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I was honestly surprised to make this the longest road trip to date in any car I've driven,
unexpectedly beating out
my 4647-mile personal best from two years ago.
By the end I shot over 3100 pictures and videos (iPhone 11) and
logged details about the
driving and charging my Model S (right).
This is a real family trip; no film crew or a support caravan.
Our family of four and all of our luggage fit solely in
one Model S.
No sprained ankles and no car accidents occurred.
No COVID-19 symptoms, even through the two weeks after our return.
I used Autopilot extensively, especially on the longest and fastest stretches of roads,
totalling well over 4000 miles.
| Odometer |
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| Ending | 25660 |
| Beginning | 20408 |
| Traveled | 5252 miles! |
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Page 1 of the 5-page Log
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| States Visited |
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| Nevada |
| Idaho |
| Montana |
| Washington |
| Oregon |
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Conclusion
This trip went great!
I drove my Model S 5252-mile road trip for all but a few easy segments my wife drove.
Our success driving long road trips entirely on electricity was no fluke, this being
my fourth all-electric road trip of over 1000 miles in length
and a new personal best.
In science repeatability of the experiment is vital.
The evidence posted on these pages, documenting
17,111 miles of all-electric road trips
to date,
plainly proves a properly-deployed all-electric solution is enough to obviate carrying along a combustion engine.
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Too many, way too many, myths about battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are out there,
and way too many of those are believed by way too many people.
I, among many real-world BEV drivers,
provide the definitive proof here to disprove many such myths
by proving what a
properly-designed all-electric transport solution can do.
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You can drive long-distance road trips in an all-electric car
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In case you have not figured it out by now,
my pictures allude to the
Travelling Gnome meme.
Decades ago, a garden gnome statue
was humorously
anthropomorphized as a newfound vacationer sending pictures to its friends and family back home
by
photographing it in pictures in front of famous landmarks, all of them far
flung from its conventional confinement on a boring lawn.
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The juxtaposing of an object with landmarks far afield from its culturally-accepted boundaries
subjects the viewer to a mental paradox that results in both humor and
the disillusionment that such boundaries on said object were an unreasonable artifice in the first place.
The mind resolves the paradox by
smashing the prejudice.
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BEVs and their owners are targets of extreme prejudice
(defined: "preconceived opinion that is not based on
reason or actual experience").
I am not kidding, and I see it regularly, online and in person,
even among extended family members
of every political leaning,
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especially from
those drivers who do not own a BEV who imagine they know more about
taking BEVs on road trips than those who actually do take BEVs on road trips.
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Their prejudice is sustained in those non-BEV drivers by their zero actual experience and
bed-wetting reason-killing fear,
fitting the definition of
prejudice; by contrast, I have proven I have seven years and counting of actual experience,
and I show reasoning on these pages.
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Since I cannot take thousands of people in my BEV,
I challenge their prejudice
by presenting hundreds of pictures, with a detailed chronicle,
of my BEV, which they imagine is confined to roughly 100 miles from home,
in front of far-flung landmarks,
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to prove that such confinement was
imagined and artificial
in the first place,
plus a dash of humor to help the medicine go down.
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Who has more credibility? Who should you believe?
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About flying an aircraft:
| The airline pilot with thousands of hours of flight experience?
| Or the guy who has never flown in one?
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About piloting a boat: | The captain with hundreds of days of seafaring experience?
| Or the landlubber who has never set foot on a boat?
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About performing surgery: | The surgeon with several operations under her belt?
| Or the YouTuber who has never set foot in a hospital?
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About driving road trips
in a long-range BEV: |
The experienced BEV driver with a thousand miles of all-electric road trips under her belt?
| Or the online blogger/friend/family member who has never driven a Tesla?
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Real-world experience matters.
Sometimes the only way to understand the truth is to
actually try the real thing in the real world.
Sometimes the expert is right.
These pages are a guide.
