A Tesla ride to Sedona

Today I took a “wellness day” off from work and took a day trip to Sedona. It’s only about 1.5 hours from Phoenix, and I left my house just before 6 AM. I also wanted to get at least one good road trip in with the Tesla Model 3 before I have to return it tomorrow.

I figured out how to engage the self-driving features, and I must say I was quite impressed by it. It works splendidly on highways maintaining the lane and adjusting cruise control based on vehicles in front of you. Every now and then, you get a reminder to nudge the wheel to prove you are still aware and ready to take control at any moment. I was not able to use the “enhanced self-driving” features like auto-lane change and auto-navigation. I was stuck doing that myself. Self-driving even works in stop-and-go traffic. It can negotiate stop lights and even adjust when someone pulls in front of me abruptly. There are a few quirks where I had to take over. One example is when someone in front of me slows down to turn. It seems to take a longer-than-normal amount of time to accelerate back up to speed.

I planned my route in advance to know where I would have charging capabilities. That’s the biggest difference between a gas-powered and a fully-electric car. Gas is one of the last things on my mind when I’m driving. When I get down to around 1/4 of a tank, I pick a gas station, and five minutes later, I’m back on the road. I don’t even pay attention to the price of gas anymore. You cannot do that with an electric vehicle. Unless you know you are good for the round trip, you have to plan your route through charging stations, preferably superchargers, which give you the most charge in the least amount of time.

I’ve been using the mobile connector, which plugs into a standard 110V home outlet. It provides a paltry 2-3 miles of range per hour of charge. For example, when I returned home the other day at 61% and plugged in the mobile connector, it told me it would take 20 h 25 mins for a full charge. If I owned a Tesla, I would absolutely have a wall connector installed in my garage for faster charging. The wall connector provides up to 44 miles of range per hour of charge. I experienced two types of charging on the road: destination charging and superchargers.

Destination charging is free and found at popular hotels, restaurants, resorts, etc. I found one at a Hampton Inn. They use the wall connector, but the charging seems to be fairly slow. For about an hour of charge, I only got about a 10% increase in battery.

Supercharging, on the other hand, is the way to go, if you can find one. Tesla says you can charge up to 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes. You do have to pay for the privilege, but Tesla’s claim is that on a dollar-per-mile average, charging using a Supercharger costs less than gas. The price at the Supercharger seems to vary, and I don’t know the variables. At one stop, I was at 48% and charged to 80% in 12 minutes, and it cost $8.02. Why just 80%? It said it capped at 80% because it was a busy station. That’s another factor–you might be waiting if all the slots are occupied.

On my road trip to Sedona, I stopped at the last Supercharger in Phoenix before heading north. From my house to this station was 47 miles, and I left my house at 100% and arrived at the station at 82%. When I returned to Phoenix, I stopped at a different Supercharger and charged to 80%. The trip from the Supercharger to my house was 29 miles, and I arrived with 61%.

While it may ultimately be cheaper to charge a car than fill it with gas, I would also factor in range anxiety as a new cost associated with electric vehicles.