One of our members recently concluded a 5 month mainland trip with his Tesla Model S. Yes – a Tesla Model S from the Big Island made a mainland trip! The owner, Thomas Kraft (BIEVA Kau Advisor), shipped his car ahead of the trip, one that took him from Seattle, Washington, to Lincoln, Nebraska, and to Oakland, California.

Here’s his account of the adventure.

I spend the summers on the mainland and this year I wanted to ship my Model S and take advantage of the free supercharging. The crux of my travel was from Seattle, Washington to Lincoln, Nebraska and then from Lincoln to Oakland, California. In only a couple of instances did I find charging receptacles that were out of order. In only one instance, in Washington state did I have to wait to charge because the charging station was completely occupied, and in this case the wait was brief. This was on Interstate 90 where I always encountered four or six receptacles per station. On interstate 80 where I did most of my driving there are normally eight receptacles per station and never any waiting. 

Overall my experience was very positive and the S is quite the “road car.” On the interstate I used traffic aware cruise control and auto steer almost all the time. I traveled frequently between Omaha and Lincoln on Interstate 80. On every occasion when heading West I would spot a tractor-trailer loaded with factory fresh Teslas (usually Model 3s) heading East. On one occasion I spotted four – one right after the other. 

Generally, superchargers are located in convenient locations. Frequently I would stop at a hotel or inn where the superchargers were located, stay the night, charge up in the morning and head down the road. Sometimes during a supercharger stop all I needed was to use the restroom, but I never found a hotel or inn that wasn’t accommodating or friendly. 

I did have some servicing done to my vehicle while I was staying in Lincoln. A Tesla Ranger service vehicle was dispatched from Council Bluffs, Iowa. Presently, Tesla has been blocked from having stores or service centers in Nebraska so Council Bluffs is the closest location. It’s an hour from Lincoln. They have been blocked by the state ethanol board or a mafia of car dealers or both. In any event, the matter is being litigated by Tesla and I spoke to the law office who is handling the suit. While my vehicle was being serviced I asked the technician to listen to a whine that had developed in my vehicle’s drive motor. Two or three weeks later the service center in Council Bluffs replaced it. I have to say I was a bit surprised because the vehicle only had 32 thousand miles. The replacement motor came will all new parts except for the case. There was no charge for new drive motor because it is still under warranty. 

Would I recommend this to other Tesla owners? Yes! It cost $2420 to ship the car to the west coast and back. Since I’m able to use the supercharger network for free, my overall charging costs were minimal. I would have spent about $5000 for a rental car and that’s prior to gas expenses. Even if one had to pay for use of the supercharger network, it would still be well worth it.

As I mentioned earlier, I started my trip from Seattle and before leaving I visited relatives in Tacoma. They took me to an automotive museum which ironically had a number of old electric vehicles as well as a turn of the 20th century charging station. I will end this with pictures from the museum and a few from the trip.

Aloha!