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- driver who does not own an all-electric vehicle
who imagines they know more about BEVs than experienced BEV drivers know
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You can escape natural disasters in an all-electric car
Do you plan to brave a thunderstorm today? A major fire? A snowstorm? I did not think so.
I plan my trips, but despite never setting
a natural-disaster reservation
on my itinerary,
our all-electric trips are surprisingly
consistent at discovering new
ever-larger
natural disasters.
I have no idea how that happens.
I would never want such a thing.
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The phone call that did not happen:
Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Click
Heaven: Disaster Reservations.
May I help you?
Caller: Yes, I'd like to book a fire please.
Heaven: Alright, what kind of fire are you looking for?
Caller: That Blue Cut Fire just wasn't big enough or inconvenient enough.
I'm looking for something bigger. How about something that affects a whole State?
I want to prove my Tesla can handle it....
Heaven: Sure. Let's throw in a pandemic for free.
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Nevertheless, how well does this all-electric vehicle handle it?
Brilliantly!
We have had snow and ice, and we have seen huge fires, handled a pandemic in several states, and more.
Our secret? Be Prepared, the Boy Scout Motto, is key.
We bring food and water, and and sometimes even toilet paper, in the car.
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Oh, right, you want to ask about the car?
My Tesla, and the supporting infrastructure known as the Tesla Supercharger Network,
worked beautifully without a problem.
We had plenty of range, and the bottleneck over and over was human physiology,
especially the need to use the restroom.
Use the Supercharger stop as the opportunity to address human needs,
and the car waits for the humans every time,
then we're good to go.
(Abandon the unnatural
unhealthy
neverfuel-until-empty-always-to-full gas-car mentality too.)
Your body and your family will thank you for it.
Even though a lot of naysayers
dismissed Tesla's
Bioweapon Defense Mode
as an over-the-top joke,
that feature alone proved
in how this Tesla took better
care of us than any gas-car could.
Here is repeatedly-confirmed
real-world
unexpected proof an all-electric car can
take care of its human occupants when faced with natural disaster:
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"How is this possible?
You can't possibly find charging stations if
I have never found a charging station.
I can't find them. They're invisible!
It's too scary to Google how it works." |
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Yes, it's possible, my yellow-streaked friend, because:
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An all-electric car can help you find places to charge,
even in rural areas, far from cities
The real-world information BEV road-trippers like me post
refutes
the ignorance,
but the irrational bed-wetting fear
that hampers the ignorant to reason
is another matter entirely.
The sooner they absorb the following the better so please share this:
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Tesla confers a tremendous advantage to its customers, one that
non-Tesla owners seem to be by and large unaware,
manifest in not one but two substantial charging networks.
Tesla in 2015 announced willingness to make
a deal with other EV makers to open
its
Supercharger Network to other EVs,
leading to subsequent negotiations.
Despite those facts, the other car makers later declared they were not interested,
never to revisit the idea again.
I believe the incumbents made a serious mistake here, among many.
As a result Tesla's relentlessly-growing networks are for Tesla owners to enjoy.
We use them for road trips, but
we also use Tesla's Networks as safety nets.
In 2015, Tesla gave out, for free, software updates with features
"that ensure you never unintentionally run out of range, giving you peace of mind at all times."
Every Tesla since has this unique feature leveraging Tesla's growing networks.
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Relentlessly-growing Supercharger Network
Credit: Supercharge.info
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The Tesla Navigation in the car will continuously calculate in the background while you're driving
whether you are about to drive out of range of charging stations in its ever-growing database.
As an American company, Tesla believes in fundamental American ideals like
how citizens should take responsibility for their own actions,
so it is up to the driver to heed such advice.
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Any and I mean any technology can be used incorrectly or otherwise misused:
Do I really need to spell that out?
The list of known misused technologies is huge, going back to the Stone Age.
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A couple dozen Superchargers are pictured above, but
I wrote
the names of Superchargers
We Didn't Use below those pictures
because those were useful too.
