1,074 mile trip report - Glendora, CA to Tucson, AZ and return

[K6CCC]

Last week I took what is so far my longest trip in my Lightning at just over 1,000 miles from home in Glendora, CA to Tucson, AZ and back. Here is the story. As usual for me, it will get a bit long...

The primary purpose of the trip was to attend a ham radio group meeting in Tucson on Saturday, with a bunch of Geocaching along the way and possible a Dodgers spring Training game.

Day 1 - 17 Mar. 2026 - Home to Quartzite, AZ

Departed home in Glendora, CA with 100% charge. Route south on the 57 freeway to I-10 and East to Date Palm in Cathedral City. Then south a couple miles to a Tesla SuperCharger at a Sonics Drive Through. This was only 89 miles into the drive so I did not need a charge, but this was mainly a restroom stop. Plugged into the only V3 stall that was available due to the need to be off to the right of the spot for the cable to reach. Only charged for 15 minutes and it was slow average because I started at 72%.
SuperCharger 33° 49.502'N 116° 27.575'W 72-86% 48¢/KWH

The headed east for some GeoCaching in the Indio area before getting back onto I-10. At Chiriaco Summit, I spent a short time at the Patton Museum before getting onto a dirt road that parallels the freeway for about 4 miles to get some more GeoCaches. Then back onto the freeway and onto Quartzite. Visited a friend for a while and then grabbed dinner and ate it while taking a partial change at one of the two Tesla SuperChargers in town. E.A. and Rivian both have small stations in Quartzite, but Tesla has an old 36 stall V2 charger that has been there for many years (not available to us), but they more recently opened a 84 stall V3 station that is open to us. There were a few pull through stalls available.
SuperCharger 33° 39.783'N 114° 14.403'W 22-74% 42¢/KWH

Then a few miles north to some BLM land where I camped for the night. I just set up my cot in the bed and plugged in my CPAP along with a short interval timer and 100 W heater (to keep the PPOB running all night).
Hi Jolly "campground" 33° 42.501'N 114° 12.888'W

Start of day: 100%
Day: 237.9
Trip: 237.9
End of day: 70%

Day 2 - 18 Mar. 2026 - Quartzite to Tempe, AZ

Started off with some more GeoCaching around Quartzite and then stopped and grabbed breakfast and went back to the SuperCharger to eat and also use the restroom at the Terrible Herbst, and bought some ice.
SuperCharger 33° 39.783'N 114° 14.403'W 63-90% 42¢/KWH

I then headed east on I-10 to the Phoenix area for a GeoCaching get together in Chandler, AZ. After the event did a little more GeoCaching before spending about an hour in a Starbucks doing computer stuff. I cancelled the possible plan to go to the spring training Dodger game because it was well over 100 degrees and there is no shade in Camelback Ranch ballpark. Instead I pulled into a SuperCharger while I ate some lunch.
SuperCharger 33° 18.941'N 111° 58.175'W 27-80% 42¢/KWH

Because it was so hot I elected to get a motel rather than camp in the desert as originally planned. After getting checked in, a shower and a nap, I drove over to a Walmart to get some food since the motel had a full kitchen.
Motel-6 33° 22.887'N 111° 58.162'W

Start of day: 68%
Day: 232.2
Trip: 430.5
End of day: 75%

Day 3 - 19 Mar. 2026 - Tempe, AZ - Tucson, AZ

Started off the day with some GeoCaching in the area and then a group lunch with ham radio friends in Mesa, and then down I-10 towards Tucson. Stopped at a bpPulse charger at a Petro Travel Center in Eloy, AZ (just south of the I-10 / I-8 merge). This station has 24 stalls with most being NACS, and 4 CCS-1. There is not a bit of shade, and it was well over 100 degrees so the AC stayed on. While charging I used the facilities in the Perto and refilled a drink.
bpPulse 32° 48.714'N 111° 40.218'W 48-87% 40¢/KWH

After charging, back onto I-10 to the hotel in Tucson, AZ. I did take a friend to dinner in order so show off the Lightning.

Hilton Garden Inn 32° 7.962'N 110° 55.499'W

Start of day: 75%
Day: 102.7
Trip: 572.8
End of day: 54%

Day 5 - 21 Mar. 2026 - Tucson, AZ

Day 4 only drove a few miles to show off the truck to a different friend and day 5 only a run out to lunch.

