Road Trip Experience to SFO With Brand new Model3

After coming back from the road trip  to SFO with my new Model 3, thought of blogging about the drive experience from 2 dimensions, one from the perspective to what to expect and plan to drive with Model 3, relying just on superchargers for a long road trip, secondly from anybody who would want to do a road trip otherwise to SFO with two kids on board.

Idea and planning

this random thought of going on a long drive came as a suggestion from my wife with the awesome drive feel both as a driver and passenger with the New Model 3 that we took delivery in the early week of December. As obviously the thought of the jargon "Range Anxiety" came in thoughts and started exploring options with the location being decided as SFO. I stumbled upon the trip planner provided by Tesla, second option is to just navigate on your console which will include the supercharging stations stops along the way, based on your current battery levels. That is solid enough to give a convincing feel to confidently take on the drive. Based on that had a planned overnight stop at Grant Pass OR, and second day to reach SFO. Here is a sample onward journey suggested by the navigation console

Pre-Trip Preparations

• Plan for charging stops
• Reserve hotels along the route (onward and back)
• Reserve hotels at destination
• Purchased Snow socks - Since Tesla has low clearance between wheels to put in any chains, had less time to place order and receive in time - though there are some snow chains at tesla store - Model 3 Chains
• Planned food for the 18 month old along the way
• Planned Purchase of SFO City pass at one of the centers once we arrived SFO.

Key Things to Focus on the planned trip

• Duration of charged suggested at each station
• Expected % of battery when you reach each station
• Rest of the factors like distance, time and location is as in any GPS route

Day 1 - Seattle to Grant Pass OR
           Overall trip was 435 miles with projected 9 hours of drive of which charging sessions were around 1.5 hrs, which allows a break every 2 to 3 hours during the 9 hours drive. Leaving at 6:30 AM with 99% battery, skipped Centralia and took Vancouver WA supercharging Station as first stop, second being Springfield OR, third at Grant pass OR where i was anyways taking a nights stay hence the long charging at  Grant pass was less noticed.

Drive experience on the freeway for the longer drive being the first time, i must say it was the best and first every luxurious drive till date i ever had, much understanding the fact that i am getting spoiled by the luxurious feel and drive the vehicle offers. Each of the supercharging stations in WA and OR had 80% vacancy, and always had a peaceful and quick recharge.

Observations at Super Charging Station

• All of the stations that i used in WA, OR, CA were all placed near prominent places where one could spend their time usefully as the vehicle is getting charged, mostly near food joints or outlet malls or any areas where you get some refreshments, right along the free way
• Observed the fact that the majority of the Tesla owners that i met at supercharging stations are senior age group folks, who seem to experience the seamless travel much appealing
• Stations at CA are near at 95% occupancy as there are possibly many Tesla users in the state compared to WA and OR.

Day 2 - Grant Pass OR to SFO

             I expected to have severe tiredness driving 450 miles with a 18 month old kiddo in the car and a youth along with my wife, but neither at the end of day 1 nor at the start of the second day, did i feel of any tiredness or soreness, partly maybe due to extreme physical exertions that i am used to with my workouts and majorly to do with the luxurious drive experience with silent EV drive enhanced with awesome technology support, with much cooperation from the family particularly with my younger one(18 months old).

 Started at 7 AM, there was heavy fog reported, did not quite observe much at Grant pass, though started to experience that heavily as we approached Mt Shasta, much before the supercharging stop at Mt Shasta way. With Fog lights switching on automatically, it was a drive through the dream road with less than 10 feet visibility level right on top of high road across the Shasta river, feel was as if going through a virtual video game experience but on the real road with the silent EV cruising seamlessly even at 85 to 96 MPH.

Took 3 charging stops 1. Mt Shasta way, 2. Corning, 3. Vacaville

drive was much through less traffic until we hit Sacramento exits, where i experienced the driving experience with enough traffic as much in India, no indicators used, seamless lane changes, zig zag zipping through lanes, i got tuned to that mode of seamless lane changes with the awesome acceleration coming from the electric motors, it was a commanding drive experience, i must say compared to any of the previous vehicles that i have driven so far. Reached at 5:15 PM safely, with a tireless riding experience.