We had dozens of viable alternative Superchargers available to us in the vicinity of our actual trip.
I'm glad Tesla provides more than enough Superchargers because it allows us to be ready for contingencies,
but this also proves how well-built, and perhaps over-built, Tesla's Supercharger Network is,
enabling complete freedom to explore the country with this all-electric vehicle.
Don't lose sight of that fact in an argument about how fast a Supercharger charges.
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If you do not truly understand the above, the impact it has,
and the benefits these facts bring to Tesla drivers,
then you're going to have a really hard time
understanding Tesla's appeal, market differentiation, and accomplishments.
It speaks to the core of the definition of a compelling electric car.
Don't knock it until
you've tried it, and
I wholeheartedly suggest
trying it.
Dear reader, you know these trips are possible, possible to do safely,
and fun, so I invite you to share this site with
anyone who doesn't know the above facts.
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Below these safety nets, as a Tesla driver, I know I have access to at least two more charging networks,
in addition to those that Tesla provides, meaning my layers of safety nets just keep going.
So can we please hammer the last nail in the coffin of the notion
that I'm some sort of daredevil gambling with my family's well being?
If you drive a Tesla, you have access to the widest and most robust collection of charging networks of any BEV.
As for non-Tesla's, because other car makers did not buy into Tesla's networks,
non-Tesla BEVs start here.
Drivers of non-Tesla's pay the price for the incumbents' mistake
by not having access to the above substantial safety nets.
For a non-Tesla BEV to truly be a gas-car replacement
like the above holistic synergy Tesla demonstrates,
the basic qualifications include having both long
(greater than EPA-rated 200 miles)
range and
the ability to charge fast from a ubiquitous robust continent-spanning fast-charging network.
The list of qualifying BEVs for current sale as of this writing is short,
such as the recently-introduced Porsche Taycan and the Audi eTron.
We look forward to considering the VW ID.4 coming in a couple years
as a possible candidate.
The next network layer is Public Charging, which is well documented at
the crowd-sourced
PlugShare.
I use them as needed as an alternative to Tesla's networks, but
that's fairly rare now because Tesla's networks have grown.
| Electrify America |
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And then we have VW's court-mandated fast-charging network.
A result of VW getting caught for emissions cheating ("dieselgate"),
VW's settlement included building a fast-charging network
adhering to milestones negotiated in court,
rather than business directives or a vision to fix the world's problems.
While I am glad a new network that in principle charges all BEVs is being built,
we have yet to see it fully express its utility in practice.
EA is not the same, and may never be the same,
as Tesla's Supercharger network because
EA's raison d'être is compliance with court orders
rather than Tesla's Mission to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."
Once the court mandate is fulfilled, what comes next from VW?
I like Herbert Diess, but once VW's leadership inevitably changes,
can we depend on the word of a convicted multinational car company?
Despite VW loudly declaring in 2013 its "market leadership in electric mobility by 2018",
we're still waiting for them to at least walk the walk.
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EA Map clip as of October 2020
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Unavailable EA Charger next to my Nearest Tesla Supercharger
First, You Have to Want to Build a Good Fast-Charging Network:
It shows how lucky we are to have Tesla.
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The jury is still out on EA, and the real test is:
When will someone drive a VW-Group BEV using EA on all 17,111 miles of all-electric road trips that I did?
Please do replicate my experiment, same sights and destinations, and post the details online like I did.
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Why? Because that evidence would further reinforce the point I'm trying to make all along:
that BEVs can replace their internal-combustion predecessors.
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"I've pumped gas since Ancient Egypt.
I know no other way of life, so no other way of life exists!
The 21st Century isn't for me.
Fingers in my ears.
La la la la la ..." |
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You can replace an internal-combustion powered car with an all-electric car
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Starting in September 2012, Tesla was the first provider of a properly-designed all-electric mobility solution
(long-range EVs + Supercharging + Destination Charging)
that serves as a complete replacement for its internal-combustion predecessor.
