Death Valley Travel Plan- Thoughts on charging?

[BigSkies]

I'm planning a roadtrip from Denver to the Bay Area for Christmas. I always like to add in a National Park or other park on these trips to make it more of a family adventure. We're looking to add roughly half-a-day to see the major sights in Death Valley.

I have a charging plan that I feel good about, but I want to run it by the community for anything I might have missed. I've seen enough threads from people who thought they had a good plan to be cautious enough to ask.

We're staying in Vegas for one night, I'll charge back to 90%+ the night before (the hotel doesn't have a charger). We'll head towards the east entrance the next morning, and top off the battery at the Tesla charger in Pahrump. I'm aiming for 90%+.

We plan to drive into the park and see the major sights like Devil's Golf Course, Artist's Palette, and Badwater Basin. We're not looking to go off the beaten path with the kids on a longish road trip. Just show them the major sights.

We'll head out of the park and have a hotel reservation in Ridgecrest. I'll rely on the RAN in Inyokern for getting back up to a full charge. There's also the 50kW charger in Trona I can use as a backup if I'm slightly short on range.

Any thoughts or things I should be concerned about?

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[Campmohave]

I’ve read somewhere that the RAN in Shoshone is opening soon, so I’d watch the Rivian map to see if it pops up before your trip.

If you are going through Shoshone, a one minute walk from the gas station there are a series of homes built into the wash walls by miners, along with a small graveyard.

 

[Fraslin]

Think you will be good - just check plugshare before you head out to make sure there are no last minute issues. Much better to do this trip now vs the summer where an issue could literally be deadly

 

[elatrickWheels]

We just did a similar trip in our R1S. I charged to 100% at Pahrump, and we drove up through the valley via 178 / Badwater Road, and exiting to the west via 190 to Lone Pine, where we recharged at a Tesla Super Charger. Perhaps we could have made it on 90%, but that’s the sort of place you don’t want to take any chances.

 

[pastreit]

There are 8 L2 chargers behind the ice cream shop pretty close to the Death Valley ranger station, if you need a boost. I was charged $0.75/kWh! in October after reading in PlugShare that they were free. Each charger has NACS and CCS.

 

[BigSkies]

Thanks for the input everyone!

I'll keep my eye out for the RAN opening in Shoshone, and this will probably be one of the rare occasions I use Conserve. But it sounds doable, with a few different options as long as Plugshare gives me good info.

 

[Sidya]

Double-check the availability of the Pahrump and Inyokern chargers on the day of your trip to avoid surprises, especially during holiday travel. Also, consider the extra range loss in cold weather and elevation changes.

We went all the way to Florida on vacation with the help of https://www.westgateresorts.com/vacation-packages/. They organized everything at the level, superb vacation. and in my opinion with the car is much more interesting.

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