This is what happened when a couple from Tri-Cities, WA drove a Tesla to Kansas

This last June we drove 3,900 miles round trip from West Richland to Wichita, Kan., for a family reunion. The cost to “fuel” our car for the trip was $7.60. By comparison, a 2022 Subaru Outback (EPA rated at 25 mpg city to 33 mpg highway) would have cost a minimum of $620 at $5.25/gal to make the same trip. As you might guess, we drove a battery electric vehicle.

The 2016 Tesla model S that we drove charges more slowly and travels fewer miles on a charge than newer cars that Tesla and other manufacturers sell. On a typical travel day, we would start the day with the car fully charged and drive about a hundred miles before stopping to charge the car and take a break for about half an hour. After this break, we would drive another hundred miles to our next charging stop and lunch break. In the afternoon we would travel another hundred miles before our afternoon break, and then another hundred before stopping for dinner and spending the night.

On a typical day, we would travel a little over 400 miles, arriving at our destination relatively relaxed and unstressed. It took us four easy traveling days to get to Wichita. If we had driven a gas car and pushed ourselves really hard, we might have been able to get there in three traveling days, but the trip would have been much more fatiguing. We would have missed out on seeing the Snake River gorge at Twin Falls (they have a nice museum and visitor center). And the Sod House Museum in Gothenburg, Nebraska. We passed on opportunities along the way to visit the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute or the Wildhorse Casino; maybe next time.

The Tesla model S built-in navigation system guided us from charging station to charging station on the way to our destination. Many of Tesla’s pre-2017 cars (such as ours) have free unlimited lifetime supercharging, so we paid nothing to charge at our fast-charging stops during the day. Owners of newer cars would have to pay between $7.80 and $15.60 to add 300 miles of charge to their cars. Even with the added cost, driving electric will beat the cost of driving a car burning gasoline at — who knows what price per gallon?

When we stopped for the night, we chose hotels that offered overnight charging. At most hotels that offer this amenity, there is no charge. One hotel we stayed at was equipped with a charging station that we had to pay for. Paying for the charging station is much like paying at the gas pump. Swipe your credit card or scan the QR code with your smartphone and it charges your credit card. Our cost at this stop was $7.60 to bring our car from about one-third charged to fully charged, adding about 140 miles of charge to our battery. This was our total cost for “fuel” for the trip.

Of course we made several short trips to visit relatives in the area. During these visits we were able to plug the car into the normal electrical outlet outside their home or garage. This charges the car quite slowly, but an overnight visit would add enough miles to get to our next destination.

Our car is rated to travel about 220 miles on a charge. Since it’s an older car, it typically doesn’t travel quite that far. Most newer cars are rated for significantly more range than this. Volkswagen’s ID.4 is rated for 275 miles on a charge. Tesla’s lowest-range car is the model 3 rear-wheel drive at 272 miles. A new Tesla model S has a range of 400 miles. Chevrolet’s Bolt EV and Bolt EUV are rated for about 250 miles of range. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E is available with up to a 303mile range rating.

Having made the trip this way, we would definitely choose to make it the same way again; maybe in one of Tesla’s new Cybertrucks.

Carl Baker has lived in the Tri-Cities since 1977. He received his post-secondary education at WSU Pullman and recently retired after working as an engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for 30 years.