Cross Country Rally: By the Numbers

The Tesla Team, February 3, 2014

On Sunday morning, the Tesla Cross Country Rally team completed its record setting trip across the US. We brought you daily updates from the road on our blog. Now, we’re bringing you the numbers.

Total trip time
76 hours, 5 minutes

Total time spent driving
59 hours 34 minutes

Other “non-drive” time
34 minutes
Used to put on chains before crossing Vail Pass.

Total charging time
15 hours 57 seconds

Total miles travelled
3,427

Longest distance between Supercharger locations
247 miles from Flagstaff, AZ to Blanding, UT

Longest drive time between Superchargers
4 hours, 56 minutes, 29 seconds to travel 162.5 miles from Silverthorne, CO to Cheyenne, WY
This overnight leg included a blizzard, more than 12 inches of snow, icy roads, and high winds, resulting in significant traffic delays, the closure and then re-opening of I-70, the closure of the I-25, and the re-routing of the drive to CO-14 and then US85.

Total number of closed roads & highways encountered
Two (I-70 and I-25, both in Colorado)

Lowest temperature encountered
-4F / -20C
During the drive between Albert Lea, MN and La Crosse, WI Superchargers.

Number of gasoline-powered support vans that broke down
One

Energy drinks consumed
Enough to power 1,400 lead-acid batteries
This is an estimate. Tesla uses lithium-ion batteries, which are friendlier to the environment.

Fuel saved per car
136 gallons
Assumes distance of 3,400 miles and average of 25 mpg for a new gas-powered car.

Dollar amount of fuel savings per car
$435
Assumes $3.20 per gallon of gas.

The Route

The new Supercharger route that spans the US cuts a northern pass, taking drivers close to natural and man-made attractions, such as Arches National Park, Colorado Monument, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Badlands National Park, the Grand Canyon, and the Hualapai Mountains. We didn’t have any time for sightseeing, but the views out the Model S windows were amazing. Here’s the exact route we took, including the distance between each Supercharger.

Hawthorne, Los Angeles to Barstow, CA	109 miles
to Kingman, AZ	210 miles
to Flagstaff, AZ	152 miles
to Blanding, UT	249 miles
to Moab, UT	75 miles
to Grand Junction, CO	109 miles
to Glenwood Springs, CO	90 miles
to Silverthorne, CO	94 miles
to Cheyenne, WY	165 miles
to Lusk, WY	158 miles
to Rapid City, SD	149 miles
to Murdo, SD	137 miles
to Mitchell, SD	141 miles
to Worthington, MN	127 miles
to Albert Lea, MN	116 miles
to La Crosse, WI	127 miles
to Mauston, WI	66 miles
to Highland Park, IL	201 miles
to Mishawaka, IN	121 miles
to Maumee, OH	151 miles
to Macedonia, OH	131 miles
to Somerset, PA	176 miles
to Hagerstown, MD	108 miles
to Newark, DE	137 miles
to New York City	128 miles

Superchargers skipped

Our goal for the cross country trip was to achieve the lowest possible charge time for an electric car traveling across the US. With that in mind, we selected a Supercharger route that let us spend minimal time at each post. That means the Tesla team necessarily had to skip some of the Superchargers along the route.

Holbrook, AZ

Quartzsite, AZ

Gallup, NM

Farmington, NM

Normal, IL

Rockford, IL

Angola, IN

JFK Airport, NY

Eau Claire, WI

Madison, WI