TERRIBLE Tesla Road Trip: Big Bear to Vegas

Join me as I road trip from Big Bear, California to Las Vegas, Nevada in my Tesla Model 3 Long Range.
Unlike every other road trip I’ve taken, this one was a terrible experience. It started off with beautiful views and an easy drive, but quickly turned into misery with California traffic and the Superchatger network letting me down.
I stopped in Yermo and Baker to charge - both of which had a wait at the superchargers and both of which had a derated charging session.
Not only that, but traffic was so bad due to a road closure that I was stuck complyrly stopped on the i15 for awhile in California.
This 3.5 hour trip ended up taking me 7 hours. This is definitely not the usual Tesla road tripping experience, but it is always a possibility - especially when travelling in California.
Please subscribe for my misery 😇
#teslamodel3 #tesla #teslaroadtrip

[@ProXcaliber]

This seems like it was just a terrible case of a series of unfortunate events, and I'd chalk it up to just that. Everything from the F1 race, it being the holidays, road closures, traffic, etc. all just culminated into your bad experience. It's unfortunate, but definitely a real world scenario that can happen and likely will happen as more EVs get on the road. Hopefully we see a lot more charging options coming in the near future that are as reliable as the Tesla network. Another thing that could possibly remedy this, is Tesla's recent update where it calculates other people routing to charging networks that you are going to.

[@vegasteslafamily]

100%. F1, road closures, and derated charges all in one - a highly unlikely, but possible, scenario. There can never be too many supercharging stations!

[@drink15]

series of self inflected unfortunate events

[@vegasteslafamily]

@@drink15 I played the cards I was dealt and I think I did almost as well as I could have

[@BonanzaPilot]

I've been driving Tesla cars for almost 10 years now. And I wouldn't have left that Baker charger, knowing there is a traffic backup, with only 8% remaining at destination. The slow charging was likely the reason for the backup. With full speed charging those chargers would probably only be a quarter or half full. Haven't heard anyone having an experience like this in a couple years. Thank you for sharing

[@vegasteslafamily]

I like to live on the edge! Always had Primm or S Vegas as an emergency charge stop. Baker is in the perfect spot for the Cali - L.V. trip. They need that expansion open asap. I just wish they had more amenities too.

[@theorozcos]

Hi! I’m surprised to see that those superchargers were so packed. We went to California a month ago. It was our first trip in our model Y and I love the stops super fast & short charging times and the best part was that the kids didn’t complain😊 But man once I got into like the San Fernando Valley and I needed to charge, some of the places were packed, not only that the price is more expensive in peak times. My brother-in-law (has a model 3 LR) said that a lot of people don’t have a way of charging at home so they rely on the superchargers which in my opinion that’s pretty crazy. Overall still love that I don’t have to pay for gas and seeing your videos inspires me to head towards Chicago one day😊

[@vegasteslafamily]

I've heard the same once you get into the cities of california - people living in apartments etc. don't have an at-home place to charge. Makes sense. Also, all of my trips to/from Cali have been smooth except for this one! And go to chicago!!!

[@brianriebedriveselectric]

Oof, frustrating. Glad you made it eventually!

[@vegasteslafamily]

Very much so! Thank you!

[@quakerdaddytownanimates]

I did L.A to Phoenix 2 weeks ago in my M3RWD. It was my longest commute, and both my wife and son agreed it was pretty comfy and enjoyed stretching our feet every 3 hours.

[@vegasteslafamily]

Teslas are the ultimate road trippers!

[@drink15]

Personlly, I fill up the night before starting a road trip. Nor would I have left with the minimum amount of charge for a trip with heavy traffic. I just like thinking ahead

[@vegasteslafamily]

Would have if I could have!

[@Chrisb8s]

I have been in that situation on a holiday weekend in California. I decided to tough it out and get the most charge as possible on any charge since the wait at the next one was bad too. So even with a slower charge, I just pumped it up as much as I could to skip any chargers

[@vegasteslafamily]

In retrospect, charging at the closest charger to a high state of charge would’ve been the way to go. To avoid the charging hassle at least - still would’ve hit that traffic!

[@slyguyaction]

If L2 isn't available where we're staying, I'd top charge at a SuperCharger just to lessen the amount of quick charging stops we'll need to take to get home. Was L2 available at the ABB you were staying at? Nearby SuperChargers to top up before you left?

[@vegasteslafamily]

No charging available where I was staying - otherwise I would’ve left with as close tk 100% as I could’ve.

[@bigoldjim4696]

V3 chargers have site level power sharing. So if all of the chargers are full and all of the cars are pulling a decent amount of power, they can’t give full power. You don’t split power, but there isn’t enough power to give a full to 250 kW to everyone at the same time.

