonder about the logistics of going to far too fast with our adoption of the current EV technology. Will we get like the gasoline powered sector and hang on because we have an existing infrastructure that it too expensive to abandon? If we cannot drastically reduce the weight of the cars what will the effect be on our roadways and their use of petrochemicals.
I figure I will never come up with those answers so I just continue to enjoy a great car with some very cool technology.

 

[ewoodrick]

Most states are seeing growth of over 50% in their adoption of EVs in general with Tesla being the far and away leader. Here in South Florida, it is next to impossible to pull up to a light and not see at least one other Tesla. Often there are 3 or 4 around.
I love my M3P but I would never have it as my only car. I live in a hurricane prone state and I have had to evacuate on more than one instance. When you are in the midst of a mass evacuation like Hurricane Andrew, cueing up at a SC doesn’t seem feasible. Or when as with Irma, you have to pick a less traveled route out of South Florida, through the agricultural areas around the lake, your chances of finding a SC rapidly diminish.
I also wonder about the logistics of going to far too fast with our adoption of the current EV technology. Will we get like the gasoline powered sector and hang on because we have an existing infrastructure that it too expensive to abandon? If we cannot drastically reduce the weight of the cars what will the effect be on our roadways and their use of petrochemicals.
I figure I will never come up with those answers so I just continue to enjoy a great car with some very cool technology.

But it's okay to queue up at a gas station and then their tanks run dry before you are able to fill up?

Miami to Ft Myers is an easy 150 mile trip, no need to fill up. In most places it's pretty hard to go 50 miles without passing chargers, and only a few where you can go a hundred miles.
Tesla has often been nice enough to take the price of charging to $0 during these times.

Evacuating is always an issue, Having an EV doesn't really impact it that much. Heck, instead of filling up before the storm as you do in other cars, you just take the slider to 100% and let it fill overnight. You can use that time to put up the storm shutters and sandbags.

And EVs travel so much better in stop and go traffic.

And I forgot to mention the CCS/CHAdeMO locations, They are listed in the color map below.
Sure there's a hole around the lake/glade, but it's not more than 100 miles. And there aren't exactly a lot of gas stations out there either.

 

[gt2690b]

But it's okay to queue up at a gas station and then their tanks run dry before you are able to fill up?

Miami to Ft Myers is an easy 150 mile trip, no need to fill up. In most places it's pretty hard to go 50 miles without passing chargers, and only a few where you can go a hundred miles.
Tesla has often been nice enough to take the price of charging to $0 during these times.

Evacuating is always an issue, Having an EV doesn't really impact it that much. Heck, instead of filling up before the storm as you do in other cars, you just take the slider to 100% and let it fill overnight. You can use that time to put up the storm shutters and sandbags.

And EVs travel so much better in stop and go traffic.

And I forgot to mention the CCS/CHAdeMO locations, They are listed in the color map below.
Sure there's a hole around the lake/glade, but it's not more than 100 miles. And there aren't exactly a lot of gas stations out there either.

View attachment 974144

View attachment 974148

yeah i've never really understood the evacuation problem.. with all that traffic you'd probably get 300 miles range enough to get out of the state... or if you have solar panel and/or power wall you could wait out months of no power and be the only one driving around

 

[father_of_6]

Heck, instead of filling up before the storm as you do in other cars, you just take the slider to 100% and let it fill overnight. You can use that time to put up the storm shutters and sandbags.

100% this. I'd much rather leave in an EV with a full charge then have to contend with ICE drivers at a gas station.

We've already seen what happens in those long gas station lines *without* an emergency... fist fights and spitting on one another for "cutting in line".

 

[fhteagle]

Yes, they can often be mitigated, but sometimes cannot. My normal route for the last 42 years from Phoenix to Colorado has been the most direct/shortest one, which cuts right through the Rez and ends up at Cortez, CO after 425 miles. I've done this route many times in both car and motorcycle. On the bike, I need to stop on the Rez to gas up once, usually Kayenta. Coming back once I almost ran out of gas on the bike skipping Kayenta and going to Tuba City some 70 miles later. In any case you still need to fill up in Flagstaff so it doesn't make sense to try to stretch to Tuba City going south. My Model Y is very similar in range to the bike. Kayenta - gateway to Monument Valley from the AZ side - is the place that most needs a charge station. And there is nothing. No EVgo, no EA, no destination chargers.

In Tuba City, Plugshare shows two hotel destination chargers. Near Monument Valley, on the Utah side of the border you have another hotel destination charger at Goulding's Lodge. But the vast areas of the Navajo rez are unplugged. There is hostility on the part of the Navajo for charging stations for tourists when much of the housing on the rez has no electricity. Plans for a SC in Kayenta were apparently scrapped 6 years ago.

