Tesla supercharging during solar eclipse?

[JetFalcon]

There is a solar eclipse in April 2024 and I'm thinking to go to Texas. Mainly because there are tons of arcades out there and there is a new Dave and Busters I want to visit. And Dallas will be the area with the longest totality or at least not a long drive to a place with the longest totality.

I am an advantage player so if I'm traveling I'd like to take advantage of being in a different state because some arcades that are outside my area of CA can have insane jackpots. Like 1000-2000 ticket jackpots where you could win a $300 Nintendo Switch for $20-$40. It probably not be worth it and its a huge risk if you tried justifying traveling expenses just to win $20 Nintendo Switches. But as long as I'm doing something else it's not like I'm flying out to an arcade just to win $280 retail profit because flights and hotels will likely exceed those winnings. Also at the same time, I don't want to spend my resources just to travel for a solar eclipse and do nothing else. I don't know what else there can be do in Dallas Texas, it just seems like a city where CA people just want a big house for cheap.

But do big events like an eclipse affect supercharging? I could imagine last minute like the day of or a few hours that people are scrambling to a supercharger and there is a huge line and they are all going to miss the solar eclipse from the spot they wanted to view from. Or be forced to watch the solar eclipse from a less idea location like at the supercharger or on the side of the road. How should one prepare to supercharge or get a full charge before the day of the eclipse? Like maybe get your full charge the day before the eclipse, then do little driving as possible so maybe you got 90% set up for the next day (if charging overnight isn't an option). Then you can drive out to wherever destination you want to view the eclipse?

 

[fhteagle]

I drove the Y to Bluff, UT to see yesterday's eclipse. Blanding was 100% full but not much of a line as far as I could tell as I drove past before and after the event. Gobs of Teslas and a few other brands of EVs up and down US191 that day, was kind of nice to see. I was the only car on the Chargepoint CCS station in Bluff during the event (CCS adapter went a long way to "paying for itself" that day for sure). But keep in mind these are charging stations that might see 1-10 EVs / day on a typical Saturday, so YWTMV.

Coming in the day before the event at least, staying in a hotel, RV park, or camp ground with L2 charging, etc can cut the chances you'd have to stick it out in a long line.

 

[DblOSmith]

There is a solar eclipse in April 2024 and I'm thinking to go to Texas. Mainly because there are tons of arcades out there and there is a new Dave and Busters I want to visit. And Dallas will be the area with the longest totality or at least not a long drive to a place with the longest totality.

I am an advantage player so if I'm traveling I'd like to take advantage of being in a different state because some arcades that are outside my area of CA can have insane jackpots. Like 1000-2000 ticket jackpots where you could win a $300 Nintendo Switch for $20-$40. It probably not be worth it and its a huge risk if you tried justifying traveling expenses just to win $20 Nintendo Switches. But as long as I'm doing something else it's not like I'm flying out to an arcade just to win $280 retail profit because flights and hotels will likely exceed those winnings. Also at the same time, I don't want to spend my resources just to travel for a solar eclipse and do nothing else. I don't know what else there can be do in Dallas Texas, it just seems like a city where CA people just want a big house for cheap.

But do big events like an eclipse affect supercharging? I could imagine last minute like the day of or a few hours that people are scrambling to a supercharger and there is a huge line and they are all going to miss the solar eclipse from the spot they wanted to view from. Or be forced to watch the solar eclipse from a less idea location like at the supercharger or on the side of the road. How should one prepare to supercharge or get a full charge before the day of the eclipse? Like maybe get your full charge the day before the eclipse, then do little driving as possible so maybe you got 90% set up for the next day (if charging overnight isn't an option). Then you can drive out to wherever destination you want to view the eclipse?

aw damn. I'd love to go to it, but I don't think I can.

 

[brkaus]

Hard to predict, but the path of totality is pretty broad.

 

[JetFalcon]

Hard to predict, but the path of totality is pretty broad.

I guess get fully charged up the night before probably be the easiest to be ready the next day, so you can drive 50+ miles last minute if clouds appear. Take advantage of lower supercharging rates & low crowds at 12am. I hope there isn't a huge amount of Teslas thinking the same thing at 12am day before the eclipse.

I think Texas was said to be the best place to have the least probability of bad weather that affects eclipse viewing. At least better than the east coast where a cloudy day is more possible.

 

[brkaus]

Didn’t think about the clouds. We live in Austin so pretty good Lon the eclipse path. Planning on driving straight west - traffic permitting. Going to have to look at weather options and routes.

 

[wwu123]

Speaking from experience from the 2017 total eclipse, traffic and supercharging BEFORE the event will be spread out because people will arrive a day or two before the event, so probably not much impact. But immediately after, everyone will tend to leave right away after it's done, because there's no other reason to hang around, causing massive highway backups for a few hours, and the supercharger backups will persist for hours beyond that. There were far fewer superchargers back then, but also far fewer EV's on the road.

