| Cargo Space
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The ample cargo space in the Model S was vastly more than enough for this trip.
I filled the front trunk with luggage for my wife and I, then
used the back trunk for all the kids' luggage and toys.
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| Rancho Cucamonga Supercharger - Northbound
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As we traveled, I logged the time, odometer, and range remaining for every event of interest.
Friday
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 3:41 pm | Departed Home | 178 |
| 6:08 pm | Arrived Rancho Cucamonga Supercharger | 99 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.41
Conditions: Heavy Friday Holiday Traffic
Friday traffic is bad. Holiday weekend traffic is bad.
Obviously putting the two together is worse.
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More importantly, Rancho Cucamonga isn't on the way to Santa Barbara at all.
We went because that is a convenient location in between our home and our in-laws'.
It is also a natural stop because this Supercharger is embedded in
Victoria Gardens,
a huge shopping mall with a huge selection of restaurants.
The kids' schools dictated leaving right when traffic was horrible.
So we got to dinner when we got there.
With the pain of traffic fresh in our minds,
we intentionally took our time eating so
that congestion would subside.
We ended up with 261 miles of range in the battery pack far earlier
than we cared to return to traffic.
Cost: $0
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 8:10 pm | Departed Rancho Cucamonga | 261 |
| 10:12 pm | Arrived Santa Barbara | 98 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.16
Conditions: Mild Traffic
After we got through LA county, traffic lightened up to the point
where it fairly smooth to drive.
We didn't rush but wanted to get there in a reasonable time.
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| Local Charging |
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Prior to the trip, I knew our hotel didn't have charging, so I researched local charging stations.
Fortunately, the
Santa Barbara County headquarters,
a couple blocks from our hotel,
wisely
installed EV charging stations,
one of which I plugged in overnight,
much like I do at home,
which added 162 miles of range by morning,
at a rate of 7c/kWh, less than I pay at home.
Cost: $3.97
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This extra energy boost nearly topped off the battery,
much more than enough for unstructured local travel and sightseeing.
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| Visiting Santa Barbara
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On Saturday we took the car out to see the Santa Barbara Mission and tour around town.
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Most of the rest of the weekend we walked around town.
The next day we bought a few souvenirs and visited the beach and the pier.
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| Oxnard Supercharger - Southbound
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Monday
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 9:45 am | Departed Santa Barbara | 236 |
| 10:21 am | Arrived Oxnard Supercharger | 192 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.22
Conditions: Hills
We wanted to stay, but we had to go return to our lives
with the family. We didn't really need the
Oxnard Supercharger
to get home, but I wanted to see it.
We had drinks and a morning snack at Panera Bread
and visited a local Whole Foods, all a short walk across the parking lot.
The time it took to charge wasn't enough to visit
the rest of The Collection.
Cost: $0
| Time | Event | Range Remaining |
|---|
| 11:01 am | Depart Oxnard | 253 |
| 12:37 pm | Arrived Home | 154 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.05
Conditions: Traffic, Hills
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While we faced some traffic in LA county,
we took this drive easy.
Meanwhile there was no plausible way we would run out of range.
After we got home, we coordinated picking up our kids from relatives,
and we certainly had enough charge for the loop out and back to retrieve the little monsters.
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Conclusion
Like before,
the Model S is a fabulous road trip car.
Traveling without the
extra engine and transmission noise, creating an
low-frequency rumble and roar that shakes one's innards,
makes possible a very relaxing driving experience.
I no longer experience the fatigue I had in gas cars before.
Fighting traffic was the worst part of the trip and happens regardless of power train.
The Model S and the Supercharger network provided plenty of flexibility for
multiple stops determined by multiple goals.
Thanks to Tesla Motors and Santa Barbara County,
the cost to refuel on this 334-mile trip was less than $4.
Sweet!
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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