invertedspear
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TLDR: 360ish miles, most of it in 105-115F temps. If you're in an ER, you might even be able to do it in one stop. Your best stops are in Dateland, AZ (36 Tesla chargers and 4 EA chargers) and El Centro, CA (8 Tesla and 4 EA chargers, though 1 Tesla and 1 EA were broken during my trip). To do it in one stop, you're stopping in Yuma, AZ which has only 4 EA and 0 accessible Tesla chargers, and you likely want to get to 90% to ensure you make it over the coastal mountains in southern CA. Tesla charging wasn't a "Game changer" but it did make the trip better. Overall, it seems like 1.8 mi/kWh was the efficiency average when also fighting the heat.
Details:
FWIW I've done this trip in the MME a few times already, so I was using somer personal experience that the EA chargers in Dateland are actually great, and you can pick up some dates to enjoy, and that the EA chargers in Yuma and El Centro are terrible, always derated, and usually have a line. In El Centro the EA chargers are in a Bank of America parking lot. There are no facilities, no shops within a quarter mile, and it's 110-120F so you're not safely walking anywhere.
I also pretty exclusively use Apple Maps with their EV routing, as they are IMO idealy pessimistic. I know when it says I'll arrive at 30%, I'll more likley be at 35%
The truck was loaded for a family of 4 to spend a week at the beach. So lots of luggage, pop-up, paddle board, food, etc. But it was all in the frunk or under the tonneau, so aero of the load was not a factor, just weight.
I left Phoenix early on Saturday, and was cruising at the speed limit, or kept it at 70MPH. Hit a little rain around Gila Bend that dropped the temps from about 110F to 90F and instantly added 10% to my expected arrival SOC due to the cooler temps. Arrived in Dateland with 50% charge. 124 miles, 1.8mi/kWh. 800ft overall drop in elevation, practically flat the whole way.
On to El Centro. 115F almost the whole way. Went straight to Teslas SC to use the A2Z adaptor. There are 4 of the 8 chargers reachable for a truck without blocking 2 spaces, and 2 of those were open when I got there, so no wait, no worries. I was at 26% SOC though, and we were there awhile. Thankfully there's a boba shop, a Panera, and a Habit burger in the parking lot. 126 miles 1.8 mi/kWh, 480ft overall drop in elevation, almost entirely flat except for one short mountain climb just before Yuma. Small bit of Trivia, El Centro is below sea level.
From here it was easy going the rest of the way. There's a 4400ft mountain bewteen El Centro and the beach, so once you get to the top, you're in the clear as it's practically coasting the rest of the way. I got to El Cajone and stopped at an Ikea to grab some meatballs to make during vacation, and plugged into a slowish EVGo to get me from 43% to 50% just to make sure I had "running around" juice. While I was at the beach.
While there I only had 120v charging which has been fine for the MME, but for the behemoth ER battery, I was never able to get the charge up all that much. Just running around San Diego occasionally, and took a little side trip up the mountain to Julian, CA for some of their famous pie among other things. I found it very convenient to have the Tesla adaptor here, since I was able to add some juice while having a slice. But this is still in the "running around juice" range and intermixed with the L1 charging at the vacation rental, so not really part of the overall "road trip"
I did get close though and left the beach at 99% SOC. Stopped by Ikea again to grab some of their gravy mix since they're always out of it at my local store. Couldn't add any charge since it was still over 90% but that's fine, plenty to get me to El Centro. Back up the mountain, up to 4400 feet and back to -40 ft. This time there were lines at both Tesla and EA chargers, and Tesla's cut in front of me twice because they didn't realize I was waiting to charge, and when I confronted them they weren't even apologetic, they weren't about to unplug and let me in. Very frustrating, but then the side mounted spot opened up and that's the easiest one to pull in to so it was probably for the best. 120 miles, 80-115F, -40 overall drop in elevation 2.1 mi/kWh
The contuation on to Dateland was similar to the other direction, 440ft change in elevation over 125 miles is practically flat. Used EA in Dateland to use up my credits. Interesting note on this leg is that Apple predicted arriving in dateland at 13% when I left El Centro, but it slowly climbed the whole way and I arrived at 31%. I got 1.8 mi/kWh on this leg.
If you're taking this trip from Phoenix or Tucson, I highly recommend those 2 stops. If your in an SR, add a stop in Yuma. As I said before an ER can probably do this with only stopping in Yuma, but you're going to wait in line, and I've never had Yuma not be derated to at most 70 kW, and the only things you can wallk to in that heat are the Target, and a Jack in the Box. I could have done this trip on all EA, but there were a couple isntances where Tesla SCs were better located. I do beleive that heat was a hit on my efficiency. I don't have a reason to take this trip in the cooler weather, but I'd be curious to see how much better the milage would be at 75F vs 115F.