Day 6 - 22 Mar. 2026 - Tucson, AZ - Glendora, CA

Left the hotel and headed for the same bpPulse charger in Eloy, AZ.
bpPulse 32° 48.714'N 111° 40.218'W 23-82% 40¢/KWH

After charging, headed west on I-8. There is a scattering of chargers along I-8, but the plan was to use the SuperCharger at Tacna as it was the least expensive option. I made it there with 16% charge.
SuperCharger 32° 41.408'N 113° 57.235'W 16-80% 39¢/KWH

After the charge, filling up my drink and grabbing a GeoCache across the street, headed west on I-8. At El Centro I stopped at one of the two Tesla SuperChargers. Also picked that location because it was the least expensive. I did manage to get a spot in the shade (it was still 105 at dinner time). There are a couple pull through stalls and this was the only V4 station I used.
SuperCharger 32° 48.836'N 115° 34.084'W 33-95% 34¢/KWH

After charging, I headed up passed the Salton Sea and into Indio for some more GeoCaching and then a late dinner stop in Cabazon (and find the Tesla SuperCharger there - although I did not need it). Then back on the freeway to home.

Start of day: 50%
Day: 483.2
Trip: 1,074.0
End of day: 21%

The original plan was to do another overnight stop in the Yuma, AZ area to do more GeoCaching, but I ended up sort of needing to get home, so made the longer drive home.

Charging summary (subscription with Tesla):

Cathedral City Tesla 72% - 86% (20.0 KWH) @ $0.48/KWH = $9.74 - Average rate 80.00 KW
Quartzite Tesla 22% - 74% (69.6 KWH) @ $0.42/KWH = $29.24 - Average rate 116.00 KW
Quartzite Tesla 63% - 90% (36.7 KWH) @ $0.42/KWH = $15.44 - Average rate 75.93 KW
Chandler Tesla 27% - 80% (73.6 KWH) @ $0.42/KWH = $31.10 - Average rate 116.21 KW
Eloy bpPulse 48% - 87% (54.8 KWH) @ $0.40/KWH = $24.33 - Average rate 117.43 KW
Eloy bpPulse 23% - 82% (80.2 KWH) @ $0.40/KWH = $35.32 - Average rate 120.30 KW
Tacna Tesla 16% - 80% (87.7 KWH) @ $0.39/KWH = $34.25 - Average rate 119.59 KW
El Centro Tesla 33% - 95% (87.4 KWH) @ $0.34/KWH = $29.78 - Average rate 84.58 KW
Home FCSP 21% - 100% (103 KWH) @ $0.236/KWH = $24.42 (calculated value)

Having the Tesla subscription saved me $82.89 to go along with $53.40 saved a coupe weeks earlier, meant that I saved a total of $121.90 for the one month Tesla subscription (including the subscription cost).

Total 1,074 miles using 592.8 KWH at a cost of $230.30. Average was 1.81 miles / KWH which is well below my average of 2.3 since I have owned the truck, but involved faster driving, and the AC blasting in the 100+ heat.

For the trip a couple weeks ago I had activated BlueCruise using rewards points and used it quite a bit on both trips. Although I don't have much use for BlueCruise in my normal around town driving, it is nice to have on a long road trip.

I activated the 14 day trial for ABRP Premium, but found it to be of very little value. I will continue to use it on the PC for advanced planning a bit (don't even use it much for that).

Overall, a a good trip.

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[Zprime29]

I was up in my attic pulling solar cables in that heat. Thankfully it was still cooling off well overnight. I'm looking at that I-8 leg to make trip to San Diego this summer. Nice report!

 

[K6CCC]

I was up in my attic pulling solar cables in that heat.

I feel sorry for you!

I'm looking at that I-8 leg to make trip to San Diego this summer. Nice report!

Not a bad drive and plenty of places to charge along the route. And thank you.

 

[K6CCC]

One other note I did not mention. Almost every time I charged it was over 100 degrees. Every time the battery temp was warmer than usual after the charge session. It has been mentioned on this forum in the past that putting the truck in Tow/Haul mode (even without the max towing package) resulted in better cooling of a warm battery. I observed that to be the case.

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