Tesla West Coast Road Trip (2,000+ miles, 3 ferry rides, $0 in gas) & Pictures

[Jeff P]

Yeah, people in Cleveland and Orlando give me crap about that. "Oh, Seattle? How did you live with all of that rain?" No, actually both of those cities get more or about the same rain annually. And Seattle gets nearly zero all summer. I have to explain that your grass will die if you don't water it.

 

[mmccord]

Range anxiety only exists until you own a Tesla and you practice a little with it. I used to get range anxiety when I had 30% of battery left. The bar turns yellow at about 50 RM, or just under 20%. I was talking with my friend who owns a BMW i3 about this and he just put me in my place. He said, "You know, 50 miles is almost my entire usable range on a good day, right?" I don't worry anymore. I sure didn't when my gas car started blinking at the empty bar, so why would I worry now when I have much more accurate instrumentation? The remaining miles/energy instrumentation is very accurate.

I often joke that @ 20% remaining my car turns into a fully-charged Nissan Leaf

 

[SFOTurtle]

Very nice write-up and useful information. My wife's family lives in Vancouver, B.C., and we've toyed with the idea of a road trip up there, but other commitments down here haven't given us the time yet.

Funny, after looking at the OP's car pulling out of the Portland Westin, did anyone else think that the MS was the original navy blue? Later pictures make clear it's gray, but just goes to show how much light affects color.

 

[Khatsalano]

... Funny, after looking at the OP's car pulling out of the Portland Westin, did anyone else think that the MS was the original navy blue? Later pictures make clear it's gray, but just goes to show how much light affects color.

Hmm, maybe my caption was misleading. The blue Tesla at the Westin Portland was not mine, but one that happened to be already charging there at one of their HPWCs. It certainly was Blue 1.0. My car is the new Grey 2.0.

- K

 

[wdolson]

Yeah, people in Cleveland and Orlando give me crap about that. "Oh, Seattle? How did you live with all of that rain?" No, actually both of those cities get more or about the same rain annually. And Seattle gets nearly zero all summer. I have to explain that your grass will die if you don't water it.

Very true. Most people don't realize Seattle gets less rain than many cities in the eastern half of the US. It gets its reputation because you get days during the winter where its gray and drizzly for days on end. The total rainfall was only a couple of tenths of an inch, but you had two to three days of rain. Portland gets about the same amount of rain during the winter as Seattle, but it does tend to rain more heavily and move on. Where we live is nearer the foothills to the Cascades, so we tend to get more rain than Portland does. About 4-6 inches more per year.

 

[sickfox]

Awesome write up and very cool pics! That's my next road trip. Love it when I don't have to worry about paying a single dime for gas during long and short trips.

 

[Khatsalano]

I've actually only been back 2 weeks, but I'm already dreaming of the next Tesla road trip. I'm not sure what is manageable for a long weekend or a 9-day trip from the Bay Area other than the Pacific Northwest or SoCal which we've done before. I'm really into outdoorsy sporty things, but my wife is into elite foodie things.