Electrically Speaking: November 2024

We just returned from a great road trip to Florida via Washington DC! This was far and away our longest trip in the Model Y, and one I had been looking forward to doing since I bought the car. My wife and I have done a few long runs - twice to central Maine and once to southwest Virginia - but those were relatively quick - two or so stops each. Driving to Florida requires multiple stops and 'Supercharger hopping'... So I was really looking forward to doing that.

The occasion was my brother's wedding in Washington on Friday, October 26. My wife and I had planned a trip to Florida for earlier in the month, but decided to shift it to after the wedding since we'd be 4 hours closer. We left DC around 10:00 am that Saturday morning and planned to drive straight through to St Augustine FL - planning on about 13 hours including charging stops. The car was just under 50% state of charge (SOC). That was a little lower than I had wanted, but we went about an hour and 15 minutes before stopping in Fredericksburg VA for our first charge of the day. We ended up stopping 5 more times, although the last one in Jacksonville was really just to charge enough for a few days in St Augustine. Total charges were $84.40. Just for comparison, using my old Mazda CX-5 as a comparison, it would have cost approximately $90.00 - so saved a little bit of money.... (Supercharging on the road is way more expensive than charging at home, by a factor of 5 or so). We arrived at 11:30 pm, right at the 13 hours we had planned. 755 miles covered in total.

We spent a couple of days in St Augustine and the nearest Tesla Supercharger was about 15 minutes away, but there was a Florida Power & Light fast charger a minute away from our motel. Fortunately, I have an adapter to use CCS chargers (different plug design from Tesla) and was able to plug right in and juice up. Very convenient, and actually less expensive than the Supercharger.... We also charged up there the night before we left for Clearwater and my sister's home, so we only had to stop once going across Florida, in Celebration. About 250 miles total.

Before we left Clearwater, I charged at a local Supercharger so we could get a good start the next day. We had planned to drive from Clearwater to Rocky Mount NC, where we would stay the night. We stopped 5 times, including a Buc-ee's in Florence SC which I wanted to see. We arrived in Rocky Mount and went to a charger about 2 minutes from the hotel to charge up for the next day. It was a 'slow' fast charger (V2, which gives you about half the power of the newer V3 and V4 units, and you share one power unit between 2 cars, cutting the charge even more) and only charged to about 50% as we were tired. Total elapsed time was about 13 hours again, including stops. Mileage was 720 and cost was $70.00.

The next morning we left Rocky Mount and made our first stop in Stoney Creek VA, after which we stopped at Springfield VA, Newark DE and then home, covering 436 miles. Cost for this leg was $54.00.

So for the entire trip, we drove 2,395 miles and spent $270 for charging, or 11 cents per mile. If I still had my CX-5, the cost would have been approximately $280 or just under 12 cents per mile. Of course, gas prices are very low right now; if I had done this trip last year, the difference would have been greater as gas prices were quire a bit higher back then. And again, just like gas which tends to be less expensive off the highways, charging at home is significantly less expensive than charging on the road.

The (relative) frequency of the stops didn't bother us at all. I can't really go longer than 2 hours without needing a bio break, and the opportunity to walk around a bit actually kept me pretty fresh and alert. The adaptive cruise control in the car is great, it rides well and is very quiet. We had no issue finding chargers - the car does it for you - and most of them are within a minute or two of the highway. Most of them have good amenities as well. We did not have to wait to charge at any of the stops. And we saw many Cybertrucks charging as well! All told, the trip went really well and I can't wait to do it again!