Details:
FWIW I've done this trip in the MME a few times already, so I was using somer personal experience that the EA chargers in Dateland are actually great, and you can pick up some dates to enjoy, and that the EA chargers in Yuma and El Centro are terrible, always derated, and usually have a line. In El Centro the EA chargers are in a Bank of America parking lot. There are no facilities, no shops within a quarter mile, and it's 110-120F so you're not safely walking anywhere.
I also pretty exclusively use Apple Maps with their EV routing, as they are IMO idealy pessimistic. I know when it says I'll arrive at 30%, I'll more likley be at 35%
The truck was loaded for a family of 4 to spend a week at the beach. So lots of luggage, pop-up, paddle board, food, etc. But it was all in the frunk or under the tonneau, so aero of the load was not a factor, just weight.
I left Phoenix early on Saturday, and was cruising at the speed limit, or kept it at 70MPH. Hit a little rain around Gila Bend that dropped the temps from about 110F to 90F and instantly added 10% to my expected arrival SOC due to the cooler temps. Arrived in Dateland with 50% charge. 124 miles, 1.8mi/kWh. 800ft overall drop in elevation, practically flat the whole way.
On to El Centro. 115F almost the whole way. Went straight to Teslas SC to use the A2Z adaptor. There are 4 of the 8 chargers reachable for a truck without blocking 2 spaces, and 2 of those were open when I got there, so no wait, no worries. I was at 26% SOC though, and we were there awhile. Thankfully there's a boba shop, a Panera, and a Habit burger in the parking lot. 126 miles 1.8 mi/kWh, 480ft overall drop in elevation, almost entirely flat except for one short mountain climb just before Yuma. Small bit of Trivia, El Centro is below sea level.
From here it was easy going the rest of the way. There's a 4400ft mountain bewteen El Centro and the beach, so once you get to the top, you're in the clear as it's practically coasting the rest of the way. I got to El Cajone and stopped at an Ikea to grab some meatballs to make during vacation, and plugged into a slowish EVGo to get me from 43% to 50% just to make sure I had "running around" juice. While I was at the beach.
While there I only had 120v charging which has been fine for the MME, but for the behemoth ER battery, I was never able to get the charge up all that much. Just running around San Diego occasionally, and took a little side trip up the mountain to Julian, CA for some of their famous pie among other things. I found it very convenient to have the Tesla adaptor here, since I was able to add some juice while having a slice. But this is still in the "running around juice" range and intermixed with the L1 charging at the vacation rental, so not really part of the overall "road trip"
I did get close though and left the beach at 99% SOC. Stopped by Ikea again to grab some of their gravy mix since they're always out of it at my local store. Couldn't add any charge since it was still over 90% but that's fine, plenty to get me to El Centro. Back up the mountain, up to 4400 feet and back to -40 ft. This time there were lines at both Tesla and EA chargers, and Tesla's cut in front of me twice because they didn't realize I was waiting to charge, and when I confronted them they weren't even apologetic, they weren't about to unplug and let me in. Very frustrating, but then the side mounted spot opened up and that's the easiest one to pull in to so it was probably for the best. 120 miles, 80-115F, -40 overall drop in elevation 2.1 mi/kWh
The contuation on to Dateland was similar to the other direction, 440ft change in elevation over 125 miles is practically flat. Used EA in Dateland to use up my credits. Interesting note on this leg is that Apple predicted arriving in dateland at 13% when I left El Centro, but it slowly climbed the whole way and I arrived at 31%. I got 1.8 mi/kWh on this leg.
If you're taking this trip from Phoenix or Tucson, I highly recommend those 2 stops. If your in an SR, add a stop in Yuma. As I said before an ER can probably do this with only stopping in Yuma, but you're going to wait in line, and I've never had Yuma not be derated to at most 70 kW, and the only things you can wallk to in that heat are the Target, and a Jack in the Box. I could have done this trip on all EA, but there were a couple isntances where Tesla SCs were better located. I do beleive that heat was a hit on my efficiency. I don't have a reason to take this trip in the cooler weather, but I'd be curious to see how much better the milage would be at 75F vs 115F.
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. I didn't post costs, but considering I'm able to leave with a full battery from home and in my case from my destination, I spent way less on electrons that I previously spent on hydrocarbons taking this same trip in my old ICE F150. Especially filling up at California prices. Just to Yuma and back, with no destination charger, you're likely going to be a wash cost-wise, so roll in what's most comfortable.