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You can have the freedom to roam the country with an all-electric car
Around-town driving was never a question, but now it's perfectly clear from my travel logs,
and others like mine,
we can put the last nail in the coffin of the naysayers' claim that BEVs were no good for long-distance road trips
or that you "have to have a gas car" for trips. What utter nonsense!
Successful and repeated use of these networks
has been my living reality for seven years!
Read my 17,111 miles of travel logs (946
+ 450
+ 334
+ 635
+ 2824
+ 931
+ 4647
+ 1092
+ 5252 miles) for the evidence.
We've got this all-electric road-trip formula down, and
I'm not the only one travelling on electricity out there, proven by the pictures on PlugShare and beyond.
All these facts are easily Googled;
by all rights everyone else should come to their senses and abandon their prejudice.
I can definitely reiterate that the Model S is a fabulous road trip car.
I am glad to be free of extra engine and transmission noise of internal combustion engines and the
low-frequency rumble and roar shaking one's innards.
I am therefore free of the fatigue of gas cars,
leaving our family a relaxing driving experience.
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Clickable map of pins where I drive my all-electric car
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There is no better way to prove
it's a complete replacement for the ICE predecessors than
replacing the ICE predecessors completely
and recording what happened.
Guess what? These Tesla's passed the test!
Not only is there nothing I miss, or need, from an ICE in all these years,
I can't and I won't go back!
Besides being so outdated, unnecessarily complicated, and last-century,
ICE is now repulsive, like a non-smoker smelling second-hand cigarette smoke.
Blech!
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Compelling: Once you go Electric, you can't go back.
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Model S P85
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Model 3 Dual Motor
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Model S 100D
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We own ZERO internal combustion engines; we don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk.
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Then we repeated the experiment on my wife:
After I bought my wife her Model 3, we sold the Prius,
so we literally do not own any internal-combustion engines (ICE) of any kind, completing the experiment.
We are gas free!
Not only that, these BEVs are compelling:
Our basic rationale for moving off the Prius was because its green diamond-lane stickers were expiring January 1, 2019,
but soon after we bought the Model 3 in September 2018, and before we received the red diamond-lane stickers from the DMV,
my wife drove the Model 3 sans stickers despite still owning the Prius with valid stickers.
My wife wouldn't admit to me how much she enjoyed the Model 3, but her actions,
driving the Model 3 in commuter traffic and abandoning the gas-powered option early,
spoke loudly that her skepticism was wildly overcome in just a few days of driving the Model 3.
The Prius sat, forgotten.
The superiority of this BEV experience over the ICE car
more than offset
the pain of non-diamond-lane 405 freeway rush-hour traffic.
It's that good!
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That also means the claim that "it's still too early" or "the market's not ready" for BEVs is again nonsense and merely a hollow stalling tactic.
Other makers could have spent these eight years
(Tesla introduced the Model S and the Supercharger network in 2012)
copying Tesla's BEVs and charging networks, but they didn't, not by 2020.
Despite how
I predicted
over 4 years ago, while showing the structural reasons why,
the incumbent carmakers would move as slowly as they could,
I am both astonished and disappointed in the incumbents that
the market of qualifying BEVs (true, full replacements of their ICE-powered predecessors) belongs almost completely to Tesla
after eight years of the existence of Tesla's solution.
The pity and frustration I would feel for a drug-addicted friend
who just can't quit those self-destructive habits
is what I feel about the incumbent carmakers
and everyone who buys an ICE-powered car.
If only the incumbents would go cold-turkey and fully engage with 100% focus (meaning: sell zero ICE today) in BEVs,
they could leverage the inherent advantages and luxuries of BEVs to make the best driving experience ever.
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"There are
no customer requests for BEVs. None."
- BMW's director of development, Klaus Frölich
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He and others who talk that way are clueless.
