EV Trip Report | Chicago to Holland in a Tesla Model Y
My first fall EV Road Trip in my 2022 Model Y long range EV was to a high school hockey tournament.
This EV trip report is another example of how little or no planning is necessary with a long-range electric vehicle (Tesla) and the Supercharger network — soon coming to non-Tesla EVs. We live in the Chicago suburbs, and Tesla Supercharging stations are everywhere on the route to Holland, MI, which is about three hours and 175 miles one-way.
This trip report doesn’t include hotel charging, since I was at the mercy of the hockey club and its accommodations. Otherwise, I would have stayed at a hotel with charging amenities.
EV Road Trip Details
First and foremost, the hockey gear was washed before this hockey road trip to Holland, Michigan. This is priority number one with a high school hockey player and for my clean-smelling electric vehicle. We left around 3pm on a Friday afternoon from Chicago and had to check in to the Holiday Inn hotel before going out Griff’s Georgetown Ice Arena, just outside of Holland.
I had an 83% battery pack leaving the garage — Model Y long range 325 miles on full battery pack — and didn’t do any extra trip planning besides charging my car. I did check in on PlugShare.com for a quick overview and used the site’s Trip Planner tool (when you sign up for PlugShare, its asks for your EV model and trim level).
From the Trip Planner, I had many Supercharging options and stopped about 90 minutes later at the Meijer Superchargers in Stevensville, MI. At Meijer, I grabbed food for the hotel room, weekend and a quick snack as my teenage hockey son stayed in the vehicle. The charging time was 27 minutes and left after finishing my dinner snack.
From there, we drove 75 mph to Holland and checked in before the late-night hockey game at 10:10 EST. No charging was needed for Friday night, as we drove another 20 miles to get to the Griff Georgetown Ice Arena after our check-in.
On Saturday morning, I drove to the 12-stall Supercharging station that was 4.5 miles from our hotel for a 30 minute charge. More items to buy at Meijer. All the hockey games were in Holland that weekend and charging wasn’t an issue, but I did charge in the morning before the Sunday game, so we could leave right after the noon game.
Supercharging Usage and Roundtrip Calculation:
Superchargers:
Friday - 63 kWh used with a cost of $15 (home charging & Supercharger); 192 + 20 miles back to hotel —> Gas equivalent is approximately 10.2 gallons at $36
Saturday - 40 kWh used with a cost of $16. Total drive on Saturday was 24 miles, including 5.5 miles to and from the supercharging station.
Sunday - 43 kwh used and a cost of $17. (Holland & St. Joseph supercharging)
Extra: There were eleven superchargers found on this 196 mile trips.
The only time I need to plan trips with the Tesla is when I'm pulling a trailer. The Supercharger network is now so dense I can pick and choose which charger I want to use based on amenities or when my human needs (food, coffee, restroom) dictate, not when the car needs to be charged. Add to that the non-Tesla network and the choices become even greater. The only part that still takes some planning is finding a hotel with Level 2 charging when I go someplace new. On my standard routes (e.g. Michigan to Kansas City), I already have my favorites.