Here was one of the Google maps views of the nationwide backups along the path of totality, same story further west to Oregon as well, where we were traveling:

I had enough foresight to NOT take the Tesla; I do recall stories (prob somewhere on this forum) of huge queues and backups at every supercharger, such that folks waiting were improvising systems to fairly manage the lengthy queues, take turns taking potty breaks, etc. Even without supercharging, the traffic was a nightmare on the interstates - I would advise every 10 minutes you delay getting on the road afterwards adds 1 hour longer to your delay; but if you can wait a few hours playing arcades or something else, you can avoid the rush maybe completely.

Just like 2017, this is exacerbated because the 2024 eclipse is on a Monday. So people will arrive spread out over the entire weekend, but everyone will rush home so they can be back at work Tuesday morning. And with totality ending around 3-3:30pm further to the Northeast, the post-eclipse backup will probably collide with the evening rush-hour traffic.

 

[GSP]

I took my Model S to Kentucky to see an eclipse a few years ago. I only had one 5 minute wait for an empty supercharger stall on the way back. There were less superchargers then, and less Teslas on the road as well, so who knows what it will be like for this eclipse.

However, the traffic after the eclipse was the worst I have ever seen or endured. Interstates and side roads both completely jammed with 10 mph or slower traffic for hundreds of miles. Next time I would find something to do for 5-6 hours afterward, or stay the night and return the next day.

GSP

 

[ginmqi]

I'm planning to drive to the Cape Giradeau station from KC in my Model S to watch eclipse. My main concern is also massive back up of supercharging station on the way back....I've read stories from 2017 of 2-hr drive turning into 10 hr drive. I have a hotel in STL night before and then will drive down in the morning, charge up to 100% at SC, watch eclipse then make way back.

Reading the possibility of very slow traffic on the highways...how does this affect range/battery use? I imagine optimally you want to be something like 40-50mph for most efficieny wh/mi, but if its stop and go...is that going to be using up battery much faster? Worried about getting to next SC station if the traffic is crawling for 50-100+ miles....

 

[brkaus]

Turn off climate control and stay rolling. Maybe air up the tires.

 

[vanjwilson]

... charge up to 100% at SC, watch eclipse then make way back.

Reading the possibility of very slow traffic on the highways...how does this affect range/battery use? I imagine optimally you want to be something like 40-50mph for most efficieny wh/mi, but if its stop and go...is that going to be using up battery much faster? Worried about getting to next SC station if the traffic is crawling for 50-100+ miles....

I don't think you have to worry much about slow traffic. In contrast to an ICE car, the slower the pace of traffic, the better your efficiency in an electric vehicle. In stop-and-go traffic, the extra regen will increase efficiency, and more than balance out any extra time spent using climate control. I have personally experienced much better than expected efficiency when I've gotten stuck in traffic, because of an accident or construction, on a road trip.

Just one of many references you can find online:

Steady driving at highway speed drains the battery much faster than driving in stop-and-go traffic. Electric cars have regenerative braking systems that put some energy back into the battery when coasting and braking. So, unlike gas-powered cars, EVs typically get better mileage driving in the city compared to cruising down the interstate.

from Electric Vehicle Battery Drains at Energy.gov

 

[DblOSmith]

I'm planning to drive to the Cape Giradeau station from KC in my Model S to watch eclipse. My main concern is also massive back up of supercharging station on the way back....I've read stories from 2017 of 2-hr drive turning into 10 hr drive. I have a hotel in STL night before and then will drive down in the morning, charge up to 100% at SC, watch eclipse then make way back.

Reading the possibility of very slow traffic on the highways...how does this affect range/battery use? I imagine optimally you want to be something like 40-50mph for most efficieny wh/mi, but if its stop and go...is that going to be using up battery much faster? Worried about getting to next SC station if the traffic is crawling for 50-100+ miles....

I was thinking about going to that same spot to watch. I didn't even think of the backed up SCs. Hmm...

 

[electricglider]

I'm planning to drive to the Cape Giradeau station from KC in my Model S to watch eclipse. My main concern is also massive back up of supercharging station on the way back....I've read stories from 2017 of 2-hr drive turning into 10 hr drive. I have a hotel in STL night before and then will drive down in the morning, charge up to 100% at SC, watch eclipse then make way back.

Reading the possibility of very slow traffic on the highways...how does this affect range/battery use? I imagine optimally you want to be something like 40-50mph for most efficieny wh/mi, but if its stop and go...is that going to be using up battery much faster? Worried about getting to next SC station if the traffic is crawling for 50-100+ miles....

As others have said here while bad reporting from a few years ago during Virginia's 48 mile Blizzard traffic jam, EVs are actually much better at utilizing its energy as opposed to gas vehicles. A gas engine is already inefficient, but it is even more inefficient when idling when all that gas is wasted to literally not move anywhere and keep low power electronics on. It is why more cars are coming with auto-start/stop engine feature to save all that gas when stopped at intersections and whatnot. EVs on the other hand only uses its battery energy on exactly what needs to use it at any given point. So if you're "idle" in an EV then the only power draw from the battery would be that of your low power devices. Nothing is wasted. It's like the efficiency difference between charging your phone off of a Honda gas generator vs. an Anker Battery Storage box.