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Customers are demanding BEVs loudly:
And there still aren't enough BEVs to satisfy demand.
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In March 2020,
Road & Track
published an
excellent, honest review of the Porsche Taycan.
Clearly Porsche designed the Taycan to be a great track car
(we always welcome BEVs that addresses a new submarket!)
but then cooked up a series of bizarre benchmarks the Taycan can hit
that just about nobody but them would be interested in achieving.
Clearly this 201-mile EPA-rated range BEV
was designed to be a trophy car.
"Porsche would likely have been better off paying attention to
the type of performance its customers will actually use."
- R&T
We know R&T is right because non-BEV owners ask BEV owners like me about
"performance customers will actually use",
none of which overlap with Porsche's cooked-up goals.
Nonetheless, we are happy to see the Taycan consistently sell out
with
sales that completely outstrip Porsche's gas-powered alternatives.
Porsche is helping prove both that the demand for BEVs is pent-up and enormous
and that people discover BEVs are superior to and more appealing than their gas-powered predecessors.
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Taycan hits
the Wrong Goals
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Besides, the writing is on the wall that BEVs are an inevitable future for everyone.
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The Death of the Internal Combustion Engine
from The Economist in 2017
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Knowing this I still find it
astonishing, that in 2020, all other carmakers have failed to
compete with/ provide/ copy
the complete solution
that Tesla demonstrated in 2012.
Instead, with token zero-emission efforts accompanied by press releases that stall expectations,
they keep milking their cash cows.
It is a mistake for which they will pay dearly.
Many will catch up someday, maybe in the 2030s, and not before they
decline and
experience great financial pain.
By the end,
only a few incumbent carmakers will survive.
I tried to warn them years ago, but they didn't listen (except for maybe VW CEO Herbert Diess).
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For the remaining ICE owners: those outdated ICE-powered vehicles are becoming
stranded assets.
As more people realize BEVs are appealing, demand for ICE cars will wane,
dropping the market price of all ICE cars, one submarket after another.
As I drive, I look around at all those ICE cars and I want to yell
"Sell! Sell those now! Before it's too late! Before those ICE cars are worth zero!"
But none of them will listen.
Will you?
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Compared to a
modern electric car,
everything else seems like a dinosaur.
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Where will the ongoing disruption of the automotive market leave you?
Disruption of the automotive market is happening, right now.
As I wrote four years ago, the only remaining practical question about
electrically-powered mobility is deployment:
how many qualifying BEVs can be made and how much infrastructure is enough.
Tesla is doing everything it can, trying to build a BEV for every major consumer submarket
and
relentlessly
expanding and enhancing their charging networks.
Enterprising businesses, remembering how WiFi 20 years ago attracted customers,
are wising up to attract patronage from EV drivers.
The links above to the hundreds of Supercharger stalls
and thousands of Destination Charging hotels across the country
tells us that
building the
infrastructure is well underway
and is already practical to use today.
Just look at the evidence on these pages and beyond.
And you could
try it yourself.
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Postcard from the 21st Century
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Expanding Tesla's BEV formula to more submarkets
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| CUV
| SUV
| Pickup Truck
| Commercial & Semi-Truck
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Model Y
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Model X
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CyberTruck
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Semi
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A modern electric vehicle for every major consumer submarket is only a question of when.
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Dean E. Dauger holds a Ph. D. in physics from UCLA, where his group
created the first Mac cluster in 1998. Dr. Dauger is the award-winning
author in multiple American Institute of Physics' Software Contests and
co-authored the original, award-winning Kai's Power Tools
image-processing package for Adobe Photoshop.
After founding his company,
Dauger Research, Inc., its debut product,
Pooch, derived from Dr. Dauger's experience using clusters for his
physics research, was soon awarded as "most innovative" by IEEE Cluster
and continues to revolutionize parallel computing and clusters worldwide
with its patented technology.
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