Back in May, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that he was preparing a coast-to-coast trip across the United States in a Tesla Model S, one that would utilize Tesla’s various Supercharger stations that have been strategically placed across the country to accommodate such trips.
Now, that trip is about to get underway.
Just finalized the LA to NY family road trip route in Model S. 6 day, 3200 mile journey with only 9 hrs spent charging.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2013
Musk says that he will only need to charge his car for about an hour and a half a day. He’ll be accompanied on the trip by his 5 sons, and will begin in Los Angeles and end in New York. Every other stop on the trip has been strategically picked to be near a Supercharger station.
At 1.5 hrs/day, we will only ever need to charge when stopping anyway to eat or sightsee, never just for charging itself
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2013
A few months ago, Tesla announced a major expansion to their Supercharger project. Currently, Tesla only has 19 of these stations spread out across the U.S., (with 6 in Europe). The expansion looks to up that number to over 100.
The Supercharger expansion also looks to increase the chargers’ efficiency. As of right now, a Supercharger can provide 200 miles for a 30-minute charge.
U.S. Supercharger locations, via Tesla Motors
Of course, Musk hopes this trip will assuage any concerns people have about the electric car’s ability to safely traverse long distances.
But even with those concerns, Tesla has seen some great sales – especially in the State of California where the company outsold Porsche, Land Rover, Jaguar, Lincoln, and Volvo last year.
Another thing adding to the Tesla Model S’s appeal – its safety. Last month, the Model S received the highest safety rating ever from the NHTSA. Parts of the car were so strong, that they even broke the test rig at one point. Now that’s some good press.
Image via Tesla
