bydabeach
Well-known member
I know that drive from Phoenix to Flag very well, especially where the Sedona Tesla chargers are on 179. Adding 30 minutes could be very optimistic, if the traffic moving through Sedona is slow--and it often is on weekends. You probably know about it --there is a Tesla Supercharger station in Mayer, but that is only 66 miles from Phoenix. But from Mayer, you are only 80 short miles to Flagstaff. As a plus, it's right off of I-17. Not a bad option for a quick charge and saves some worrying about making it to Flagstaff.There's a lot more reason to obsess over this in an EV. Not in town, where I rarely use 70% of my battery in a day and there are DCFC options everywhere. But on trips in ICE, there are gas stations everywhere, and I never worry about being stranded. Road trips in an EV often involve a focus on charging enough to make it to the next charger, and not getting accurate info from the vehicle could leave you calling a tow truck, especially in an EV.
Often to get places from Phoenix, the first leg of your trip is to Flagstaff. It's only 143 miles from my house to the EA charger in Flagstaff, but it's also more than a mile in elevation climb and a high speed limit where you are absolutely an asshole for driving 65 most of the way. There are no DCFC options along the way, the one Tesla SC is a V2. Once you are out of Phoenix, it's Flagstaff or a tow truck. In an SR, in winter I wouldn't attempt it. With an ER it was dicey and only done by drafting bobtails for a great deal of the trip and keeping the cabin heat low or intermittent. There is one option, that's to reroute through Sedona, adds 5 miles and 30 mins to the total drive time and it's a lot more 2-lane highways and winding roads. You have to make the call at 2/3rds of the drive to Flagstaff if you have the juice to get there. An accurate GOM is crucial to that decision. I'd also say that if it can't be accurate, it needs to be pessimistic. What we currently have is optimistic, and I think that's dangerous.
I'm sure there are other areas where you similarly need accurate info. I'm about to drive to San Diego. El Centro is the last charger on the way until El Cajon, and there's a 4,400 ft mountain to climb. then it's about 4,000 ft down to El Cajon. If you make it to the top of the mountain, you can coast to the beach. accurate information in El Centro lets me know just how long I have to hang out there. The charger is in the parking lot of a bank, a quarter mile from a shitty convenience store and it's about 120F in the summer.... I don't want to stay there any longer than I absolutely have to.
More ubiquitos charging locations solves this, but until we have them, we have to either trust the GOM or do the math constantly.
https://www.tesla.com/findus/location/supercharger/cordeslakessupercharger
Sponsored