An Australian family’s three month, 20,000km Tesla road and camping trip through US

If you’ve wondered about the practicalities of doing a (really) long road trip in an electric vehicle – my family did it, we loved it, and we’re more than ever enamored with our Tesla Model 3 Performance.  Here’s what we learned.

Late last year, my husband, young son and I embarked on a three month, 12,500 mile (20,000kms) road trip through the southern half of the US in ‘Mox’, as our son affectionately named our car en-route.

We thrilled to the renewed sense of freedom and discovery after the bleakness of pandemic lockdowns and isolation. Although we largely ‘winged it’ – we mapped an approximate route but planned only 1-3 days ahead – we were happily surprised at the convenience of an EV road trip.  

Where we went:  

From home in Los Angeles, we zig-zagged across the country – through Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky to Virginia and then down through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and back across the bottom of the country including Louisiana and Texas.  

We visited 17 national parks and monuments along the way.  A shout-out to the well-run US National Park Service that preserves these wonders. 

Our son loved their Junior Park Ranger program, which involved completing educational activity books at each park and earning a badge after speaking with rangers and pledging to learn about, explore and protect our natural environment.  Now, when he’s struck by a sense of responsibility for his surroundings, he refers to what a ‘ranger should do’!

What we discovered:

SPACE:

The model 3 is more roomy than it might seem.  We’re not especially light packers and we took a tent, camping equipment, linens, food and toys to keep our son (who just turned 4) happy. With some care in daily repacking, ‘Mox’ accommodated us comfortably.  We would, however, consider roof racks and a ski cargo box should we do such a trip again.

SUPER CHARGING:

Tesla’s Supercharger coverage across the USA is already impressive.  We spent a total of $US695 at Superchargers in three months.  For most of the trip, we had multiple Supercharging options en-route and the stops were quick and convenient. We would enter a destination and the Trip Planner calculated our route with required charging stops.  For towns and major businesses that have the capacity to apply to host a Supercharger, the potential prize is a growing fleet of Teslas (millions of cars nationally in the next few years) that will navigate their owners to you. It’s a marketers’ dream! Imagine the possibilities to serve this market. Bonus points for the free Tesla Destination Charge in Taos, New Mexico, which was solar powered and adjacent to a soccer field for our son to stretch his legs and kick a ball.

CHARGING TIME: 

We know this is a big question.  Teslas pre-condition the batteries to receive a faster charge when you use the Trip Planner.  Most stops took less than half an hour from a low to an 80 percent charge – enough time for a bathroom stop, snack, plan ahead – and rarely even have time to check out the in-car entertainment.

OTHER CHARGING OPTIONS:

Awareness of the EV revolution is growing and smart businesses are catering to this growing market (which will eventually be the entire market – probably sooner than expected). This is a much bigger opportunity than many recognize. In addition to the car’s navigation system that pointed us to Superchargers and Tesla Destination chargers, we used the PlugShare app to identify other charging options en-route.

If a business can offer charging (even a 110 volt outlet, which some of the motels we stayed at had in their parking lots) this is a marketing opportunity with direct conversion of customers to your business. Special mention to the wind-powered brewery that we found after visiting the nearby Wright Brothers memorial at the birthplace of aviation, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It offered free electric vehicle charging and a pirate ship playground for kids while the parents sampled craft brews. Ticked all the boxes.

UNEXPECTED WONDERS: 

We were fortunate to not have (much of) a deadline this trip.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina (where Kitty Hawk is situated) is a great case of discovering places that we’ll always remember and cherish that we’d never heard of a couple of days earlier.  While staying in a motel near Kitty Hawk, we learned of a campground a ferry ride away on Ocracoke Island.  Small, remote, stunning  – we could walk across a sand dune from our campsite to the beach and have the place to ourselves. We grilled fresh fish and veggies right on the sand and gazed at the stars. 

We camped two nights there and if it hadn’t been booked out, would have stayed longer (do bring bug spray!).  We discovered a lot of surprise gems in Florida too, on the recommendation of fellow travelers with whom we happened to strike up conversation. We spent a month of our trip in that state – including a lot of camping.  Yes we love the beach and got lucky with the weather on our trip – we swam in the ocean until late November (OK it was brisk by the end).

RECOVERY: Many of the national parks we visited were very busy.  A lot of popular campgrounds were fully booked. Sometimes this inconvenienced us, but mostly gladdened our hearts that people are traveling again.  

ELECTRIC CAMPING:

We spent a third of our trip camping, mostly in national and state parks. Many of our camp sites included electric hookups. The only place we really had to plan ahead was the remote Big Bend National Park in Texas, on the Mexican border.  Here the RV sites (with electricity) were separated by a 10 minute walk from the tent sites (without electricity).  We booked both so we could charge the car overnight.  An additional cost but no big deal (and that park is so worth it!).  Perhaps charging infrastructure in Texas will expand with the relocation of Tesla’s headquarters to the state, and the opening of a new Gigafactory near Austin. Interestingly none of the National Parks we visited yet offered EV charging for day visitors. They absolutely should! 

FULL SELF DRIVING: 

We have the FSD package and signed up for the FSD beta test that rolled out during our journey.  This made for fun as we tried to sustain a ‘safety score’ high enough to qualify for the beta over so many miles.  While there is definitely away to go to achieve true FSD, the improvements from version to version have been impressive. (And when you travel 12,500 miles and see how some people drive, you quickly gain faith that autonomous vehicles will be a beneficial technology!)

ENTERTAINMENT: 

Twice we wanted to bail on nature while camping.  Once at a campground near Port Canaveral, Florida during a storm warning and once while camping in the Everglades National Park (one of the worst bug swarms we’ve experienced and we’re from Queensland!)  We decamped to ‘Mox’ and watched Netflix until bed-time.  If needed we could have slept in the car in a climate controlled environment but it wasn’t necessary.

SERVICE: 

Yes, we had a mishap – hitting a blown out truck tire on a highway that we couldn’t maneuver around last-minute at high speed. Fortunately the damage was limited and we could continue on our journey until we secured a service appointment in Tampa, Florida. We sipped coffee and accessed the wifi in the waiting room while Tesla fixed the car. No complaints.

EV AWARENESS.

While Teslas and EVs in general are less prevalent in some parts of the country than at home in California, interest is growing.  We had numerous conversations in parking lots and campgrounds with people curious to learn more about EVs.  We’re enthusiastic advocates. Sure, Teslas are not inexpensive.  But visit any US campground and marvel at the RVs and associated equipment that many Americans possess (our tiny tent looked comical next to many of the sophisticated RV set-ups that are surely better equipped than our home). Many of the people we met along the way who appreciate hitting the road – even those that drive big trucks – seemed very interested in the quality and convenience of EVs. 

We can only speak for our experience in the US, but do EVs – specifically Teslas – work for road trips? Absolutely! They are more cost effective, better for the environment and more fun – and the infrastructure to support them here is adequate and getting better every day.  We can’t wait for our next adventure with ‘Mox’.

Oh and we have a Cybertruck reservation.  If there’s a main factor that would convince us to buy one, it would be the potential camper extensions (how cool they’d be!).

Here’s to exploring – while minimizing adverse impacts to – our beautiful world.