seeking input on driving between Tesla superchargers, over the mountains, between Phoenix and LA on I-10

[Josh L]

Hi all:

Does anyone have experience driving a Tesla (whichever Model)
between Phoenix and LA and back? The distances between the
Buckey, Quartzite, Ehrenberg and Indio superchargers are
somewhat daunting, and if I add in a major concern about having
enough charge to make it up some of those mountains or hills,
then it leads me to think twice between going to LA along that
route. However, driving from Tucson area, going the southern
route through Yuma is arguably a more time-consuming affair.

I have a 2015 Model S 70, so the efficiency in miles/kWh I'm
thinking is less than for a Model 3 or Y. The battery and range
have aged ok The EPA said around 229 when new, and now seven
years later, I'd estimate the dashboard would read 215-220 if I
filled the battery to the max. (I've never filled it all the
way, to try to follow best practices, but would do it for these
legs of the trip).

I'm wary of how the efficiency drops dramatically if I go
uphill, and if the uphill climb is very long I'm wary of not
actually making it to the next supercharger. Has anyone driven
a Model S or X along this route? Or one of the other models?
About what was the miles/kWh between stations and how many kWh
would you estimate you was spent? Or if your focus is on miles
range that the dashboard gives you, about how many miles range
displayed on the dashboard was needed between legs, in the
uphill climb directions?

Josh

[EV@TucsonEV]

FYI - the Tesla trip planner takes into account elevations changes when it
computes a route between locations. It does not account for weather changes such
as head winds or tail winds.

Best regards,

Rush Dougherty
TucsonEV
1014 E King St
Tucson AZ 85719
520 240 7493
www.TucsonEV.com

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[DARREN SIMS]

Hey Josh,

We drove our LR M3 to Long Beach & back a couple years ago. We took the scenic I-8 route, stopping to charge at Gila Bend, El Centro and Temecula: 529 miles @ 282 Wh/mi. The return trip we charged in San Diego, El Centro and Gila Bend: 571 miles @ 284 Wh/mi.

The car's trip estimator was very accurate in determining the how much charge would be remaining at each SC destination. As Rush mentioned, it does a good job factoring in elevation differences but does not account for any headwind. 

Since I took that journey, they've added another SC at Tacna in between Yuma and Gila Bend.

Have fun on your trip!

Cheers,

Darren

---

From: 'Josh L' via EV Tucson <evtu...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2022 1:22 PM
To: evtu...@googlegroups.com <evtu...@googlegroups.com>; Jim stACk <jst...@juno.com>; EVJ...@gmail.com <EVJ...@gmail.com>

Subject: [EV Tucson] seeking input on driving between Tesla superchargers, over the mountains, between Phoenix and LA on I-10

[Josh L]

Hi all:

Thanks for the responses in public and also in private emails.

Darren, yes, I recently drove the I-8 route to LA. It was more
difficult than your own experience in a long range M3, but as
long as I was conservative about stopping more frequently at
more superchargers than others might, I did not come close to
running out of juice.

That I-8 route through Yuma (and then up north by the Salton
Sea) does not go over the steep mountains that the I-10 route
west of Phoenix does. It is those one or two relatively long
steep passes, coupled with the sparsity of superchargers, that
concerns me. If I'm understanding the maps correctly, it is
about 100 miles from Buckeye west to Quartzite, and then another
117 or so between the Quartzite supercharger and Indio
Supercharger. I'm a bit surprised that Tesla does not err on
the side of installing more frequent superchargers rather than
fewer, along such mountainous routes.

Another consideration is that I don't have snow tires on the car
and I am wary of the weather along that route.

When I did take that trip through Yuma and El Centro and then
North (i.e.: when I avoided I-10 in order to get to LA, because
I was wary of the mountain pass), one of the results of this
experiment was that the efficiency went way down. I thought it
might do this, but I was also even thinking something might be
wrong with the car (this did not turn out to be the case). I
will say I should probably have inflated my tires slightly more
(which I have corrected), though they were pretty good (low 40s)
for that trip.

For a year and a half that I've owned the car, I haven't
properly gotten to know the part on the screen that shows the
elevation issues being taken into account, so I need to go back
and study that. For this trip theorizing/planning I've mostly
been using plugshare.com and the app a better route planner
(which I think Rush had mentioned a long time ago).

Folks may think I'm being argumentative, but I hope you
understand that I like every one of the responses I've received
as it adds to my knowledge, and I'd welcome 50 more. This is a
key EV distance challenge in our Arizona region, so I think we
should discuss the heck out of it. But I'm just being careful.
That's how I managed to never run out of juice operating a 24
kWh Leaf in Rio Rico for a few years. These relatively early
days of operating EVs are a bit of a continuing math exam, as
one drives.

Josh

[Josh L]

Though really I should be counting topping up at the Ehrenberg
supercharger, which would cut the distance to Indio to about 101
miles.

Josh

[EV@TucsonEV]

Hi All,

Looks like Josh has succumbed to that dreaded anti-EV made up by gassers anxiety
ridden phobia - range anxiety... but I guess that is part of the territory of
owning a Leaf (which has been all too well documented by EVJerry's many charging
trips around AZ) and then getting a Tesla.

FYI - 3 weeks after I got my M3 Standard on March 2019 (which had only a 158 mile
range), I took a trip from here (Tucson) to Greenport NY (tip of Long Island) and
back. I used the Tesla center display trip planner for the whole trip, always
arriving at the next supercharger with sufficient SOC. Never once did I have to
hunt for an alternative charging station. I did once have to turn back because the
charge the computer told me was sufficient did not take into account the strong
headwind that I was experiencing. So I returned to the supercharger and bumped my
arriving % up from 10% to 25% and got there fine. All the ups and downs caused by
elevation changes were no problem at all and I usually arrived within a couple %
points of my 10% margin (depending on how fast I drove and if I took any detours).

I have confidence in the accuracy of the Tesla trip planner and don't try to
second guess it (except for weather) and fully expect after a future over the air
update to see a notice like 'Snow tires and chains needed for your trip' ?? I
can't wait to use it for waypoints.

The trip cost me $307 using the Superchargers (+ a couple charges at
friends/family's places using the Tesla UMC) for 5587 miles. The gas cost,
according to Travelmath.com, would have been about $720...

Best regards,

Rush Dougherty
TucsonEV

www.TucsonEV.com

[Josh L]

Hi -

Thanks for the feedback I've received from several people,
including more than one person offline. Probably I can make it
without too much muss and fuss, but for this trip, on a strict
schedule, I decided to fly. For the next trip I can drive, but
to fill in some blanks:

- The watt-hours per mile on a recent trip through Yuma, headed
west, went above 400 wH per mile. If they went above 500 for
decent portion of a leg of a journey then this is what concerns
me, on the Buckeye to Quartzite run and on the Ehrenberg to
Indio run.

- I pertonally try to leave at least 10 kWh or so buffer, as
possible, on my remaining kWh, when I arrive. I know the Tesla
dashboard does not express kWh, but on my model this would be in
the neighborhood of 30 miles or 14% remaining.

- I don't know of any manufacturer which puts remaining gallons
or remaining kWh on the dashboard. If Tesla is going to put
Watt-hours /mile on the dashboard, then maybe it could also put
estimated kWh remaining.

- I could use some help finding in the 2015 Model S dashboard
where it provides a map and-or other indications of the upcoming
elevation.

Anyway, yes, I get it, based on the empirical experiences of
several of the drivers here, it sounds like there wouldn't be an
issue making this drive, but as a topic, there were some
additional points of interest, and I will still be careful the
first time I make the drive.

Josh