In 2015, shortly after getting our Tesla Model S electric vehicle (EV), we took a road trip dubbed 'Teslacation' to the Black Hills of South Dakota (link to journal). At the time we were answering the question 'how far does it go'.
Today, this is still the most common question we are asked about driving electric. To help answer the question, I've documented our recent EV road trip. Dubbed 'Teslacation 2.0', here's the story of what it's like to travel in an EV in early 2019.
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| 15 days - Travel Plan |
Day 1
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Ankeny, IA to E Peoria, IL
States: IA, IL
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| Day 1 |
After working nearly a full day, we departed Ankeny, IA.
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| Ready for our EV adventure! |
The weather was quite windy with 20+ MPH and gusts to 40 from the SSW causing us to draw a bit more power that typical but the range prediction was nearly right on. A charging stop in Davenport allowed us to enjoy dinner at Hyvee.
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| Davenport, IA Supercharge |
On the way to Peoria, IL we had some showers and had a strong headwind again. Overall power consumption was again nearly right on. The showers combined with the sunset provided for a full rainbow!
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| Half the full rainbow shining on us |
We stopped at the new Holiday Inn in East Peoria, IL where destination chargers are provided for their customers and even got a room upgrade! I feel like the ‘no parking except for charging’ signs are a better practice.
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| East Peoria, IL Destination Charge |
Day 2
Friday, April 12, 2019
E Peoria, IL to Normal, IL
States: IL
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| Day 2 |
I had a meeting at Bradley University today. I was able to charge in their parking deck.
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| Bradley University Charging Station |
After my meeting we headed to Normal, I’ll to visit my family where I was able to charge in a garage.
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| Garage full of Model S |
Day 3
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Normal, IL to Sikeston, MO
States: IL, MO
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| Day 3 |
We started the day with my family. I helped my nephew build a cardboard pedal that utilized a game controller to control the gas pedal on a video game. I was impressed with the tactile feedback…much better than A to accelerate and B to brake on Rad Racer back in the day.
We left Normal with 90% battery and were expected to get to the Miner SC stop with only 5% battery. The range prediction was tracking very accurately so part of me wanted to continue straight to Minder but the part of me that was accustomed to the prior algorithms which could be significantly off made us take a brief stop in Springfield to get about a 10 minute charging boost. We headed into the Scheel’s there for a pit stop and were really impressed with the store. Definitely worth the brief stop.
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| Scheel's Springfield, IL |
We headed down to the Miner, MO and grabbed a quick lunch while the car charged. After lunch we visited Bonne Terra Mine. It had a massive underground lake formed when the mine was abandoned. Unlike anything we'd seen before.
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| Bonne Terra Mine |
From there we headed down to Sikeston where we had dinner at Lambert's. the home of the ‘thrown roll’ which I had heard about multiple times from my mother in law.
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| Jodi enjoying a freshly thrown roll |
After dinner we visited the Sikeston Supercharger and then headed to our hotel.
Day 4
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Sikeston, MO to Hernando, MS
States: MO, AR, TN, MS
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| Day 4 |
We awoke to a grey, rainy, cold and windy day (all a drag on range). After breakfast we headed back to the Miner Supercharger because again we had a prediction of at best 5% battery remaining after losing 3% charge overnight. We had a few stops we wanted to make before arriving at our charging destination. We took the time to read a book while we waited for Tess to be ready to go.
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| Miner, MO Supercharge in the rain |
The drive south had us beating the range prediction at times and falling behind at times (based on the wind/direction we were heading) for another dead on range prediction. We arrived in Memphis and visited Beale Street for lunch.
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| Blues at lunch |
After enjoying some BBQ and Blues, we headed to Graceland. It was like an amusement park without any rides. Unbelievable the tourist attraction they’ve built.
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| Elvis' Deere tractor was one of my favorites |
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| Hernando, MS Destination Charger |
After we had our fill of Elvis, we headed down to Hernando, MS for our hotel with destination charger.