 

[MrWattson]

We are traveling to Buffalo/Niagara Falls for the eclipse and have reluctantly decided to take my wife's car. Not that it is a bad car but, as you get to Western NY, there are only a couple chargers. They are a distance from the family and I don't want to spend time in line with other eclipse visitors. We have only two days to visit family.

I usually take my MY to visit family and the SCs are fine on the ride up along the thruway but, once I get to my family's place, it can be a bit of a ride to the nearest SC. One can burn a couple hours getting to the charger, charging and then back to my brother's house. And that is without wait lines. I can do L1 at his place -which I often do- but this will be a quick trip with lots of running around and in an out in 2 days.

Niagara Falls, NY really needs an SC. They have a couple on the Canadian side but that would mean Customs/Border and likely more eclipse traffic lines. One would think with the tourist traffic in the summer that Niagara Falls NY would warrant its own SC by now.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

We are traveling to Buffalo/Niagara Falls for the eclipse and have reluctantly decided to take my wife's car. Not that it is a bad car but, as you get to Western NY, there are only a couple chargers. They are a distance from the family and I don't want to spend time in line with other eclipse visitors. We have only two days to visit family.

I usually take my MY to visit family and the SCs are fine on the ride up along the thruway but, once I get to my family's place, it can be a bit of a ride to the nearest SC. One can burn a couple hours getting to the charger, charging and then back to my brother's house. And that is without wait lines. I can do L1 at his place -which I often do- but this will be a quick trip with lots of running around and in an out in 2 days.

Niagara Falls, NY really needs an SC. They have a couple on the Canadian side but that would mean Customs/Border and likely more eclipse traffic lines. One would think with the tourist traffic in the summer that Niagara Falls NY would warrant its own SC by now.

Cheektowaga, NY is 26 miles away, close to the airport, and can serve traffic for all directions, West Seneca, NY is under construction) and Batavia, NY is 60 miles away to the east. I know the US numbers are large, but some are locals (125k in the area), staying on the Canadian side, or Canadians who'll cross back.

 

[MrWattson]

Understood....Cheektowaga SC is about 30-40 mins on a decent day, each way. Then charge time plus any waits or traffic delays. I manage that fine on a normal visit as there is usually no delay at the SC and traffic is minimal - especially compared to here in NJ. We just decided we want to maximize time with family and friends and be able to run around without any concerns this time.

I keep hoping N Falls, NY will get a n SC to allow for less planning. Cheektowaga is 'manageable' but prefer to need less planning this trip or not have to get up early to charge before we begin running around.

That being said, hoping for clear skies. I would not hesitate to take the MY on any other time but keep reading about the traffic and number of visitors - especially as other areas start to pick up risk for clouds. The folks in those areas may take the extra time to get to WNY if it looks to be clear there.

 

[Unclepaul]

In previous years, Superchargers were overwhelmed by the hordes of drivers, all wanting to go see the Sun stop shining. Many of these tourists were unprepared for congestion, with motels filled and restaurants over crowded as well.

 

[JetFalcon]

I'm debating on doing this trip with the Tesla. South CA to Dallas My dad wants to pass by Very Large Array, but it's in the middle of nowhere. And the Tesla supercharging map (for charging) is rerouting to a less desirable route that is backtracking. Like trying to go to the nearest interstate then going back.

Should I just skip Very Large Array? If there aren't much Tesla supercharging support for that area I guess it must mean it's boring. Or not as high demand as compared to Grand Canyon to support Tesla supercharging. There probably more support going to Grand Canyon over Very Large Array when supporting middle of nowhere destinations.

Or just take the Lexus GX to use gas since gas may be cheap in Texas? I never tried doing a Tesla road trip that required more than one day to get there. I live in SoCal and the only places I've taken the Tesla are to San Francisco area, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

 

[JetFalcon]

Also I want to find every Dave and Busters that could have supercharging nearby or L2 charging. Will most likely stop in Phoenix, El Paso, then Dallas. Because I can buy food with tickets which at my rate I can win a $15 entree for around $3. Which then can offset the cost of surcharge if I have to pay 48 cents per Kwh. Then play a few arcade games or win tickets while I wait to charge. I am also trying to find any remaining Google Nest they were discounted to 16k tickets when they used to be 65k tickets so it's a gamble worth taking if I'm already on the way. 16k tickets is like paying $50 for most prizes at D&B and Google Nests are worth $250 full retail but they constantly go on sale so it's value is up in the air.

 

[JetFalcon]

Also there are signs of cloudy days in Texas as of Monday 4/1. But I don't know how cloudy weather is predicted because it said data becomes more accurate when it gets closer to the day. Haven't planned anything yet. Last time it was cloudy in 2017 Oregon but got lucky and the sky cleared during totality.

Will it be risky to have a Tesla that needs to supercharge during eclipse day vs a gas car if relocation is necessary to avoid clouds?