Drove to the downtown to experience the Muni Cable service from Powell St to Fisherman's wharf, its a typical old style wagon operated with a lots of mechanical support climbing the steep streets and going down as well, a must try experience

Day 3

With two kids, the plan was to stick to less physical activity, ventured to

• California Academy of Sciences - Elder one enjoyed and learnt a lot from all the exhibits, must admit, its similar to everything that we have at Pacific Science Center, but with some diverse exhibits and Planetarium with diverse topics covered

 

• Golden Gate Bridge - Conventional drive along Golden gate brige with a stop and snap at vista points and walk across the bridge to get the feel of it.

• Muir Beach/Muir Woods - Small drive down from Golden gate bridge, to a small beach with less crowd, was good feel to end the day

Day 4

Again it was centered around using the allowances on City pass, with planned visits to

• Exploratarium - Pier 15 - Youth would enjoy and learn a lot, much like pacific science center with scientific exhibits with lot more diversity than at seattle, one floor exhibits can spend enough of 5 to 6 hours if kids stay motivated and interested.
• Parking opposite to Exploratarium at Pier 15, with a 12 hour parking pass for $15 with the input of concession code which is available at the payment station, or if you could drive few streets up, you might find good street parking.
• Aquarium Of the Bay - Pier 39 (ride muni train or walk from Pier 15

• two floor aquarium, with the hassle of mandated to take the Elevators and no stairs to the 2nd floor
• first floor is very minimal with nothing compared to Seattle Aquarium, second floor has good long over the head see through experience, much better than Seattle one, good enough to spend maybe an hour inside in there.
• Ghiradelli Square
• No activities, just walking around the square in the night, with awesome ice cream and chocolate treats from Ghiradelli, a long queue to get a order placed for ice creams, not so much for chocolates

 

• Walk to the fisherman's wharf to experience the cable car experience in open air

Day 5

Lightly planned with couple of activities and then head to friend's place at Mountain view later in the evening

• Blue and Gold Cruise to Golden Gate Bridge and Alcratez Jail - Good 1 hour cruise heading from Pier 39 to Golden gate bridge, slightly past it , then circling around Alcatraz jail which is a island in the bay with enough history to it. Good audio explanations throughout the trip

 

• Muni train trip to Ghiradelli Square, Wharf to Powell and back to Pier 39
• With the intentions to the only left out pass to use on any muni transportation, took the train to fisherman's wharf with finishing lunch around a different cusine from default

 

• Took 2 hours to board the Powell/Hyde Cable, but was definitely entertained by the street side musicians, who are still passionate at their 70s playing by the pure passion of it.

 

• Half hour ride from Hyde Road to Powell station, stopped for a quick snap at the lively Macy's center decorated for Christmas
• With christmas vacation around the wait times at the muni stations was around 3 hours for return trip, took a train ride back to Pier 39 to get back to the parking to get the car

 

• Drove to our friend's place at Mountain view around the end of day and was a nice get together after quite some time, kids had great time so did we speaking about various topics getting to know the life at SFO with kids and other areas of interest.

Day 6 - Mountain View CA to Grant Pass OR - 426 Miles

      After spending a memorable night with discussions and tons of sharing of memories, we planned to start early around 7 AM so that we can hit road back to Seattle, but we ended up starting only at 10 AM, not bad, it was Christmas eve and the traffic wasn't too bad

It was an all energized day, with the content of spending quality family time together time, started driving easy, and the sight of empty roads and the seamless acceleration with so little feedback to the car, we were cruising at an average of 96 MPH for over 40 miles and then did i realize that i was draining down the expected battery range at the Vacaville Charging station and all the time i spent speeding and saving 15 minutes is going to be spent in charging the vehicle. still was enjoyable speed cruising the freeway, a driver's pleasure driving so i believe.

