Tesla Model Y Road Trip

Trip overview

Our family of four took a 859 mile road trip from our home in Xenia, Ohio to visit family near Roanoke, Virginia. This trip involved crossing the mountains of West Virginia. We had a wonderful time and the Model Y did great, other than the time it did not. Below is a full account of this trip from the perspective of driving a Tesla Model Y and staying overnight. We left Friday morning at 8am stopped twice, once at a rest stop, and once at a supercharger for lunch for us and electricity for the car. We stayed for two nights at a hotel with a Tesla Destination Charger. We drove back home Sunday after supper and stopped once for a bathroom break and once again for a supercharger. As for convenience, the trip down was on par with or slightly better than a gas powered car, since it took us longer to eat than to charger. This trip back was less convenient since we had to spend 30 minutes recharging and didn't need to eat. Also, we had a scary few moments where the car's computer froze and we were stuck in a parking lot. More on that later. 

Trip Down

235 miles from Xenia to Mt. Hope Supercharger

We left home at 8:06 am with a full charge in our Tesla Model Y. This is a rated range of over 310 miles. The first leg was 235 miles to the Mt. Hope, WV Supercharger. The in car navigation estimated that we would arrive at the supercharger 3:39 minutes later at 5% battery left and we would arrive at lunchtime where we would enjoy Chick-fil-a. The first half of the leg was mostly flat or downhill drive on US 35. The day started off cool so we didn't need at AC until we hit the West Virginia border. I kept the speed at about 5 mph over the speed limit but not over 70 MPH. Speeds over 70 MPH really does cut down on your range drastically. We arrived after 3 hours and 43 minutes, give five minutes for the rest stop, and beat the time estimate by one minute. The battery charge state was at 7% or 24 rated miles. Tesla's computer is very accurate. We charged for 37 minutes and went from 7% to 84%. The supercharger recorded 61 kWh used at 25 cents per kWh for a total of $15.25.

West Virginia Toll Road 

We left the Mt. Hope, WV supercharger with 264 miles of stated range. This was plenty to take us the rest of the way to Vinton, VA for the 2:15 hour and 130 miles to go. I drove at mostly the speed limit or 5 over the rest of the way. We did get stuck in traffic for about 16 minutes. We arrived at Vinton 2:33 minutes later, with 95 miles of 30% battery. Again, the Tesla onboard computer did really well with the estimation. The leftover range was useful as I let my Sister-in-law and Brother-in-law take it for a drive. One of the best parts of owning a Tesla is taking friends out for a drive.  

131 miles from Mt. Hope Supercharger to Vinton, VA

After the test drive and going to the hotel, I plugged into the Tesla Destination charger with 54 miles of stated range of 17%. In another brilliant move by Tesla, many hotels have Tesla charging stations that they let their guests use for free. The destination charger gives you about 30+ miles of range for each hour charging. So about 8.5 hours of charging to give to 100%.  I let my Tesla charge up overnight to 100%. I used about 58 kWh of the hotel's electricity. This would be about $5.25 worth of electricity at my home rate or $14.50 at the supercharger rate. Either way destination charging is great since you don't have pay for it or sit at a supercharger, your can charges while you sleep. So that was day one, no gas stations, no extra time waiting on charging since I charge while the car would have been parked anyways wither for eating or sleeping.

McAfee Knob

 The next day was very enjoyable as we drove along the Blueridge Parkway and up to McAfee Knob parking trailhead. Our family hiked the 8+ mile round trip to McAfee Knob. This is an amazing hike! It was a cool feeling knowing that every mile driven today would be free since I would be able to recharge at the hotel. We arrived at the hotel with 190 stated miles or 61%. Again I let it charge to 100% since we would be heading home back to Xenia, Ohio later that night. So that was another 28 kWh or about $2.50 at my residential rate or $7.00 at the supercharger rate. 

Sunset at McAfee Knob

Trip Back

The following day was spent enjoying some time on the Roanoke River and hanging out at my sister-in-law's and brother-in-law's house. They were kind enough to let me charge at their house using a standard 120 volt/ 15 amps plug. I did gain 20 miles that way. We left their house after dinner at 285 miles of stated range or 92% and headed for home. Our next planned charging stop was at the Charleston, WV Supercharger. 

This is where the trip got stressful. We arrived at the Supercharger at 8:55PM with 60 miles of stated range or 19%. Again, the onboard computer did well on the estimation. However, the computer froze the whole car in the supercharger parking lot when I put the car in reverse! I was stuck in the parking lot at dark in West Virginia. The computer finally caught up and I was able to back into the supercharger parking space open to power door for the app and start charging. The friendly Tesla owners next to us gave me instructions on how to reboot the car by pressing in both steering wheels scroll buttons. That was 10 scary minutes for me. 

We let the car charge for 31 minutes as we had another 2 hours 45 minutes of driving for 180 miles. Also note there were no other supercharges between Charleston, WV and Xenia, OH at that time.  This stop we did have to wait around 31 minutes instead of the 8 minutes it would have taken to refuel by gas. My son and I did walk down to the river and watch the barges float by. That was somewhat enjoyable. But still, I was stressed at the car's computer freezing on me. So we left with 255 miles of stated range or 83%. We used 60 kWh at a total cost of $12.50 The computer estimated that we would have 11% charge when we arrived home. 

Charleston, WV at Dusk

As I headed home I watched the estimated range drop to as low as 8% and we weren't even to Ohio let. The computer also tried to route us to Huntington WV supercharger. At this point didn't have much trust in the computer. I decided to keep my maximum speed to 65 MPH. That was a bit frustrating since it was late and I really wanted to be home, but was the smart thing to do since there were no other supercharger options. I kept a close eye on the trip range estimator and it eventually caught back up to its original estimation. I did finish the trip drive at 75MPH and arrived home with 28 stated miles or 9% range. The leg took me 2:49 compared to Google's estimate of 2:48. So I guess I didn't lose that much time while I drove 65 vs 70. I should note the Tesla has built V3 supercharger in Chillicothe, OH. So, that adds another charging option along the corridor.

A few other notes about an all electric road trip. The Model Y is a very comfortable family car. The glass roof is beautiful and enjoyed as we traveled through the West Virginian mountains. Electric cars don't have transmissions so there is no jarring shifting or loud engine noises going up and down the mountains. Tesla's autopilot does really well and keeps you in the lane. From time to time is suddenly randomly breaks hard for shadows. But overall it made the trip much nicer. 

Fuels Costs for the trip:

Supercharging: $15.25+$12.50 = $27.75

Recharging the car at home: $5.90

Hotel Destination Charging $0.00 (hotel was $100/night with taxes) 

Total Charging $33.65 for 859 miles

If the trip would have been taken by my previous minivan the trip would have cost me $94.50. So I saved over $60 in fuel. I most likely would have stopped 4 times for gas include refueling when home so at 8 minutes a stop so that is 32 minutes so charging time versus gas station time is a wash oddly enough.  

We all look forward to our next road trip. 

Our Tesla Model Y