Grandfathered car certainly changes the math and a few extra hours of time is an annoyance to some and an adventure to others.

I get it. I like the cars really. Cheaper to own and operate than a BMW no doubt, a closer offset. But not cheaper than a prius. Don't get breakneck speed in a prius either.

I mean a grandfathered Model S has depreciated as much as a new prius and 12k$ worth of california priced gas to go 100k miles.

Cost and convenience to roadtrip, the math is easy. Other factors or comparison to nicer cars is a different thing

You answered your own question. Those extra hour or two mean a lot to some people. I'd rather spend a few bucks on gas than waste the most precious resource there is...time.

100% if time is of the the essence I'm not taking the Tesla on a road trip that requires multiple charging stops.

I do the 600 mile drive to Tahoe or Bay Area a few times a year. With any EV, that means two full recharging stops, sitting in a hot car for most of an hour, 2X. Would make a 10 hr drive into a 12 hr drive. Also would force me to stay on the Interstate instead of a better route to Tahoe. Just not practical.

There are reasons to not own an EV, road trips are not one of those, IMO. We happen to own a model 3 and a model S. (And for reference the model S is 2 years old next month with 70K miles on it and the Model 3 was 2 years old in July has 45K miles on it.)

The model 3 has a range of about 280miles and the model S range is 400 miles. Both my husband and I have jobs that require us to drive anywhere in South Carolina. We have family in Raleigh and Jacksonville Florida so we drive a lot and have taken many road trips in these cars.

On average: I can drive 3-4 hours round trip on either car without stopping to charge. Now, that can change based on how heavy footed I am. If on a road trip, the most I have needed to sit and charge is 25 minutes but most of the time it is 15-20 min. For me, bathroom breaks are a requirement because I have a typical woman's bladder, Lol. By the time I go in, have a potty break and get a drink or snack, the car is usually charged and ready to go. My average super charge cost is $15 to fill up from 20%-90%.

Now, if I was going somewhere off-road or towing something regularly, I would not get an EV. If I lived in an apt where there was no charger and/or the superchargers around me were always full, I would not get an EV. If not for the Tesla super chargers, I would not have an EV unless I was only using it locally and could charge at home. The stories of traveling the South East and trying to find a charger that is not a Tesla Superchargers would dissuade me.

For right now, the great thing is we have choices. You can have an EV or you can buy a hybrid or you can buy an ICE car.

Therein lies the rub because the rhetoric is that in 10-25 years time we won’t have a choice.

We have a trillion dollar infrastructure problem in the US and a complete reorganization of the energy source for travel would leave us without a road or bridges to drive on.

its a road trip ... the point is to go slow and enjoy the trip, not get to the destination fast. you wouldnt be driving across the country if you just wanted to get somewhere fast. you would fly if you wanted to get there fast.

Interesting about the instruments. Electric AC sounds good when stuck idling often.

Right, life's too short to make a fun car boring. I've thought about it, but I just can't. Since most of my driving is interstate with relatively low traffic levels, I set my cruise 95% of the time to keep myself out of trouble, or at least, to try to minimize it.

Here's a ted talk on the environmental comparison between hybrids and ev's. Jump to about 7 minutes if you just want the comparison part:

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One thing that I never understood is why it won't add charge to the battery when in "hold" mode. I use "hold" when I'm on the highway and it would be great if the generator would add charge to the battery beyond what the charge level is at when you hit "hold." There are times when going down hills that energy is wasted. Driving on a hilly highway you can increase the charge level by switching to "normal" at the top of the hills and back to "hold" at the bottom of the hills. This should be automatic.

I never got that deep into it, using mine as a commuter on relatively level ground. Wouldn't the regen feature automatically add to the charge going downhill with no accelerator applied or with the brakes applied?

So for your road trip, the EV added 4-6 hours to the trip?
I'm guessing the big difference is what folks are considering a "road trip", or maybe not. For some folks a road trip might be 400-500 miles, for others it might be 1500+ miles. Still, leaving cost aside, since anyone driving a model S is probably not worried about spending some money on gas or charging.