As mentioned earlier, the occupancy at the super charging stations was over 90% within CA, there was just one spot left and i see another Model S trying to get to the charging area, had to take a short cut and reach the available spot earlier to get a good 40 minutes of charging time, could barely find any shop open to get some food.

walked in search of some food, while handing over the phone to the family to use it as key card, little did i know that they accidentally hit the stop charging button, which had caused an idle condition for over 19 minutes, for which i see a mail saying there was an idling fee charged and its waived since its the first time that is happening. Pay attention to such accidental stuffs, to save few dollars going down the drain. Tesla Idle Fee Details

Wanted to wind the day's activity with the near close incident with battery drain which i wanted to emphasize. As i did on all other days, was acceleration at least 20 MPH over speed limits, we were en route to Mt Shasta station, 35 miles ahead it was snowing hard and glad that the ODOT was deicing the whole I5 stretch around the area and roads were in so drive-able conditions, little did i have to even slow down. With excessive acceleration since morning and cold weather conditions with temperature being around 34-32 F, in the last few miles to charging stop, i noticed that i had only 20 miles of range left with 10 more miles to cover, that was one moment that i felt so nervous with a 18 month old onboard along with family in snowy conditions, that would the last thing to want to stop in the middle of road, glad that i noticed few miles ahead, switching off the heater, slowing down considerabally and i managed to reach the super charging station with 2% battery and  6 miles of range left. 

It was a conservative driving from there on till grant pass until i felt comfortable speeding, managed to reach grant pass by 7 pm, only to realize that there were barely any food joints open to get some dinner for the family, luckily we had some food with us with which we survived the night.

Day 7 - Grant Pass OR to Seattle WA

  Finally the last day of the trip and we were equally as rejoiced as the first day and as fresh as the first day with least tiredness.

the final stretch to start with on a foggy day, had a heavy breakfast from the hotel, knowing the fact that we are barely going to find any food joints open to eat along the route, started on the foggy morning with a late start of 10:15 AM. The drive was casual, was conservative the first part of rides to any supercharging station, with the second half speeding to get the same feel and reaching safely to get charged again. Once we reached Springfield, it was our usual route which used to feel so long enough, seems now too close after driving those long miles.

The only place that we could find anything at all to eat was all the starbucks joints and not any other single place. We tried stopping at a sushi point and we being a vegetarian eaters, we could only get some steamed veggies and some rice rolls, the roads were all empty up until tacoma, we managed to get some fries or shakes at Arbys around centralia, all otherwise it was deserted roads and a peaceful ride back home reaching at around 7:15 PM.

Conclusion and key learning(s)

Overall it was a much unplanned last minute trip, which ended up being so successful, enjoyable and memorable one, and need to say it was indeed a luxurious drive all along. There are already thoughts in mind planning for the next trip on. here are few take away from the trip as learning or dos or dont's

• a longer trip could be planned in less than 3 days with reasonable logistics taken care
• Carrying a instapot and few grains along helped us manage the food for our younger one without a hassle
• lookout on the temperature along the route helped us carry gear for all weather.
• Using the charging stops as your food time helped us use the time wise and not take any additional time beyond charging time.
• Set your start time appropriately so that you reach the charging stations right around the meal times, which helped
• Observation on charging was, first 10% charge is done around 40 KWH, 11% onward to 60% was done at around 116 KWH and then it declines to 16 to 20 KWH towards the end. essential means with first 20 minutes of charging at any station, you will have 60% battery filled up
• All the additional energy spent in excessive acceleration got me 15 to 20 minutes between each charging station, which is 50% of charging time spent and the reduced range, helps speedy charging as well, overall it was a win win
• Don't speed beyond limits and set high on heater if you are driving  in near cold conditions, the deviation from the projected Vs Actual range was 30%.
• Pay attention to the % of battery expected to be left out at the next charging station, if that range falls so exponentially down, then its time to start being conservative to safely reach the next charging station.
• In the worst case, we have tons of destination charging stations in between supercharging stations even in the remote areas like mt Shasta with last resort to call out Tesla Road Side Assistance.

Finally if in case you are out on a purchase a new Tesla, you could use the referral code to get 6 to 9 months of super charging free

Hope this jotting down of events would be of some help to anyone planning for a road trip to SFO. Happy holidays!!