Day 5
Monday, April 15, 2019
Hernando, MS to Birmingham, AL
States: MS, AL
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| Day 5 |
We charged the car to 100% this morning and pre-conditioned the cabin. Good thing as the range prediction was 5% or lower when we started out headed for the Athens, AL Supercharger with no good charging options enroute. I drove the speed limit (like usual?) and we started to improve our estimate. After about 35 miles we were well beating the range prediction and after 100 miles I began to drive my ‘normal’ speed. We arrived at the charger and a friendly Model 3 owner let us know the station we were trying to plug into didn’t work.
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| Athens, AL Supercharge |
We talked awhile and he gave me this ‘autopilot on board’ sign. I found it funny as there were a few moments on the drive that morning where it seems like the sun may have been causing autopilot to loose the lines on the road. At one point the car nearly darted out into the adjacent lane
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| Gift from a new Model 3 owner |
After a quick lunch, we headed back and I noticed the door to the Supercharging equipment area had been busted open. Nothing inside seemed damaged. Maybe some folks were just looking for a spot to enjoy a few Buds?
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| Supercharger door busted open |
When we had charged up, we headed to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Really cool to see the now out of service rockets and the space shuttle. We learned about the international space station, about the only thing our space program has going for it other than the work private companies like Space X are doing.
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| Space Shuttle |
When we were done there, we headed down to Birmingham to the Supercharger and for dinner. It was very difficult to find the Supercharger as there was a significant amount of construction taking place and many roads were closed. Google Maps didn’t seem to be aware of everything. The good news is, it was a really nice area to grab dinner in.
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| Birmingham, AL Supercharge |
After dinner we found our way back onto the highway and down to our hotel for the night. The hotel has destination chargers but none of them worked (looks like two had been removed due to construction and the grounding was no longer correct). There were some SAE chargers that did work…just had to pull the cords out from behind a dumpster.
Day 6
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Birmingham, AL to Orange Beach, AL
States: AL
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| Day 6 |
We started the day with a visit to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. It was well done and a great education on the civil rights struggle.
We then headed south for the gulf. A stop in Greenville, Alabama for lunch at the supercharger and we then arrived at our farthest point from home.
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| Greenville, AL Supercharge
We were both really surprised at how green and tree filled most of Alabama has been. The part closer to the coast is a little less lush, more of what we expected. Once we got to the hotel, we had dinner, a walk on the beach, and some time in the pool.
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| Gulf Shores, AL |
Day 7
Wednesday , April 17, 2019
Orange Beach, AL
States: AL
We spent the day at the beach today and took the opportunity to do laundry. We checked the parking deck a few times today to ensure that no one else was trying to use the EV chargers.
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| Orange Beach |
Day 8
Thursday , April 18, 2019
Orange Beach, AL to Gulfport, MS
States: AL, MS
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| Day 8 |
We started the day at the hotel and headed then headed off to Gulfport. Severe storms were forecasted that day so we decided we’d like to get to the hotel (and accompanying parking deck) prior to their arrival in the afternoon. We took some time to see ‘friendship oak’ a tree that was a sapling when Columbus ‘discovered’ America and took some time to visit the beach (although the weather wasn’t great).
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| Friendship Oak |
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| Mississippi Beach |
We saw a dolphin recovery team taking care of a diseased dolphin and then headed to the casino/hotel.
We found the chargers easily.
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| Gulfort, MS Destination Charger |
The hotel was a whole new experience for us. Smoking is allowed in the casino - not great. We were shocked by both the number of patrons there during the early afternoon and by their advanced age. As the day went on the crowd got a bit younger. We didn’t gamble but did spend some time checking out the casino and ate at a local pizza place.
Day 9
Friday , April 19, 2019
Gulfport, MS to New Orleans, LA
States: MS, LA
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| Day 9 |
We made one more trip through the smoke filled casino to get back to the parking deck and then headed for the big easy. We stopped in Slidell at the supercharger for lunch and took the opportunity to gain a little extra range.