I suspect it's going to depend upon how you do road trips or the type of road trip. My road trips have always been about "A to B". I know that some folks include the journey as a big part of a trip. If the journey is a part of the trip, then a little extra time probably isn't as big a deal because that time can be spent having experiences. If I'm making a trip and want to get to a destination, and a long drive is the cost, then I don't want to add a lot of time. I find that on long drives, I often drive faster towards the end because I'm ready to "be there."

So I suspect "it depends" is the answer, but I think most of the time for many/most people having a lot of extra time being added to the trip would/might be a deal breaker.

On road trips, I don't normally make 15-30 min stops. I try to keep stops as short as possible, which usually means <5 mins.

Hey Stephanie, how many miles are those trips. I've taken several 800 mile trips and one 2500 mile trip. The supercharger system out here on the west coast is darn good and gives you lots of options when traveling North/South. Was wondering how it was on the eastern part of the country.

That is YOUR view of a road trip...and that's just fine--for you.

One of the things you haven't yet seemed to realize is not everybody thinks like you. SmileWavy

On short-medium trips, I prefer to drive becuase I hate what air travel has turned into. Doesn't mean I want to take 3 days to get to my destination...I just don't want to deal with air travel. I drive rather fast and stop only for gas (unless we're truly on an "exploring" trip).

Everyone's different. That's what makes life cool. :cool:

Exactly. Added about 6 hours. But we definitely didnt continue the trip when we could have. We stayed longer at some places just looking around.

Years ago when I was in the Army stationed at Fort Ord which was in Monterey California. I would occasionally drive home to Portland on a long weekend. I was a poor young soldier who couldn't afford a plane ticket, but had a craving for my mom's home cooking. These trips were gas and go, there and back. It was all about the destination. An EV wouldn't have worked for me.

Now 30 some years later, I'm just never in that much of a hurry, although the speed that I like to drive, might imply otherwise. If I need to be somewhere quick, I'll fly. Otherwise it just doesn't bother me to stop 25 minutes to charge every few hours.

Oh a few years ago we needed to go see a dying family member. It was expensive for 4 of us to fly, rent a car ect. So we took my daughters ICE vehicle. Didn't have time to fiddle fart with charging.

Toyota is working hard on the problem. :D
https://autos.yahoo.com/butt-plug-allow-toyota-build-150500450.html?

Our last raod trip was 3400 miles and we stipped at several national parks and historic sites along the way. Many did not have fast chargers. Our van can pump 300 miles per minute at a gas station. Since it is a van we carry healthy snacks and drinks with us. It gets 540 to 580 miles per tank so we can stop when convenient. Another point is there are no ev minivans and a minivan is an awesome people mover for efficiency (30mpg average on the trip) and volume. We had 4 people and luggage for two weeks plus snacks and 2 coolers in the vehicle. Our prior trip was to my late brother in law's funeral and had to haul stuff in the van plus tow a uhaul trailer with 2 motorcycles and tools. Would have been a long trip in an ev truck stopping every 100 miles for 45 minutes or so on the way home.

Not in "hold" mode. Which seems odd to me. If you switch to "hold" at 50% battery power, it will maintain 50%, but not add to it. Driving in the mountains I play around with it, charging the battery by running it up the hill in "hold" and switching to battery power for the ride down. It never made any sense to me that it wouldn't do that automatically.

We just got back from a 700 mile trip. Got 42 mpg on gasoline the whole way.

400 miles is about the limit my body will take. Even driving hard (for us) that's over 6 hours. My back gets sore and my eyes get tired after 6 hours. To be a safe driver I'd have to have a good rest. A model S would suit us just fine.

So many people are terrified that some day in the near future they won't be able to buy an ICE car. You can still by a Model T if you want one. ICE cars will be around when my grandson is too old to drive. By then I won't care, and neither will he.

I just bought a new Honda CRV hybrid sport touring and it is fantastic! Holds lots of stuff , 40 mpg , 500 plus range ,fills up in 5 minutes! My wife drive a lot to our hospital 100 miles round trip several times a week. I love this car.