[@vegasteslafamily]

Do you think all the cars there were low enough to want to pull 250kw? And wouldn’t my rate of charge fluctuate based on my and others battery?

[@austina4189]

Yes, but it's on a per-cabinet basis with 4 stalls per cabinet. If someone is on all four 4A-D and I'm at 1B, I shouldn't split with them

[@GetThisNick]

Damn, sounds like a headache.. in other news I’m so glad I told you about that world’s largest gas station 😂 you love that place now?!

[@vegasteslafamily]

15 min from the house come check it out

[@MajorNelson321]

Thanks for the video I just can’t imagine going to the gas station and waiting there idk 15-40 minutes I wouldn’t be to happy

[@vegasteslafamily]

Thanks! This is rare and haven’t had a wait since this trip!

[@JPRamon68]

You should had stayed at the first Supercharger that you stop at and got a full charge.

[@vegasteslafamily]

Hindsight is 20/20, yes I should have!

[@graysonwagner1855]

When Baker is backed up, try the EA down the street. In Yermo, go to Eddie's *sometimes*

[@vegasteslafamily]

Hindsight is 20/20! I know there's an EA in the Baker parking lot right next to the superchargers, which was also full - is there another in town?

[@graysonwagner1855]

Been awhile, south of the Shell, 2 dispensers May have moved Thanks

[@vegasteslafamily]

@@graysonwagner1855 I did not know this!

[@anthonyscott5134]

Ok, I’m only at the 3:39 minute mark mark, and I’m not a Tesla owner, but I’ve rented quite a few a few for my many road trips. In fact I’m renting one right now. I mention this because I wonder if what this guy is experiencing at this first charging stop is his own fault. The system had chosen another route but he decided to choose this route. Perhaps, and yes, I’m TOTALLY guessing here, the system didn’t choose this route because it was able to determine the wait was extreme there. I mean, wouldn’t the system have all the data as to how many of the chargers were being used and all of the cars in line, their systems are connected to the system as well which is compiling all this info for it to know to send you a different route. I just did a long trip Wednesday, from Mira Loma, CA to San Francisco and back. Left on Wednesday morning at 7am, got to the San Francisco airport at 4:30pm, then on to Union Square and stayed till about 9pm when I started back to Mira Loma and got home about 6am. I let the car pick the route and none of my charging stops, took longer than 10 minutes. It was great! Again, I could be totally off base here as I’m not an owner and drive a Tesla every day, but from my limited experience it seems that if you go with the route the car chooses you stand a better chance of avoiding stops like this.

[@vegasteslafamily]

They kinda do and kinda don’t communicate with each other. They won’t automatically reroute you to a supercharger, but they’ll advice you to pick a less busy one if the one you’re going to ends up busy. The newer ones are able to tell how many other cars are currently navigating to that particular charger, which is sweet. None of those on this route. Also, they won’t tell you if there’s a derated charger/chargers. Only if they’re working or not

[@darklen14]

Should have charged before leaving 😮

[@vegasteslafamily]

I would have if I had the option! There was a supercharger in Big Bear across the lake, about 20 minutes out of the way. No wait. In hindsight, I should’ve went to check it out

[@dennissabo1711]

STOP WHINING EVERYBODY. GROWING PAINS

[@vegasteslafamily]

AHH

[@pbm___000]

I had travel days like this in an ICE car -- this has to do with travel during peak times. I'd argue tools could be better and more clear for the average person to understand travel wait times ... Like a UX message with estimated wait time, and tools that can estimate travel times based on choosing later departure times (utilizing real-time and historical data). But this is mostly on you -- you chose to go on a long trip with

[@vegasteslafamily]

Traffic expected. Waits at SC's on a busy weekend, sure. But 43kw at

[@FRDM7Enterprise]

would you like some cheese with that whining ?

[@vegasteslafamily]

Yes 😁

[@FRDM7Enterprise]

Love your response! @@vegasteslafamily

[@andrewfriesen6319]

finally the truth is coming out about this crap junk.

[@vegasteslafamily]

The truth is in my other videos that I’ve flawlessly travelled thousands of miles in! This is an outlier.

[@andrewfriesen6319]

I drove model Y from Winnipeg to Montreal and it was the worst driving experience ever. had to add 1 more night each direction which not only wasted time but had to pay more in hotel fees. just as expensive if you took a ICE and you wouldn't loose the time. TIME IS MONEY@@vegasteslafamily

[@lilo8236]

stop crying , welcome to traffic even with ice car still be the same time

[@vegasteslafamily]

@@lilo8236 ice cars charge at