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| Slidell, LA |
We arrived at the hotel in New Orleans and the valets plugged Tess in for us. After checking in, we toured the WW II museum. Perhaps the only thing more staggering than the cost of human life was the scale and speed the USA ramped up war efforts.
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| WWII Museum |
For dinner we tried a local restaurant, Meril, that was excellent.
Day 10
Saturday, April 20, 2019
New Orleans, LA
States: LA
First up was Mardi Gras World. I didn’t understand too much about Mardi Gras but I think I have a bit better feel for it now. It was surprising the amount of floats and the amount of work that is put into the floats. 15 artists handle 500 floats a year…or about a float per artist every other week.
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| Mardi Gras World |
Next we headed to the French Quarter. It was super busy with all manner of folks there. We had a Muffalata from the Central Grocery for lunch and some beignets from Café du Monde for a snack. We then spent sometime observing the mighty Mississippi before heading back to our hotel via the street car.
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| Steamer on the Mississippi |
For dinner we headed out. Quote of the day: “We don’t hide crazy, we parade it down our streets”
Day 11
Sunday, April 21, 2019
New Orleans, LA to Houma, LA
States: LA
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| Day 11 |
After breakfast at the hotel, we had Tess brought around and headed off for an air boat swamp tour. While the swamp is unique, I was surprised that it reminded me quite a bit of being on a river in the Midwest. We got to see several alligators, turtles, and various species of birds. I’m not entirely sure our guide wanted to be there.
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| Gator looking for that swamp crack (marshmallows) |
From the swamp tour we headed over to Houma. We had lunch/dinner and checked into our hotel. This hotel keeps it’s destination chargers locked in a box and cones in the parking spots. Not a bad idea to prevent iceing, vandalism, or unauthorized access.
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| Charger lock box |
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| Houma, LA Destination Charger |
Day 12
Monday, April 22, 2019
Houma, LA to Texarkana, TX
States: LA, AR, TX
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| Day 12 |
Today we got to visit the John Deere facility in Thibodaux Louisiana. We learned about their pre-Deere history as Cameco and their transition to a Deere facility today. I loved learning and seeing what their facility was up to and how they worked.
After that excitement, we were off to start our journey back north. We got to see what the rest of Louisiana looked liked and stopped at Superchargers in Alexandria, LA and Shreveport, LA before ending at the Supercharger in Texarkana TX where we spent the evening at a hotel near the charger. The charger in Alexandria had a couple of Tesla cones out indicating for people not to park there. I’m not sure what happened to the other 6 cones, but I did think they were cool so maybe they’ve become souvenirs?
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| Alexandria, LA Supercharge |
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| Souvenir? |
The charger in Texarkana has pull in parking spots which actually make a lot of sense. I feel like it helps to create a barrier to ICEing too.
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| Texarkana, TX Supercharge |
Day 13
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Texarkana, TX to Hot Spring, AR
States: TX, AR
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| Day 13 |
After breakfast in the hotel, we decided to grab just a few more miles of range at the Supercharger and then headed North to Hot Springs. Our first stop was at the Garvan Gardens. I was really impressed with how well done the gardens were.
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| Garvan Gardens |
Afterwards we continued on to Hot Springs to the national park. We took the ‘scenic drive’ which had quite a few winding roads but not much view expect for the lookout.
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| Hot Springs Overlook |
We headed to the hotel and plugged in at the destination charger. We were able to walk to the historic part of town and check out the bath houses. For dinner we had a really unique environment behind the store front that was built into the side of the hill.
Day 14
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Hot Springs, AR to Branson, MO
States: AR, MO
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| Day 14 |
We headed north from Hot Springs to Branson and paused in Little Rock to top off because we were expecting rain on the trip.
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| Little Rock, AR |
I was surprised at how many hills northern Arkansas had. We had some heavy downpours on the way but still ended up beating the range prediction. I'm starting the think that the range is now more of like a 80% or 90% worst case prediction. Typically we arrived at our destination with more charge remaining than predicted and only when the weather conditions were unfavorable did we come in on top of (or very occasionally worse than) the range prediction.
