North OC to Big Sur Camping Road Trip

[ParksandRec]

Hey All,

Just wanted to share my experience with a spring break camping trip to Big Sur from north Orange County. This was our first road trip with a new to us 2023 Quad, large battery with 21" wheels. I was a little concerned with the lack of charing options in Big Sur, but overall with planning the trip was a breeze and we are loving out new ride!

Travel Info

• 2023 Quad, large battery, family of four, fully loaded both frunk and trunk. No aero covers on 21" rims. Conserve mode duration of trip. Started the trip charged to 100% from home.

Day 1

• North OC to Tesla Supercharger in Los Osos (223 miles)
  • Charged 92kWh in 1 hour and 5 minutes, $0.48/kWh
  • Had lunch at one of the local bakeries which consumed all that charge time
• Los Osos to Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground (99 miles)
• Set to camp mode

Day 2

• Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground to Bixby Bridge and back (28 miles)
• Set to camp mode

Day 3

• Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground to Tesla Supercharger in SLO (114 miles)
  • Charged 114 kWh in 1 hour and 17 minutes, $0.48/kWh
  • Had lunch at a somewhat nearby Panda Express for duration of charge
• SLO to Pasadena to North OC (228 miles)

Never experienced any range anxiety during the trip, but did keep driving in the 70 mph range on the highway to preserve range. I forgot to check remaining battery life at each Tesla Supercharger and also resetting the Trip A to get my efficiency average (will do next time).

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[KBabione]

Looks great - I've found the R1S to be perfect for camping as well.

Just be careful with conserve mode eating your tires...There are lots of posts here. Most of us will enable it only on highways when we hit 70mph with cruise control on and then will go back to all purpose as we reach an exit or construction. If you use it all of the time every start and stop is entirely on your front tires. I use conserve mode as I described on longer trips where I know I'm going to have to charge multiple times and managed to get more than 48K on my original 20" Pirellis.

 

[mkg3]

Love the area. One of my favorite central coast region. Having been in several years so thanks for reminder.

 

[ParksandRec]

Looks great - I've found the R1S to be perfect for camping as well.

Just be careful with conserve mode eating your tires...There are lots of posts here. Most of us will enable it only on highways when we hit 70mph with cruise control on and then will go back to all purpose as we reach an exit or construction. If you use it all of the time every start and stop is entirely on your front tires. I use conserve mode as I described on longer trips where I know I'm going to have to charge multiple times and managed to get more than 48K on my original 20" Pirellis.

Thanks for th tips on the use of conserve! I was worried about range with so few chargers in the area, I went aggressive and used it the whole time.

 

[KBabione]

Doing it occasionally won't hurt you, but you probably didn't get any benefit in range being in conserve when you weren't on the highway.

 

[Mikey]

awesome trip. Love that area. Moved to Orlando, miss Cali. Not the taxes and politics.

 

[Luvolbikes]

When I stayed in Morro Bay rv parks last summer I used the Los Osos tesla chargers very often there in the strip mall with Starbucks and market, Hardware store, etc. Not many chargers but very few users. The Arroyo Grande chargers right on the 101 by pismo beach by the Walmart are awesome. Like 80 chargers with easy access. Love the central coast. Stayed at Big Sur one night in 1973 right out of high school on a hitch hiking journey. Oh. the memories.

 

[R1TBrett]

We just did a similar trip, South OC up 405/101/1 to Ragged Point. 23 Quad in Conserve while underway with All Purpose for driving around. Averaged 2.31kWh all in. 70mph with some spurts up to 80.

Thanks for sharing your trip and the memories.

We had Great trip, our first in the Rivian. Always used my 06 LX470 previously and averaged 15mpg.

 

[Darkneo]

Will be doing this trip in July. Was a bit worried about no charging locations near Big Sur. But that to know it's possible.

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