So the mitigation? Completely different, longer and far uglier route up 666 in New Mexico to Farmington, then backtrack to Four Corners, with some routes needing a SC stop farther north in Blanding UT. Crossing the rez is no joke. Charging structure basically takes you from Flagstaff north into Utah where it seems many small rural communities get small SC station. Or you go east along I-40 into New Mexico then up.

I'll know EV's are mainstream when rural areas like the rez get chargers.

Kayenta has been on the what should we put a SC next voting site for a new location for a few quarters now. But it's the highest up over ever seen it, think it was like #13 last I looked. Good news is there's a huge solar PV install there so getting the power connection shouldn't be a problem. Local permitting might be more of an issue, unless they see how they could get more revenue from people stopping on the way.

I've looked at that route from my home just west of Telluride to Grand Canyon or Flagstaff using MYLR a ton of times. I have a CCS adapter and plan to stop in Bluff, UT, then have a long lunch at that level 2 at Moenkapi and get a dozen kWh or so. Back uphill is even tighter, but could be done if you're not a speed demon.

Wonder if community solar that gets oversized to be able to support a few battery backed SC stalls could help offset the costs to get electricity into some of those communities in the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni lands.

 

[Ti317]

What's the nav say? I'd be surprised if there's actually anywhere left in the US that a Tesla can't travel using the supercharger network.

You may be right on that score. I used the SuperCharger app and I cannot find anywhere in the lower 48 that you don’t have SC chargers to take you from point A to point B

 

[Ti317]

100% this. I'd much rather leave in an EV with a full charge then have to contend with ICE drivers at a gas station.

We've already seen what happens in those long gas station lines *without* an emergency... fist fights and spitting on one another for "cutting in line".

Never had an issue in the 45 years I’ve lived here. I keep my tanks filled and a few containers in the garage during the season especially if there are storms likely to hit. A full charge doesn’t get me out of the state but a full tank does.

 

[ewoodrick]

Kayenta has been on the what should we put a SC next voting site for a new location for a few quarters now. But it's the highest up over ever seen it, think it was like #13 last I looked. Good news is there's a huge solar PV install there so getting the power connection shouldn't be a problem. Local permitting might be more of an issue, unless they see how they could get more revenue from people stopping on the way.

I've looked at that route from my home just west of Telluride to Grand Canyon or Flagstaff using MYLR a ton of times. I have a CCS adapter and plan to stop in Bluff, UT, then have a long lunch at that level 2 at Moenkapi and get a dozen kWh or so. Back uphill is even tighter, but could be done if you're not a speed demon.

Wonder if community solar that gets oversized to be able to support a few battery backed SC stalls could help offset the costs to get electricity into some of those communities in the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni lands.

Tesla and Enterprise America do have solar powered sites. A press release from EA many months ago indicated that they were using Tesla Powerwalls to do so.

 

[ewoodrick]

Never had an issue in the 45 years I’ve lived here. I keep my tanks filled and a few containers in the garage during the season especially if there are storms likely to hit. A full charge doesn’t get me out of the state but a full tank does.

Assuming that you don't sit in traffic for 12 hours.

And it's not as if you don't past 34 Superchargers on the way up I-95 going to Kingsland FL.
Sure, I know I-95 is probably the last route that you'd take.
But there's 12+ Superchargers going up through the middle of the state to I-75 to GA.
And 26 Superchargers if you go to Fort Myers and up.

You aren't in the vast Supercharging desert that you seem to think that you are.

And if traffic is moving on at a lousy 30 mph, you may even make it to Atlanta.

 

[Ti317]

Assuming that you don't sit in traffic for 12 hours.

And it's not as if you don't past 34 Superchargers on the way up I-95 going to Kingsland FL.
Sure, I know I-95 is probably the last route that you'd take.
But there's 12+ Superchargers going up through the middle of the state to I-75 to GA.
And 26 Superchargers if you go to Fort Myers and up.

You aren't in the vast Supercharging desert that you seem to think that you are.

And if traffic is moving on at a lousy 30 mph, you may even make it to Atlanta.

I remember going up 95 in 1992 doing 45 and watching the Turnpike traffic like a parking lot as I drove parallel to it by Jupiter. Yes the slower speed does increase the range exponentially but of you use your climate control it does suck the range out. The key is to be aware of the implications of your actions and act accordingly.
We need to have a plan of action in place before these predictable events occur. If I had to move my Tesla out in an evacuation, I most likely would drive with the windows down and the AC off