We are planning a trip from Tennessee to the Grand Canyon AZ. Our last trip to Cape Canaveral FL had plenty of charging stations on the route. Out west things are spaced out more so we need to identify places we may face limited charging. I use A Better Route Planner to plan potential charging stops.

The outward leg to Flagstaff AZ is over 1,500 miles, nearly all of which is on I-40. The charging stops listed above are suggestions, actual charge stops and timing will vary on the trip itself, the car will skip busy stations in favor of lightly used ones. Station busyness changes during the day and the car dynamically selects the best route during the trip. Between Ozark AR and Weatherford OK the planner suggests a non Tesla CHAdeMO charging station at Okemah OK. Five years ago there were no Tesla stations between Nashville and Oklahoma City, this trip back then would have been very challenging. Today it’s much easier with just one long leg in Oklahoma. A 200 mile leg isn’t normally an issue, however the planner compensates for steady headwinds that will reduce our range, if the wind is light when we travel we will make it without this extra stop with range to spare.

Using the driving duration of each leg I have been able to divide the trip up into three days with about seven hours of driving each day. We will need two overnight hotel stays as we drive west. If we are able to, we will pick hotels that have charging stations which will eliminate two on the road charging stops. Hotels typically provide overnight charging at no extra cost resulting in savings.

PIN to Drive enabled.

In preparation for our trip I have enabled “PIN to Drive” which requires a 4 digit PIN to be able to put the car into gear. This will protect against theft of the car should someone be able to get into the car and start it somehow.

All we need to do now is pack our bags and hit the road.