Originally Posted by
Qwkynuf
Like many on FT, I fly nearly every week. There are some situations where driving is just the better choice.
When I go to Reno, the drive from just north of Portland takes 10 hours. Most of the time, if we are going there, it is to participate in a bowling tournament. For my wife and I, that means we are hauling 8-12 bowling balls. Sometimes we will bring a few from our friends who are flying. As a Delta DM, I get 3 bags free, so that's not a problem, but If I fly from Delta from PDX-RNO I will have to layover in SLC for an hour or two. So at the minimum, I have:
.5 hours - to drive to airport and park
1.5 hours - arrive before departure to ensure time to check all of the bags and get through security
1.5 hours - flight time to SLC
1-2 hours - layover in SLC
1 hour - flight time to RNO
.5 hours - get bags and rental car in Reno & drive to hotel
That's 6-7 hours (minimum), so flying doesn't provide *that* much time savings. I know it's still more than the difference that the article calculated between the Tesla and gas-powered car, but two plane tickets will cost at least $400.
You had me at 8-12 bowling balls.
Originally Posted by
jackal
What model is your personal Tesla?
I ran ABRP with a Model 3 LR and it's plenty doable to get ~950 miles in a 15-hour day of driving. And if you can function on less sleep and a slightly-longer day of around 17-18 hours, the drive is doable in 2 days, but otherwise ~2.5 days seems like it should be plenty, unless you're in an older Model 3 Standard Range or something and also only have the stamina to drive for 8 hours a day (but then why would you be road-tripping in a car not intended for long-range driving or comparing it to an ICE, which would still need two 15-hour days of driving?).
2018 M3 medium range when that was the only one available for fast delivery to beat the EPA credit deadline (which we did by about two weeks). We were moving so I drove it to our new place (packed to the gills I might add).
The chargers maxed out at 120kwh back then so I could see getting more mileage out of a 15hr day today. But for some comparison, I drove from Irvine, CA to Amarillo, TX in 18hrs when I was bringing home my Porsche and the only constraint there was just me being tired. There's no way around the charging times with an EV, and they're a significant chunk of time in each travel day compared to filling gas. Over a multi-day trip, the time adds up substantially.
Originally Posted by
gmax58
Had three rentals at LAX (all upgrades from mid-size) in the past 2 months: Tesla M3 Standard Range, M3 Long Range, and Polestar 2 (the last of these in the gold section). For driving in the area, I'm generally fine with the two M3s, although the Long Range had over 60K miles on it, which was a lot. I agree that the fit and finish on the Polestar 2 was a huge improvement, and it was generally a more pleasant (and intuitive!) car to drive. (Nothing against the Teslas, but they had a bit of a learning curve for me - I own a gas car at home.)
Where the Tesla wins out is the charging network; finding available charging stations for the Polestar wasn't particularly convenient. This is also a case where a relatively low starting charge (one was about 60%) is a good thing - it's a lot easier for me to plan the charging earlier in the week than later in it! Most folks have told me to return the vehicle at the same charge, but again, seems to be a rule of using 70%.
Thank you for the data points. Surprising to see Teslas with that many miles on them--I wonder if Hertz bought some pre-owned ones for their fleet? Neat to know about the Polestar as I haven't driven one yet.