The destination charger at our hotel was the worst setup I've seen. You had to park backwards on the street and string the cable across some landscaping and a side walk and could just barely reach the charge port.
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| Branson, MO Destination Charge - Worst setup I've seen |
In Branson we toured the Titanic museum. Interesting to learn that it's thought that the quality of the metal contributed greatly to the ship's sinking.
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| Titanic Museum |
We got a Branson show in and saw a tribute to the Eagles. It was decent although maybe a little different that what most of Branson is known for.
Day 15
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Branson, MO to Ankeny, IA
States: MO, IA
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| Day 15 |
After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out in the rain for our final leg home. The rain stopped by our touch up charge in Springfield. This is the most Tesla friendly Supercharger I've seen. There was a sign in the parking lot indicating where to go and 'macdoodle's' provided coffee or water to Tesla drivers. Very nice.
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| Springfield, MO Supercharge - Best Supercharger Host!! |
From there we headed north is some nice sunny weather to Independence where we had a Supercharger picnic.
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| Independence, MO Supercharge Picnic |
Our final stop in Bethany saw the weather changing to a 24 MPH headwind and cooler rainy weather. I've been long awaiting the Bethany charger to be built as the trip from Des Moines to KC could be tenuous before. At one point we had a 30 mile power draw average of ~425 wh/mi…would never have made it home with out Bethany!!
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| Bethany, MO - at last! |
Totals for trip:
Distance traveled: 2960 miles
Energy Consumed: 923.4 kWh
Average Energy Consumption: 313Wh/mi
Energy cost based on home 'normal rate' $55.40
Our cost for electricity to return the car to the same state of charge we left with: $4.34
Comparable cost of gasoline (assume 22 MPG and $2.85/gal based on current gas prices) = $383.45
Savings (compared to charging at home) = 86% - actual savings 99%
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| Gas Prices During our Trip |
Conclusions
Traveling in an Electric Vehicle is even easier now than it was 4 years ago due to the immense expansions in both the Tesla Supercharger Network and the Tesla Destination Charging Network. We did not look for or utilize any non-Tesla chargers on the trip but those would have only made traveling easier. With longer range vehicles (our car = 270 miles, current Model S = 370 miles) the existing infrastructure becomes even more capable. I believe there is an opportunity for more hotels to add level 2 charging. Just like home, charging while you are resting is the most convenient. We selected hotels based on destination charger availability and I'm sure the rapidly growing community of EV drivers would do the same.
The addition of autopilot made significant differences in the driving experience. While we were quite fatigued at times on our trip 4 years ago, fatigue is greatly alleviated with the assistance of autopilot. Additionally, autopilot likely prevented an accident on this trip. My wife went to change from the right to center lane on a 3 lane highway using auto pilot when suddenly the car jerked back into our lane. A vehicle in the left lane was speeding around the semi truck in the center lane and came around and into the center lane just as we were making our land change. Still looking forward to safety and convivence that Full Self Driving features will provide (which our car will not have but our next Tesla will).
We've become very accustomed to the charging stops. We leveraged them for meal times and occasionally some shopping. We achieved max charge rates of 120 kW which gets our car 400+ MPH range gain rates. Version 3 of Supercharging along with updated vehicle charging infrastructure that will cut super charging times in half will only make the process even more convenient…we may need to re-learn how to have quicker stops.
As it was 4 years ago, road tripping in an EV is not only possible, it's practical, enjoyable, safer, and superior to gasoline powered vehicles due to the quiet ride, smoothness and advanced driver assistance features. We are still getting thumbs up from people who see the car and on this trip even got some Tesla waves from other Tesla drivers. Longer range, new tire technology, faster Supercharge rates, and more advanced driver assistance features continue to make the experience even more superior.
If you are ready to join the rEVolution, use this link to get your Tesla and 1000 (or more) miles of free Supercharging: http://ts.la/brian3682
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| Supercharger Location as of April 2019 |
